North of Taos - Arroyo Seco , Taos Ski Valley, and Beaver Dam Floods

This picture is of a park ranger's home that was flooded by a beaver dam.  I could not get the sky exposed correctly, so I flipped the picture upside down.  I really like the effect.  A few felled beaver logs make an X in the perceived sky.

Up the road north from Taos you pass the quaint village of Arroyo Seco before making the final climb to the Taos Ski Valley.  Arroyo Seco has an international feel to it.  I overheard a waitress practicing her French on a customer practicing his English in the ice cream shop.  Just down the road, at the picturesque entry to the town, is the Abominable Snowmansion Hostel.  Hostels always remind me of my time lugging bags around Europe meeting German gap yearlings and Israeli ex-soldiers all looking for something most will find much later, perhaps in the foothills of the Himalaya or beneath the stars in Goa.

 Arroyo Seco 

 An interesting house 

 The local hostel 

 Another angle, I regret not sticking my head inside, though their website is here.

 A pottery shop with a painted window 

 Taos Cow Ice cream 

 Taos Cow interior 

 I was nursing great vibes and appreciating the surroundings and no sad sign for septic tank service could ruin it.

 White Chocolate Pistachio Ice Cream.  I would stay away from this, or everything you eat for the rest of your life will fail to measure up. 

 A local dog says sup

 The climb from Arroyo Seco to Taos Ski Valley was bathed in the colors of Fall.  The air was crisp, the clouds scarce, and it was a great afternoon to just look out across the world. 

 

 The road was straight,

 and there were also curves, as we continued to climb, reaching for the snow caps that seemed so elusive just hours ago.

 We finally arrived near the summit, and the lanes normally reserved for rows of family vans and SUV parking were, for a while longer, completely empty.  For the high season, people from all over the world will descend on the valley for some of the most challenging skiing in the United States.

 Snow at last 

 Kristin enjoying the snow

 On our way back down we saw the strangest thing.

 A house was flooded, and we suspected beavers were the culprits.

 We had hard evidence.

 My favorite picture of the day.  Flooded house upside down.

 Damns Beavs.

On our way back down, we passed a German Ski Haus, Austing Haus

Taos Pueblo Photos - the old part of town

Just north of Taos plaza is the original Taos - Taos Pueblo.  With a history dating back as much as 1000 years, this is old country.  The area is an interesting mix of new and old.  The Pueblo Indians that call the Unesco heritage site home live in old school Pueblo housing, but possess many modern comforts.  They have television and drive brand new cars.  It is interesting to see the past and present meet in a utilitarian compromise.  Anyways, I hope you enjoy my pictures of Taos Pueblo.

The entry to a church courtyard casts a shadow 

Taos Pueblo housing with camouflaged dog

A vote approaches 

The mountains behind Taos Pueblo

A residence in the Taos Pueblo complex 

Another home.  Most of the occupants had nice new modern cars, but live in traditional dwellings.

A church built by missionaries

Framing the church in its entry arch

A tall wooden pole 

A shop that we visited 

Never figured out what it was, anyone have a clue?

Skull 

The highest building in Taos Pueblo

Racks for drying things 

Smiling Pueblo dog 

The Pueblo architecture incorporates brightly colored doors.  I think its great.

A shop between 2 residences 

The outskirts 

A stream running through the center of Taos Pueblo 

A very old cemetery

The entrance to the cemetery 

Parking for the governor and his cronies.  The governor is elected by a council of 50 elders.

Oddities - Mo's Bacon Bar

I have seen you at World Market with your $6 price tag.  Why do you exist? Why are you so expensive relative to other chocolate bars?  How has World Market been able to stock you for the last few years?  Someone must be buying this strange bar.  As of today, that someone is me.

Surely, the entirety of purchases were not curiosity buys from unemployed vagabonds who have spent the last couple years pondering the existence of such a thing as a bacon bar.  Every time I walk into World Market, I have strolled down the narrow chocolate aisle with a head full of whys, glancing over, as if an unsolved crime that no one ever bothered to investigate lies there dead on the shelf.

I like fundamentally terrible ideas that manage to succeed in the marketplace.  If I polled all of my friends and told them, "I have a fantastic idea.  I am going to make a chocolate bar filled with bacon. What do you think?"  Eyes would roll.  Yet, this thing exists. 

My affection for dark horse entities draws me to strange places like Sulawesi and to chocolate bars filled with bacon.  I like things that, taken at face value, do not have a whole hell of a lot in common with the greyscale grip of reality.  This bar definitely falls outside of convention's category.  It is like a manatee in a suit, cereal on a fine dining menu, or a submarine with wings.         

I have sampled the bar, and shared samples with others.  Most instances, it was necessary to go out of my way just to incite participation in this odd sampling.  Most needed convincing and reassurances.  All asked, "Bacon?"

So is it any good?  This is where opinions have diverged greatly.  I maintain that it is a strange but delectable creature confection.  Kristin, my fiance, looks upon the bar as though it is an old gym sock covered in Poodle slobber.  In fact, most just couldn't get over the general weirdness of the bar.  Most of those who sampled did so under the pretense that I break off a very very small piece for them.  With such an approach, it is difficult to work out the full and complex body of the slab of bacon stuffed chocolate.  You really have to get into this bar to appreciate it.  I did.  I think it is great.  The sweet and salty come together like angry southerners and a Palin book signing.  It is an explosive lot, half the time you are confused, but you leave the experience knowing that something substantial, for better or worse, just happened. 

I would say that as a curiosity buy, it is a damn fine purchase.  At $6, it is a little steep, and no one will be giving these out at Halloween any time soon.  They sell them at confection shops, and of course, World Market.

 Unboxing 

 It is broken into 8 squares.  Some of the squares have a "Vosges" inscription. others have ladies hanging out. 

        Bacon and Chocolate.