After a fantastic week in Albuquerque, it was time to head north to Taos, a charming town of just under 6000 permanent residents in the Sangre de Cristo ("Blood of Christ") mountains. At higher altitude than Albuquerque, Taos is quite a bit cooler in the summer and thus a popular tourist destination for travelers from both far away and not-so-far. We had six nights booked in a rental casita downtown and were looking forward to being able to walk to restaurants and shops, something we couldn't easily do from the edge of town in Albuquerque. But before we get to Taos, I wanted to share some of the photos from our drive up from Albuquerque. Leaving the city, low clouds were hanging over the Sandia Mountains, making them appear snow-capped. New Mexico does a really fine job with its bridges. This is one of several decorated ones we passed under. The scenery became absolutely breathtaking as we headed up into the mountains, even though the day was cloudy. A small roadside parking area with a picnic table served as our lunch stop. It was a bit windy and cool, especially after the heat and sunshine in Albuquerque. We were up above 7000' in altitude at this point. On the west side of the road, I dubbed this formation "Monkeyface Mountain". I have no idea what its real name is. Do you see the monkey too? As we got closer to Taos, the clouds started breaking up, showing us peeks of blue sky. We stopped at a visitor information center along the way and checked out this map of the northern Rio Grande Valley; i.e. what we'd been driving through. Finally we reached the outskirts of Taos...oh so pretty. I couldn't stop snapping photos! We had some time to kill when we arrived in town as we'd been told not to check in to our VRBO casita before 4 pm as it was being cleaned. No problem, we found the Kit Carson Memorial Park right in town and walked around with Paisley for awhile. We ended up walking there frequently during our stay in Taos as it was very close to the casita. The Kit Carson Memorial Cemetery is in the park, so we got to see Kit Carson's grave as well as those of some of his family members and contemporaries. Eventually 4pm rolled around. The casita was even nicer than shown on the VRBO site as the photos there were several years old. This was a charming, budget-friendly place to stay right in town but on a quiet back alley. Plenty of space and quite comfortable -- pet-friendly too! I have to be honest and say that the bed, which is just a double, not a queen, was saggy and squeaky. We found we couldn't tolerate sleeping in it together, but there is a small additional room with a single bed, so we used that as well. That was really the only problem with this place, and for the money, we really can't complain. Compared to the place we'd stayed in Albuquerque, which was really just a guest room with bath, this place was huge! After checking in, we explored town some on foot and found a great place for dinner. But we had enough wonderful food in Taos that I'll dedicate an entire post to Taos' eats in the future. We'll also have posts coming up on the charming town itself, a couple of excellent hikes, and mountain biking. So please stay tuned for much, much more from beautiful Taos!
0 Comments
As I mentioned in my previous post, we took two day trips to Santa Fe while staying in Albuquerque for a week this past July. The first trip was all about walking around and sight-seeing, while this second one was all about riding -- and an unexpected turn of events. But more about that later.... Before our trip, Barry discovered that there is an excellent rail-trail in Santa Fe. It starts out paved but as it heads south into a more rural area, the pavement ends and the trail continues for over 11 more unpaved miles. Nothing too technical, just gorgeous scenery, some heart-pounding climbs, and swoopy descents. Perfect! We had big plans to ride our mountain bikes the eight miles over to the Rail Runner train station to catch the 7:30 am train north to Santa Fe. We'd already done a reconnaissance ride to check the route and make sure it was doable. I talked about that in this post. We were just about ready to leave our rental casita to head out on our bikes, when I discovered yet another flat tire from a goathead. I just wanted to cry -- and actually I think I did for a minute or so. So frustrating! We could either wait another few hours to leave and catch a later train or drive over to the station after Barry fixed my flat. We chose the latter as we really wanted to get going and beat any afternoon thunderstorms. We made it to the station and rolled our bikes onto the train with just seconds to spare. Nothing like living on the edge! When we got to Santa Fe, we stopped in at a Whole Foods to ingest a few pre-ride carbs. Yum! Then it was time to hit the trail. We had a perfect day for it. The real fun started when we got to the unpaved trail. It started out remarkably well-groomed and with some very challenging hills, especially for folks used to lower elevations like us. Since the elevation of Santa Fe is over 7000', these climbs got us breathing hard! There were numerous cacti on the side of the trail in places. This is a place you wouldn't want to fall! Once we passed the spur trail (we didn't take it due to time constraints), the trail got a little narrower and less groomed. I'm guessing this section doesn't get nearly the use that the part closer to town gets. It was still great fun riding and not too technical. It wasn't as hilly as the earlier part since we were high up by now, but it was still lightly rolling -- just enough to keep things interesting. Nearing the end of the trail, we got to a road crossing and some nice adobe homes with great views. We rode down a little paved side trail before turning around to begin the trek back. Shortly after turning around, Barry hit a bump, and I saw something pop out of his seat bag. He stopped to retrieve it, then got a weird look on his face. He had just realized that his wallet was missing. Somehow he'd been riding along for miles with his seat bag zipper open, and because I was riding in front of him most of the time, I hadn't even noticed! Looking back at our photos later, I realized that I could and should have noticed when he crossed the train tracks in front of me (see the large photo above), but since that shot was just a "photo op", he didn't continue in front of me for long, and I was too busy setting up the photo to see the open bag. Crap! Of course he was freaking out, and so was I. We knew our chances of finding the wallet were slim as quite a few riders had passed us heading the other way, and if it were lying in an obvious spot, one of them would certainly have noticed it. As we rode frantically along looking all along in and beside the trail, we were both thinking about all the hassles he'd have to go through to replace his credit cards, driver's license, and other items in his wallet. And I realized that I'd have to do all the driving for the rest of our trip. What had been a joyful ride had so quickly turned into a stressful, worrisome one. As expected, there was no sign of the wallet on the way back. To make matters worse, about a mile from town, on the paved trail, I realized my rear tire was flat yet again. Arrrgh! Barry needed to continue riding to look for his wallet, so we didn't take the time to change it; instead, he went on ahead, and I got off and started walking my bike. This day was going from bad to worse. After I finally arrived at the train station, Barry rode up from the other direction shaking his head. Nothing. He called the local police and reported the wallet missing in case some good samaritan picked it up, and we talked about all the things we'd need to do once we were sure it wasn't going to turn up. There aren't any photos from this part of the day, as you can imagine -- we were just too bummed. After taking the return train and driving back to our rental casita, we were looking up a few things on the computer, and all of a sudden I noticed I had a Facebook message from our former neighbor Mike, who owns the condo beside the one we sold in San Pedro, Belize. The message said that he knew that Barry had lost his wallet and to call this person at this number. What?!? Mike, in Boston? How did he get into the loop on this? I messaged him back, and it turns out that he had gotten a call from a man in Santa Fe who had found Barry's wallet. He had found Mike's business card in the wallet and called Mike. Unbelievable! We were exuberant, naturally. Barry gave the guy a call and sure enough, he had it. He said he'd found it right around the area where I was looking at the map of the spur trail in one of the photos above. The entire contents were strewn all over the place. At first he thought some slob had littered the trail until he realized the "litter" was cards from a wallet. He said there was no cash there (there had been $40 in the wallet), but there were credit cards, Barry's driver's license, and other cards and papers. This day suddenly got a whole lot better! So, we jumped in the car and drove back up to Santa Fe. A tremendous storm started up as I was driving, and it was pretty scary -- lots of thunder, lightning, and driving rain. One of those brief but intense storms where half the cars pull off to the side of the road to wait it out, and those of us who continue on drive extra slowly with our hazard lights blinking. Not our most fun drive! But we finally got to the other side of it and found the guy's house. He and his wife couldn't have been nicer, and he said that he had actually lost his own wallet a year before while out walking and had it returned by the finder as well, so he was just returning the favor. What a wonderful break and such a load off our minds! When we got back to the casita, Barry went through the wallet, and everything was there except the cash. I guess the original finder just wanted that but took everything else out and tossed it on the ground looking for more cash. There was no attempt to use the credit cards either -- another break. This really couldn't have turned out any better than it did. Sure, we were out $40, but in the scheme of things, it was far easier to lose cash than most of the other items in the wallet. After all that excitement, we were totally drained and treated ourselves to a meal at Garduno's. Those margaritas went down really well! As we reflected on the day's twists and turns, we realized that my morning flat tire was a blessing in disguise. If we'd been able to ride our bikes to the train station per our original plans, we'd have been looking at a 45-minute bike ride back to our casita, plus additional time for Barry to change my flat tire before we even got going. This would have delayed hearing from Mike and kept our stomachs churning for even longer. Gotta love silver linings! Please stay tuned...wallet firmly stowed, we head to Taos next....
Since we couldn't find any affordable pet-friendly lodging in Santa Fe, we chose to take two day trips there while staying in Albuquerque this past July. The Rail Runner Express commuter train runs between the two cities and is, we found, the perfect way to get back and forth quickly, enjoying fantastic scenery without the stress of driving or parking. They have quiet cars for we old fuddy-duddies, and you can wheel your bikes right on in. We love public transportation and try to take it whenever possible, and this was one of the best experiences we've had with it. Wish more cities would move in this direction! Our first day trip to Santa Fe was a typical sight-seeing visit. Yep, we played tourists for a day. We simply wanted to explore the city on foot, grab some good eats, and do some reconnaissance for our second trip, when we'd be bringing our mountain bikes. We had a perfect day for the trip with bright, sunny weather. Upon arrival in Santa Fe, the first order of business for me was finding some coffee. We'd had to get going pretty early to catch the train and had skipped making coffee in the interest of time. Fortunately I found a place for an infusion of caffeine; now I could enjoy the rest of our visit! We walked in the general direction of old town, and as we were getting closer, we saw that police had a street blocked off. We found out later that the courthouse had been evacuated due to a suspicious envelope being found there. Fortunately, it turned out to be nothing, but the evacuation lasted all day. This photo was actually taken on our way back to the train station at the end of our visit. (Here's a local article about the incident.) There is plenty to see on a walking tour of Santa Fe. We didn't attempt to do it in any organized manner; we just walked here and there, snapping photos of whatever looked interesting. Santa Fe is well known for its art and galleries. There were many items, like these cute bird plates, that would have tempted me if we had a house to decorate. Since we don't, my wallet stayed closed! In addition to the omnipresent chili pepper wreaths and garlands, there were pretty flowers sprinkled around the city, a sight I always love. We were being very frugal on this trip and only bought a couple of small souvenirs. Here was one of the shops we enjoyed and actually bought something from! Our purchases -- bumper stickers and a magnet. We gotta travel light! Before catching the train back to Albuquerque, we stopped in at Maria's for lunch. We'd read really good things about this unique place, and it totally lived up to our expectations. The food was authentic and very fresh.
We were cutting it close on time so had to make a dash to the South Capital train station after paying the tab. As it was monsoon season, storms were fast approaching from the north, so we didn't want to risk waiting for the next train, less we get caught in a downpour. Fortunately, we made it! Fortunately, the rain must have gotten caught over the mountains as we never got any and were rewarded with some beautiful views along the way back to Albuquerque out the east-facing windows. The puffy clouds were so pretty over the mountains. Stay tuned for our second day trip to Santa Fe, where we do some fantastic mountain biking but lose something important along the way....
|
Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
Favorite Travel Blogs |