There were several highlights to our October visit to Taos, but these three standout stories with our Photo Tour with Geraint (see the last post).
TAOS PUEBLO
We had tried to visit the Taos Pueblo on Tuesday, but it was closed for a special event not open to the public—the tribal members are very private about ritualistic or religious practices. We were glad to see the Pueblo was open to the public on Thursday when we tried again. We got there midmorning and paid our $14 admission.
The Taos Pueblo is about a mile north of the city and sits at about 7200 feet elevation. The adobe pueblo (Spanish for “village” or ‘town,” but mostly referring to an adobe group of dwellings used by some Southwest native tribes) was built between 800 and 1200 years ago. The Pueblo is backed by the Taos mountains,
part of the Sange de Cristo range. The tribe owns about 100,000 acres, but only about 20 families actually live in the pueblo and about 1000 tribe members live in the area. The Taos Pueblo is one of those rare places that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as a National Heritage Landmark. One of the main buildings on the site is San Geronimo or St. Jerome Chapel,
which was built in 1850 on the site of an earlier church destroyed in 1847.
The Taos Pueblo is one of the oldest continually inhabited communities in the US.
We arrived just in time for a tour guided by a young (college age) native girl whose family owns one of the adobe dwellings.
Our guide was very good: concise information and histories, good answers to questions, concern for the tourists (about 25 of us). The tour, lasting about an hour, was free, but most guests tipped $5 to $10.
We then wandered around the compound looking for photos of the pueblo while trying to be careful not to include residents (or too many tourists).
The rule is to always get permission before taking a photo of a native—although I accidentally got one in a couple of photos.
We thought our tour was great, the villagers were friendly, the buildings lovely, and the experience amazing. Not everyone felt the same way, though. One well-to-do lady kept asking questions that had already been answered. At one point she asked a quite inappropriate personal question of the guide who responded with an appropriate, if not quite so gentle, response. The lady “hurrumphed” and I noticed later didn’t leave a tip. That’s okay, we thought her response was brilliant and left a larger tip. Tourist O, Taos Guide 1.
ENCHANTED CIRCLE DRIVE
This high road starts in Taos, circles to the east, and comes back to Taos. We chose to drive the circle clockwise, though locals say either way is good depending upon weather. Starting out of town on Hwy 64 we soon turned onto State 512 through Arroyo Hondo.
The scenery was lovely with mostly yellow fall tones—cottonwoods and aspens. At Questa (elevation 7481 feet) we turned onto Hwy 38 toward Red River at 8400 feet.
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| Mountain goats by the roadside. |
On this stretch we found not only fall colors, but rocky cliffs as well. Some of my photos reminded me of those taken by Ansel Adams in Yosemite, although on a much less grand scale and not of that quality.
On second thought, mine don’t compare at all to Adams’ photos, I don’t know why I mentioned it.
At Red River we stopped to find lunch or a snack. The only restaurant near where we parked in the construction filled downtown had strange sandwiches, none very appealing—we walked out. We did visit a nice coffee shop and got lattes to go.
We found a city park where we could park and eat food bars we had with us and drink our lattes. On the way out of town to continue the Enchanted Circle drive we saw some better restaurant choices, but we went on. Got to remember to look at all our options in a new place.
The terrain changed between Red River and Eagle’s Nest. We drove though high mountain meadow or plateau. Views of snow clad mountains were great.
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| Old ranch gate on the high plateau. |
We pulled into Angel Fire (8460 feet) and half-heartedly tried to find the country club golf course where a friend used to play. Both Angel Fire and Red River are local ski areas.
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| Red River ski lift. |
The final stretch—between Angel Fire and Taos—was very different. It was a windy road along the river. Beautiful, but difficult to photograph. The road went though one small village, Shady Brook. The whole trip was fun with great scenery and good photo ops. The entire circle took five hours and is a do again trip.
VISITING FAMILY
On our last full day in Taos we had plans to visit our unofficial niece who lives in Truchas, NM, a village at about 8500 feet on the High Road between Santa Fe and Taos. We had planned to see them earlier in the trip but the whole family (Jas, Zach, Zea, and Mays) tested positive for Covid. Because of their lifestyle (you’ll understand in a few more lines) we decided to go ahead with the visit masked up and keeping social distance.
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| Church in a small village on our way to Truchas. |
The drive up from Taos was difficult. It was the second day of bad weather and the 9500 foot summit we had to cross was shrouded in clouds.
When we got to their property about a half mile out of the village of Truchas, it was grand to see everyone and to meet Mays (almsot 3)
—he’s sharp and cute. Zea (six) has turned shy and cute.
The kids are great—happy and well-adjusted due to good parenting and a wonderful life-style. Zach and Jas are almost finished with the cob (adobe) house; windows are ready to go in and the roof is waiting for a spell of dry weather to be put up.
The family is happy—they will be really happy not having to live in the yurt another winter—and healthy—except for the Covid probably picked up at the Hot Air Balloon Festival. It’s not a lifestyle that fits all, but it works well for them. We help them when and how we can.
Jas is the daughter of the debate coaches from Taos HS (Bill and Cat) whom I worked with at Southwest debate camps for about 12 years. We became very good friends and Anne would help take care of Jas while we were teaching and listening to debates. She has become an adopted niece and she and her family part of our family.
NEXT: Final post from Taos and Santa Fe.
