Taos, NM & The Taos Pow-Wow

On Saturday morning we drove to Angle Fire to the ACE Hardware store. Our jacks had sunk in the ground about 6" and Dean wanted to get some heavy boards to put under them before we sank to China! After getting the boards, we decided to take a drive over the pass to Taos just to check out the drive and Taos. The drive begins with a steep up-hill and then a semi-steep down hill which starts to level off even though it's still down hill - the kicker is all the curves. Go 50 - 100 feet and another curve - it's this way almost the entire drive to Taos. It's not really bad except for the locals that drive this road every day think that the speed limit signs are not there for them (maybe they aren't). Fortunately there are a lot of pull outs which I used to let the tailgater's go on past.

The highway takes you right into the heart of Taos which is good. We found a parking place and walked around the plaza, looking in several of the shops which surround it. There are some really neat stores and galleries with lots of artsy items like paintings, pottery, weaving and jewelry. After walking the plaza and taking a short break for a drink and chips-n-salsa, we headed back over the pass toward Eagle Nest. Driving back was more relaxed as I was more aware of the curves etc. I will be posting a few pictures from this trip at Picasa - see below for the web site.

Sunday morning we followed Roger & Brenda back to Taos for the Annual Taos Pow-Wow. After a quick detour to the Pueblo, which we will be going back to see, we made it to the Pow-Wow grounds. The Grand Circle was to begin at 1:00 p.m. and we arrived around 11:30 a.m. so there was plenty of time to visit all the vendors that circled the main arena area. We saw some really nice turquoise and silver jewelry. One item in particular was a man's ring that was absolutely stunning. The artist explained the symbols on the ring to me and told me what the stones where. When it was in the sunlight, wow! I then asked how much it was - prepared for several hundred but not for the $1000 that was quoted. I thanked him for explaining the ring to me and walked away. I must say that I've never seen anything that grabbed my attention like that ring did, but unless someone bought it after we left, he still has it. It was exquisite!

Roger & Brenda decided not to wait for the Grand Circle to begin so we said see ya later after borrowing their chairs (yes, we forgot ours). We found a place in the shade to sit just as the announcer was calling for those participating to line up. We had fairly good seats as far as seeing except for two ladies that were in front of us who would not sit down. Made picture taking very hard, but I think I got some pretty good ones. I took over 140 pictures there, but have selected the cream of the crop, so to speak, to post. I hope you can, in your mind, hear the drums as you view the pictures of the dancers! It was a great experience for us.

We left the grounds around 3:30 p.m. on a mission to locate the local Wal-Mart knowing that we will be making a trip back there in a week or so to re-stock. There was a Applebee's in front of Wal-Mart so we decided to get some grub there. Bad idea! Starting with bad service, something in my iced tea, not getting silverware or napkins prior to food coming out and having bad indigestion (or innergestion as my sweet daughter-in-law from Louisiana says) after eating, it will be awhile before we visit another Applebee's.

The drive back was uneventful and we continued past Eagle Nest to Cimarron Canyon to return the chairs to our friends. Come to find out that about a hour prior to our arrival they had a bear in the campground. Roger went on a bear chase (in the car) and did manage to get a picture of him in the woods. He was a pretty big feller - glad it was their campground that he decided to visit and not ours. We bid them farewell again, as they are leaving for Colorado in the morning. I hope that we will catch up with them before they head back to Oklahoma - we'll see.

View pictures (as soon as I get them posted) at http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos