Day 7 -- Traveling to Colorado Springs

Picture of a custom chopper we saw at Dairy Queen at lunch

We spent the day driving from Albuquerque to Colorado Springs. They day started out sitting in construction traffic for an hour between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Then we got off the freeway and decided to drive the old highway.

We went by the exit to Los Alamos, but didn't veer off the road to see the historic city.  We also went through the scenic Rio Grande River Gorge. We saw lots of people white water rafting. Then went to the town of Taos which was really pretty. I would have loved to spend more time there. One of its attractions is the Taos Pueblo which is the oldest continuously inhabited city/buildings in the US. We went to see it, but it was closed due to a death in the community.

Rio Grande River

Rio Grande Gorge

 The we drove to the large suspension bridge over the Rio Grande.

We also saw the Earthship community which is located right past the bridge. I think they build their houses out of recycled materials. 

Earthship house

Mountain where Great Sand Dunes are located

After that we went over several mountain ranges and drove by the Great Sand Dunes National Park (but they were closed because it was after 6 when went by). It took a long time to get to Colorado but finally got there with about 30 minutes of daylight to spare. The tent site was terrible! It was next to very noisy people who played bean bag toss by headlights until 11:45 pm. The site was also next to restrooms under construction (so they were only partially functional with only 1 shower). And there were these little prickly weeds that stuck to the bottom of our shoes and tent. So, it was not a great night!