Linda and I have been married for 28 years. Our standby explanations for how this could possibly have happened are her unnatural patience and the fact that we are both too old for the dating world. The truth is that we are still perfect for each other. I still make her laugh and she keeps me from doing anything extra stupid. We haven't typically done anything extravagant for our anniversary. We usually get a little dressed up and go out to eat somewhere nice. This year we decided to take a trip to New Mexico. We chose Santa Fe because it was within driving distance and we had never been there. Also, the mountains are a bit cooler than the 100-degree-plus summer that we are having in Oklahoma.
We decided to spend one night in Taos and another three in Santa Fe. I won't bore you with the drive, which was primarily the dry, desert-like plains of the Texas Panhandle. It didn't get interesting until the last hour or so when we found ourselves in the mountains. The scenery was beautiful and exactly why we took the northern route instead of I-40 on our way there. We arrived in Taos in the late afternoon and didn't do much but eat and call it a day.
The next morning we got back in the car and headed north to see the Rio Grande Gorge. At first we thought we were lost. We were getting closer and closer to the location but all we saw was basically a flat desert. When we arrived at the bridge and got our first look at the gorge, we were astonished. That river is so old that it has carved a five-hundred-foot gash into the earth, exposing walls of rock on either side of it. We walked along a path just gawking at it for the next hour.
Next we took a guided tour of Taos Pueblo. The pueblo is a mixture of a historic location and a living community. The Red Willow People have been living in the same mud-brick adobe homes for more than a thousand years. Our 18-year-old Taos Pueblo guide taught us about the community's history and culture. He described to us how the adobe buildings were constructed and maintained. Some of those buildings were five stories high. Tribal members still live there for parts of the year.
We finished our time in Taos walking around the town plaza, browsing the shops and looking at art galleries. After grabbing a bite to eat, we packed up and left for Santa Fe.