Sunday, June 14th - Taos & the Enchanted Circle

After breakfast at Michael's, we headed east on US-64 for the first leg of the Enchanted Circle, a circle drive thru scenic areas of northern New Mexico.  First stop was the New Mexico Vietnam  Veterans Memorial State Park at Angel Fire.  The memorial, established by a doctor in memory of his son killed in Nam, and all veterans of that war, has striking architecture and is quite moving.

We then continued on past views of Wheeler Peak, NM's highest mountain, still with snow on the upper slopes.  Next was Red River, a touristy town with a ski resort for winter and outdoor sports in summer.  Past Red River we saw the recently closed Molybdenum strip mine - the mountain pays for our steel & special needs.

Nothing much in Questa, so we returned to the Wild Rivers Recreation Area from which we fled in a storm of hail yesterday.  This time the weather was perfect, and we got some great views of the Rio Grande and Red River.   Some of the rapids were so loud they could be easily heard from the top of the gorge.

Back to Taos, dinner at Casa de Valdez, and getting ready for Santa Fe tomorrow.  We're at the 2600 mile mark for the trip.