The Severed Cortex

We're up early in order to get to Taos and explore. After showering and packing up our gear, we head over to Cafe Paris for some breakfast. It's only a short block away down Burro Alley, marked by a statue of a burro, of course. There's plenty of baked goods, but we need a more substantial breakfast. I choose a boring swiss cheese omelet that turns out to be outstandingly good. It also comes with roasted potatoes, but I need me some hearty breakfast meats. My nitrate level is dangerously low. (Don't even talk to me about my Cheetoh lipids being completely depleted). Hats off to Cafe Paris. I expected two pieces of slimy, undercooked, bacon, but instead I was greeted with six pieces. All were cooked to crispy perfection. Like I always say, "Bacon is our most perfect naturally occurring food", and now I've got six of the little buggers. Their coffee was kind of a let down though. As we paid the bill, we picked up an elephant ear to munch on, then stopped by Santa Fe's best coffee, or so they proclaimed. I do have to admit it was a pretty good Americano which seems like all I drink lately.
We check out of the Eldorado Hotel and I have to say it was a fantastic place to stay even if it was a little pricey. Spend the extra duckies, you'll be glad you did. The room was great and the service was spectacular. I really hate to see it go, but we're off to Taos. We were told it was a two hour drive, but despite the fact that we stopped and took pictures along the way, we made it in a shade more than an hour and a half. It's a very scenic drive and I'm sure more scenic if you go the back way. I especially liked the part north of Espanola where the Rio Grande river runs alongside Highway 68.

We arrive in Taos and the GPS directs us to La Posada de Taos, the bed and breakfast we are staying in. At $8/day, I have to say that the decision to get a GPS was one of my better ones. It's still too early to check in so we decide to mosey around checking out the shops surrounding the plaza. Pretty much they are the same sort of thing as Santa Fe but on a much smaller scale. Two places stand out. One is Aventura which sells high end coats/wraps. They're clearly of the highest quality and definitely of the highest price. I know Nancy hated to leave there empty handed. The other place was La Lana Wools, where Nancy hung out for what seemed like an eternity. I sat on the steps outside and wrote. At one point a woman walked by and said, "You're going to be there for hours". I said, "I already have been".
About the time we were bored with the plaza shops, we discovered that the city was having a small art fair. We start browsing through and at the second or third booth we find some of the finest crafted jewelry I've seen. I buy Nancy a fire opal and carmelite ring made by a somewhat young Navajo man. He told us he learned the skill from his grandmother, uncles, and brother. He did unbelievable work. We also found another Indian man who made these elaborate figures out of natural stuff he found; rocks, feathers, plants, etc. They were quite incredible and very unique. We wanted to buy one for the entry way to the house, but decided to get a card and contact him later.

It starts to rain off and on (more on than off) so we decide to take a drive up the mountain to Taos Valley ski resort. It's a very nice drive up the mountain and it reminds me a lot of the drive up Cottonwood Canyon to Alta in Salt Lake City. However, once we get to the top a big rain shower moves in and the wind starts gusting around 40 mph. Seeing how its now cold, we decide to hop back in the car, head down the hill, and go to the Wild Rivers Trout Hatchery instead. The GPS shows us a shortcut that we never would have found on the map. Unfortunately we arrive just slightly before closing time. And once again, the wind and rain drives us back into the car. We did get a quick look at some of the trout in a holding pond and some of them were huge; pushing 5 pounds easily.

It's time for us to head back to Taos to check in. Eldon, our host, greets us with peanut butter cookies and shows us to our room ... the Honeymoon Suite which is actually separate from the main house. It's a small two room house with a jacuzzi tub and will work perfectly for us. We try to figure out what to do for dinner and are told if we don't have a reservation already, we'll be out of luck. Fortunately one of the other guests has a reservation at Joseph's Table that they aren't going to use. The problem is that it's at 8:45 pm. We head to the room to rest, watch the Bama/FSU game , and sweat it out until 8:45. At 6:30 Nancy says there's no way she can wait that long. We decide to go to Guadalajara Grill and it turns out to be a good choice. I get boring enchiladas even though they have shark tacos. Nancy gets carnitas. I washed mine down with a Pacifico and Nancy sips Tecate. After dinner we head to the Taos Inn for a drink, but it's packed to the rafters. Our second choice was to drive out west of town to Fernando's Hideaway where the locals perform karoake. It was a hoot! Actually, one older gentlman named Art did a very nice rendition of Roy Orbison's Only The Lonely. The rest of them were pretty bad, yet somehow entertaining. After a couple drinks, we cash it in and head back to the hacienda.