Southwest Canyons and Rainbows Loop {10/2 - 10/3: Taos}

We spent the next two days in Taos, in a (really nice hotel at Taos Ski Valley, thanks to Inntopia credits for that 4-star stay!) Mostly, we stuck close to the resort and enjoyed not driving too much, but on Sunday, 2 October, we did take a drive along the "Enchanted Circle" scenic byway, stopping in Red River to visit and play a bit of disc golf with a friend of Gregg's. He gave us a tour of the lodge at his resort, too, which was fun. It started raining as we finished up our visit with Reid, so we continued on along the circle without stopping and getting out anywhere. We made it back to the hotel in time for the afternoon session of conference and a very belated lunch (we thought we'd just picnic along the drive, but it was so soggy we just kept driving). Later in the afternoon the rain stopped and we headed out to explore the resort. Gregg played a bit more disc golf on the Taos course and we had fun in the (outdoor) hot tub(s) and pool - all to ourselves!

This place is so fancy, the keys were made of wood!

Here's our room.

Here's our view.

Ha!

Yoney's still hanging on! Can you see
the wing design showing through the chrysalis?
It's gotta be getting close!

Disc golf was lovely in the little park in
Red River.

Here's Red River, the resort.

Reid let us into the chalet, which was awesome and charming.

And now we'll have a tour of the awesome hotel room.
Check out this bathroom!

The entryway closet area. Very handy.

View from the doorway. (The entryway
closet area is immediately to my right (not
visible) and the bathroom is just opposite
the mirror through that little doorway visible
on the right.)

TV, bed, desk, chair by the window.

It was raining SO hard the water was just
flowing down the road below us.

Cal and Sam did some magnetic poetry.
This one by Cal.

And here is Sam's design.

The little makeup table area was actually
a perfect spot for Sam to sit and read jokes
to anyone who happened to be using the toilet.

Out and about in the village as the rain was ending.

Back behind and below the hotel (up
above on the right).

From this bridge we could look over and see
the pool and hot tubs.

I think our room was right in the middle, just to the left
of the tree, with the open window curtains.

Can you think of anything more New Mexico than
a ristra tied to a lift?

The village looked lovely after the rain with the leaves
 changing on the hills.

Monday morning, 3 October, we drove up the road to another base area of the resort where there was a trail to a lake. We didn't think we'd go all the way to the lake, and the kids definitely did NOT want to go all the way to the lake, but it became something of a battle of wills to see who would win out. We had to pull out all our tricks to keep the kids moving forward - dad jokes and puns, poetry recitation (badly by mom, so Cal and Sam just had to chime in with corrections), singing songs, spelling quizzes. And then, all of a sudden, we had made it to the lake at 11,000 feet! And it was cold and we could tell a storm was moving in, so we turned back around and headed back to the warmth of the hotel. We lazed about for most of the day after that, reading, playing, watching the bear cam, swimming . . . Gregg even got out for more disc golf. It was a lovely, relaxing day. Just the right little lull in the action we needed in the middle of a big, long road trip.

Good morning snuggles in the chair by the window.

Still a chrysalis. When are you coming out,
Yoney?!

But it's a nice view!

All kinds of entertainment from Sam for folks on the pot.
(He loved using the shower as a dressing room.)

The lift at the other base area where the trail started.

Great hangy mossy stuff on the logs along the trail.

So much green!

And the fungi were my faves!

Snow along the trail gets this sort of reaction.

The tiniest, yellowest little fungi.

We made it!

Lake Williams, elev. 11,040 feet.

I have no idea.

They were practically skipping on the way down.
Luckily going down is when we passed a lot more
hikers, who all commented on the happy kids.
Definitely a different story than the up version.

Almost back to the car - we got to cross
a cute little covered bridge and it made us miss
Vermont.

What the?! Weirdest fungus award for this one.

We only used the valet parking the first night -
 it's just too awkward! - so sometimes we had
to walk along this boardwalk across a marshy
section to get back to the hotel from
the free parking down the road.

Still checking in.

Just some down time on the bed. I took this
because I wanted to document who was playing most
with my old barbie magnetic paper doll that I used
to keep in my locker in middle school. Yep, it was
Sam!

bonus videos!

Sam swims!

Cal floats!

big progress on the swimming front for these two kids!