The annals of Baumgaertel lore hold tales of championships and exploits; misadventures and accomplishments; lifelong friendships and family trips. Famous ones include “Exploring Mosby Woods”, “Winning the Albuquerque City Basketball Championship”, “Fossil Hunting in Scottsbluff”, “Field Ball Fun”, and “The Time I Conned my Submarine in a Circle.” These are tales worth their retelling.
So are the others, but a clear standout is “Hiking Truchas”. Truchas, a substantial mountain in Northern New Mexico, is the second-highest peak (or “peaks” as it has four identifiable summits) to Wheeler Peak, rising above 13,000 feet. Truchas means “trout” in Spanish, and it is part of the Santa Fe National Forest within the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. Lying below North Truchas Peak on its south side, are Truchas Lakes. One could assume that is where the trout live.
Truchas is synonymous with buddies Eddie, Dennis, and Louie. Truchas, the town, was where Eddie’s grandmother hosted the youths overnight before their hike up the mountain and into Baumgaertel history. Truchas, along with Nambe, Chimayo, and fellow pueblos, lies along one of several scenic routes to Taos — the High Road to Taos.
Jim’s and my destination Monday morning, as our hosts had to work for a livin’, was Taos. As the gettin’ there is absolutely part of the fun, we chose the “high road” route because why not? and because it would take us through Truchas. As scenic routes go, this one scores high on my scale of “would I do this again?” Yes, I would.
Prior to Truchas were several lovely pueblos, wide-open vistas, and mountains off in the distance. Near Chimayo, I saw a sign for “Santuario de Chimayo” and made a spontaneous right into the parking lot. Strolling the grounds and reading about the place reminded us of strolling through cathedrals and abbeys in Europe: quiet, historical, beautiful. We were tourists again!
Truchas is a remote community, 8,000 feet above sea level. We moseyed through, enjoying the vistas.
Onward, we continued on the high road and arrived in Taos in time for lunch. As the sign indicates, Taos is old, has a plaza, and merchants still display their wares in it. Taos also has ice cream, which was lunch.
Our two nights in Taos were the first two nights we’d slept in a hotel in over 469 days, certainly a record for us. In those annals of Baumgaertel lore, where 2020-21 is mostly a big, blank space of notdoingmuch and stayinghomeallthetime, Taos will hold the honor of “we’re sleeping in a hotel and eating in restaurants”!
In addition. we will remember the Placio de Marquesa as the first ever hotel where we did not see a single staff person: check-in was via clipboard in the empty lobby, no maid service due to COVID protocols, and whoever set our yummy breakfast basket on the stoop knocked and ran before we could say thanks.
