Picture Book

Today I tried to familiarize myself with Taos and some of the surrounding area. First I walked to the other side of town to have breakfast at the Dragonfly Cafe.




I hadn't heard of it or read about it. I was just planning on walking until I found a place without a long wait.

I enjoyed a really good breakfast of 2-poached eggs on top of cornbread with red chile sauce. It came with black eyed peas and greens. I drank enough coffee before venturing out, so I had iced tea instead of coffee.



As you can see, it is clearly two servings. I ate about half of it, although I ate both eggs.

I then kept walking OUT of town. Taos is much more crowded and touristy than I anticipated, and I was trying to find someplace quiet. I thought about walking to Taos Pueblo, but I think I'm going there on Tuesday instead.

I did find a quiet place:



I then headed back toward town and came to an arts and crafts fair going on in Kit Carson Park.



One of the first booths I ran into was this one:



I spent time talking to the owner and looking at his photo album. He's been tending goats for twenty years, but when he first started he didn't know the first thing about goats ("I was a horse man"). He learned everything by just doing it, and he now has 60-goats. He hires a staff of five people to help him. When I asked him how he learned to make cheese his response was, "Oh, there are lots of books out there." He didn't know anything about goat cheese to begin with either! Of course, I had to buy some of his cheese after talking to him for 20-minutes.



I then walked toward "downtown" or "The Plaza." I took a few shots. Notice all the cars! There are too many people for this tiny town.




I know there's a Wal-Mart around here somewhere, because I read a reference to it while looking at some real estate listings (no, I'm not planning on moving here). I haven't seen the Wal-Mart, but the McDonald's is pretty close to the center of town. McDonald's is the center building in this shot.



So I'm sure there are some architectural guidelines/restrictions for building in this town. The town isn't fake looking like some places with architectural restrictions though (Leavenworth comes to mind).

I walked the "back roads" to my casita...






...where I changed clothes and walked back into town to rent a bicycle. I figured I'd be able to see more on bike, and I didn't particularly want to add to the car traffic woes. I rode up to Arroyo Seco, a little community north(?) of Taos. I also rode out to the Rio Grande Canyon about seven miles west of Taos:



There's a big suspension bridge near where I took this picture, but I forgot to bring a map and I couldn't find it. I'll go back tomorrow to take a walk out on it!

Note the sky (note the sky in all the pictures, actually). The weather changes frequently here. I hightailed it back to town, because there was thunder and lightning in today's rain. I don't care about thunder, but I really don't want to be riding while lightning strikes around me.

I returned the bike, and -- lo and behold! -- directly behind the bike shop is a brew pub:



I enjoyed the Taos Mountain Gold.



And then I walked to the grocery store to pick up some dinner, and then back to my casita.



Dinner was a non-event. I missed the farmers' market yesterday (I was in the middle of the Oklahoma Panhandle), and the "good" food store is closed on Sundays. I'm driving to Espanola tomorrow to check out that town's farmers' market (and to see the town of Dixon), so I really didn't want to buy anything at the local Kroger. Dinner was bread, cheese, and fresh organic apricots. Pretty simple and pretty good!