Taos NM No Kings –Chapter 5

Hello Amigas y Amigos–here at the UNM Taos library out on the high desert. Last night at dinner we heard sirens blaring for a long while racing along on NM 68 through Taos. What happened? We’re here in Taos only five days and glimpse just a sliver of everyday life with our neighbors behind our latilla/coyote fence. Rumbling cars and trucks. Barking dogs. A visiting girl kitty who is so so hungry.

While we were up in the high country of Taos on Oct. 18–No Kings Day–we learned that more than 7 million people took part in speaking out against tyranny. These are people who love America. From the LA Times: “We’re here because we love America,” Bernie Sanders said, speaking from DC. “We the people will rule.”

From the Seattle Times, Gov. Bob Ferguson spoke to a crowd gathered in Everett WA: “As your governor, I promise you one thing above all else: We will never, ever, under any circumstance, bend a knee to this autocrat. Ever!”

Meanwhile, Taos is the loudest place we’ve camped in. So used to quiet are we that the daily roar of traffic is a noticeable noise in our head. The roar includes super loud bass, booming out of the vehicle, along with muffler-less trucks and cars and motorcycles.There is a noticeable population of have nots who look to be in desperate circumstances. At the Smith grocery a drugged up girl used her grandma:mother? as a prop to solicit money.

We spent much time in elevations of 9000 feet and more in the canyon of Santa Barbara National Forest and in the Taos Ski Valley.

Here is a photo essay of the past days visiting Taos. She’s got some hard edges and she seduces us just the same. We’ve been visiting here since 1986.

Stopping in Arroyo Seco before returning to camp:

We dined on Abiquiu farmer’s market potatoes, fresh dill, tomatoes and cucumber with store bought smoked salmon our first night. Delicious! Our first night Oct. 15 brought cracks of thunder with lightning shows and a hyper fast drumbeat of torrential rain at 4 AM. The resulting negative ions charged us up for the day to come.

Another favorite restaurant of ours is Sugar Nymphs Bistro in Peñasco. The food and desserts are wonderfully home cooked. When learning about my allergy to gluten, our server offered to have my meal cooked separately from the usual grill that cooked bread. So appreciated!

We have found the canyon fed by Santa Barbara Creek and the NFS Santa Barbara Campground–closed after September, but still can walk through to a challenging trail–to be a touchstone when visiting here. The zigzag yellow climb of aspen through spruce and Limber pine topped by Jicarita Mountain calls us back each year. We look for the stag glyph carved on an aspen as we ascended above 9,000 feet.

The following day we visited Overland, a fine store specializing in sheepskin. There we revisited with Store Manager Marc Sauseda. He’s a wonderful man. We bought sheepskins for Beatrix’s seats two years ago and secure them with heavy duty suspenders round the seat back. This year Bill bought a pair of sheepskin slippers–an early birthday/Christmas gift. A big part of the experience was talking with Marc, who lives nearby with his wife.

The aspens and mountains were calling, so we drove to Taos Ski Valley where we hiked a trail starting at 9500 feet and taking us to 9800 feet. With the ascent, I began feeling dizzy with white spots in front of my eyes. We rested on a boulder listening to Twining Creek roar by. It is a steep and rocky trail. Walking sticks help provide stability.

We visited the Taos Farmer’s market near the County buildings. We bought pozole, fresh roasted chiles, and piñon nuts for our friend Larry Quintana, who once lived in Taos. He recalls roasting piñons with his late dad and says they’re his comfort food.

On Oct. 18 we drove once again to Sugar Nymphs Bistro. I bought another slice of lemon polenta cake and Bill a plum crisp. On this time around we stopped to feed three horses on NM 73 along Santa Barbara Creek. A magpie flew across the road to land on a fencepost. I had such a strong sense to sit on a rock in a gazebo of aspen. Bill lay on our oilcloth. This was an hour or so of pure being–‘amming,’ as my late friend Urashan used to say.

One of the places we feel as if we must have visited in a past life is the Mabel Dodge Luhan house. Mabel Dodge moved to Taos in the early 1900s, fell in love with a handsome Pueblo man named Tony Luhan, and created a salon experience similar to Gertrude Stein’s in Paris. We enjoy the architecture, the interiors, the history, and Judy Gentry, a part of the scene, who is the entry into the artists’ way of life.

Not to be missed: Taos Cow on Kit Carson Road or in Arroyo Seco. Great stews, burritos, muffins and ice cream. Yum! My new favorite: coffee/cinnamon/chocolate chunk.

And, here’s a mural at UNM, Taos:

Want to mention powerful films we’ve downloaded and watched on our tiny iPad screen: Meet John Doe, You Can’t Take it With You, and Fountainhead. All are prescient films from the 20th Century that have a lot to say for the times we live in.

I leave you with a simple postcard I made. I wanted to remember a pair of ladies at our Abiquiu Lake campground who made us feel welcome and engaged in connecting conversation.