Last summer, we had such a good time in New Mexico, we decided we needed to go back - and spend more time! I also planned this trip a little more logically: by flying into Albuquerque, we were able to eliminate the 4+ hour drive from Denver, and instead include some fun stops along the way to Taos.
First up was Santa Fe - the kids and I decided to check out the House of Eternal Return, a hard to describe immersive art installation in an old bowling alley. Climbing, crawling, and even sliding paths lead in and out of dozens of trippy spaces, from the enchanted tree house -
to the cartoon kitchen -
to the misty room where we played the laser harp -
- to the infinity spa
- and even to a nook with a big isolation containment box full of ping pong balls, where you can stick your arms into the sleeves and experience the joy of flinging handfuls of balls at the person on the other side of the box without causing any actual harm.
Despite spending 2+ hours there, I'm sure we didn't see it all - we could have kept exploring, but we were approaching dinner time, and "lunch" consisted of bizarre but not unpleasant rolled ice cream from the Freezie Fresh truck in the parking lot.
And we needed to fuel up for tomorrow, 'cause our next step was Bandelier National Monument!
We had a nice hike with Gangi & Grandpa Marshall down the Frey trail into the canyon, but of course the big hit was exploring the cliff dwellings.
I even sold the kids on an extra hike to the Alcove House, because how often do you get to climb to ancient cave house 140 feet off a canyon floor?
After 4 miles of dusty trails and ladders, it was time to continue onto Arroyo Seco - sunset on Sangre de Cristo range and Uncle John's spaghetti and meatballs were waiting.
We did some shopping & made some friends around the Taos Plaza.
Lucie is clutching a little jar of honey she talked me into buying at the farmer's market. She loves sampling honey, begging me to buy some, and then never eating any of it once we are home. Our collection now includes artisan honey from the Sierra Foothills, the New Mexico high desert, and Hawai'i's Big Island. The only reason I don't have honey from Nayarit is that we skipped the farmer's market on our last trip to Sayulita.
Other exotic adventures included the San Francisco de Asis Mission Church in Ranchos de Taos (Lucie sat down in a pew and stage whispered, "This is the first time I've ever been in a church") and walking the Stations of the Cross in Pueblo land. Lucie had a LOT of questions for Gangi and my aunt Bobbie about Jesus and crucifixion during that little hike.
On our last visit, we saw a lot of rafts loading in while we waded at my aunt's favorite spot on the Rio Grande. It looked like fun, and it wouldn't involve explaining Christianity and the actions of the Catholic Church over the past millennium to irreligious children, so I booked 3 spots.
Unfortunately, the large amount of snow and late snowmelt meant the river was much higher and faster than normal for the time of year, and the normally family-friendly Taos Racecourse was deemed too dangerous for kids. We settled for the safer morning float, which included a bit of danger with short sections of Class 2 rapids, and a bridge we barely fit under.
We also got to check out the Taos Rodeo. Somehow, in all my time hanging around barns, ranches, and various horse & livestock related events, I have never seen steer wrestling before, and holy crap! are those guys CRAZY. They launch off a running horse onto a running steer and then wrestle about 500 lbs of cow to the ground.
The highlight for the kids was the bronc riding, I think because the horse inevitably wins the contest.
Back in Arroyo Seco, we found some gentler equine friends while wandering through the local hostel's grounds.
We had an awesome time in New Mexico - now it's time to get on a plane with Gangi & Grandpa Marshall and head to Michigan!
