Sunday, 7 May, Taos to Santa Rosa, NM

Rob wanted to get a work out in, so he went off to the gym.  
I took a shower and packed up all my stuff.  He got back, showered, packed and we left.
We decided we wanted to take the scenic route back to Santa Rosa.  I kind of wanted to go through Santa Fe, but we went a longer route.
One of the first places we stopped was at the Taos Pueblo.

There are about 100 people who live here full time with no electricity or running water.  

 We had a nice guide who showed us around and explained things to us.

 Those mounds are ovens where they do their cooking.

 They get their water from this river.

 We wandered around for about an hour and checked out some of their arts and crafts and ate some of their flat bread.  Then we headed out.
Our next stop was the Earthship Development.

These are self-contained, built with all recycled materials, and built into the earth.

They grow their own fruit and veggies inside their green house that is watered by collecting their gray water and filtering it first, then running it though the plants, then finally using it in the toilets.

The collect their fresh water from the rain and snow and filter  it for use.  

 Their electricity is powered by solar and wind

It's a pretty cool concept.  You would have to have a well for back up, but it is a very interesting system.
We continued our journey along Hwy 64 and then connected onto Hwy 84. It was really pretty and really snowy!

 We finally got out of the snow and into some really colorful rock formations.

We stopped in at Echo Amphitheater which is shaped like a band shell and is a natural chamber carved by the wind and water into the sandstone.  It was really pretty.

 It really did Echo and Bella could not figure out what to make of it.
We continued on down the Highway and stopped in at White Rock Overlook.It is perched on the crest of a mesa and offers a panoramic view from above the Rio Grand Valley.  The river is 700' below.

 Off in the distance there is a waterfall.

We followed a trail about a half mile to the stream where the little waterfall is coming from.

 As we peered over the edge there was a rainbow from the mist.

We continued on.

It is really pretty country up here.  We came out East of Albuquerque.  I couldn't believe it.  We still had 2 more hours of driving and it was getting dark.  Although it was really pretty, Bella 

We stopped in at a terrible Mexican Restaurant in Edgewater.  The food was not good and they had no bar service. Which meant No Margarita to go with my lousy Mexican food.

We finally got back to the rig at about 10:00 and went straight to bed.  It was nice to be home.