Paula and George on Vacation Part X

LAST DAY OF VACATION!!

Lydia joined us on our last day. We drove out to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, which is like a mini Grand Canyon.

I could not resist this sign in the ladies room. It made me think of my Mom and her red pen.

Earth Ship, sustainable buildings using green building designs constructed from cans, botles and tires with mud and cement holding it all together. All solar. Built into the ground.. Electricity comes from the sun and wind; water comes from rain and snow melt; sewage is treated on site in botanical planters; heating and cooling is from the sun and earth. There are about 60 houses in this area.

Lydia thought we would like Arroyo Seco(means dry gulch) located at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. She was right.

We made our way back into Taos where we had dinner at Bent Street Cafe and Deli and dessert at the Dragonfly before taking Lydia back home.

Thanks Lydia. Enjoy your new life. A storm was forming in the mountains, which gave us a rainbow we could watch while we took one last drive through some neighborhoods before returning to the hotel. If you look carefully in the third picture, you can see that a double rainbow was forming.

Aaaah. This is the place for me. This is the place I need to return to someday.

Paula and George on Vacation Part IX

TAOS, NEW MEXICO - TAOS PUEBLO

Taos Pueblo – home of the Taos Pueblo Indians. Inhabited for over 1,000 years. One of the oldest communities in the United States. We arrived early, paid $10 each to entire the pueblo and $6 to allow me to photograph. Visitors are only allowed to see certain parts of the pueblo, but it was all so interesting. You must have permission to photograph the residents. Some have shops where they sell their craft. It is the only place in our travels that I purchased anything. I was fascinated by what I saw. I offer these photographs.

This was by far my favorite part of our vacation.

ENCHANTED CIRCLE

Leaving the pueblo, we drove the Enchanted Circle. This took us through 2 hours of stunning landscape. It is hard to photograph the largeness of what we saw. The drive took us through the mountains and over 12,000 feet up. DINNER WITH LYDIA
After a long day, we had dinner at Lydia's casita. Check this out...Lydia lived in my apartment complex in Staunton, VA. She read my earlier vacation blog so she knew I was planning on coming to Taos. She had moved there in April! She emailed me her phone number and I contacted her when we got to Taos. This old world gets smaller all the time. It was fun to see how someone really lives and to actually have dinner at someone's house in an actual neighborhood.

Paula and George on Vacation VIII

TAOS, NEW MEXICO - DRIVING THE HIGH ROAD

We took the High Road from Santa Fe to Taos. I cannot tell you what everything is, but it sure was a beautiful drive.

The Indians have all these casinos in the middle of nowhere. This is the largest one we saw. I think it is called Buffalo Thunder.

The Rio Grande runs along this road for some distance.

I think I am going to like it here.