Taos, NM - Day 17

Credit for this photo from yesterday to one of our guides Tara, I saw the last half of the rainbow by the time I got to the plateau - the sky and the mountains were stunning... Storm clouds and wide open plains are a pretty cool combination. If I was a faster biker I would have seen this...

The multi-story pueblo in Taos was built about 1000 years ago and has been continuously inhabited since - the longest running occupancy of a building in history. Taos means 'place of red willow' which is impressive that they can get location, adjective, and noun into one word. Good for those that don't like to talk a lot. Taos moved back and forth between Indian and Spanish control for a time and was taken by the US in 1847 during the Mexican-American war (leading to the Taos revolt against US occupation the following year). It's now a huge western art center (and three ski areas in the mountains). I strolled the historic central plaza today but otherwise relaxed and caught up on work, laundry, and phone calls. The El Monte Sagrado was a great place to do that though - I had a patio to sit on and listen to the magpies and smell the pinon pine and try to get the feeling back in my toes and butt. So that's the excuse for the paucity of photos today. Tomorrow it's back at it climbing through the Sangre de Cristo mountains...

Hope everyone had a chance to relax this weekend and thanks so much for following!