Tuesday morning we said good bye to our wonderful couch surfing host, Tyler. Before leaving New Mexico, we finally got the chance to go on a short hike at Camp Glorieta. It was a bit muddy but that didn't hurt the beauty. On our way back north to Colorado we stopped for lunch in Taos at the Farmhouse Bakery and Cafe. Farmhouse is a farm to table restaurant with an on site-garden. Our table was facing the same mountains that we just can't get enough of. I ate an elk burger with purple potatoes. Jeni enjoyed a delicious gluten free veggie lasagne and a salad.
Photo from our morning hike and the Rio Grande Gorge.
After lunch we visited Taos Clay. We had a wonderful visit and tour with Brandi Jessup, the executive director. Brandi was young, ambitious and full of energy. I can't wait to see how Taos Clay strengthens in the next couple of years. They had a gallery that supported community members as well as a contemporary exhibition filled with some familiar and some unfamiliar atmospheric potters. If we had more money I would have purchased a Perry Haas tumbler, perhaps at NCECA. Taos Clay offers a long term artist-in-residence program and they have plans for a short term residency position in the future.
After Taos we drove into the San Juan National Forest and camped a few miles from the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park. We have been very fortunate and this was the first time in our trip we paid for lodging. The camp ground was affordable and absolutely worth it!
Early this morning we packed up camp and drove into Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde has over 4,500 archeological sites including over 600 cliff dwilings from built by the Ancestrial Pueblos. The only way to actually visit some of the main cliff dwilings was to pay for a tour. At $4.00 a tour we said yes! The trip into the cliff dwilings was unbelievable and one of my favorite exploration so far on our trip. The Ancestrial Pueblos were farmers and they grew their crops (mostly corn, beans, and squash) on top of the mesa and lived down below.
Stay posted for our next post: we will be visiting Carbondale Clay Center an Anderson Ranch. Bye for now.
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