day 5: Part 7: a beautiful end to a long day

so after hitting Colorado for the first time during my trip, i felt pretty good. i was heading north from Tierra Amarilla, NM to Pagosa Springs, CO when i crossed the state line. the driving was great and the scenery was better. i was tired, it had been a long day and i was ready to be finished. i still had hours to drive to reach Mesa Verde, my intended stop for the night.

day 5: Part 6: Are we there yet?

more mountains, lots of driving, and up up up i went, as i continued my drive across New Mexico. i am not sure of the elevation reached on this stretch, all i can say is that the temperature had dipped from 85 degrees in Raton to the low 40's up there.








yes it was still snowy. yes i stopped to play in it. can you blame me?















a few more hours of fun, winding mountain roads and i crossed over into Colorado for the first time.

day 5: Part 5: Taos

from eagle's nest you continue climbing and drive into taos canyon and an entirely different climate. as the scenery changes so does the wildlife... it was fairly rainy for most of this part of the drive, between that and the windy canyon roads i didn't take that many pictures. it's funny though, as you drive down into taos, you can easily pick out the mountain dwelling, beat-to-shit truck driving, locals and the oh-not-on-the-leather through traffic. of course, i'm pretty sure in this case i fell into the latter category.

taos is a small, low-lying collection of stucco houses and shops. the narrow streets were bustling with people and traffic even in the spring rain. i stopped for some pinon nuts at a road-side stand advertising theirs were the best in NM. they were good, but not having any basis on which to judge, i can't say if they held up to their vendors claims. so again, on i went with more miles left than i cared to ponder. again i headed up, climbing from taos into more uncharted territory.

day 5: Part 4: farther up and farther in

after leaving leaving capulin volcano i soon reached raton and the gateway to the mountains. it was exciting after seeing nothing but flat land for the last 5 days. so into the mountains i went. my route happened to take me through cimarron canyon on the way... i must admit it did make me think of that disney movie a little bit.





after reaching the top of the
canyon you're graced with
some beautiful views of
eagle's nest lake and
the surrounding mountains.
it was in eagle's nest that i
took what may be my fav-
orite picture of the entire trip.
again, i snapped it out the
passenger window as i drove
by and in looking at it all these
weeks later i find it really
amazing. here it is:

day 5: Part 3: my volcanic detour

since i was on the scenic route already, i figured a few extra unplanned stops couldn't hurt anything. so when i saw the signs declaring there was a volcano to be had for the handsome price of a three dollar park admission ticket, i couldn't pass it up. my only concern was that my car was on the big E and gas stations, not to mention towns, are few and far between in northern NM.



so below is the 'cone'... more like whats left of it. i was a little disappointed after reaching the top and seeing it. i wasn't expecting anything super exciting, but i guess a little more than a grassy hole.



it was a gorgeous day. the sky was blue and the clouds were puffy, again i lucked out with good weather on my trip.



i did get a super nice panorama of the view facing out form the top of the cone. you can see it here. blogger won't let me upload it... too big.

remember me?...

it's been a long time and i've been doing a great job of thoroughly ignoring the blog. admittedly, i have been busy and all over the place. i've been biking a lot and i am still not bringing the camera along... too risky. i think i need to get a little pocket sized camera on the cheap for biking and party pics. well i'm going to try to catch up and be better about keeping up from now on.

a few pics of some of the nicer moments this summer: