On Saturday morning we drove back to Taos, once again taking the high road.  We couldn’t resist stopping to take a few more pictures…..

The scenery is SO open and gorgeous and the sky is SO, SO, SO blue!!!

Our first stop was at the Rio Grande Gorge State Park.  It was interesting to drive up to it and not see any sign of the gorge until you are right on it.  The first clue were the vendors surrounding the park entrance…..

…especially loved this bus…..

We walked behind these vehicles and found the entrance to the park area where we could walk along the edge of the gorge.  Since we were still a little tired from yesterday’s walk, we didn’t walk far, but enjoyed the views….

However, the very best views were those from the bridge across the gorge….

It is amazing to realize that such a small river could cause so much erosion to create such a huge crevice in the ground.

We returned to Taos, going to pick up the painting that we had seen a few days before.  We asked the artist where he would suggest that we eat and he sent us to “Graham’s Grille” where Michael enjoyed an open-face Gyro…..

…while I scarfed down a wonderful barbeque pork sandwich….

We drove slowly back to Santa Fe and started packing up for the trip back to Abilene…..

On Friday morning, Michael and I donned our hiking boots, drove 2 miles and headed up Atalaya Mountain.

The trails were well marked as we left from the parking lot at St. John’s College.

We first hiked thru a small Arroyo (a steep-sided gully cut by running water in an arid or semiarid region).  As we hiked, we talked about how we would NOT want to be in the area when it was raining.  There were many dry stream beds that I am sure would quickly fill with water and make it uncomfortable, if not dangerous, to hike.

As usual, I was drawn to the colors of the flowers in the area, but there were not too many specimens to choose from.   I loved these small red flowers….

Michael, on the other hand, was drawn to various types of cacti and succulents….

This little guy was trying really hard to blend into the background……

There was evidence that a fire had been thru the area at some time as many of the trees were in the process of re-budding, however, this tree was obviously burned too far to regenerate…..

We kept stopping to take photos, enjoying the every widening view….

 

As we moved higher up the mountain, the trees turned from Junipers to Pines, making the scenery change.

At one point on the hike, we had to make a decision about whether to take the harder “steeper” route or to take the “easier” route. 

We met a man coming down from the steeper way and he assured us that it was doable, so we decided to take steeper up and easier down.  The trail was not that bad, but we did stop often for breath and water breaks!!

When we reached the top of the mountain, we enjoyed the views and took a few photos……

…….including one of me to send to my Physical Therapist to say “my knees are doing GREAT!!!!!”……

On the way back down, I stopped to photograph this cactus.  Would love to see it when the blossom has opened…..

Some of the areas were extremely rocky…..

….but there would be veins of pink rocks and even a few really big ones…..

Michael had been having cell phone coverage issues in Santa Fe but found that he had a great signal at the top of the mountain, so we stopped so that he could return a few calls…..

While I was standing there waiting for him, I started to notice the VERY dead tree that we were standing under…..

The silhouette was interesting, but the really cool part was the bark…..

I loved the shapes in the bark and also all of the woodpecker holes!!!  Michael commented that it would make a cool quilt…..interesting!!

Some of the views were different on the way back down.  We loved this one with the smaller mesas in front of the other mountains…..

The hike down was great and we arrived back at the B&B tired and dirty, but with lots of fun memories.  In total we had hike 7.5 miles and had climbed about 2,200 feet in elevation, starting at 7,000 and topping out at 9,200!!

After we had rested for a while, we went out to dinner at the Coyote Café, another restaurant recommended by Gayle.

We loved the décor of the building, especially the light fixtures…

 

Actually, they were not light FIXTURES as the light came down from the spots in the ceiling, but the lights accentuated the sculptures, making it look like birds flying thru the restaurant.

Our meal was excellent, including Stuffed Zucchini blossoms…..

Michael and I split the Filet Mignon main course…..

….and a very tasty side order of onion rings…..

While Michael enjoyed a post-prandial Port, I (at the waiter’s suggestion) had the chocolate mousse.   It was wonderful!!!

We returned to the B&B and fell happily into bed!!!

On Thursday morning we enjoyed our breakfast and started on a walk down Canyon Road.  The idea was to walk for exercise, but once again, we started looking in shops and galleries and, before we knew it, the walking part had dwindled down to a snails pace!!!

We enjoyed the fact that many of the galleries had examples of their art for all to enjoy…..

Even the fences are artistic……

And, to my great pleasure, there are sunflowers everywhere….

We loved this yard art, but at $3,600 we thought that we should leave it here.  I am wondering if I could build something similar to it…….

 

We especially enjoyed walking around the Sherwoods Spirit of America Gallery.  All of the authenticated artifacts were displayed in the manner of a museum, but ALL were for sale, from the $140 flint striker to the $125,000 Indian Princess dress.  We spent a long time drooling…..

We then stopped at the Wiford Gallery and enjoyed the wind sculptures made by Lyman Whitaker.  It was so serene watching them slowly turn in the breeze….

We also walked into the gallery of James Roybal and his wife, McCreery Jordan, where we found this……

We both fell in love with it and decided that it would look great with the painting that we found yesterday in Taos, so it ended up coming home with us!!!!

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and then had dinner at a tapas restaurant called La Boca.  We  enjoyed a series of plates including…..

…. Mediterranean salad~ mixed greens, figs, apricots, olives, and feta cheese with sherry honey vinaigrette

….carrot-garbanzo hummus~ with cumin, mint, lemon, and grilled house-made yogurt flatbread

….patatas bravas: fried local fingerling potatoes w/spicy sherry vinegar sauce & roasted garlic aioli

….gambas fritas~ fried shrimp with avocado, and pimentón agri-dulce

….pincho de pollo~ harissa chicken skewer with avocado, cucumber, and tomato salad

….local flat-iron steak~ with smoked sea salt caramel, or cabrales butter

….pots de crème ~ chocolate-espresso ganache-custard w/ lengua de gato cookies

We had a wonderful time enjoying the food and talking to the couple at the table next to us who were visiting from Denver.

 

After we returned to the B&B, I walked around and took a few photos of the gardens…..

…and then joined Michael on the porch for a recap of the wonderful day…..

Each of our mornings here have begun in the same way.   First we drink our tea and coffee sitting on our front porch…….

Then we move to the courtyard for a wonderful breakfast with a hot entrée, toast and gorgeous and tasty fruit……

This morning we had decided that we would drive to Taos to spend the day.  When we told our Innkeeper, Gayle, about it, she said that we needed to take the “high road” up to Taos and then drive the “low road” back home again.  She warned us that the high road would take about two hours to make the trip.  Little did she know that we would stop umpteen times to take photos and visit small galleries and shops along the way.  Total travel time…..over FOUR hours!!!!

BUT, we had a lot of fun!!!   The scenery changed as we drove, starting out with low hills…..

…and emerging into beautiful mountains.  This range is part of the Pecos Wilderness area and was where were planning to backpack….until the forest was closed because of fires and flash floods!!!!

Our first stop of the morning was in the town of Chimayo, which is highly known for its tapestries and weavings.  Needless to say, we had to have a look. 

We went into one gallery (Ortega’s Weaving Shop)  and ended up buying a few woven blankets…… but really enjoyed watching the man weave in the back room.   Notice how his feet get into the act as well.  You could get a REALLY good aerobic workout doing this…..

On Tuesday morning we packed up again and started our drive to Santa Fe.  The landscape was much as we had seen yesterday, but there were pockets that were green, letting us know that there had been SOME rain in the last few weeks……

We stopped NUMEROUS times to take photos of the landscape, flora and fauna, including red ants……

Dung beetles……

Prickly Pear Cactus……

Mesquite bushes festooned with beans…..And Cholla cactus…..

….those thorns mean business!!!!

We had to take great care in crossing the road so that we didn’t get hit by a car…..not!!!

As the morning wore on, we started seeing glimpses of the gorgeous mountains rising up to meet us…..

We arrived in Santa Fe a couple of hours before we could check in, so found a local restaurant, Tomasita’s, for some New Mexico style Mexican food…..

It was different in that it had lots of green chiles rather than red ones and my meal included Hominy too……

The most amazing thing were the Sopapillas and honey that we had for dessert.  They were magnificent!!!!

Now that’s a BIG bite…..

We moved to our Bed and Breakfast (Don Gaspar Inn) and were very happy to find cozy and comfortable living areas……

Next on tap was a walk to the Plaza area of Santa Fe to do some shopping.  We really liked these berry bearing trees along the road…..

….and found some of the road art to be interesting.  This piece was on the corner of the State Capitol compound…..

‘We didn’t end up doing much shopping as the prices were obviously inflated for the tourists, but we did enjoy seeing this church….the Cathedral Bascillica of St. Francis of Assisi…..

The lines of the architecture were so clean and simple, very unlike the Cathedrals that we have visited overseas in the last few years……

I especially noticed this simplicity with the artwork……

 

We returned to the B&B and crashed on the couch, as if we had been sight-seeing and walking for hours…..our travel genes have obviously not kicked in yet!!!!