Taos, So Beautiful, We’ll Be Back
Some places, when you arrive, you just feel at home. We felt that way arriving in Taos. Our active-aging demographic went hand in hand with the young skier/snowboarder/rafter athletic demographic, and the two seemed to co-exist well.
We met a man in town who loves petroglyphs as I do, knows the secrets of where to find them and also has a vibrant and active mind. We found great walking, and beautiful spaces. We can’t wait to go back to Taos.
And on to Taos, New Mexico
We took this route specifically to visit Chaco Canyon. At the entrance, we saw a tire vendor, with a huge selection of tires, just out by the road. As we went on, the roads got rougher and rougher, and we decided not to risk getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire.
We took a turn off overlooking a huge reservoir, beautiful blue-green in a dry country. Sitting on a bench was a couple, older, about our age, just sitting quietly. We greeted them and spoke of the beauty of the site, and the woman said, “yes, we have never seen the reservoir this high, and we came just to look at it. It is a miracle.” It was a beautiful moment.
We found our hotel, The Taos Inn, easily, right in the middle of town, with its own parking! We loved our room.
Lake Powell to Farmington
So now I am flying by the seat of my pants. I got to the end of the Lake Powel notes and . . . there is nothing more. How did I stop taking notes?
I do have photos, and I can figure some of it out. The drive from Lake Powel looked very different – different weather, no storm, all sun and blue skies, and it makes the landscape appear very different, too. You see things you didn’t see, even though you are on the same road (we will go right past where we turned onto Route 160 from Cortez as we drive past to Farmington, NM.
And we arrive in Farmington at our B&B The Casa Blanca:
We loved the Casa Blanca – neat, clean, and a lovely breakfast. The manager also gave us a recommendation for lunch, The Three Rivers, which was a great place to eat in Farmington.
We called it a night early in Farmington, and got a good start early the next morning.
Lady Emma Takes us On a Tour of Lake Powell
Dinner took two hours and by the time we left the restaurant, I was almost falling over from fatigue, despite our late afternoon naps. I still had to wash my hair, and the hair dryer was a puny little thing (I’m not very happy when I am tired. I’m like a whiny baby.) We slept well, and were up and ready for our boat trip in plenty of time.
As we grabbed coffee, tea and some breakfast at the Starbucks while waiting for our trip to go, I wondered about the management of the Lake Powell Resort. It is the only hotel on Lake Powell, and the view goes on forever. When I looked it up, I learned it is a National Park Service hotel, operated and managed by Aramark, who runs various hospitality sites around the world.
I looked them up. Here is their mission statement:
We are a leading global provider of food, facilities and uniform services to education, healthcare, business and industry, and sports, leisure and corrections clients. Our core market is North America, which is supplemented by an additional 20-country footprint serving many of the fastest-growing global geographies.
It sounds to me like a major contract management company, with a lot of sub-contractors.
At Lake Powell, I was impressed by how many employees were Native American and wondered if it were an employment priority. I had thought perhaps Lake Powell was a tribal-owned facility, but I was wrong.
We had to check in at the lodge for the boat trip. We watched people gather, check-in (or not; some people were trying to get on the trip but the boat was fully booked) and they were of all nationalities. A large Indian family with two young children came aboard, a French couple, and a variety of other people until the boat was filled. The employee checking us in then had to go down to the marina and get a train, as the train driver had not shown up. She came back and took us down in three trips. The captain of the boat was also female, and her assistant was also female all Navaho.
We had a great boat ride. I wish I could remember all the sights she pointed out to us. We first went by the marina, then to Glen Canyon Dam, then on the Colorado River and then on the Navaho River. It was a beautiful day, the light was great, and we were just really glad to be on board.
After the boat ride we quickly cleaned up and went into nearby Page to the State 48 Bar and Grill, where we decided we had made the right choice. The place had a great menu and was full of locals. AM had a beer and a Cowboy Burger, and I had the Avocado Black Bean Tacos. It was all delicious and satisfying.
Just around the corner was the Dara Express Thai food (and Korean and Vietnamese) but as it turned out, they did not have the Vietnamese salad rolls we love to have for dinner, but there was a Safeway nearby, full of ready-made meals, including sushi. The tour buses had dropped off a hoard of European tourists who were also picking up dinner. We saw the same in Moab last year; it makes for some nice options when people want to eat lighter at dinner. Or if they will be staying at a resort far from town with limited restaurant options. One of the tourists was kind enough to show us where the condiments, plastic knives, forks, and spoons were available, so we were fixed up in no time with our own dinner.
It was HOT. We had food in the car and had to take it out for fear of a melted chocolate mess. The biscotti were fine, but my chocolate-covered caramels were a soggy mess and had to be tossed.
The heat was simmering, the light was hard and flat and it was a good time for a nap. We snoozed a while, then hit the pool. There is more than one, and the one closest to us is always full, so we end up at the pool at the lodge, where we can get lounge chairs. As we enter, a woman asks “Can I ask, where did you get that?” I was carrying a noodle and I thought she was asking about that, but no, she wanted to know where I found the pool towel. I showed her the pool towel cupboard but it was empty. AM advised her to ask at reception, but she just sat by the side of the pool and scowled.
Mesa Verde, Cliff House Loop and Coyote Village
We decide to head back to Mesa Verde for our last full day and see some of the sights we didn’t get to yesterday. We started with the Cliff House loop, and were amazed to see how many people were there before us. There was a bus full of Italians, and a bus full of French people. There were all kinds of people our age waiting for the Ranger tour of the Cliff House; you need reservations and the numbers are limited. We did it the last time so felt comfortable skipping it this time, and went on to view other sites, some of which were open, and some not.
The most productive site for us was the Far View site, where archeologists have excavated much of a village and reservoir from ancient times.
The Docent Ranger tells us that they may have to close the exhibit soon because some of the walls are so fragile that even with careful visitors, the stress on ancient stones and foundations are too fragile to survive the number of visitors, which is affecting their condition.
We were able to see the storage rooms and the kivas. People talk about the ceremonial functions of the kivas – they look to me like they had functional purposes, perhaps keeping people out of the heat and out of the elements, perhaps gatherings, yes, and it made me think of Thanksgiving and how a very casual gathering could be described as ceremonial.
I think we toss that word around too lightly. I think we are often discussing customary, daily doings and elevating these daily rituals by calling them ceremonial. Am I ceremonial while I wash my dishes, or hang my laundry? Do I ceremonially cook our dinner?
I love visiting these sites and having these conversations in my head.
We take a chance on getting a table at the Absolute Bakery in Mancos, a place we love. Very casual, everything home made and delicious, and we are lucky, they have enlarged and have a room in the back which they open for us, and then others, too.
Back at the cabin, we finish off the spaghetti and garlic bread back at the cabin for our last dinner in Cortez, and the last few bites of Gustavo’s lemon pie. I check with Cecilia and Alison about what is required for check out (every B&B has its own requirements) and they tell me just to leave our food, that they will use what they can and take care of the rest. We won’t be doing our own cooking for the rest of the trip.
Hiking for Petroglyphs in Mesa Verde
We got up early to head for the Ute reservation park center, where you find tours to take you onto the Ute reservation, only to find it was closed. It’s a beautiful morning, although there are some threatening clouds, so we had to nearby Mesa Verde, stopping at the Cortez welcome center where a kind lady tells us about the Spruce House petroglyph trail, a 2.4-mile trail, fairly easy, she tells us, which reassures me because I am in a skirt and sandals.
We love Mesa Verde. We’ve been here before, and we can see there have been a lot of major improvements since the last time we were there.
Some of the roads are still not open, due to damage over the winter, but the hike to the petroglyphs is open.
As we drive into the Spruce House parking lot, there is a great parking spot, and as we turn into it, there is a woman in the next car, pulling things out, and scowling at us like “go somewhere else to park!” AM couldn’t resist chatting her up; it looked like she had her entire household packed in her car and no matter how nice he was, she was crabby and negative in return. We couldn’t help but laugh.
We ask the Ranger at the Museum about the Spruce House trail and he tells us there is one place, just past the petroglyphs, that is a hard vertical climb, but the rest is easy.
It was not. This was one of the hardest hikes I can remember in a long time, with many steep narrow stone ascents and descents.
Just as we entered Mesa Verde, my camera battery had gone, so I only had my phone camera, not my bigger camera, which turned out to be a really good thing. By the time we discovered how hard the trail would be, we couldn’t really turn back, so we made frequent stops to calm our heart rates. Some hikers passed us heading back, some because they had tour times they realized they couldn’t make it if they completed the hike, and some just turned back because it was too hard.
We gutted it out. There were times we just laughed.
We made it to the petroglyphs, and appreciated the beauty of Spruce Canyon. We were on many narrow little trails on which a false step could result in a long, dangerous fall, which made us very intentional in our foot placement, and slowed our pace.
Just after the petroglyphs we came to the place the Ranger had described. People were turning back. There were places that required finding a place to plant your foot where you could lift yourself to the next level, raising the other leg.
That I could do! I do it three times every week, exiting the pool! It is the same movement! We waited for another group to pass us – me being in a skirt and having to raise it to execute the climbing moves up the rocks. We stopped a couple times in the climb just to catch our breaths, to slow our hearts, and to appreciate how difficult this was, and we were doing it!
Once we got to the top, there was a smooth, easy path back to the museum. We took it slow, our thigh muscles were aching from all the ascents and decents, and my hips were aching from the climbs. We were so thankful just to finish the hike, but we were laughing at the description of this hike as an “easy level trail.” We later learned it was listed as a strenuous hike, a description we would agree with.
Just happy it’s over. We made it. We made it!
On the way home, late in the afternoon, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant in Cortez which had intrigued AdventureMan; Gustavo’s.
We really liked it. I ordered three street tacos al pastor, and AM ordered the chicken mole.
We were both delighted with our orders; mine were small tacos with just meat and onion and cilantro, and a spicy sweet mustard sauce, absolutely delicious. AM’s mole was a WOW, with sweet tender chicken with a sauce that was decidedly chocolate but carried a big heat. As usual, we couldn’t eat it all, so we boxed up one of his chicken mole’s and an order of Gustavo’s lemon pie (it was more like a lemon tiramisu, with layers of pastry between layers of a mascarpone and lemon filling, amazing and unusual) to take with us for dinner.
When dinner came, we were still so full we just had a couple slices of the comte cheese and crackers for dinner, and that was enough.
Hovenweep, Canyon of the Ancients and Petroglyphs
We are still sore from our climb the previous day, but we don’t want to waste a minute of our precious time in this area, so we head for the Canyon of the Ancients Monument early in the morning. Oops, not early enough.
We discovered Sand Canyon is a place to park and then you hike in. We saw busloads full of schoolchildren, and then we saw a person with a horse carrier unload his horse to ride into the canyon. Nope – too many people for me, and no guide.
We headed down the road to a petroglyph site, which was small and more than half defaced or updated with more recent writings, one from 1949.
Then on to Hovenweep, which was very exciting, very satisfying, an entire valley of ancient Pueblo houses, with various architectural styles, on an easy hike around the valley.
(A different perspective of Sleeping Ute Mountain)
We hiked around to the Tower House, taking photos and also enjoying the spring flowers in their colorful glory. Hovenweep is a beautiful park, with a smooth easy trail, even wheelchair accessible to the first overlook. The rest of it is too extreme for wheelchairs, but an easy walk for most people.
Leaving Hovenweep, we took a northern road toward Dolores, a small town with an old railroad depot, and the Dolores River running through it. They have a very good museum and visitors center there, but for the time being it is closed for renovations. On our way to lunch, looking for the restaurant, we were stopped by a very polite police officer who reminded us we were in a school zone (we totally missed the sign but we were going slow, just not slow enough.) AdventureMan remembers it as being stopped by Leaphorn, (from Dark Winds). Yes. He really believes that.
We had lunch in Dolores at a Mexican restaurant called Montezuma, where I had a burrito and AM had enchiladas, both with beans and rice, and very Mexican.
Heading back through Cortez, we stopped again at City Market to find supplies for our anticipated trek to the Ute Indian reservation park the next day, picking up a loaf of bread and some Comte, locally made.
Back to our peaceful cabin, and a dinner of pasta aglio oglio, with garlic bread and salad.
Exploring Kelley’s Ancient Echoes
I got up early, caught up on e-mails, and lectionary readings, then AdventureMan got up and we had breakfast. We dressed for hiking, took our full water bottles and headed out, eager to explore the grounds at Ancient Echoes at Kelly’s. The Canyon of the Ancients is in our backyard! We are good hikers, confident hikers. We are eager!
We visited the old pueblo house and the underground kiva, saw Cecelia, one of the owners, making mounds for planting corn, beans and squash (the three sisters of the ancients in these parts), and asked her some questions about the grounds, and then headed off past the casitas, past up into the hills to visit more ancient ruins. It was shady and cool, and an easy path. “Just follow the cairns” Cecelia had told us, to the top of the ridge. Keep your eye on the spire.
We crossed the arroyo and headed up and down the trail until we reached the barbed wire at the top of the ridge, passing the ancient ruins. Deciding to turn back – it was getting hotter – we backtracked, following cairns (rocks piled in a deliberate style to guide trekkers) we crossed the arroyo and headed for a cairn on the opposite ridge. It was much more difficult, as we had to find a diagonal way up a sheer red stone face, which, huffing and puffing, we did.
Looking for the next cairn, AM found a circle of stones, and we looked at each other – we didn’t remember seeing a circle of stones before. We couldn’t find any more cairns, either. We roamed back and forth on the ridge, circling back to a tree where we would rest. It kept getting hotter, and our water was running shorter. In the steeper areas we were rock climbing, on hands and knees, not as easy as when we were younger. We crossed to the next ridge, from which we could see Kelly’s camp clearly, see our own suite clearly, but from which we could not descend because it was steep and ended in an overhang with a drop.
Finally, knowing where we needed to be, we headed back to the arroyo, and down the arroyo a little farther where we found our missing trail. We were so delighted to find our way home again after being on the trail over three hours more than a little afraid we would be “those elderly people who were found by the rescue team.” We were so thankful when we found the right trail. We were probably dehydrated as well as exhausted. We fell into bed and slept, awakening stiff from climbing up and down the hills and arroyo. We finished our BBQ sandwiches and spent the afternoon reading and relaxing.
Re-energized, we went into Cortez for dinner at the Farm Bistro, a popular local restaurant specializing in local sourcing. I had a yak burger, made from real local yaks, and AM had the French Onion soup and an Antipasto platter, with local meats and cheeses. It was very good, and a relaxing way to end our day.
We found the City Market and picked up parsley and garlic bread for the next day, and gassed up the car.
In the middle of the night, I heard the weirdest scratching, like something was in the walls. It woke AM, too, and we banged on the walls and told it to go away – and it did, then it would come back again. After about an hour and a half, we made it feel unwelcome enough that it never came back, and we allowed ourselves to sleep in. We told the owners the next morning. I don’t know what they did, but we were never bothered again.
Kelly’s Ancient Echoes in Cortez
Every now and then you just get really lucky, and that is how we feel about finding Kelly’s Ancient Echoes, in Cortez. We had a lot of hiking and exploring we wanted to do, and we wanted a stable location, comfortable, where we could eat our own breakfasts and do our own cooking and where we had privacy and a view. You don’t always get what you want, as the Rolling Stones say, but this time we got what we need – and what we want.
From Silverton to Cortez was beautiful, full of hot springs and mountains, and zipping past Mesa Verde because we wanted to pick up some groceries and get to our hotel in Cortez before nightfall. We are at Ancient Echoes at Kelly’s, a boutique hotel backing right up to the Canyon of the Ancients national park, and having two ancient sites right on the property.
Our rental is beautiful and spacious, and the owners greet us warmly, providing us with all sorts of information to enhance our five-day stay. We have an outdoor dining area that overlooks Sleeping Ute Mountain. There are two dogs, and at least one cat on the grounds, and trails leading back into the canyons beyond.
It is very private, very quiet, except for the calling birds as the sun goes down, and the distant lowing of the cows next door as they are led to their barn. We feel very welcome, and very very happy to be staying here. In our refrigerator are a large jar of delicious-smelling coffee beans, another jar labeled organic local cream, and a carton of local organic eggs. The cupboard is full of spices, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, and tamari. There are dishes, pots and pans, and wine glasses for our use. It makes us so happy we found this place.
We had picked up BBQ sandwiches at the Handlebar, which we had for dinner, and they were so big, we couldn’t eat them all and had plenty for another meal.
We love this place. It is SO quiet, so private, so beautiful. And tomorrow we get to explore!
The Million Dollar Highway: Montrose to Silverton, Colorado
Once on the road leaving Montrose, we immediately ran into seasonal road work teams out repairing the damage snow and ice can do to our interstate roads. Several times we had to wait while cars took turns going north or south while teams worked on the other side of the highway. Once past these minor delays, we enjoyed the fruits of their labors – the roads to the south had already been repaired.
I’ve never found a definitive reason for the name Million Dollar Highway. Some say it was the cost per mile to build it, some say it is for the Million Dollar views (I would agree the views are worth it, but I am not sure that is the reason for the name.) There are as many stories as there are resources. Sometimes I think people just like a good story.
The Google lady REALLY wanted us to go through Telluride; we had to tell her “No Thanks” several times, and we were so glad we did. This was a day of spectacular mountain scenery that is every bit as awe-inspiring as Going to the Sun Road up in Glacier National Park.
First, the roads are clear in mid-May and passable, and the view is one series of snow-clad mountain peaks after another. The three-hour ride took us much longer because we had to stop so many times to get out and look in wonder at waterfalls, mountain views, hot springs, and old mines, one great wonder after another.
We landed in Silverton for lunch, and AdventureMan spotted the restaurant where we had lunch – Handlebars.
It was quiet when we got there and we were seated by the owner, who also spends time in Venice, Florida, so we had a good chat.
Soon after we ordered, a huge crowd arrived. We later figured out that the train from Durango had come in, probably doubling the population of Silvertown for the few hours before they had to board the train to return to Durango. Handlebars makes great hand-dipped onion rings, has a varied menu from chicken pot pies (made in house) to barbecue, to hamburgers, to salads – something delicious for everyone.
After lunch, we walked around Silverton and found the train, puffing away getting ready for the return trip.
Once back on the road, we are eager to get to Cortez. The landscape totally changes as we pass Durango, Mancos and Cortez en route to Kelly’s Ancient Echoes, where we will be staying.
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