The One in Colorado

 Monday - April 14

Taos, New Mexico - Durango, Colorado

Song - Durango Romance by Bob Dylan

(The one in Mexico)

Enjoyed a great breakfast at our lunch place from yesterday, The Bent Street Grille, then hopped in our car and began our days drive. Lots of dry desert, sagebrush, the Rio Grande and a few hairy parts (ie cliffs)!

Drove through Coyote and almost to Cuba while Nina Simone was belting out “I put a spell on you” on our car radio.

We crossed back over the Continental Divide.

Our bartender, Clint from Taos does the drive from Taos to Gallup often and he recommended the southern route as it was less “hairy” than the northern route and it had some Native American ruins to be seen in Aztec, NM.  They are called the Aztec Ruins but have nothing to do with the Aztec people from Central America. As the ranger explained to us that the Spaniards who conquered the Aztec culture and then headed north, thought these ruins looked like the Aztec’s so let’s call them that…and the name stuck. 

The Aztec Ruins were actually constructed by the Pueblo Indians in the 12th & 13th century. 

The ruins were fascinating and we were glad we got to see them. As we headed into Colorado we saw the San Juan Mountains in the distance and everything around us turned from dust to green.

Mr. B had heard that Durango was a fascinating Western town with mining & lumber heritage and they had trains!

After checking into our hotel, The General Palmer we walked down the street for dinner at the Mahogany Grille located in the Strater Hotel. Delicious!

Mr. B had Elk and I had Herbert (their nickname for filet mignon). Then we ordered Bananas Foster which was prepared and flamed table side!

Afterward we headed straight home and rested up for our drive back south tomorrow. 

Parts Unknown

 Sunday - April 13

Taos

Song - Taos Round Dance - Part 2

Slept in, grabbed a quick breakfast and headed to Taos Pueblo about 6 minutes up the road.

The Pueblo was much bigger than I remember from 39 years ago when we traveled there with our 3 year old son, Andy. We took a small group tour today which was led by a Native American woman named Bear and it was very interesting. I didn’t know that the doors were painted blue to ward off evil spirits. The photo above is just about 1/3 of the Pueblo community. 

 

The people living here get into their home from above

Above is the Geronimo Church which is their Catholic Church. The original (see the cemetery photo below) was destroyed in 1847 during the Mexican American war. 

The cemetery and the ruins of the original Geronimo church

Two bread ovens 

On the way home we passed a “pop up protest”. Only 8 - 10  people but very passionate.  Gave them the thumbs up through my open window and got lots of whoops and hollers.  Also, I love a hat that I saw today which said “Make America Gracious Again”!!! It is made by a small business in Santa Fe. 

We returned home and freshened up a bit then walked around the corner to the Kit Carson Home & Museum. Fascinating but ugly history. Carson was married three separate times. Tragically, his first wife, an Arapaho woman named Waanibe (or Singing Grass), died giving birth to their second child. He then married a Cheyenne woman named Making-Out-Road, which ended up in her divorcing him by putting his child & personal items outside of her tepee.  He eventually married a woman from Taos, Josefa Jaramillo.  She gave him seven children, they adopted 3 Navajo children which seems incredible since he helped wipe out several Native American villages - men, women & children. Josefa died 3 weeks after giving birth to their last child due to complications and Kit died several weeks after that from an aortic aneurysm. 

Had lunch at The Bent Street Grille in Old Town and it was so good!  We sat outside and the light breeze kept us at the perfect temperature. Mr. B had a Grilled Ruben and I had Huevos Rancheros with just the perfect amount of heat. We walked around the Plaza in Old Town window shopping then headed back to our hotel for Mr. B to rest and me to do some blogging.

The best part was meeting Thunder! 

In the evening we decided to have something light in the hotel bar. Music tonight was Charley Solito. Our waiter Michael was great and when we asked him about which route to take tomorrow to Durango, Colorado he told us to talk to the bartender, Clint. So after dinner we sat at the bar and talked to Clint. He actually was from Klamath Falls, Oregon. Has ridden his motorcycle over to Durango many times. When we told him that I don’t like cliffs, he suggested us taking the Southern route and told us to stop at Ghost Ranch & Aztec ruins on the way. Great people here!  Well except for Kit Carson…

I had asked Mr. B to pose for a photo in his new jean shirt and this was what I got after I took several bad shots and asked him to give me a “sexy” look. 

Thanks Guido that’s just what I was looking for!

 

Pink Moon in Taos

 Saturday - April 12

Santa Fe - Taos

Song - Harvest Moon by Neil Young

Pink Moon - the Farmers Almanac explains that the moon doesn’t actually appear pick but was named that because a pink wildflower was blooming then, a type of Moss Phlox.  

Grabbed a breakfast on the road from Starbucks in Santa Fe and headed north to Taos. We had mapped out four different stops on our way - two Native American cliff dwellings and two chapels. The first dwelling was Tsankawi Prehistoric Sites and it was interesting from the parking area but as we began to walk we found out the path had changed and it was now 1 1/2 mile hike with ladders so we just took photos from as close as we could get. 

The second one was Puye Cliff Dwellings but found out that it was closed so we headed East to the Santuario de Chimayo which looked like a sweet little Pueblo chapel but instead it was a packed local destination with tour buses and extremely religious groups. Most had large rosary beads around their neck some were carrying posts with the stations of the cross and many were elderly or ill and looking for healing. Apparently it is an 1860’s Catholic Church with “healing dirt” so it has become a pilgrimage for many. 

Some were even bathing their feet in the nearby stream. Power was out so the church was very dark with only candle light  and we were asked not to take any photos inside.  The second chapel was Santa Cruz de La Cañada and it was locked! 

 Oh well, we began heading for Taos with a quick stop along the Rio Grande River which flowed along most of our route.

Lot’s of mountains, mesas, snow topped mountains in the distance and loads of rocks and chaparral! Enjoyed a light lunch at our hotel and headed to our car to unpack. 

Music tonight was the Arellano Brothers Band which was a local folk country band with Mexican Mariachi influences. Excellent and fun!

Old Santa Fe Trail

Song - Along the Navajo Trail by Roy Rogers

Friday - April 11

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Slept in this morning and then ran some errands including picking up an extra duffel bag at REI for our trip home.  Went back to Pantry Rio for lunch and sat outside enjoying our delicious food and beautiful weather. It’s 77 here today but you still get a bit of cool breeze.  This afternoon we planned tomorrow’s journey up to Taos. There are two cliff dwelling sites we want to see and I have two chapels along the way. Usually I do most of the planning at home but this was a bit of a spontaneous trip so other than hotel reservations not much else was planned. 

Tonight we have 8:30 reservations back at Cafe Pasquel’s for dinner. In the afternoon we took a drive along the Old Santa Fe Trail to the SF Botanical Gardens. It was 4:30 and they closed at 5 so we thought that would be perfect but unfortunately it was 4:31 and they don’t let anyone in after 4:30. Ugh.

 So we drove around the outskirts of town and headed to the Canyon Galleries. Not that I need to purchase anything but it was nice to window shop. Then we headed back to our hotel for a glass of wine in the Bistro and out for dinner. 

Our reservation was at 8:30 and about 7pm we decided that was going to be a little too late for us. 

So I found us a restaurant, Luminaries next to the Loretto Chapel.  It was very quiet with only 4 other couples dining there. Great waiter & good food but 3 of the 4 couples around us were arguing and one of those were breaking up. The woman couldn’t stop sobbing and saying how important he was to her. Another were arguing about not having healthy boundaries and the 3rd couple were just plain unhappy. So….Mr. B and I had a great meal but the atmosphere could have been better. I told Mr. B that “We gotta get outta this place, if it’s the last thing we ever do”!

We had a beautiful walk home with an almost full moon. 

And Mr. B matched our hotel door!