The Whirlwind Tour of Taos

The drive to Taos is spectacular. I don't see how anyone can get anywhere around here without stopping at least once along the way to soak up a view or check out something interesting. The countryside reminded me of all the places of my childhood in Colorado: Glenwood Canyon, Morrison (the home of Red Rocks Amphitheater) and Castle Rock, to name a few. The Pinnacles were particularly impressive, rising from the stream at their feet like pipes on a church organ. A really big pipe organ.



About half-way to Taos, we stopped at Eagle’s Nest (or Angel Fire) for a “bio-break” and something to drink. As soon as we heard the hummingbirds zipping back and forth from feeders we went back for the cameras. Kristy got lots of photos of them - I didn’t even try, considering my ancient Olympus. It works for lots of things, mind you, but hummingbirds is not one of them. The aspens, however, would stand still long enough for a photo op.



Taos itself was somewhat overwhelming (which is why I only took one photo the entire time we were there). The shops go on forever; avenues connect and interconnect for what seems like miles. We didn’t go to the Taos Pueblo itself, but went straight to the Plaza, found ourselves a primo parking spot, and hit the pavement. And the shops. I have no idea how much walking we did, but I don’t think we saw more than one percent of all there was to see. We refreshed ourselves at Doc Marten’s restaurant, in the Taos Inn. Kristy had heard the food was good, and the report was right.



We started our drive back to Raton after dinner, just when twilight was beginning to fall. Antelope dotted the plains, and we had to keep a close eye out for deer. Kristy pulled over when we saw a herd of elk, grabbed her camera, and headed for the fenceline. She got several good photos, considering their location and the fact that they were moving away, apparently peeved about all the cars that had pulled off to look at them. We didn’t stop for Ted Turner’s buffalo, though. It’s interesting - although we have elk and buffalo here in Lincoln, at Pioneers Park in the Nature Center, there’s just something totally different about seeing them in the wild. Sure, they were still behind fences, but their sheer numbers seemed to show how insignificant those fences could be.