Taos

On the drive from the Tent Rocks to Taos there is a point in the trip when you round a bend and you suddenly get a glimpse of the great Rio Grande Gorge, and let me tell you, it is remarkable! The depth of the bulky vein carved into the perfectly flat surrounding land inspired me to stop the car (yet again) and snap a few photos(none of which did the view justice).  That was the beginning of Taos for us, which turned out to be our favorite spot during this trip. We never tired of this small, charming city. Everything, right down to the hotel we booked was a fantastic adventure! The hotel was a quirky little(in reality it was massive) family establishment that had some how managed to buy our the bigger hotel chains in the city!

 The 1,000 year old pueblo was beyond belief. The history of the tribe and their land was complex. It pained me to see and hear what this tribe had been through, the battles they had fought to keep the rights they did and the fact that even after everything they had been through, their culture was dying. A once bustling village living without modern day technology was sparsely populated as more and more young members chose to live in more modern homes. The land is stunning, the views, stories of the mountains and lakes surrounding them, breath-taking.

 This structure (multi level, multi home) is over 1,000 years old! Made from adobe! They refinish the outside layer to keep the buildings from deteriorating.  The children made friends with one of the dogs :) And, we all sampled the local bread and cookies baked in the outdoor ovens!

Afterwards, we headed to the great Rio Grande Gorge(also breath taking). The walk to get to this point was more than nerve-wrecking as the cars zipped past us on a narrow bridge and the gorge became deeper and deeper. By the time we made it we were ready to head back to the car, so we snapped a few quick pictures and took off for the Angel Fire, NM.

 This is as far as we made it to Angel Fire. At a mutual point those twisty mountain roads had Keith, Yuliya and I green in the gills. We stopped and took a small hike so we could gather ourselves before revisiting the winding roads. At the end of our hike we found ourselves on the wrong side of a creek with no way to cross but through! It was refreshing to wade through the ice cold mountain creek. We ended up spending more than a few minutes splashing back and forth across the creek before heading back to Taos. :)

 If you were to ask me where my favorite spot in Taos was, I would tell you the Pueblos. However, for the littles, it was certainly the toy store we found in town. The funny thing about this toy store, they had such a great yard and exploration studio that the children never even asked to actually go in the store part. We sat here for hours climbing the fountain, playing, reading, drawing, playing music, and so much more. Imagine the above gif on a loop for an hour or more!