Taos: wedding day

We spent some time playing chess at Wired coffee shop before heading to a wedding at Taos Mesa Brewing.  And we stopped for lunch at the plaza near La Mission San Francisco De Asis.

Taos Mesa Brewing is eclectic, comfortable venue for a wedding, coupled with dramatic vistas and a colorful, western, earthy feel!

After a quiet exit, we drove past the oddest, fantastical earthship homes, built for hobbits, and made our way to our own comfy, familiar mountain home yet again.  Goodbye dry, desert, artsy, earthy, odd, beautiful place: Taos.

Taos: Riding the Rift

I had my heart set on an epic family bike ride along the Rift Trail but two pancake-flat tires got in my way.  Taos Cyclery repaired the flat front (and I purchased a pair of Land of Enchantment socks).  Nonetheless, the back tire was mushy by the time we got to the rim parking lot and epic family ride was replaced by short and sweet pedaling.

The Rio Grande resides at the bottom.

What you don't see: Kris making friends with a tarantula (it was tarantula migration time).

Next stop, Gearing Up Bike Shop…my hero, the bike mechanic, pulled 11 stickers out of the tire, replaced the tube and added goo.  Tire good as new, we had fun playing football in the parking lot!

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing in the pool: pure, unrestrained joy.

Taos: fall at the ski resort

The aspens were still bright in Taos for Indigenous People's day.

We arrived in time for a quick bike ride around town and then dinner.  The next morning we tooled around Taos Ski area while waiting for Kris to arrive after a long and delayed trip from Los Angeles.

We could see only one lift from the parking lot but the sign at the base told us not to panic, we were "looking at only 1/30th of Taos Ski Valley." So the three of us agreed to come back and try out what Kenedy now believed to be a massive ski area.

For the morning, we tackled the dirt roads.

I made a pact to myself to come back another summer and tackle the beautiful remote mountain valleys with my hiking boots.

Dreams of skiing and backpacking trips aside, we took off for more wheeled adventures in Taos: along the rift!

yet another breakfast

walls

I kept my feet on the ground while Kenedy ascended.  She climbed for five hours. STRONG girl!

there was an elk

We saw a few elk in the library parking lot. They are so boring and beautiful.  They just don't care about us anymore.  Unafraid wild animals = not good.