A Great Southwest Road Trip: Taos

Taos, NM
May 7-8

Trip notes: Disappointed with the harsh bustle of Santa Fe, we trundled up highway to Taos by way of Las Vegas, NM (see part 2). This took us in the back way to Taos, a small town in a spectacular setting. The high desert around Taos is thick with sage and slashed through the middle by the canyon of the Rio Grande. Portions of the canyon are so steep and jagged they look like a cartoon of an earthquake fault. The valley is enormous, and Taos is very, very small, sitting at the foot of an impressive snow-capped mountain range.

Everything that Santa Fe wasn't, Taos is. It's relaxed, small, friendly, easy to get around, and full of interesting things to do. The people seem devoid of scowls, the gallery staff thank you for your visit, and nobody seems to think Mother and I are not financially qualified to breathe their air.

Now I know you're not going to believe me when I say this. I've read this in other travelogues, and I dismissed it at the time as snobbery. But honestly, if you come to New Mexico, skip Santa Fe and drive directly to Taos. Add a couple of days there. Ok, stop in Santa Fe for a couple of hours on your way from Albuquerque to get it out of your system. But if you don't go there at all, you really aren't missing much. I swear to you, I am not one of these travel snobs that sticks up her nose at a tourist magnet--I rarely find a place that I think is worth a pass over. But I wish I'd passed over Santa Fe. Such is life.

While in Taos, we stayed in a recently renovated hotel on the Taos Plaza:

The Hotel La Fonda is excellent, though pricey in the high seasons. But it's worth it. There's many other options, including ski condos of course. But the Hotel La Fonda is within easy walking distance of most shops and restaurants, and has lots of character. It also has high-speed internet, despite its advanced age.

In Part 2  of this travelogue I mentioned a lonely biker cruising around the front of our hotel. The plaza out front of this hotel is alive with Harleys and muscle cars for hours at a time after dark. They seem to cruise around revving their engines, apparently signaling to the aliens from Mars who must have brought them here in the first place. They usually go away at some point, when the aliens come and beam them and the Minitrucks On Parade up to the mothership.

My favorite part was during a lull in the Harleys and Minitrucks when a guy stood out on the sidewalk in front of the hotel and yelled, "WHAT THE FUCK??". It was sort of existential.

After that they revved the Harley engine so loud it caused the windows to shake. And as the hotel doesn't have consistent air conditioning, we had to leave the windows open. We do kind of wonder where the police are during all of this, as it goes beyond any normal biker noises, but we learned today that New Mexico has one of the highest drug and crime rates in the country, and we figure they've got bigger fish to fry. Or maybe they're ALL aliens.

We took a half day rafting trip on the Rio Grande, and a half day riding horses up through old Apache hangouts up in the mountains. Beautiful views the whole way, but no pics due to the disposable camera we used that must be developed the old fashioned way. Both were wonderful trips. We think we saw a mink swimming in the river, and we got the evil eye from a momma screech owl on the horse trip.

Now we're off to...somewhere hot. That's all I can tell you. Probably won't be back online for a few days, as we're leaving the reach of high speed internet and Earthlink. If I disappear, have a beer for me & my travelling zoo.

Part 1: Albuquerque and Carlsbad
Part 2: Santa Fe
Part 3: Taos
Part 4: Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Part 5: San Juan Skyway, Colorado
Part 6: Mesa Verde
Part 7: Durango & Silverton Railroad
Part 8: Navajoland and Canyon de Chelly
Part 9: Zuni Pueblo, El Morro & El Malpais
Part 10: Wrap Up of the Great Southwest