Taos, NM

It's Weigh-in Monday, and my weight is 264.8, which is down one pound for the week.  It is up one from yesterday and the day before, but that's because Taos does not have a Denny's, or an IHOP, or anything like those.  We chose a brew pub called Eske's that was recommended by AAA.  Our friend Rudy is with us now and he loves a brew pub.  Both he and Mark enjoyed a beer brewed onsite.  We ate very typical New Mexican fare last night, which is supposedly what you are supposed to do here.  Well, the portions were gigantic.  I ordered a cup of vegetarian green chili stew which was loaded with fresh veggies just to try it.  I also ordered the vegetarian burrito, which turned out to be the size of a FOOTBALL.  I am not even exaggerating.  Mark ate about 1/4 of it, but I finished it.  Also my cup of soup did not seem significantly smaller than Mark's bowl, so I just really over did it.  I guess I should be happy I'm only up one this morning and still down one for the week over all.

Today we are having lunch at Subway in Santa Fe, but dinner will be Mexican food, high fat, high carb, high calories, in a very cool restaurant in Santa Fe before we go to the opera tonight.  We will be seeing Puccini's Girl of the Golden West.  We got great seats, $132 each.  I just hope Rudy and Mark stay awake for the whole thing.  LOL!  We will also be visiting the state capitol and the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe.

But this morning we are going to the Taos Pueblo before heading to Santa Fe.  This is an ancient pueblo with buildings from around 1000 a.d.  Pueblo Indians still live in those ancient buildings.  There are tours, but you can also just drive through.  It should be very interesting.  Pictures of these things will be up tomorrow.

Meanwhile, yesterday's drive was long but beautiful.  It was interesting to see the topography change from the flat grasslands of the panhandle to the evergreen covered mountains of the Carson National Forest.  When we arrived, we visited the Kit Carson Home and Museum and also his gravesite.  We continue to be healthy and have fun!

There are lots of windmill farms throughout Texas. This one followed us on the right side of the highway for nearly forty miles.

View on the left!  There was a great line in the show in the canyon..."Only in the panhandle can you look so far and see so little."  Yup.  That's about right.

Hit the border and mountain time.  It's only 9:30 a.m.

The topography changed dramatically as we drove farther into NM.

Up high, over 9000 feet, in the Carson National Forest.

Carson and his third wife Josefa. Carson's first wife, an Indian, died in childbirth with their second daughter.  That daughter died tragically as a toddler, and he gave his older daughter to his sister to raise in St. Louis.  His second wife was also an Indian, but the museum did not mention her.  His third wife, pictured here, was Hispanic.  They were married a long time and had six children.  Unfortunately, she died in childbirth with the sixth, and he died a month later of an aortic aneurysm.  Very sad all around.   She was 40 and he was 59.

Carson lived long enough to see books published about his escapades as a mountain man and  tracker.  He thought they were all rubbish and should be destroyed!  Mark was literally reading THAT comic online the night before we got here.

Their kitchen

The graves of Josefa on the left and Kit on the right.

College roomies and long time buddies enjoying a beer in Taos.