Day 7 - Enchanted Circle, New Mexico

Today, we are headed for the Rio Grande Gorge, Taos and driving the Enchanted Circle.  Shortly after leaving we begin to get into the mountains north of Santa Fe.

The Cottonwoods and Aspens are all golden yellow at this altitude (9200 feet at our highest) and are striking against the greens and browns of the Ponderosa and Pinion pines and Juniper trees.

As we drive towards Taos, we pass this church in the Spanish mission style.

We cross the Rio Grande River at Taos Junction bridge site and follow the dirt road so that we come to the Gorge Bridge from the west.  As we travel along the road, we have this view. 

More views as we continue to drive the west rim of the Rio Grande heading to the Gorge Bridge.

Here we have the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge towering over the Rio Grande river rapids below.

Looking north from the bridge, you can see the size of the Rio Grande George.

From there we followed the Enchanted Circle counter clockwise passing Questa, Red River, Eagle Nest and then Angel Fire.  We saw some very nice vistas along the circle.  You can clearly see the fall foliage on the mountain.

This is October and the Aspens are all in their fall colors.  They are quite stark against the dark green of the pines in the background.

How would you like to have this as your back yard?  This area would be nice for a horseback ride.

We finally get to Taos and settled in for some dinner at a Cantina.  Before going into the Cantina, I got this picture of Carmen next to a cart with flowers. 

One of the buildings where the shops were located had these peppers hanging along the second floor roof supports and a ladder from the second floor balcony to the roof. 

There are many artists in Taos, and you wonder if the wheel was purposely placed against the wall for show.  Contrived or not, it still made for a nice picture.

And finally, as there are many of the peppers hanging, this picture shows the different produce available.  

We left Taos in the late afternoon as we have a long ride home and arrived back at the motor home in the dark.  Tomorrow we will travel the Jemez Trail and part of the Santa Fe.