Shimer Summer Trip: First Weekend In Town

Taos, New Mexico is a fascinating community nestled in the Sangro De Cristo mountains in northern New Mexico. At over 7000 ft above sea level, the climate is much more mild than you typically expect when you picture New Mexico. The town itself is an interesting blend of the native Indian population, those of more Mexican descent, and tons of people who have chosen to move here. That last group has a lot of artists (all kinds) who are inspired by this beautiful place and, well, hippies. There are so many people here who are interested in a more sustainable lifestyle- and how they pursue that is as different as the people themselves.

Taos' beauty and climate has helped make it a bit of a tourist town. The presence of all these artists has helped with tourism too, I'm sure. To be totally honest, the first morning we drove through the historic part of town all I could think of was St. George Street in St.Augustine. Not a bad thing, but not exactly what I was expecting.

Having said that, Deb and I had done a little research and had come up with a few things we wanted to explore. They came to spend our 1st week in Taos with us. So, Saturday found everyone ready to explore. Rick and I took the girls around town in the morning and we scouted things out. Deb and Barry arrived in the afternoon- and we headed out to explore a little more with them.

That first weekend we went to dinner, tried a few of the local wineries (did you know New Mexico has been making wine longer than any other state? neither did we) and drove around to see the vastly different landscape.

Our first dinner out was at the Taos Inn. They had a beautiful courtyard full of flowers and fountains- and the food was delicious, too! Sunday found us driving south of town to the numerous wineries.

The first one we stopped at had a beautiful garden area in front of it (yes, I was catching on that this seemed to be a theme...). There were tons of butterflies and hummingbirds in the garden, along with a lovely seating area. So we had a picnic lunch there before heading to the next winery. The second one also had a pretty outdoor area. It was full of beautiful glass artwork, but their grapevines were obviously a lot younger than the first. By the time we were finished here, Deb and I had stocked up on plenty of wine and we were ready to head home for naptime.

Sunday night we drove out to see the earthship community, partly because we were curious and partly because Rick needed to know where to report for work the next day.

Our house is on the northernmost paved road in Taos. Luckily enough, the community is just north of town. On the way to the earthship community we drove over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. The only "hole in the ground" that I've seen that was bigger is the Grand Canyon. The girls and Barry were enthralled by what they all came to call "the big hole". Now everytime we drive the girls over it, Bella yells at Kaya to "look at the hole!"