We left Santa Fe this morning and headed to Taos. My brother-in-law John, suggested we take the Taos high road bypass. Thanks, John, it was some of the most awesome landscape I have ever seen.

It was another “road less traveled” route. Almost no other vehicles on the road. Mahgrit took a ton of scenic shots. Don’t miss them on her post.

We chatted with an elderly couple at breakfast and they suggested a small side trip on this route. It was to small town named Chimayo. There was a really old mission there, the El Santuario de Chimayo. It is still an active parish church but had a very spiritual air about it. It was one of those places where you speak in whispers because it would be wrong to speak out loud.

We continued to motor on to Taos and the first impression of the town was less than exciting. However, that said, we haven’t seen it all yet and we didn’t come to see Taos specifically rather there are a number of interesting things to see and do here. More tomorrow on this.

We actually checked in and then checked out of the first motel The Sagebrush Inn. It was very dark even with all the lights on. It also had an aroma. We talked to the server when we went to dinner and she recommended the Hotel Don Fernando de Taos. We are here now and very comfortable.

We had dinner at the Downtown Bistro, a little place next to an Ace hardware store. Once again the food, service, chef and server were fantastic. It was not very busy as we went right at opening time. The chef/owner seated us and chatted with us for awhile. We ordered the red chile soup. (My lips are still tingling) and before we had finished the chef gave us a second serving. Delicious ! We will definitely eat there again before we leave.

A small glitch in the trip is Memorial Day weekend. Some of the places we wanted to go are already booked up so we re-jiggered our plans to go to the Grand Canyon a couple days later. Not a big problem but a small pain not being able to do what we want, when we want. At least this way we will miss the crowds at the Grand Canyon, Brice Canyon, and Zion.

Tomorrow off to see the local sites.