We skipped the Bandelier National Monument, although Pam from ‘Oh the Places They Go’ showed it off as a wonderful destination. And it was not the heat that detoured us, nor the delayed start, but the wildfire on NM-4 north of the park. I just did not want the RV smelling like smoke the rest of the trip. So now despite leaving a week late in starting from San Diego, we are ahead of schedule.
We stopped at the Visitor Center for the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument to get some ideas of what the area offers. Really not much for the RVer without a ‘toad’. For us it was just rafting or spend some time in Taos.
We arrived in Taos and found a nice Good Sam park at Taos Valley RV Park. It’s the right spot at the right time for the right price. It’s still too warm to skip hookups, but with the gain in elevation it is close to a point where BLM lands would be fine. The sites are ‘good neighbor’, where each neighbor pulls through from the opposite direction. Not my favorite design, but easy to build and we have a privacy screen, and no neighbor!
Can’t believe I did not take a picture of the parking spot at either Santa Fe ($30) or here in Taos (FREE). Skip the paid parking in Taos and head east – away from town – on Kit Carson to the FREE public lot a few blocks away. While walking to the Plaza the first building is the original studio Joseph Sharp, a deaf artist from Ohio. He expressed in his paintings what he could not hear. His compassion and expression was rewarded as the first artist to be selected into the Taos Society of Artists, which he helped found and who now call his home – home. Beautiful patios/plaza of its own.
It’s Saturday and the Taos Plaza is full of festivities and vendors for the weekend Farmer’s Market.
As we walk around the exterior of the plaza the Made in New Mexico shop catches our interest as does a bench made out of snow skis.
The plaza vendors offer mostly jewelry and ready to eat foods. They were out of tamales tho! Lots of blue corn offerings, tortillas, chips, on the cob, fry bread, etc.
Directly across the street from the first Taos Trading Post is the home of Kit Carson.
The museum is good but left me lacking. It does not mention what happened to his first daughter born from an Indian wife, and was left in a St Louis convent, nor why does Escondido CA have a ‘Kit Carson Park’, nor any mention of his involvement in the relocation of the Indians at Canyon de Chelley. I’d call it more of a museum of his home of 25 years in Taos, and not a remembrance of his life. I’d still do it again
.We had a great education from our stop at Taos Pueblo, an original village still maintained in the traditional style, with true adobe buildings (no faux-dobe here!) The Pueblo really deserves its own post, but you really should go yourself. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with national recognition as a Historic Place and a Historic Landmark. The Red Willow People (and their Warchief) welcome visitors.
We waited to buy our blue corn fry bread here, still warm from an adobe oven. The walking tours are FREE – the docents offer their knowledge in exchange for a ‘tip’, whatever the guest thinks it is worth. We caught the tail end of a young man who maintains 3 adobe homes here – his grandfather, his father and his own. We also took a complete tour with a very informed and well spoken young gal, but not a resident. We also roamed free about the Pueblo as we explored further.
No photos are allowed inside the Catholic church nor of individuals without their permission. The church is a beauty, want a picture of the inside? – go see it! – each door of the adobe structures is a single family home. Each traditional home is a single room for the family and a separate room for storage. Yup the facilities may be down 3 ladders! Don’t think I’d make it thru the night …
Traditional adobes are clay and straw dried in the sun. Unlike Mexican adobe with may include manure and is kiln dried. Homes need to be re-plastered about twice each year, before and after the rainy season.
There are still a few permanent residents, but it is mostly a tourist destination and well worth the $14 each charged for admission. All arts are local made, our blue corn fry bread fresh out of the oven. This Pueblo has been permanently inhabited for over a thousands years. The native history in the area goes back over 7000 years.
After the Pueblo revolt, the Spanish, Mexican, Anglo and native Indians lived in peace. Inter marriage was common, Kit Carson’s native Indian wife died in childbirth and he lived with Josefina, his Spanish wife, for 25 years until her death. Then the US Army arrived, those that could fight defended the 18’ high x 3’ deep adobe walls. The women and children took refuge in the Catholic church. No defense was a match for the American canons, all 150 women and children died along with many defenders. The church now is a reminder and grave site of that day in history.
Taos Pueblo is a remarkable stop if you are in the area.
Altho there is ‘parking’ at each end of the bridge, there is an official Rest Area on the west side – park there! The pull off parking is totally occupied by street vendors. It is an easy walk from the rest area across the bridge and back.
WTH??? Want to live a sustainable life? We all do, but is this it? So worth a stop, but I’m not ready to sign up …
Glass bottles provide light, while solar panels provide power.
Light and water provide life. Water is captured in cisterns from runoff.
Colorado is just around the corner …
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