A bit quiet, plans changed, couple visits, and a Happy Birthday!

We've mostly just been quiet puttering around enjoying the weather and surroundings.  In other words we haven't been doing too much:)  We love poking around trying to find new little holes in the wall to eat at, and as we drove down from Taos we passed this little kind of decrepit looking place, Sugar's BBQ that looked pretty interesting.

  
When we got back we did a google search and wow, Gourmet Magazine picked it in its top 10 roadside drive-ins, and Yelp and TripAdvisor gave it high marks, so that meant we would have to try it!  Now during this time Jan's sister, Karen, is in Taos while we were in Santa Fe.  She is usually interested in experimenting so we said how bout meeting us at Sugar's on Tues?  Now just to put it in perspective it would be a 55 mile drive for us and about 30 or so for Karen.  So about 20 miles out I asked Jan what she was going to have, so she went online to see the menu and found out they were only open Thurs-Sun!  Ooooopppsss.  We got ahold of Karen and she hadn't left yet so we rescheduled for Thurs. New plan. 

In the meantime Jan and I decided to go up to Ski Santa Fe as it was a beautiful day, and the aspens weren't quite done.  It was a very pretty ride up with great views.  The ski resort is at 10,350'.

Santa Fe in the distance

Still fairly bright

Nice day!

We then worked our way down the mountain on a rough little dirt road and wound our way back to the campground.

Now back to Sugar's.  We met on Thursday and had a delicious meal, I had a beef brisket burrito with green chilis and pico de gallo, Karen had the taco special with beef, and beans, and Jan got the Sugar burger that was awesome, green chili cheeseburger with all the trimmings.  It was a great find!  After our lunch and a long visit, Jan and I headed back down the High Road to Taos, a scenic byway.  It was an beautiful ride.

We snuck out Sunday morning for our obligatory Heuvos Rancheros at the Pantry.   Fantastic!

Then Monday, the 19th is a special day, it is our son Jason's birthday, Happy Birthday!, and also Jan's mom, Viv's 93rd birthday!  We, Jan and I, Karen came down from Taos, and Nancy and CT all took Viv out for her birthday lunch in Albuquerque.  It was great.  Too much chatting so I only got this one picture of Viv which I hope doesn't displease her:)

Happy 93rd Birthday!!

After lunch Jan, Karen, and I headed back to Santa Fe to discuss Karen's new plans.  She had planned to move down to our campground in Santa Fe for a few days, then all of us were moving down to Albuquerque for a week or so to visit with family, even some of Jan's, Nancy's, and Karen's cousins, Susan and Mary Beth are coming in for a visit, but she was stymied with some new developments.  First she couldn't get into our campground as we are full up, and then some personal issues came up that caused her to head home to KY early.  We were all disappointed that she had to head home, but understood her obligations.

Jan and I went up to Taos to see Karen yesterday and get some things she forgot before she headed out today.  We decided to take a road up through the Rio Grande Gorge on our way that she had talked about.  It was very cool.  The Rio Grande has really cut quite a gorge on its way from the Colorado border on past the Taos area, up to 800' deep.  The road we took starts at the river, follows it for a few miles then climbs up the gorge side to get on top of the mesa, then winds back across the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, the 7th highest bridge in the US.

The beginning of the road

The mighty Rio Grande, pretty and placid

The beavers had discovered this tree!

The rangers have added a wire cage to try to deter them, doesn't
look like it works very well:)

The gorge is awesome

The road is a bit challenging

But very worth it

We had another last visit with Karen including a delicious lunch at Gutiz.  While we were there she set up some future plans to meet us in Atlanta and Florida!

After, Jan and I again hit the High Road back so we could say we had driven all of it, and what did we find on the way?  The first snow of the season on Truchas Peak, the 2nd highest peak in NM at 13,029!

Getting time to leave?????