Land of Enchantment

We spent the first night back in the coach at a beautiful little campground at the top of Raton Pass. We were so close to the state line that we could have walked back to Colorado. The views were (I’m running out of adjectives here) awesome. We could see for miles and miles. I know these photos don’t fully do it justice, but I still have to share.

When I went outside this morning to take some photos of this wonderful scenery, I heard a very loud noise. Can you say “mooooooo”? Just across the interstate, there appeared to be a cattle drive going on. These gals didn’t seem terribly happy about it either. It has been eons since I’ve been in a position to hear that many cows making that much noise. Here’s a picture, but even if you zoom in, it’s hard to see there black selves.

Later, we saw cowboys – real cowboys on horseback working the herd. Good morning, New Mexico!

The drive to Taos was amazing, too. Once off the interstate, we went through a good 30 miles of grazing pastures. At first it was all cows. Then we started seeing antelope. We saw a few in Nebraska and Wyoming, but there were way more of them here. And then, just before Cimarron, we saw buffalo – a lot of buffalo. We saw elk crossing signs, but no live elk.

From there we drove into the mountains. Gorgeous mountains! Amazing scenery!


After clearing Palo Flechada Pass at an elevation of 9116 feet, we descended into this valley.

The trees are starting to turn on the hillsides and it was beautiful.

If you've never driven US-64 between Raton and Taos, I highly recommend it. It is a totally fabulous experience.