los llanitas

i love the variation in cemeteries from place to place --- located near truchas, new mexico, this one was special --- closest like it that i've seen might be among the cemeteries at natchitoches, cane river, louisiana --- iron work must be a local specialty, but there was an excellent three-sided, gabled structure that used slabs of granite countertop, with sections of the stone back-splash cut to construct a cross

valle vidal --- oh, my

29 august:  i don't know how i stumbled across this place in the trip-planning process, since the standard sites-of-taos lists don't always include it, sorta like valley of fire, proximate to las vegas but little known by visitors --- even cathi hadn't heard of it but after waiting for a plumber that didn't show, we drove up there --- fifty miles of dirt roads through the valley, fairly well maintained however --- the first few miles through a ted turner, 500,000-acre ranch, then into some of the best landscape this country has to offer --- traversed several thousand feet in elevation change and about twenty in degrees fahrenheit --- as we left the western end of the valley, there was the second of what would be four or five rainbows that day, depending on one's judgement as to whether or not the last one was a double rainbow

in addition to cattle, we saw a roadrunner, coyote, turkey, and deer --- and a stellar's jay and a lot of other birds i could not identify

rio grande del norte

from above and below, it is an impressive gash through the landscape -- and another national monument

john dunn bridge

animas, mountains, and forests

i followed the animas river out of aztec, uptream into colorado to pagosa springs and through the san juan national forest back down into new mexico and the carson national forest --- some fine geology and general scenery

pueblo alto

 the only back-country trail i did at chaco was the pueblo alto trail, which requred shimmying up through a crevice to the top of the mesa --- great rock and a great view of bonito ---