Hi everybody! Daisy Jones-Klein here. Gosh, it seems like forever since I last wrote to y’all. As the Internet’s favorite dogblogger (YES I AM still #1! Check out what the Google says!), I try to tell everyone about all the fun things we’re doing out here in New Mexico. Publish or perish, they say …
But for this canny canine, it’s been kinda quiet lately.
Sure, there were a few trips to Camp Barkaway while my Peeps flew all over, but
generally I’ve been a Santa Fe-bound hound. Don’t get me wrong; life’s pretty
sweet here and I love my routines. There’s certainly lots to do, like taking my
walks, barking at Carl the UPS Guy, cleaning off plates, scaring away dogs on
the TV commercials, and in general turning kibble into poop. It barely leaves
time for my naps! But you shouldn’t feel sorry for me; they say that if you
really love your job, it hardly seems like work at all.
But the Call of the Road and wide open spaces remains strong, ever since we started our Excellent Adventure two years ago, leaving
our forever home in Virginia to drive to our new forever home here in New
Mexico. There are so many really cool places here in the State and in the rest
of the Southwest. And even though some of those places may not be all that
welcoming to us finer critters, there are many pet-friendly places to be
found.
So for Mom’s birthday last week, me and Dad thought it’d be
a good time to take a road trip, even if only for a couple of days. So, it’s
heading north to Taos we go! (FUN FACT:
Even with Mom's recent birthday, in dog years I’m now older than she is. How does
that happen? Math is hard!)
First, though, we had to wake Mom up. But finding her and waking her up happen to
fall squarely within my skill set. And in this case, she didn’t do her best job
of hiding:
And when it was time to pack up the car and head out, I was
super-ready. You didn't have to ask me twice:
We hadn't even driven one mile before the excitement started. A coyote ran across the road in front of us, jumping onto a high wall
to stare at us. I’m pretty sure the coyote was thinking “I’m’ no match for
Daisy; I might as well run away while I can.” (PEEPS' NOTE: More likely, the coyote was looking at Daisy and thinking “Mmmm
… snack!”
We took the High Road route to Taos. This scenic byway spans
hundreds of years of history among the Native Americans, Spanish, and other
cultures. Pueblos, churches, and artisans populate the route as we wind our way
through towns like Nambe, Chimayo, Truchas, and Placitas, weaving among red
rock formations, river valleys, and mountain peaks.
Late in the afternoon we pull into Taos and find our hotel.
We check in, and just outside our door there’s a large lawn for us critters to sniff
around and conduct our “business,” and I think you know what I’m talking about
here. I call it “P-mail”.
But did you
know that with all of our sniffing around and doing our business, we’re
actually partaking in a very sophisticated and witty banter? Here’s one of the P-mail
discussions I had with another fine critter up there in Taos.
Taos is a neat old town. With only about 6,000 people, Taos
boasts hundreds of years of three cultures living side by side, along with world-class
art, skiing, and outdoor activities. Lots of fun walking around there!
On the next day, we headed
west out of Taos. About 10 miles out, that took us to the Rio Grande Gorge
Bridge. The land is pretty flat there,
so you don’t even notice it until you get right up on it. But then it's Whoa! Hold onto that leash! Looking down it’s 565 feet above the Rio Grande, and the seventh highest
bridge in the US.
Driving south back towards
home, we next stopped at Ojo Caliente, a famous mineral springs. Now a resort and
spa, Ojo Caliente has been used for hundreds of years for its healing
properties. I was pretty skeptical at first,
seeing as how my Peeps try to trick me now and then into taking a bath. But when I
learned that they even had mud baths, I said “Sign me up!”
Well, that mud bath wasn't going to happen. Apparently
mud-covered dogs and riding in Mom’s car are not exactly considered a match
made in heaven. So we drove back home, with me regrettably still kinda clean, and
made it back in time to see another kick-ass sunset, as the summer monsoons often leave just the right amount of clouds for us to enjoy.
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All in all, it was an
excellent weekend, a fun time for Mom’s birthday, and a good test of a certain
quadruped’s road-worthiness. But like Dorothy said in that movie a long time
ago: There’s no place like home.
Yup. It’s still good to be
Daisy. I hope it’s good to be you, too.
Daisy Jones-Klein
Santa Fe (and points north!), NM
August 2014
