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.
