After an exhausting day yesterday, it was good to be able to sleep-in a little this morning. I was in no hurry since I was only traveling a short distance today. I ended up leaving Chama about 9:30am after saying goodbye to a number of people in our group and planned to head south towards Santa Fe, but I decided since I was in no hurry I would detour and go east towards Taos for a quick visit. I'd always wanted to see the place, and here was my chance.
I dropped down out of Chama into the Chama River Valley and the temperatures started to rise. It was 37 this morning when I left, and thankfully no ice this time. It got up to the upper 50's before too long until I started heading east and had to climb over more mountains. The higher you climb, the colder it gets, so were back down into the 40's again until I dropped down the other side. The drive east wasn't nearly as scenic as the drive north from Albuquerque this past Tuesday. No splashes of color, no dramatic rugged peaks, just lots of pine trees guiding the way. I dropped down into another valley and I could see Taos far in the distance next to another mountain range. I had two options when I arrived...I could go through old town Taos, or detour and go towards the ski area. I decided to just stay on the road I was on and go through old Taos. There's not a lot to see there except a lot of arts and crafts stores, very hip looking art galleries, and lots of restaurants. I knew ahead of time that this was a very artsy place and it didn't disappoint.
After sailing through town I continued back southbound towards Santa Fe, my overnight destination. I couldn't go to Albuquerque because all the hotel rooms were sold out because of the balloon festival. I arrived at the friendly Best Western and checked in about 1:30pm, a little early. They had a room ready so I got my luggage settled and cleaned up a little, then headed for the regional commuter rail system in this area called the New Mexico Rail Runner, which runs between Santa Fe and Belen, NM, which is south of Albuquerque.
Once aboard the train, which is very nice, clean and fast, I decided to go back to the casino I enjoyed this past Tuesday since the train conveniently had a stop there. I would have about four hours before catching the train back northbound, just enough time to gamble a little, enjoy a delicious dinner, and relax. My first trip to the casino I broke even. This trip I was down a little, but not too bad. I had fun.
I got back to the hotel around 10:30pm and started writing. It wasn't the most exciting day I've had on this vacation, but I saw some new areas of New Mexico I'd never seen, new cities I always wanted to see, and rode a train I wanted to ride, so overall, it was a good day. I'll head out of here about 8am tomorrow and drive straight to the Albuquerque airport and turn in my rental car. My flight leaves a little before 11am.
With all that being said, this will be my final entry for this trip. It was a great vacation, and I look forward to getting home. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my adventures this week, and hopefully we can do it again soon. I have no travel plans set for the rest of the year, but that could always change. Also, thanks for all the kind comments you have left this week. There were so many, and I was so busy I haven't had a chance to reply to all of them, but I assure you I read them all, and I appreciate every one of them.
See ya next time!
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