Taos, NM : A long weekend to a Southwestern Mountain Town
My wife Amber and I are always looking forward to our next adventure. Like most people out there, we don’t have endless amounts of vacation time for our travels. This is a factor that inspires a lot of creativity in making weekend excursions to new (and old) places. Living in Denver, there are a boat load of opportunities to make quick hitting weekends in some pretty cool places. Enter Taos, New Mexico. Taos has been on our radar for a while, but it always seemed a touch too far, the ski valley didn’t have enough snow, or a pandemic just did not make it possible to make the trip. We finally booked our first weekend trip to the artsy New Mexican desert town this year. It turns out, the trip is not a whole lot further than the Western Slope of Colorado which was a pleasant surprise.
As these trips go, we departed after a day at the office. We started heading south at a time that had the sun setting over Pikes Peak as we passed through Colorado Springs. Mid winter sunsets seem to linger on the horizon longer than other times of the year. The twilight glow hung on for almost an hour as we made our way south. Darkness fell over the landscape as we exited I-25 in Walsenberg where our drive went from interstate to two lane mountain roads. As we traveled through the night, it started to become apparent that we were ascending a mountain pass, as the snow became deeper and the temperature colder. LaVeta Pass, which dropped us into the San Luis Valley, was what we are driving over. We hung a left at Fort Garland making our way through small southern Colorado towns in the cold pitch black night. The car thermometer read -10 degrees as we passed the “Welcome to New Mexico” sign driving the final 45 minutes to Taos. We arrived at our accommodations just before 9 pm, safe and sound ready for some rest.
One of the best things about arriving somewhere at night time is the mystery of the surrounding terrain. We commonly wake up before the sun, which was a pleasant surprise to welcome the day with a view of the Wheeler Peak out of the front window of our VRBO. It was still bitterly cold in the morning, and the trees on the mountain were still frosted by a storm that dropped 37 inches of snow a few days before our arrival. Despite the freezing cold, I ran outside to capture the dawn light hitting the mountains.
Our VRBO was a cozy casita that we were happy to call home base while we were there. It has a true South Western feel with a sunken sitting area made of Adobe and included a two sided fire place. It was also equipped with a nice kitchen and a loft area with another bed. It was situated on the edge of downtown Taos, where we could have a short walk to the plaza and other stores, restaurants, and art galleries. As seen above, there was an incredible view from the front door that was an added value. There was one catch about this place, the ceilings were only about 5’10” tall, which made it tough for 6’2” me to navigate the house without bumping my head on things. We knew this would be the case when we booked our stay, and it made for a lot of good laughs as I walked around hunched over.
A big factor in wanting to visit Taos is the Taos Ski Valley. About 30 minutes from town, the Ski Valley is at the top of a canyon road in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains. There is only one way in and out of the area giving it a feeling of seclusion. We had made plans well in advanced to make this trip, but we lucked out in the skiing department. Over three feet of snow fell there a couple of days before we were headed down. The Ski Valley has plenty of lift served terrain, in addition to countless lines that can be hiked too from the top of Chair 2. My hope was Kachina Peak, the crown jewell of Taos, would open with all of the fresh snow. Unfortunately for us we just did not time it out right, and it opened the day we left. There is a lift up Kachina Peak, which was controversial when it was built and still gets the locals fired up when asked about it. The peak was formerly hike to terrain only, requiring a 45+ minute hike to ski the formidable face. We have seen this happen at many other ski areas that have had great hike to terrain marred by a ski lift. Progress always seems to trump the experience. Kachina stands tall on the back side of the resort with a few wide open bowls and various cliff bands strewn across the mountain. Now we have a good reason to return in the future!
Arroyo Seco is a small village on the road to Taos from the Ski Valley. There are a number of homes there, in addition to a few places to eat and art galleries. We walked into a small place named Abe’s where there were three women in the back making homemade tamales, burritos, and chips and salsa. One of our favorite things of visiting New Mexico is the delicious Mexican food. There was also an ice cream shop/sandwich shop combination next door that we hit on day two. We were happy to check out some of the art galleries in the village. Amber and I discussed while we browsed through the galleries that we never thought we would be “art gallery people.” But once you start to see some of the hand crafted works by the people in the store it puts a lot of context to the work.
One of my favorite places that we stopped in was Rottenstone Pottery, just across the street from Abe’s. The owner of the business was there and was very helpful in explaining how he makes his art, and telling us about some of the other artist’s work he displays in his shop. My favorite being the work of from an artist names Ladislav Hanka who escaped Stalinist Chechoslovakia to live in Iowa. He used honey combs from old beehives to go with his drawings to make pieces displayed in the store. The owner of the shop was also gracious enough to let us take an unguided tour of his work shop where he shapes and fires his work in a kiln. It is one thing to appreciate hand crafted work, but it brings the experience full circle when you get to see where and how it is produced.
Later that evening we ventured back out into the bitter cold for dinner. We found some delicious pizza and beer at Taos Mesa Brewing Tap Room. After dinner we had heard of some live music hosted by the Sagebrush Cantina. The Cantina had a South Western vibe with adobe and wood beam architecture, and a local flavor that helped us learn what the folks in Taos were about. The band was exactly what we were looking for, playing a mix of Grateful Dead and other classic rock hits. Apparently the band plays the cantina every Friday night, and we learned that there is live music there every night of the week.
The following day we made our way to the ski area and were welcomed to what seemed to be record crowds the Ski Valley. We took a few runs, and decided our time would be better spent exploring downtown Taos. One of my favorite things in New Mexico are the Ristras that hang around town. Ristras are chili peppers that are tied up to a string to dry out for use in cooking later on, or just for decoration. They are also believed to good luck and good health.
Taos is a town that celebrates art and the artists that make it. There are an endless amount of galleries to be explored ranging from pottery to holographic paintings. My favorite artist we visited , however, was Angie Coleman’s woodblock print studio/gallery. We walked through the door, and were greeted by Angie as she told us about what she was currently working on. She was eager to explain her process, and how the art she makes comes to life. I asked if I could take some photos of her operation, because I thought it was so cool. The prints are beautiful, but I also felt that the wood blocks could be stand on their own as pieces of art. One of the other things that made me appreciate her work, was remembering doing a similar project in art class with linoleum tiles. We carved fish, and made prints by painting the tiles and pressing them on the paper.
Walking around and looking through art galleries helped us work up an appetite. Amber and I have a nose for the small local places that we really enjoy. We happened to walk passed a small sign that said the Alley Cantina, which is a bar and restaurant in the oldest building in Taos. We timed it out perfectly, hitting happy hour to take advantage of the $2.50 beers and some delicious Mexican food.
The food continued to be a high light of the trip the following morning, when we hit the Farm House on our way out of town. It was a farm to table restaurant sourcing locally grown ingredients. It was in an impressive old barn, on what seemed to be a repurposed farm with some other shops in the area. As seen around Taos, and probably New Mexico in general, there were some cool trucks from the 50’s on display there. Although, many of the trucks we saw over the weekend were still running.
The return drive home is always bittersweet. It marks the end of our weekend getaway, but we get to see all of the scenery that we drove passed in the dark on the way there. We traveled through the small town of San Luis, which claims to be the first incorporated town in Colorado. There were sweeping views of the Culebra Range and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pull over and take some photos. We were also excited to go over La Veta pass to see what we missed. It became apparent, even through the snow showers, that there was a fire there in recent years. There is a stark contrast between the chard trees and the fresh blanket of snow. As we continued east bound the clouds began to clear with the drop in elevation. Looking south, we could see the clouds engulfing the top of the Spanish Peaks which made for a dramatic appearance. I imagine it was cold and snowy on the peaks.
As we approached I-25 in Walsenburg, Amber insisted we drive by her great grandparents old house. There is a lot of family history in this old coal town, and it is fun to drive around, while Amber recalls childhood memories. My favorite story of hers is hopping in the back of her great grandfather’s pickup truck to get some ice cream. It makes me think back to a time where Colorado might have still felt a bit wild and untamed. Like we expected, the exciting stuff ended when we got back on the interstate. Taos was an awesome get away, and we are looking forward to planning our next weekend road trip.
