We took the scenic Low Road to Taos, catching breakfast (at a place known for their traditional Mexican – read lard – and they were certainly that, envision a four egg omelet with ham and onion and tomato and cheese and covered with green chile, and homemade biscuit and hash browns and instead of toast, Navajo fry bread - but oh so ono) along the way, and arrived around noon to threatening skies. Thunderstorms were predicted for the afternoon and evening. Our room at the La Dona Luz Inn
(a historic adobe-style Bed and Breakfast at least 200 years old) wasn’t ready, so we parked and took off to check out the nearby Historic Plaza Taos (center of Taos for the past 400 years) and surrounding area. We didn’t buy much this afternoon, tho we filled our eyeballs with the wide variety of goods offered for sale…from locally made crafts to imported imitations (read: Made in China). 
Also checked out various restaurants for dinner and made reservations at the Apple Tree, an award winner in Taos in 2006 and 2007. We returned to the B&B and were delighted with our colorful accommodations. We walk into a small living room with sofa, arm chair, TV and desk. Thru the left wall is the doorway to the bedroom and to the left of that is the doorway to the bathroom-- so basically it’s 3 small rooms in a row. The open beam ceiling feature aged rough hewn logs. The bedroom walls are all different – one is painted yellow-green, one yellow, one orange and the fourth yellow, brown, and yellow-green – think bright colors, clashing and loud but one got used to it. On these walls hang at least 11 paintings of various sizes, and from the ceiling hangs a multi-colored tri-globe fixture…looks something like a Tiffany lamp. But that’s not all. The color scheme of the bathroom is bright blue and green, with the theme being sunflowers. There is a big poster of sunflowers hanging above the toilet – the famous Fechin oil – Sunflowers of Taos - and a ceramic platter of sunflowers embedded in the center of the shower wall, and as you look down into the multi-colored sink, sunflowers are looking back at you. The vanity is bright blue, with the cabinets (2 greens, white, and black) and mirrors edged in bright green. The tiles in the shower are laid diagonally so they look diamond shaped and they are (what else?) blue and green! Did I say our room (called La Rosa) was colorful?? It may sound atrocious, but somehow it all works. Or maybe it’s because we’ve been here long enough to appreciate the artsy ways of the New Mexicans. At this point in our trip we have been at 5ooo plus elevation for over a week and Opal is experiencing high blood pressure, fast pulse, a bit of nausea …. all symptoms of altitude sickness. We’ve studied the map and figured out the best “escape plan that will both get us back to Las Vegas AND down to altitudes less than 5000 feet, asap.
New Mexico definitely emphasizes the arts. When shopping, a majority of the stores are galleries. Even the highway overpasses are decorated, painted in pastels (Indian art forms) instead of bare concrete. On the way from Alb to Santa Fe, some of the overpasses had murals painted on them. Sure helps to detract from the asphalt and cement.
The Apple Tree was definitely an award winner….from soup to dessert! We shared Southwestern soup (sort of a New Mexican minestrone), Apple Tree salad (organic field greens, walnuts and dried cranberries with a wonderful blue cheese vinaigrette), mango chicken enchilada
(one of their specialties) , fried eggplant baked with marinara, and pinon nut pie (like a pecan pie but with pinon (sort of pine) nuts….yummy!) We were so full we could hardly breathe! It was chilly when we stepped out for the walk back to our B&B but lucky for us, it wasn’t raining. Slide show
2007 SW 9-28
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