Friday, August 31, 2007

Day Six, New Mexico - Abiquiu and High Road to Toas

On this day we were kinda ahead of schedule, having seen all of Santa Fe that we desired, but I can be flexible.

After breakfast we took a hike in the canyon behind the house where I grew up, pointing out rocks, caves and pipes that were play toys when we were young. After the huge forest a few years ago, the forestry people went through the canyon and chopped down every tree less than 3 inches wide and chipped them. So the canyon looks a little more sparse, but basically the same. There weren't as many wildflowers though, especially very little Indian Paintbrush. We always loved playing with the bark of Ponderosa Pine trees...it pulls apart like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Here is a debarked ponderosa with the intricate etchings of worms that lived under the bark.


So today we first drove up to Abiquiu, via Espanola. The "Los Alamos Highway" takes you past Black Mesa on San Ildefonso Pueblo.


Abiquiu is where Georgia O'Keefe spent time and found her inspiration. I didn't know there was a lake in the area, and the valley is quite beautiful.


A bit north of Abiquiu is Ghost Ranch, where we toured the Piedra Lumbre Education & Visitor Center. The scenery around Ghost Ranch is indeed quite beautiful and inspiring.




A storm was coming in, so we rushed up to the Echo Amphitheater.


Then we came back down through Espanola and headed toward the "High Road" to Taos. We saw the Ortega Weaving Shop in Chimayo, and the Santuario de Chimayo. We continued on through Cordova, Truchas, and Trampas, returning home via the low road (the river road) when we reached Ranchos de Taos.

There was a huge rain storm in the distance, but we caught only a few seconds of it. Can you see where the rain obscures the mountains?
The river road from Taos had crazy traffic with idiots passing us on double yellow lines. We heaved a sigh of relief when we made it back to Los Alamos. We took our hosts out to dinner at the Blue Window restaurant and had incredibly good calamari and the prime rib special.

No comments: