We stayed at an RV park on the far west side of Taos near the airport and just a few miles east of the Gorge.
On day one we drove back across the bridge to view some Earthship Bio-structures which is a fancy way of saying totally self-contained, half buried houses where you can live off-grid for your whole life, or until a hail stone breaks one of your solar panels. And by calling these houses Bio-structures you can raise the prices quite a lot. Did not find out what they cost but they had some very interesting concepts and some we should incorporate in our everyday lives. Even maybe where you drink hundreds of bottles and cans of beer they use the empty bottles and cans as decoration patterns in your adobe walls. Or maybe not.
Even though we’d done it before we drove back to the Rio Grande Gorge but I was the only one that got out of the pick-up to brave the heat and walk across the bridge and back. Some one had taken dozens of pieces of yellow paper about 4×4, written Bible verses on them, laminated them then zip tied then to the bridge rails. Neat idea and they were getting a lot of attention. I took my tourist photos then headed back to the truck. Priss met me at the end of the bridge, she was worried I might have a heat stroke since I wasn’t used to the heat and elevation (nice way of saying I’m too old, fat and out of shape to be walking in that heat and elevation).
Taos was a boom and a bust. New Mexico is just reopening after being Covid shut down and it seemed the merchants were trying agree how to reopen safely. Most restaurants were only open four days a week and for five or six hours. Some closed Monday and Tuesday, some Tuesday and Wednesday and some Wednesday and Thursday. None of their websites had been updated so all had incorrect information. One told us they just stayed open until they ran out of what they had for the day then closed. Maybe 11AM, maybe 1PM, maybe 3PM. So making firm plans was quite hit and miss. And Art is Taos so visiting the galleries is a must when in Taos. But very few of the galleries had reopened so we enjoyed visiting the ones that were open and enjoying the great talents some people have that I don’t.
We drove up to the Taos Valley Ski area and not one single business had reopened then we were there, which turned out to be about a week too soon. All the merchants had voted to open the same day but several days after we were leaving Taos.
Almost every single business we visited had help wanted or now hiring signs posted and every business person we talked to said they could not get anyone to take the jobs they were offering. But if could be a problem the businesses are only open four days a week and five to six hours a day so the workers can’t get enough hours to make a living. Looks like wage increases are on the horizon, time will tell.
Had decent Mexican food but to me it had changed in the years since I’d been to Taos. The traditional New Mexico style dishes that were spicy and saucy are no longer on the menus and the restaurants that were open offered a more generic type of menu items, almost fast food style. Sure hope the other restaurants offer the traditional menus when they open, if not a great tasty tradition has been lost.
The girls heard a rumor that the Taos Inn, just off the old square had the best Margaritas in town so you know we made a special trip there. Problem was we could see it but we couldn’t get to it. Priss was getting desperate for her Margarita so she volunteered to walk to the hotel and ask how we could get there. Turns our we hadn’t read the signs very well. When you drive down the main drag in Taos, just past the hotel is a very tiny opening and an even smaller sign that says “Taos Inn Parking”. The opening was maybe two feet wider than my truck but we made it in the first try then found other cars and parked with them. We went inside and the girls found out the Inn offered several different Margaritas so the decision of what to get was difficult. I’m not a drinker so I had iced tea, and I have to say Taos has some of the best iced tea I’ve gotten anywhere, so hooray for Taos. I think the Margaritas were pretty tasty also because out of the corner of my eye I saw the girls licking every last drop they could get out of their glasses. Good thing they were wide mouth glasses.
We drove to Red River one day to find the place where we had had a family reunion 30+ years ago but that progress thing had happened there too and the little town has grown so much we didn’t find a single spot that looked familiar. Not even the old jail.
Those of you that don’t know the desert can’t appreciate how cool it gets when the sun goes down. It’s hot in the day but gets very cool when the sun goes down. We ran our heater a part of every night in Taos.
We’ve been gone from home about a month and Norm and I were beginning to look a little shaggy in the hair department so we decided it was time for a trim. We found Gil’s Barbershop was open and welcomed a couple of walk ins. The last time Norm and I had had a haircut together was in Fairbanks, Alaska where a little lady named Sucki gave us buzz cuts of our lifetime. Gil wasn’t as bad but I really thing they are related. Don’t think I’ll need a trim until I get home in late August, if then.
Taos was fun and relaxing, shudda been there a week or so later but we enjoyed the food, the people and the shops that were open. May even think about coming back in another 35 years.
Later.
-Tom