Taos, NM

I hope everyone reading this blog had a great and safe Labor Day weekend. For my three-day weekend, I took a motorcycle trip down to Taos, NM. Taos is only actually about 200 miles away, but I ended up putting 675 miles on my bike in two and a half days! The Saturday morning ride down there was a little wet and very cold, but the rain stopped for a while once we got into Taos so we could do a little sightseeing. Sunday ended up being dry, though a little on the cold side. The ride home today was absolutely beautiful and we took back mountain and dessert roads the whole way back to Colorado Springs. Although I was the lone single person on this trip, Suzanne & David, Debbie & Sam, and Kelly & Jerry all made me feel like part of the gang.

Our goal was to homebase out of Taos and drive the Enchanted Circle. Taos was established around 1615 and was an outpost of “New Spain” back in the day (although already inhabited by Native Americans for over 1000 years at that point!) Over the years, many famous (and infamous) folks have congregated to this mystical town. Kit Carson, D.H. Lawrence, Georgia O’Keefe, Ansel Adams, and Dennis Hopper are just a few of the well-known individuals who called Taos home for a while.

Starting off in Taos, we rode the 85-mile mountain loop known as the Enchanted Circle. It circles the highest peak in New Mexico (Wheeler Peak), which is part of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range. On this loop, between Eagle Nest and Angel Fire is the Vietnam Veterans National Memorial. This peaceful memorial stands in a high mountain valley and was created by the parents of Lt. Victor David Westphall III who was killed in Vietnam in 1968. The white-winged building was really striking and could be seen from quite a way up the road. We didn’t stay for the whole film, but there was a 90-minute film playing titled “Letters from home” that I would really like to return to see some day. I don’t know if it’s because a very special uncle of mine was in Vietnam, but I’ve always been drawn to, and fascinated by, the history of this conflict.

Next stop on the loop was a ski town called Red River. It looks like an old mining town, but fixed up to be a ski resort. We ate breakfast/lunch at a place called Old Tymers Café. It’s a biker restaurant with lots of cool motorcycle memorabilia and tasty food.

Speaking of tasty food, I had some great meals while in New Mexico. My very first meal was lunch at a restaurant in Taos that allowed me to have two of the three foods specific to northern New Mexico (blue corn tortillas and green chili). I never did have pinion nuts, but I saw lots of stands of the side of the road selling them. The mango-chutney chicken enchilada lunch was lip-smacking good and a dinner of goat-cheese and spinach stuffed chicken convinced me that there’s more to New Mexico cuisine than just tacos and chili!!

One of the highlights of the trip was the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Although a lot more touristy now than it was when it appeared in the movie Easy Rider, it still provided a breathtaking view of the Rio Grand more than 500 feet below.

As always, even 3-day weekends aren’t long enough. I saw some great sights and spent time with some great folks, but now it’s back to work! For those of you who are tired of seeing only pictures of my motorcycle and biker friends, I’ll be posting pictures from Hawaii in a couple of weeks, so stand by. . .