Enchanted Circle

Rio Grande Gorge


The Enchanted Circle is an 83 mile loop through the mountains above Taos. It passes three ski areas: Taos, Red River and Angel Fire. It was beautiful. At the beginning of the loop we took a side trip to the bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge. What a magnificent view! Our guide at Taos Pueblo told us that they had reintroduced big horn sheep in the gorge but we didn’t see any.

We were in the high desert with sagebrush and juniper trees for about the first third of the trip and then we suddenly switched to mountain canyons and high meadows. We passed a working molybdenum mine. What the heck is molybdenum you might ask. See, just like me you didn’t memorize the periodic table of elements in chemistry class.
It is an element that makes things hard so it is used in the production of steel. If you want more details try our friends at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molybdenum ). Did you know that according to Congress, mining is the best use of any public land? So if a mining company wants a permit to mine something on/under public land they get to do it. That is why land in the National Park Service is not considered public land. There were literally mountains of tailings along the road near the mine.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park


We stumbled across the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park. According to the brochure it is the first and only state park in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to Vietnam veterans. It was very moving. When David Westphall was killed in Vietnam in May of 1968 his family decided to use his life insurance money to create a memorial chapel to honor him. This turned into a chapel to remember all who fought there. It was very moving and very well done. Poignant without being schmarmy. A highly recommended stop. You can visit them on the web at http://angelfirememorial.com/.

We have a new desk clerk today and so are anxious to try out his recommendation for dinner.