Beautiful New Mexico!

After about 12 hours of driving, we arrived in Taos, NM. The scenery is very similar to the Salt Lake Valley. It has really tall mountains surrounding the area.
So, as some of you readers may already know, (if you've read the pevious post) I thought we were going to Angel Fire New Mexico, but actually our hotel is in Taos and Jeff's jobsite is in Angel Fire. This is such a neat area with little shops and chili pepper wreath thingys all over! I wish I had another lady here with me to tour the shops! When we first got to Taos, we went to our hotel, the Quality Inn... the lobby was decent and we were excited! We got to our room and it was so dirty, there were flies and the carpet was nasty, it was a real downer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the kinda gal that can't handle a little dirt! : ) But this was too much, Rocky and Kaia were on edge the whole time, we just didn't get a good vibe. So... we drove through town and looked at another place called the El Pueblo Lodge. That place wasn't too well off itself! ;) It was super old, which I kinda liked... ya know the style, old southwestern style!? but it was the kinda old that hadn't been kept up on. I was losing hope because both of us really didn't want to stay at the QI... augh! As we were headed back to the Quality Inn we mistakenly drove right past it and for some miraculous reason found a way nicer place, nothing too fancy schmancy!! : ) I went inside and the place was normal, not dirty, not smelly, normal! Needless to say, we immediately switched hotels and our whole visit changed, we were able to relax a bit after a very long drive! This place is wonderful though, we really like it here.. really kind people! Last night, coinsidentally, there was a hot air ballon thing going on a few blocks from our hotel, they were lighting up in the dark, it was really cool!



In the above picture you can see that Taos is part of a loop on the map, it's called "The Enchanted Circle". What an amazing drive! We drove the entire loop and got to see some way cool stuff, I spotted a coyote as big as Kaia! It was such a beautiful drive through the canyon which parts drove through Carson National Forest. I was surprised to see how much it looked like Big or Little Cottonwood, but different. I never would have guessed that New Mexico would be so mountainous and full of wildlife. There are rivers and lakes and reservoirs everywhere! I really want to catch some trout before I leave and take it home for my bro to smoke! yum.

We found the LDS church/office suite, and I was once again suprised! I guess I'm just so used to seeing LDS churches in Utah and thought they were all the same. Angel Fire's LDS church is in a little community center with multiple sepearte office suites... the "ward house" is an office suite! Wow! This made me realize for the first time how fortunate LDS members are in Utah, to have a nice big clean ward house to worship in.
Anyway, that's all for today. I'm taking lots of pics, but I don't have the cord thingy to transfer the pics onto my computer.

Love, Elise, Jeff, Rocky and Kaia