San Francisco de Asis

Monday, June 8 - On our way out of town, we stopped at Ranchos de Taos to see the mission church San Francisco de Asis, which is one of the oldest churches in the country. It was finished in 1815 and is made of real adobe - none of the "fake" stucco stuff you see on modern buildings - and it has to be re-plastered every year because it cracks and flakes off with the weather. They are actually in the process of replastering it with the mud and straw mixture now, which was really interesting to see.

The church has been the subject of many artists, including Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams. The back of the church is what you see first from the road, and is really striking.

Around Taos

Monday, June 8 - Taos is a really great town. We had a really relaxing few hours today before getting back in the car for the 1.5 hour drive to Santa Fe. First off, the Taos Inn is great. Our room was really comfortable, and it was right off a courtyard with a fountain. The town plaza was just a couple of blocks away, so we walked over and had great lunch at the Bent Street Deli and Cafe sitting outside. The cafe was on the corner of a pedestrian street with a bunch of shops. There was also a pretty creative sign to prevent kids from playing in a fountain.

Historic Taos Inn

Sunday, June 7 – We ended the day by arriving at another historic hotel, the Taos Inn. After unloading, we went straight to the patio of their Adobe Bar to have one of their “legendary” margaritas.

Entering New Mexico

Sunday, June 7 – We had a nice drive today from Durango to Taos, NM, and crossing a state line and seeing the state’s “welcome” sign is always a highlight. We were counting the miles, anticipating its approach with camera ready, and then there was… NOTHING. We saw the back of the “Welcome to Colorado” sign, but no New Mexico sign. Highway US-64 is pretty weak. This picture shows where the sign should have been, so you can see the landscape. (It’s not a desert in northern New Mexico.) Fortunately, I snapped a New Mexico sign when we were at the Four Corners, so merge these two pictures in your mind.

(Sorry, no photoshopping going on tonight.) You'd think New Mexico would rather have a nice welcome sign on this beautiful green road, instead of at the bleak scene by the Four Corners.

As we got closer to Taos, we crossed the Rio Grande River Gorge. We got out of the car to take a look from the bridge. (Don’t worry, there was a safe place to park on the other side of the bridge.) It was REALLY windy out there. We saw a woman have her husband take a picture of her getting windblown, so we thought we’d reenact her photo ourselves.