Santa Fe, Taco Monday and Tuesday

The flight to Santa Fe was long and difficult.  When we arrived it rained on us.  I can't complain too much, it had hailed really hard earlier in the day so a bit of rain was much better.  After a long day flying, I was hungry.  We bring snacks and water bottles for these long flights but 5:30 in Santa Fe was 7:30 back home so it was dinner time.

We found that Santa Fe has way more food trucks than restaurants.  They seem to be everywhere.  Google had great reviews for a taco truck a few minutes away which of course was closed.  Across the street we saw some open ones.  We grabbed some tacos and nachos and headed back to the hotel to feast as the rain kept coming down.

Tuesday it was still raining.  We had planned to go to Taos but the weather said otherwise.  We headed down to Albuquerque instead as the weather was better as in warmer and drier.  We spent some time hiking the Petroglyph National Monument.  The trails were not too hard but we were at 5,000 plus feet so it felt like we had less pep.

After some climbing and petroglyph viewing, we headed over to see the famous red arrow.  I am not quite sure how it got there or why it is there.  We saw it though.  We also grabbed some sodas and hydrated.  Even though it was rainy, the humidity is much lower.

Our next stop was the art museum at the University of New Mexico.  Google had recommended it and we needed some culture.  It was also indoors as the skies were getting rainy again.  The museum is small with a mix of permanent and travelling collections.  It was a nice stop and the campus had some nice sculptures as well.

We finished by driving around looking at the city. The city itself does not have a great deal of character but the mountain backdrops are stunning.  We ended the day heading back to Santa Fe and hit another taco truck, or maybe a taco apple is more spot on.  We got tacos and some other dishes like these mini quesadillas.  The food was once again really good.

Wednesday the weather had finally cleared, mostly and we headed up to Taos.  Our main stop was the Taos Crossing Bridge.  It crosses the Rio Grande river and I came for the views and the hike.  I did not know that it is a hotbed of jumping activity.  They are doing their best to help people but at least 50 people have jumped since 1991 making it one of the highest bridge suicide locations in the country.  (Remember you can always dial 988 in a crisis).  They have people watching the bridge and call boxes at several locations.  There is also a bus that was quite strange but they seem to be doing good work.

We came for the views and they did not disappoint.  We also saw bighorn sheep along the side of the bridge.  After walking the bridge we took the rim trail for more bridge views.  It is really stunning and the mountain views in the background really enhance the experience.  There was still a lot of snow at the higher elevations.  It had just snowed the day before.

Leaving the bridge we headed down to the Rio Grande.  Our path terminated at a gravel road, usually this means really dirty rental but this one was in good condition and we made the 1.5 mile drive down to the river.  We were headed to some natural hot springs on the river but the rains had made everything rather muddy so we hiked a bit on the dryer areas and then headed into town.  A friend had recommended a coffee shop so we stopped for a snack and coffee.

We then walked the downtown square.  It is off season and seemed a bit quite.  Mostly a lot of shops which did not excite me.  The town is not much to look at but the scenery is incredible.  We ended the day driving back to Santa Fe and getting food truck Thai food.  It was quite good.