July 5 – Northern NM

Today we said goodbye to Santa Fe and headed north to Taos, with a couple of stops along the way. We stopped at Chimayo, at the sanctuary,

had some tamales at Leona’s, and headed on to Ojo Caliente for a dip in the hot springs there. They have really fixed it up since I was there last – 13 years ago. It is nice and luckily not too done up or pretentious. When we left Ojo Caliente we took a shortcut that ended up being a county road (567) that at some point becomes a gravel road that goes through an incredible canyon (this is part of the Carson National Forest). It was not a shortcut, but was a wonderful treasure to stumble upon. 

So now we are in Taos and I have to say I really like it here. There are more trees here and the extra green is soothing to me. Yet you still get all of the fantastic vistas, adobe structures which fit the earth so well, and sagebrush, too. Taos is pretty and small and I like that. I really feel a pull to this part of the world and will certainly return to the Taos/Santa Fe area. It is a great counterbalance for Portland.