VaughnNet.com

Gallery: 2005-12-25 Christmas In Taos hidden
Back to Galleries Page

Will and Kristina spent Christmas this year in Taos with the rest of the Gallmeyer family.

When we arrived in New Mexico, we touched down in Albuquerque, and had to drive another 2.5 hrs to get to Taos. Our automobile choices were a big ugly SUV that we weren't allowed to take off road, or to join the ReVolvoLution, and get an S80. We opted for the S80, and might even take it off road anyway.

Before we hit the road, we had to stop for food. (You gotta have priorities.) The Hertz guy suggested El Pinto as THE place to go, so go we did. Pay no mind to the garbage truck in the photo - the food (and 'ritas) were top notch.

Just in case you ever want to go there, here's the sign. You get off of Rte 25 heading toward Taos on 4th street. It's right off the highway.

Kristina drove and I snapped photos the whole way to Taos. You'll have to excuse the photographic quality of some of these next shots - they were taken at about 75 mph. Yes, that's right - the speed limit around here is 75. I'm ready to move already.

How can you NOT take a picture of the Jackalope!

I was all ready to bag Taos and head for Vegas Part Duex, but then Kristina pointed out that not only is Phoenix not in New Mexico, but neither is THE Las Vegas. Stupid geography.

In spite of the lack of any trees around here - they still get into the Christmas spirit. Check out the Christmas Shrub, spotted on the side of the road on the way to Taos.

Because this time of year, everyone needs to know how to get some Santa Relief.

(Yeah, I photoshopped the "Fe" out of the picture...)

Kristina spotted this and immediately saw the irony. A Hyundai Santa Fe, driving to Santa Fe.

Highway Art on the way to Taos. The picture of the lizard didn't turn out so good, so you get birds instead.

We kept seeing signs for Camel Mountian Casino, Camel Mountian Cafe, Camel Mountian this and that and the other thing... We were thinking "what in the world IS this camel mountian, and then we drove past it. Duh.

When I first saw this I said "well, screwed up the focus on this shot..." but it sort of grew on me. This is one of numerous sort of weird road side signs on the way to Taos.

Take for example THIS weird sign. What is this? Beware of falling turds? Watch out for the large nondescript pile of wasabi, hurling sushi rolls? We'll never know - such an event was not spotted while we drove to Taos.

Apparently all kinds of horrible things can befall the unwary traveler to Taos. Here we are being warned that unsuspecting picnic'ers may be attacked by vicious conifer trees. Vicious STEALTH conifer trees since there sure doesn't appear to be ANY trees around here. Those are the worst kind - good thing they warned us - we'll be on the look out.

Driving along, almost to Taos, we stumble across a giagantic hole in the ground. Funny how there were no warning signs about this. To me, it seems to pose much more danger to the casual traveler than the aforementioned trees, but maybe thats why they needed the warning...

Sunset on the way to Taos. Mountians are cool.

We finally made it to our destination and were greeted with some tasty Taos wine, some olives, and cheese. We felt right at home.

The place where we are staying has three fire places, a hot tub, and radiant heat flooring. It also has views of the sunrise and sunset over the mountians.

Not only does it have three fire places, but it has a giant cow skull on the mantle. What more could you ask for?

The next morning we got up before dawn (thanks to jet lag) and caught a glimpse of the sunrise.

Ok, maybe a little more than just a glimpse...

After the sunrise, Kristina and Will got right to their usual vacation activities: Checking email and answering IM's!

After two conference calls, three production crisises, and 10 miles of driving, we came upon the Rio Grande Gorge. Yes, I know, you can't tell it's there. Like I said, they need warning signs!

Ok, so they put at least THIS sign up. The bridge was completed in the 60's. That should be warning enough I guess...

Sure enough, this could be dangerous. It goes from perfectly flat to 600 feet down to the Rio Grande.

Mom Gallmeyer checks out the view while Kristina spits into the canyon.

Here's the view. It's bigger than it looks.

Lisa does the "Queen's Wave" while Mom contemplates spitting over the edge too.

It took the American Institute of Steel Construction to see the beauty of this bridge. I just saw a lot of steel over an impossibly deep chasm.

And here it is, in all it's beauty!

Just look at those curves. Sexy sexy sexy.

Another shot of the Rio Grande. It's more Grande than Rio, but impressive nonetheless.

Of all the warning signs, we choose to ignore this one.

Luckily we spotted this warning and got out of dodge before we were subject to a fine of no more than one hundred dollars. ($100)

Lisa checked out this facility and decided it did meet with her approval as well.

We left the bridge and went on a 100 mile drive around the neighborhood. Just down the road we stumbled across a whole neighborhood of these bizarre houses.

And this is what makes the neighborhood really bizarre - this is the front of that house.

On the way around the 'hood, we also saw this pearlite factory.

We drove and drove and drove until we made it to Colorado. Scratch that, colorful Colorado.

We drove until we got to an old train yard, and turned right. Here's the train. Lisa thinks this is actually the island of misfit toys.

After we cleared town, we passed another warning sign advising us to keep an eye out for the antelope. Sure enough, we found some.

After the trip around the mesa, we were in need of some shopping diversions, so we stopped by the local winery, and found a French lady (but she didn't really want to be French, and don't get her started on Charles de Gaulle) selling wine for a local vineyard. She warned us "Zere is nossing to do in TaOws essept drink, and drink some more." Lets just say she was a good sales person.

Kristina also found this fur coat, and the nice guy on the right talked her into buying it. It's actually not exactly real fur, but he really was a nice guy.

At the end of our trip around the 'hood, we found Taos. This is the Antique Door Shoppe. We would have bought one, but it's hard to check a door.

And finally, we made it back home to the Taos Ranch.

The next day we took a walk around the 'hood, and found some examples of local art.

In addition to local art, we also found some tastefully done haciendas. Here's one in purple.

The next day was Christmas, and we went to the local Lutheran Church (sure enough there WAS a local Lutheran Church) for service, then went for a "hike". Actually we ended up taking the Volvo down some roads it really didn't belong on, then walking around some.

OK, taking the Volvo "DOWN roads it didn't belong on" isn't really the right direction. Mostly we went up. At the top of our journey, we were over 10,000 feet above sea level. Our rental is at about 6,000 feet, give or take a thousand...

Shortly after we ventured out into the great wilderness that is the Taos Ski Valley, all the nature around us sort of overwhelmed Will. He also made the mistake of giving Kristina the camera. "Hello? Yes, this is Nature calling. is Will there?"

Luckily, Kristina also caught sight of some trees to photograph, and came away wit this winner.

Or maybe it was Lisa who pointed them out. Either way, there was redemption for her photographic faux pas.

As we huffed and puffed our way up the mountian, some couple in spandex came JOGGING by. Yes, I said jogging. Up the side of the mountian. At 10,000 feet. With their dog. We can only hope that they were locals, and used to the high elevation and higher angle of ascent.

After being shamed by the spandex clad couple and their dog, we struggled to get back to our roots. In this case, we settled for someone elses roots - like this tree, by a nifty frozen brook. Very picturesque. Very not spandex. Very stand very still, catching our breath and um, standing. Very still.

Can you tell? We studied the creek in depth. All 1.5 inches of it's depth. For a while.

Yes, we DO think that's quite a beautiful little baubbling brook. Yes, we also think Will needs a hair cut.

Looking back over the edge as we made our ascent. That mountian there is not the highest peak in New Mexico. Just thought you should know that. The highest peak in New Mexico is the one behind us. The one I didn't take a picture of.

This picture looked better in black and white. It's sort of like how people look smarter when you put glasses on them. Same deal - the picture looked smarter in black and white.

This isn't the highest peak in New Mexico either. Or maybe it is. Honestly we were all sort of delirious from the oxygen starvation. I was thinking this looked like an armadillo.

So we finally gave up, went back to get the car, and drove the rest of the way up the mountian. When we got to the top, we found a kindred spirit. And some mud.

On the way back to the ranch, we came across a sculpture garden with this frankenstien of a train, a jalopy, and a golf cart.

Also in the sculpture garden was a giant alligator. Where else can you find such entertainment???

More random sculptures. And mountians. And clouds. "Ryan and Tracy are going to be here shortly, maybe we should get home."
"Like, yeah. Lets get home, and like, chill out."

When we got home, there was BEEF waiting. Lisa made us some incredible Indiana beef tenderloin, smuggled through the airport by mom and dad Gallmeyer.

Unfortunately there was also sweet potatos involved. Some got on my wine glass. I almost lost it.

Luckily, the beef came to the rescue.

Ryan was assigned the job of slicing the beef. He did so with skill and speed. And a knife.

The Christmas Dinner Spread!

Hank, caught in the act of cleaning out the beef plate. With the serving fork.

Will congratulates Hank in his beef eating victory.

In spite of his victory over the Beef, Hank couldn't avoid the food coma.

The next day, Will and Kristina vowed to work off the insane number of calories they consumed the night before by taking on an insane challenge of a hike.

See that river at the bottom of the hill. That's the Rio Grande. It's about 600 feet down from the top of the hill where we started.

On we way down, we got to see a lot of rocks. Here's a representative pile.

There were a couple of trees as well. Luckily the "Black and White Makes You Smarter" filter is still working in Google's Picasa image program.

Kristina making sure Will isn't dead yet. (He was feeling a little under the weather still after the whole eating fest the night before.)

When we finally got to the bottom, we stripped naked and went for a swim. Ok, maybe not.

After we dried off and got dressed, Kristina took a picture of Will at the bottom of the canyon.

On the way back up the canyon we saw more rocks. Here's another representative sampling.

And here we are, triumphantly standing at the edge of the cliff.

We went for a drive after our successful hike, and found another trail. You'd think that we would have heeded the warning and stayed away. Instead, we said "1.2 miles - how bad can it be???" Off we went.

Ok, on the right is the top of the trail. Over there down by the water is where we are going. Anyone see a problem yet?

On the way down, we had a great time, stopped and took some pictures, and got in touch with with the local flora and fauna. Check out this weird New Mexican bug we found.

Here's the trail, and some more of those pesky rocks that keep showing up around here.

So, here's Will hanging out at the river at the bottom of that mountian. This happens to be the Red River and the Rio Grande, right where they meet. As in EXACTLY where they meet. It's not as dramatic as one might think.

It's so serene there that some random guy came and sat down and started eating his lunch while we were taking pictures. That's the Rio Grande on the left, and the Red River on the right.

Also found at the bottom of the mountian was this little example of urban art.

Kristina, just before we began the return trip up the mountian. That peak up there is where we are going, and it's only 800 feet away.

Well, ok, .8 miles away, and 800 feet UP.

We made many many stops on the way up for "pictures of artistic merit." Like this one of a dead tree taken as Will was gasping for air and Kristina was suggesting "maybe we should take it easy on the way up..."

On the way down we thought "hey isn't this nice, they put stairs in" - On the way back up, we said "wow - it's a lot steeper going up stairs than it is going up the path."

Actually we said "gasp, heave, gasp, ugh"

You don't even want to know what we said when we got to this part of the trail.

Those of you paying attention at the beginning of the gallery might find this sight a little familiar. For everyone else - I give you the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Ryan and Tracy wanted to go see it, so we made another trip out.

And here's the couple, hanging out on the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.

We then went on a wild ride down dirt roads and switchbacks down to the gorge floor. We also saw an impressive array of couches, small appliances, large appliances, and trailer homes that had been thrown over the edge.

At the bottom of the gorge, there was a considerably less impressive bridge waiting for us. We drove across it, and then went home. After another fabulous dinner, Will crawled into bed and passed out.

No Description

Back to Galleries Page