An Unusual 4th of July

Have you heard anything about the wildfires in New Mexico? When we arrived, they were less than 5% contained and the mountains had a slight haze of smoke around them. Given the flammable situation, I had a feeling 4th of July might be a little different this year. And it was. There were no road side stands selling fireworks, no large public displays being announced. So we had to figure out some other way to celebrate Independence Day. After all, the whole reason Deb and Barry were in New Mexico that first week was to fulfill Kaya's "request" that Grandma and Papa be there for the 4th. It wouldn't be the 4th without them.

Deb had checked the chamber of commerce sites before flying out, and had a list of parades and festivities. We spent the morning of the 4th calling the numbers from her list and trying to decide what to do. (Around cookie baking time with Grandma- what would the 4th be without specially decorated cookies?)  We decided to kick things off with a short trip to Taos Plaza while Rick checked in with the "hippies".

My first impression of the plaza was not that great. (later posts will show I like it a lot more now) It was full of really cheesy really touristy shops- and the festival supposedly going on was nothing more than some vendors with more touristy stuff. BUT we did stumble into an exciting toy store just off the plaze. The giant duck outside got our attention. We wandered in (after a photo op) and I was about to leave, when we noticed the outside.

This place has a playground! There are playhouses, a jungle gym, things to ride around on- and a great photo op. Kaya was her usual monkey self. She had her shoes off and was in the climbing "thing" in 2 seconds flat. Bella got her shoes off and was ready to start climbing- until panic set in and she ran back to me. Unfortunately for her, the ground was blistering. This only raised her panic.

Lucky Bella, her mommy is speedy! I got her shoes back on her and she was on her way to other area of the play area in no time flat.

Papa had to be the Papa Elf

Explaining the problem with her hot feet

Is everywhere in Taos breathtaking???

We finished up at the Plaza in time to meet Rick at home and head up to Taos Ski Valley for a parade.Taos Ski Valley is a little town in the mountains north of town. Thank goodness Rick was driving- the winding road to higher elevations (over 9500 ft) would have freaked me out- but the view was breathtaking.

We got to town just in time to catch the parade. It was a really cute local celebration, with lots of school groups in interesting costumes. My favorite was the kids all in homemade sea costumes shooting ice water from coolers using squirtguns. Kaya ran around trying to get wet- I tried to stay out of his way.

Once the parade was over, we wandered over to the ski lifts. Kaya was dying to go up, so up we all went. Some of us were less enthusiastic than others *cough* Rick & Deb *cough*. But everyone seemed to enjoy the view as we climbed to over 10,000 feet- as long as no one made any sudden movements. (heehee) We had to get off at the top, so we walked around for a little while and took some pictures. Then we had to take the lift back down. I was shocked by the people riding the lift without the lap bars in place- they looked like they were sitting in an old rocking chair.

We took 2 lifts, Rick Bella and I were together.

Those peaks were around 13,000 ft

Safe on the ground again, Kaya immediately wanted to head back up. Papa was all for it- the rest of us weren't up to the challenge. So we found a little spot for refreshments and waited for the adventurers to come back to us. Once everyone was together again, we made our way back down the mountain to find dinner.

We ended up eating at Orlando's New Mexican Restaurant- which has become one our local favorites. I don't think I've ever had Frito Pie before- and it was awesome! Rick liked the logo so much he bought a t-shirt. It's a "Day of the Dead" style skeleton dressed up in eclectic Mexican attire holding a plate of food on a black shirt.