Plans Change - Friends Leave

While we were still in Taos, our two traveling companions modified their plans. Instead of returning to Texas with us they decided to cut short their stay in Taos, and go up to Colorado Springs. This was bitter sweet news. Pat & I had enjoyed our time with Jim & Raisin, but we knew that we would enjoy time to ourselves.

At about the same time, Pat's youngest daughter, Melissa, called and told us that we were the new parents of a Blue & Gold Macaw! All that we had to do is send money and drive to Bloomington, Indiana to fetch our new bird child. Egads! I had been looking forward to a leisurly trip home, and now I had to re-route us from Taos to Bloomington and then home. I also had to to this with as much haste as we could muster. I have a job to get back to, and my boss, while understanding, had to be informed. More on this saga in a seperate post.

While we were still in Taos we all took the raft trip down the upper Rio Grande. The trip was a real hoot. We had a great guide that kept our raft upright, and its passengers inside. The river flow was down, but it still moved us along at a pace that suited us. We all got wet, and had a grand time.

The next day we went to the Taos Pueblo. The Pueblo is still inhabited, and is a very interesting place to see. We sampled some bread that had been baked in an outside oven that I can't remember the name of. They pre-heat the oven by burning cedar logs in it, sweeping the ashes out, and then placing the food inside. We had a tour of the place, and the young lady that showed us around gave us a very good presentation.

We took a driving tour into the mountains and the ski areas around Taos. It was very scenic, cool, and mountainous. We've learned to take two vehicles to keep our sanity - I could have used that death ray several more times on this trip. If it wasn't for the cold weather, these areas would be a nice place to visit in the winter.

The next day our companions left us. They were anxious about finding a way out of Taos that the driver of the SOB could handle without too much anxiety. They finaly met up with a camper-worker in our RV park that knew the exact route for them to take. They called later in the day from Colorado Springs to say they had arrived safely, and they had not lost the hot weather.

Pat & I left the following day for the famous Llama hike into the mountains. This turned out to be really fun. I took movies of the hike to show to Melissa, and Pat just enjoyed walking beside a Llama. The hike was two miles up a mild incline in a national forest. The weather was cool because we were at 11,000 feet altitude. We crossed fast moving creeks that were fed from snow melt in the higher elevations. The forest was mostly tall ponderosa pines that were very fragrant and majestic. The Llamas were a fun treat to be with. They carried back packs that contained our lunches, and I'm sure there was also a first aid kit as well. Our host was a retired aeronautical engineer who made sure that we were enjoying ourselves. We arrived at a very pleasent meadow at the end of our outbound leg, and had a wonderful lunch and rest. My favorite part of the hike was the downhill trek back. It was a wonderful day, and we'll do it again when we return to Taos.

Taos is a nice place to spend some time. It would have been better if we had come in August though, because that is the rainy season and the temperatures are much more moderate. Pat & I both want to return when we can spend more time.