Last Saturday, Kirios and I woke up in Santa Fe and enjoyed breakfast at our hotel before hitting the scenic High Road to Taos. Most of the day consisted of us listening to a Spanish radio station while Kirios drove our rental SUV and I attempted to capture the beautiful landscape with his dSLR and fancy schmancy lenses. There was lots of desert, tumbleweeds and cacti, and snow capped mountains. It was gorgeous.

Our first stop was at El Santuario De Chimayo. Chimayo is a small town known for chile peppers and this church. Both the Native Americans and the Catholics believe the church was built on sacred ground with healing powers. The grounds are beautiful – they included a horse which happily posed next to Kirios for several photos, and a serene outdoor gathering place. The sanctuary was quite pretty, and next to the chapel there were small rooms with pictures of loved ones in need of healing, crutches and casts allegedly left behind by people who were miraculously healed at the church, and a pit of “holy dirt” which visitors bag to take with them.

After admiring the church in Chimayo, we resumed our journey on the High Road, pulling over at a couple of scenic overlooks for photo opportunities. We arrived in Taos around 2pm and immediately saw signs of civilization. It had the first McDonalds we had seen since Santa Fe! (Although we did pass quite a few Post Offices… but I’ll leave that discussion for the workplace…) Obviously, we were not interested in stopping at the McDonalds, but it was lunchtime, so we stopped at Taos Pizza Outback, just past the downtown area, and frequented by tourists and locals alike. We decided to order a small pizza, meant for 2-3 people with mushrooms, artichoke hearts, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and toasted walnuts. But Kirios wanted to try a different pizza on their menu too, the Pizza Vera Cruz marinated chicken breast, bell peppers, onions, garlic, and a honey chipotle chile sauce, covered with mozzarella and smoked cheddar. I informed Kirios that it would be entirely too much food, and he seemed fine with taking back leftovers for a snack the next day. But he didn’t listen when I told him to look at the size of the other patrons’ pizza slices, so he was dumbfounded when his slice of pizza arrived, covering the entire plate and piled at least an inch and a half high. Despite the excess quantity, the pizza was pretty good. The crust contained a lot of sesame, which gave it a unique taste, and it was also twirled in a pretty pattern. We washed down our pizza by trying more local beer from New Mexico.

After our lunch we drove to the Taos Pueblo. There are several Native American Pueblos in New Mexico, we mainly decided to visit the one inTaos because it is the only one which is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Pueblo has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans for over a thousand years, and we walked around to see their church, cemetery, and homes (from the outside). We caught up with the last tour group of the day, and heard a college-aged tour guide describe a little bit about their government, rituals, land, and their 50-year legal battle to reclaim their land in the mountains. (I have to admit, it disappointed me a bit to hear that only members of the tribe, not even scientists, are allowed to visit the acres and acres of beautiful mountains they have). We visited Native American artists in their shops and admired their handcrafted works. We also learned quickly that they all had additional homes on the reservation, since there was no electricity in the Pueblo.

We left the Pueblo at five and stopped at the Taos town plaza, with shops. A friendly shopkeeper informed us that people hardly ever receive parking tickets in Taos, and although Kirios has incredibly bad luck with parking tickets, we successfully chanced it. We spent more time looking at artwork, jewelry, and souvenirs. (We did this so frequently on our trip, because New Mexico is really full of beautiful things.) We even stopped in a chocolate shop and sampled green chile peanut brittle. I liked it a lot, although Kirios claimed his piece wasn’t as spicy as mine. We purchased a bag of dark chocolate flavored with lemon and pepper (in honor of Kirios’ Greek heritage – he believes all food should be made with salt, pepper, oregano, and lemon juice!).

Finally, I convinced Kirios it was time to head back to Santa Fe, since it was getting dark. There was one sight left unseen in Taos, the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Unfortunately, without city light pollution, there wasn’t much we could see in the dark. So we started out on the less scenic route back to Santa Fe… this involved a “highway” unpaved spiraling down the side of a mountain. In the dark. With a little bit of snow blowing. Kirios stayed calm and drove really well (For those of you that know him as an aggressive DC area driver… trust me, it wasn’t his driving that made me nervous at all!) while I sang along to the radio and tried not to turn my head to see the side of the cliff…

We made it back to Santa Fe safely. But a tad hungry. Kirios scarfed one of the leftover slices of my pizza, and we headed over to the hotel bar, Del Charro. Turns out the hotel bar actually is one of the best night life scenes in the heart of Santa Fe – that may not be saying too much, but sometimes it’s hard to believe the hotel websites… The bar was filled with young locals and Kirios and I played “spot the tourists.” To embrace the Southwestern spirit, we ordered tequila drinks. I had a tequila sunrise, Kirios tried the margaritas. And then we split an order of tomato soup and grilled cheese. Kirios’ soup was delightfully spicy, and those of you who grew up with me know that grilled cheese is my absolute comfort food. (Although Kirios is winning his war against my American cheese habit… I haven’t bought any for months!) A very home-y finish to a great adventure of a day!