Where the Spirit Moves You
“They say there’s a Mecca high up in the hills
Where the strings ring out and it gives you chills
And as soon I heard, I set my mind to getting there
Now Texas is a big ol’ state
A full day’s drive it makes you wait
To finally cross that New Mexico line”
Mountains. Canyons. Desert. Badlands. Rivers. Otherworldly rock formations. Ancient cave dwellings. Gorgeous drives and breathtaking scenery. Extraterrestrials and nuclear test sites. Legal weed and Breaking Bad. Pueblos and Native American communities (twenty-three of them). History. Culture. Cuisine. Iconic adobe architecture. New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.
It was that time of the year again. Our annual road trip. Last year’s trip to Big Bend National Park and Far West Texas were hard to beat. For this year, the decision was not a difficult one. What would be difficult, however, was deciding what to pack into the one week we were going to spend there. It took us a while to plan an itinerary. We decided to make Taos our home base for the first half of the trip, Santa Fe, for the second. We made our reservations accordingly, I got the car serviced for the long road ahead, and we counted off the days to our departure, one by one.
Taos is a looooong way from Houston; Texas is so ridiculously big. The Texas High Country was gorgeous. Texas oil country, perhaps a little less so. Nodding donkeys (oil pump jacks) and wind turbines dotted the landscape everywhere. We made a lunch stop in Abilene (why are there so many songs written about this place?) and carried on to Lubbock, where we stopped for the night. A good Old West university town, with the sort of establishments you would expect it to have. Drinks and dinner at The Brewery LBK. The brew was pretty good.
Oil pump jacks near Abilene
On a beautiful, twisting, climbing mountain road, the rain turned to snow in Mora County.
We knew the weather was going to be bad the following day, and we woke up to pouring rain. Driving on undivided state highways at 75 mph in such weather is brutal and a test of concentration and mental fortitude. It rained ALL THE WAY to New Mexico and got progressively colder the further north and west we drove. We crossed the state line at Farwell and made it to Santa Rosa for a hearty New Mexican lunch. A coffee break and refueling stop in Las Vegas afterwards. On a beautiful, twisting, climbing mountain road, the rain turned to snow in Mora County. The first snow of the season. Delightful! Taos was overcast but mostly dry. And, at 7,000 feet above mean sea level, cold. Our pueblo-style hotel room with its adobe walls, low ceilings and wooden beams was warm and inviting. A drink and a delectable meal at Doc Martin’s rounded off a pretty good day.
The first snow of the season in Mora County, NM
This photographer never met a picket fence he didn’t like
We had a date with my good friend, Bob the following day. I hadn’t seen Bob in almost eight years, and it was so good to see him again. Taos and its surroundings are his backyard, have been for pretty much all his adult life. He knows every road here, every mountain, all the flora and fauna. There is no better guide to this part of the country. We set off to explore the Enchanted Circle and the Carson National Forest. The going was slow as we stopped every 100 yards to take photographs. Bob, ever the bird enthusiast, brought his big birding lens with him. I think the highlight of his day was a massive male bald eagle that flew away seconds after he photographed it. It was like it had waited there just for us, for that picture.
The fall colors in New Mexico are different from those one is used to seeing in Texas and further east – the deep reds and golds of the deciduous forests. Here, it’s all about the bright, shimmering yellows of the aspens and cottonwoods, made even more dramatic by their remarkable contrast with the dark hues of the firs, spruces and pines they’re set against (“Gold in ‘em hills,” as Bob described it). What a breathtakingly beautiful place! We stopped for lunch at the Red River Brewing Company and sampled some of their local microbrews, hearty green chile stew and sandwiches. Twisting mountain roads, picturesque little villages, gorgeous fall foliage, snowcapped peaks in the distance, wonderful company, it was a perfect day.
Fall colors in northern NM
Here, it’s all about the bright, shimmering yellows of the aspens and cottonwoods, made even more dramatic by their remarkable contrast with the dark hues of the firs, spruces and pines they’re set against.
The following morning dawned bright, clear and cold. We went for a hike along the Rio Grande Gorge west of Taos. In such a pretty setting, the suicide hotline phones on the bridge overlooking the gorge seemed uncharacteristically out of place, but the 700 uninterrupted feet down to the river below – coupled with grim precedent – justified their existence. The trek was enjoyable, the photography was not. With the stark sunlight characteristic of New Mexico, the conditions were terrible for landscape photography. However, I knew that the bright sunshine and deep shadows would work well for something else I had in mind. The adobe walls and white crosses of the Church of San Francisco de Asis set against the impossibly blue sky. Everything is just crisper and clearer in the high desert light.
The Church of San Francisco de Asis, Taos, NM
We had lunch at Orlando’s and a hot chocolate at the historic Taos Plaza. Then, we set off for Abiquiú, following the Rio Grande for much of the way. Abiquiú and the Ghost Ranch are where Georgia O’Keeffe spent much of her adult life. I had a shot planned at the Ghost Ranch, but when we got there I was told that the cabin I had wanted to shoot was actually a movie prop from just before the pandemic, and had since been removed. I had half a mind to tell the kindly lady that I’ve driven a long way to get here and could she please put the cabin back. Immediately.
I had to make do with whatever else I could find. Which wasn’t much. On a beautiful spot along the road overlooking the Rio Chama, someone had scrawled on the barricade the words, “Life is too short to live in Dallas.” I couldn’t resist sending a picture of it to my sister and brother-in-law and scoring one for the old Houston-Dallas rivalry.
On the road to Abiquiú
The Ghost Ranch
Overlooking the Rio Chama
We visited the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle at Abiquiú. At the Penitente Morada, I was disappointed to find that photography was not allowed on the premises, so I had to shoot from outside the gate. Pity. I would have liked to explore a few different perspectives at this historic site. A simple bell and three wooden crosses hint to the secret society that gave rise to this sacred meeting house and chapel, recently restored but dating back to the 1700s. We were just in time to see the last rays of the setting sun light up the ruins and cross of the Church of Santa Rosa de Lima de Abiquiú.
Penitente Morada, Abiquiú, NM
Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, Abiquiú, NM
Church of Santa Rosa de Lima, Abiquiú, NM
It gets cold in the high desert once the sun goes down, so we went to the Café Abiquiú at the Georgia O’Keeffe Welcome Center for a nice cup of coffee before our long drive back to Taos. It was our last night here. We said goodbye to Bob and made a promise not to let another eight years go by before meeting again. The following day, we were going to Santa Fe for the second half of our adventure through northern New Mexico.
Inspiration for my retirement plan.
A camper, a camera and a parking spot in New Mexico.
Life doesn’t get much better.
