The Road to Santa Fe

Leaving Taos
It was difficult to leave Taos. Our stay here was way too brief. I figured out exactly what Taos was for New Mexicans. It was the place you drive to for vacation that is a few hours from your home. The place where you can do virtually any sort of outdoor activity in an environment that is different enough that you sort of forget about things back home. For Washingtonians you could call it a Leavenworth or Winthrop.

But in another way, Taos was pretty unique. We were happy to experience it. Soon we were back on the road.

An Ancient City
We had to drop in and visit something extremely ancient. It was a now-populated city, considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the USA. We had to check this place out.

Parking
As we approached the ancient city, we were directed to park. I was astonished at where I was told to park my car.

Let's take a good look at that sign by my parking spot...

It's not every day that I am mistaken for a warchief. But you know, I do walk tall and exude that sort of body language where I could see that people might mistake me for a warchief.

I think if I lived in New Mexico, people would probably confuse me with warchiefs all the time.

Looking around
As I said before, people still live here. They are very strict about cameras and will not allow you to take pictures of them. But fortunately we could take pictures of their places of dwelling...if we paid a fee....

I accidentally took a picture of a guy who popped his head out of a door just as my camera-clicking finger twitched and pressed the button. It was an irreversible act. I didn't know what sort of trouble I was in. After all, there is a warchief somewhere around here. Fortunately, he sort of just sunk further back into the shadows of the doorframe.

In some areas we found stores that were open. We would occasionally enter to check out the merch.

It was a fascinating place to visit. No running water. No indoor plumbing. No electricity. And yet people still live in these buildings.

Back on the Road
Soon we were once again driving south, this time weaving our way through the mountains of New Mexico towards Santa Fe.

There were a few times where we were driving over 8500 feet in elevation. The air was still rather warm, and it was very scenic.

Santa Fe
We finally arrived at our destination: Santa Fe. Wow, what a town!

Dinner
We ate dinner at this place called the Blue Corn Cafe.

We couldn't think of a better place or way to eat in Santa Fe. This place really hit the spot. We split some Nachos and soaked in the Santa Fe atmosphere.

Strange Dreams
Not sure what was in those Nachos, but that night we had some pretty strange dreams. I dreamt that everyone else in the hotel disappeared, and as I fled the hotel the only thing in the parking lot was a second copy of my car.

Nicki had a strange dream that she was visiting the Santa Fe park. It was.....weird.

Things will likely get even more strange tomorrow. The road will take us to Roswell New Mexico.