Fall break in Taos

We took a break from studying and working and spent it in Taos. We stayed at a lovely bed-and-breakfast and RELAXED!!! Pretty grounds with 200 year old traditional adobe rooms, crisp mountain air, beautiful views, a great small town atmosphere AND very good coffee...

Fall foliage



B&B grounds



Do we look and act stressed?



River gorge

Pole - Pole

Without really planning to, we hiked Wheeler Peak, with 13.161 feet, New Mexico's Rocky Mountains highest peak. We did want to hike the ridge leading to it (as it seemed like it would have great vistas) and somehow, following the Swahili Kilimanjaro motto 'Pole, Pole' (Slowly, Slowly) we made it to the summit in great time. The winds were howling, the temperatures too low for comfort, the path occasionally icy but the skies were wide open and the views priceless!!!






We made it!!!!





On the way down, we saw a 15-20 herd of Big Horn Sheep, apparently all female as they travel together. I think I did an extra few hundred feet of elevation trying to get above them for some good pictures!





The fact that we did enough carb-loading to probably do the hike 3 times must have helped too ;-)!. But we still had room for some icecream from "Taos Cow", a little ice cream store in Arroyo Seco, named in the top 10 US icecream places in "Bon Appetit" magazine 2009!! It did live upto it's reputation and both the cinnamon and chocolate chip flavors were to die for!

Earthships

An earthship is a passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials. It uses tires as permanent forms for rammed earth, has a passive solar design, rain catchment, and other integrated systems to create low-impact, energy-efficient structures. The are off-the-grid homes, minimizing their reliance on public utilities and fossil fuels.
They were designed and marketed by "Earthship Biotecture of Taos" and some of them are open for the public to visit and learn.

Balloonfiesta time!!

Unbelievably spectacular!!!

Early - Early - ....

I was there EARLY, wanting the full experience, so I got up at 4.30 am (read four thirty in the morning!!!), got on my bike at 5.00, in the park by 5.40. I was so fortunate that the temperatures were incredibly mild, at least 15 degrees above normal Balloon Fiesta temperatures.
I witnessed the inflation and take-off of the first dawn patrol balloon and saw the whole spectacle evolve from there....

Unusual shapes

Bush-whacking and cacti

I don't think those 2 words should ever be used in the same sentence....

We went hiking in the Sandia's this weekend. Our initial plans were to hike the old La Luz trail to avoid the traffic of the current La Luz trail. We got side tracked a little when noticing a quiet trail with big boulders and decided to take the "short cut". A long story short; The trail disappeared and we didn't want to go down some of the big boulders we managed to climb up on so we BUSHWHACKED UP THROUGH THE CACTI to get up to a ridge to join the trail again....!!! And yes, we were wearing shorts!

When starting out in the parking lot...




Gorgeous waterfall, at the point where the trail 'disappeared'.....



and started looking like this....




instead of like this.....



We lived through it, without stitches.... and a few days later are no longer looking like we had a fight with a dozen cats....

Superman!!!

Anything to be able to ride his bike to school... Even if it takes some creativity to take along a nice dress shirt and tie for clinical practice of interviewing patients....

Joan's in town!

We've talked about it for a long time and finally.... Joan came out for a weekend of relaxation, art and good food....



We spent most of Saturday relaxing at 'Ten Thousand Waves', a wonderful Japanese Spa just outside Santa Fe a few miles up the mountain. We had a day of peaceful luxurious treats starting with an hour in the hot tubs / cold plunge / sauna, followed by a special Yasuragi head-and-neck-treatment, a full body massage and ending with a 'salt-glow'. If I was any more relaxed after all this, I would have been falling over! My muscles felt great, my skin felt great, my mind felt great! For somebody who only gets a massage about every 5 years when getting a free gift certificate, and never really had any other special spa treatments, this was pure decadence!!! It does feel great to be pampered!

We stayed in Santa Fe, had a great dinner with some good wine and a great brunch the next morning. The Georgia O'Keeffe museum was closed for the week (a reason to come again Joan!) so we headed straight for Canyon Road, home to 100's of art galleries. After hours of bright colors, interesting designs, a full spectrum of materials, boundless creativity and unusual ideas, we went home, fully saturated and a little overwhelmed by the innumerable talented artists and their work.



Every time I go -which isn't that often- I notice different ones... These were my outdoor favorites from the weekend...

21... Twice!

I turned 42 this weekend and had a wonderful time, full of great food and enough activity to work it off! Italian dinner in Santa Fe, brunch with the Sunday New York times at my favorite Guadalupe Cafe, a hike up 'Broken Arrow' and 'Glorieta Baldy', smoked salmon brunch, a 3 hour (exhausting) bike ride around Albuquerque and some very tasty Taj Mahal vegetarian dinner.....
Does it seem like my life revolves around food and outdoor activities? I guess maybe it does ;-)!!!

Doug happily joined me in the culinary aspects of the birthday celebrations ;-) and we hiked together too but as I was riding my bike through the Albuquerque heat, he was deep in thought on the couch, surrounded by anatomy and embryology books.