New Mexico | Enchanted Circle Drive

Monday - 10 June 2002: Taos, New Mexico - Before leaving town, we made a little field trip over to Whole Foods Market and stocked-up on supplies, day-to-day things and we also purchased a few Southwest specialties for our kitchen at home, and items from their deli for an easy lunch on the road. We didn't have far to drive - Taos is about 75 miles north of Santa Fe. It really was a pretty drive though, along the Rio Grande River... well, they call it a river, but this is the beginning of the Rio Grande and in Oregon we would call it a creek. The river cuts a deep gorge through this part of New Mexico and it is very dramatic.

Our only stop was to buy pinyons (pine nuts) at a roadside stand. We arrived in Taos before 2:00 pm, and checked into a nice campground. And, it really is a campground. There is a section for the "big rigs", but also a section for tent campers and there is a large group of kids here camping out - I think with a college. Camped (maybe living) near Goldie is a pale blue school bus, converted to a motorhome. It has awnings on BOTH sides and is very attractive.

We had our Whole Foods lunch and headed out to drive . This 95-mile drive circles north of Taos and was promised to be very scenic... not to be missed... etc. It made for a long day, but we really enjoyed ourselves. First we made a side-track to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.

The Rio Grande Gorge


Rio Grande Gorge Bridge

The bridge, built in the 1960s, is 650 feet above the canyon floor, making it one of the highest bridges in America. (The guide book says the wedding scene in the movie Natural Born Killers was filmed on the bridge.) We parked and walked out to the center of the bridge to take this photo. I do not have a fear of heights, but it was a bit scary walking out over the bridge and looking down! The wind was howling, of course, which added to the spookiness! Then we went over to a picnic area to take the photo of the bridge - through a chain-link fence.

OK, back on the Enchanted Circle! (Howard - I promise to do better on the map-reading this time!) We headed north on 522 to Arroyo Hondo. In the 1960s, this town was the famed site of the New Buffalo Commune. Now the commune has dispersed... their children seem to be all living in Taos. As we drove north and climbed in altitude, we entered a beautiful pine forest - nothing like the desert we have been in for days now. Before Questa, we stopped to visit the Red River Fish Hatchery. We were the only visitors. They had zillions of fish and fingerlings in their pens - and some giants in a pond near the visitor center.

Red River Fish Hatchery

We saw a fish, which we can only assume was an albino trout. Fresh water from the Red River was flowing through the pens, to keep the fish cool - or we would have fish soup in this heat. In the photo below, you can see how lush the forests are in this part of New Mexico.

 
Red River Gorge and the New Mexican flag (Zia Sun)

The next town was Questa. Questa is home to a randomly-operated molybdenum mine. What is molybdenum and how do you pronounce it? Of course my driver knew! MO-LIB-DAH-NIM. Used in light bulbs, TV tubes, etc. I guess we had better stop using light bulbs, because what the mining is doing to the mountainsides is absolutely criminal and ugly. At Questa, we headed east on 38 to Red River, elevation 8,750. We were so excited to see Red River because it is a resort ski town and the guide books says it is "charming" and has a "Wild-West ambience". Matt calls the casinos in Vegas "Fake Paris" and "Fake Rome"... so we decided to call this town "Fake Sisters", after the truly-charming Wild West town of Sisters, Oregon. Red River was just awful with one tacky souvenir shop after another. Maybe it looks different with snow?

Outside of Red River, we crossed Bobcat Pass - 9,850 feet - and continued, now south, to Eagle Nest Lake and followed 38 and 64 to the New Mexican Vietnam Memorial - the first Vietnam War memorial in the United States. It was started with private funding by the Westphall family after their son, David, was killed in Vietnam in 1968. It was finished with funds from Disabled American Veterans, who now operate the Memorial. It is a very moving tribute, including a Visitor's Center and a small chapel. The chapel was just heart-breaking, with memorials candles lit and photos of now-deceased young men on the wall. Boxes of tissues are scattered about both areas of the Memorial.

Vietnam Memorial Chapel

There is also a "re-enactment" of David Westphall's death - he was shot in an ambush while in a helicopter. There is actually a (real, military) helicopter, about 5-feet off the ground (positioned with steel bars to look as it is just taking-off) with dummies dressed as soldiers inside. It was a bit too creepy for me. The time we spent at the Memorial was very emotional - too many dead boys.

We continued on, with a stop at Angel Fire - another ski resort, complete with golf course for the summer months. It looks to be a narrow course. DT heard it was the highest (elevation) golf course in America, so he wanted to play it, as last year we played the LOWEST in Death Valley. Further research found it is the 3rd highest, so maybe not worth a 30 mile drive back to play the course. The drive back to Taos from Angel Fire was the prettiest of the day - through tall pine forests. Every forest, park, campground, trail, etc. is CLOSED due to fire danger, and we saw huge plumes of smoke to the northeast all afternoon. We did see elk today. First, a huge, magnificent bull. He was looking at me and the moment I took this photo, he turned to walk away! He is still worth a blurry look:

Elk butt

About a mile down the road, DT spotted three elk cows on the hillside. The Enchanted Circle came to an end. It took us over 4 hours to drive 90 miles, with all our stops. We saw desert, mountains, lakes, rivers (some people would call them streams), huge green meadows and beautiful mountain homes. Though the towns were not very exciting - the natural beauty of northern New Mexico makes this circular drive a must-do if you are in the area.

For dinner we went to Orlando's (1.8 Mile N of Taos Plaza on left, El Prado, 505-751-1450) a spot recommended by a friend. Kip was square-on with this recommendation - Orlando's had wonderful New Mexican food and is now the coveted winner of the "Terry Taylor Best Soft-Shell Chicken Taco of the Trip So-Far" award. Further research may be required. Orlando's was the first chicken taco we had tried that had seasoned the meat - before it has been served as plain, boiled, shredded chicken breast or thigh. Also, they serve their blue-corn-shell tacos with lots of tomatoes and lettuce. The other New Mexican restaurants either had no fresh vegetables or just a bit as a garnish. Tonight, I was FINALLY able to try posole. Posole is hominy stew - but it is usually stewed with pork. Orlando's makes their posole vegetarian. What it lacks in pork, it makes up for in SPICE! Whoa Momma! The waitress was sweet enough to bring me a small sample. DT had a chicken burrito with red chili sauce. He is afraid to try the green sauce because they tell you it is hotter than the red and the red is KILLER. The girls working in the restaurant were very cute too. And, tonight for the first time, we sampled Biscochito - the official dessert of New Mexico. Biscochito is a sugar cookie, with a bit of an anise flavor. Our cookie was baked by Orlando's wife at their home. Orlando's mother bakes the apple pie. I just could not eat another thing or I would have tried the pie. Another restaurant we can happily recommend.

After all this eating and all this riding, I needed a walk. While millions of stars appeared in the sky, we walked around the Plaza,  It is quite a bit smaller than the Plaza in Santa Fe and I am so disappointed to say the shops around the Plaza are a bit tacky - in Santa Fe they were so nice! We keep hearing and reading about how all the great galleries and shops are in Taos... we hope to find this is true... We walked a few more blocks to the local brew pub, Eske's. It was behind a parking lot, down an alley... amazing we could find it, but DT can always find a brew pub. DT tried Mountain Pale Ale. The brew pub is in an old house - pueblo-style of course - and we sat in one of the rooms and enjoyed the clientele - hippies, hippies and more hippies. Even in Eugene you cannot see this many hippies in one place! Impressive! After a while, we moved out to the courtyard where they had a musician playing a guitar with an amplifier. He was singing something by John Denver when we sat down at a picnic table, and his voice cracked a bit. I do not think anyone will ever be paying $150-a-ticket to hear him sing. Well, enough for local nightlife on a Monday in Taos. Time for bed. 

RV Park: Taos Valley RV Park