Taos

Almost ten years ago, my sister gave birth to her daughter Hannah. Since then, my mom, sister and I have not had the opportunity to get together without our growing number of kids/grandkids joining us. Usually when we get together our conversations are full of interruptions or cut off completely. It's always fun - I love watching the cousins together - but it occurred to us this year that it was high time to have a "grown ups only" weekend. My mom's sixtieth birthday was the perfect excuse.

We probably would have have had a great weekend even if we'd stayed in a Motel 8 in Albany but the Casa Gallina in Taos made the weekend even more special. Here are some highlights (and lowlights) from our trip.

When I think about our trip to Taos, I will remember...

...driving from Albuquerque in the dark, hours after we expected to due to delayed flights, and suddenly noticing flashing lights and a train whistle, panicking, momentarily forgetting how to reverse the absurdly large rental Yukon, thinking that we were all going to die before our vacation began, and finally (at my mom and Mollie's screamed requests) putting the car in reverse, just missing the railroad crossing gate that was about to crash down on the hood of the car.

...arriving at the Casa Gallina at 11 PM (2 AM for my mom and sister) hungry and tired, opening the door of our cabin to find a room beautifully decorated with local artisan paintings and furniture, and seeing the incredible spread of food and wine that Richard (the inn owner) had left for us. We sat down, opened the wine and stayed up for another hour and a half, eating and drinking, talking and laughing.


...waking up at 6 AM to the sound of a rooster right behind our door. ...thinking about killing the rooster.


...feeling much more appreciative of the poultry out back after eating the freshly laid eggs for breakfast, along with Richard's homemade whole wheat and jam (made from fresh picked berries) muffins.

...all the delicious food that we ate, whether it was the strawberry rhubarb pie we found waiting for us one afternoon at our cabin, the delicious locally grown food from the Love Apple restaurant (which was a beautiful restaurant inside a converted chapel), or the ice cream at Taos Cow.

... visiting Taos Pueblo, which has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans for the last 1,000 years. It was interesting to see, but looked like a fairly dark and depressing place to actually live.


...all of our hikes. The first day we hiked along the canyon, where we saw lizards, humming birds and desert flowers. The second day we headed for the mountains but realized, an hour into our hike, that we might miss our spa appointments and practically ran the second half of our hike. The third day we had more confidence about our ability to hike in the high altitude (almost 10,000 ft at the start of the hike) and hiked a beautiful but steep trail near the ski area. Towards the top, my mom started to struggle to breathe and by the time we reached the top we felt like we were all high from lack of oxygen. We lay down in the peaceful mountain top meadow and caught our breath before heading down the tree-lined trail.


... the black night sky filled with stars, a refreshing view after all of the light (and other) pollution in Los Angeles

... browsing the shops and galleries in Taos. My mom spoiled my sister and I further by insisting we buy something for ourselves. She left with a turquoise pendant and I left with a new pair of Uggs.

... how wonderful it was to spend a weekend relaxing and catching up with my mom and sister.