#208 SW Fall 2023, Part 2

 

SW Fall 2023, Part 2

Along the Rio Grande River between Santa Fe and Taos, NM.

This post continues our story of our fall trip to Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico with pictures I hope will give a sense of the beauty we find in the American Southwest. I’ve already presented images of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, but we also took a couple of day trips from Taos hunting for special scenery. In previous trips to the Taos area I’ve taken photo tours with local professional photographer Geraint Smith—both were fantastic experiences. 

A Geraint Smith photo we purchased last year at a Taos gallery now hangs in our living room.

In fact, they were so good that I thought I could find the great scenery myself. Boy, was I wrong. This time I found good photo subjects, but more than anything else I proved how valuable the knowledge of a professional guide can be. I owe Geraint even more thanks. Please take a look at his work on his website [ https://geraintsmith.com ]. Let me know if you enjoy the following tour of the areas around Santa Fe and Taos.

Another view along the Rio Grande.

Camel Rock. Between Santa Fe and Taos just off the freeway is a rock formation worth noting. Camel Rock is a 40 ft by 100 ft chunk of sandstone that (with a little imagination) resembles a camel. The view of this 450 million year old structure is better from the parking area than the close-up view at the end of the short trail up to the rock. 

A view from Camel Rock.

The Camel

The camel image was stronger before a large piece fell off in 2017.

Arroyo Hondo Cottonwood Tree. One of the scenic spots Geraint took us to on our last tour with him was a spot we revisited (after driving past it twice). It’s a particularly picturesque lone cottonwood tree just off Hwy 522 north from Taos just before reaching Arroyo Honda, a small unincorporated village. We past the village on our way toward Colorado and when we drove the Enchanted Circle. 

The tree is lovely particularly as it changes into its fall colors. We were a little early this year, but it’s still  a photo worth a stop.

Last Year's Colors

Garcia, Colorado. One of the spots we visited with Geraint was, according to residents, the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the state. Garcia (7730 ft) is a small village off Colorado state highway 159 (NM 522). 

The area around Garcia is criss-crossed by a multitude of small paved and gravel roads. 

Ute Mountain, CO

Anne and I found some good photo subjects, but missed some of the great subjects of the year before.

Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway is an 84 mile loop into the high scenic area in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The route goes from Taos north (the way we did the circle) on NM 522 to Questa where you take NM 38 through Red River to Eagle’s Nest. From there drive NM 434 to Angel Fire where you catch NM 64 to go back to Taos.

Climbing up to the first mountain pass.

The route goes through mountain passes as high as 9500 feet and large valleys or plateaus.  

Both Red River and Angel Fire have well developed ski area and the road encircles Wheeler Peak, the highest mountain is New Mexico at 13,161 feet. We stopped in Angel Fire for lunch, but instead of going to the tourist restaurant (fancy and expensive), we opted for J & A Cafe, a rustic off the main road local's spot which was filled with locals. There we shared a fantastic lunch of fresh catfish and chips for $11.95.

When you drive the Enchanted Circle you are passing through scenery made famous by “Easy Rider” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” which were filmed in the area. The last adventure for us of the Enchanted Circle was the mountain road construction project about a mile out of Angel Fire. We wait almost an hour to drive the five miles of curvy construction up to the last pass over into Taos. I ended up being the lead car (after the working truck) and led a mile of traffic the last 18 miles of the trip.

The road into Taos, after the roadwork area, is a wonderfully colorful canyon, but there are very few turnouts and with a mile of cars behind me I wasn't about to stop. Anne did get this great view from our moving car.

NEXT: Museums and Friends in about two weeks. 

Canadian Road Trip, Part Two

Photos in this post are some of the best from the trip and do not necessarily relate to the Bad or the Ugly part of our trip.

Banff

Butterfly

THE BAD AND THE UGLY

The best thing about the “bad” of the trip was that nothing was terrible.  It was bad that we had to go to three different garages to get a two-minute fix, but there were other negatives as well.  

In Canada we traveled through five different Canadian national parks (Kootenay, Banff, Yoho, Glacier, and Revelstroke).  There were wonderful sights to see in all the parks, but only Kootenay and Banff National Parks were really tourist friendly.  In Yoho, Glacier, and Revelstroke we could see dramatic views (mountains, waterfalls, rivers) but there was no place for the casual tourist to stop and see the sights.  

Mountain in Revelstroke Nat'l Park from roadside.

From Canmore to Kelowna after leaving Banff National Park we drove for hours without finding a single worthwhile viewpoint even though there had been plenty to see.  

Mad Hatter at street market in Canmore.

Just to prove I was there, too.

  In Canmore we also had a very negative eating experience.  For lunch our first full day in Canmore we tried to eat at the popular Grizzly Paw Brewery where we’d eaten before and knew it should be good.  

Grizzly Paw

First, they told us the wait for an inside seat would only be five minute (outside was much more).  Fifteen minutes later they came to show us to our upstairs behind the fireplace table.  Ten minutes later they took our drink and food order.  We got our water and my one soda within a couple of minutes, but that was the last we saw of our waitress.  Thirty minutes after we had ordered (forty minutes after we’d been seated) I call the waitress over to find out about our food.  She apologized and said that when they’re busy (and they were) the average wait was twenty minutes.  I pointed out we’d already waited thirty.  She said she’d check on our meals.  Ten minutes later she brought us a small chip and dip tray appetizer and said it’d be a while before our lunch (two simple sandwiches) would be ready.  I said that was unacceptable and that we’d go somewhere else.  “I’ll pay for my soda, but then we’re leaving,” I told her.  She huffed and said she’d bring my drink bill.  A couple minutes later she showed up with our bill for $4.20 for one cream soda.  I paid with a $20 and when she came back she said,  “Here’s your change.”  She put down three fives.  Do the math.  Thankfully that was the only really negative eating experience of the trip.  

Osprey with Fish

Another Bad was due to poor timing.  We hadn’t realized that we’d be coming home on a Canadian three-day weekend which even Canadians couldn’t tell us what was being celebrated--probably similar to Bank Holidays in the UK.  This meant that when we left Kelowna on a Monday morning driving Highway 5, a lovely four-lane road which goes up and up and up it was terribly crowded.  What made the drive bad was that it was a high speed road (70-75 mph) and it was practically bumper-to-bumper for all 120 km.  This was some of the most stressful driving I’ve ever done.  You see, Canadians look at a  posted speed sign and think it’s the minimum speed rather than maximum.  Pickups pulling thirty foot trailers were whizzing by us uphill at 90 one after another.  It got better later in the day, but worse as well.  The speed of the roads dropped to 60 mph which meant everyone was going 75, only this time on two-lane curvy roads bumper-to-bumper. Then it all stopped.  Forty miles from Vancouver we hit stop-and-go traffic which would stretch all the way to Vancouver.  Thankfully, we got off that highway twenty-five miles short of Vancouver.  That was definitely a Bad driving day.

Waterfall near Canmore

Lake in Kootenay Nat'l Park

Lots of Good, a little Bad, and one Ugly.  Jim Morrison may have said that “people are strange,” but on this trip people were Ugly!  As much as I want to consider myself to be above prejudice or stereotyping, I keep finding examples and experiences which push me in that direction.  As we were standing in line for an ice cream at the School Bus Ice Cream shop in Canmore, a lady unceremoniously shoved her way in front of the gentleman in front of us.  Anne said loudly to him, “I thought you were next.”  

School Bus Ice Cream--even wedding parties queue up for the ice cream.

He said in a very British accent, “I thought so, too.”  The lady never flinched. Hearing her accent when she ordered he said, “The Germans are like that.”  We did have a pleasant conversation with the Brit as we waited in the queue.  At Lake Morraine we noticed Asian tourists who crowded in front of others to take their photos, Middle-eastern tourists being pushy and rude, and Southeast Asian tourists who were oblivious to everyone else.  On the trail through Johnston Canyon I was pushed and shoved as I tried to take a picture by an Indian family hurrying to beat others to the view points.  At the overlook to the falls as a number of us photographers were working hard to stay out of each others way, an Asian family pushed through, stood in front of all of us, and wouldn’t move after they took their pictures.   Seeing example after example of these “ugly” tourists certainly makes it hard not show some cultural bias--and that in itself is an Ugly feeling.  Every once in a while in Scotland we see examples of “the Ugly American,” but more often we are seeing others as Ugly Tourists.

Lake Reflection near Canmore

Baker Creek, Banff Nat'l Park

Our summer Road Trip to Canada was truly great.  And the Good far outweighed the Bad or the Ugly. 

Next: The next post will come from Scotland, if the Icelandic volcano doesn't change our trip.