Travels in the 2nd half

Santa Monica Pier through the haze Santa Monica Pier Stations Bikes at the beach Station II Rainbow Beach Stegasaurus Triceratops Surf Liquor Beach housing Santa Monica Pier Rastabus shadow steps Garage Art Promenade

On the way back from Taos to LA I was able to stop at El Morro National Monument . This is an oasis on the trail through the desert. A natural watering hole at the base of the sand stone bluffs. It was reliably full all year long. The pond at El Morro The running water has left mineral deposits on the sandstone El Morro The bluffs are sand stone, which means the weather has brought about erosion in some beautiful patterns: Pine tree at the top of the bluff, I love the corrugation effect This looks like small stones piled on large ones The cliff face through the juniper trees This looks like,,,,well you can figure it out Do you see the face? Because this was such a reliable water source, this was a major stop for travelers for centuries Ruins of a native village at the top of the cliff petroglyphs at the bottom of the cliff More petroglyphs Big horn sheep are native to this area The wall of the cliff also gave way to ...

Taos is an amalgam of southwest history and present. It is a tourist town that draws people with money and new-age hippies to the mountains. It has a history of Native peoples from the nearby Taos Pueblo and of Mexican families that settled the area in the 1540. It was also the final home of  Kit Carson .  If I lived in Taos, one of the places where I would spend a lot of time is  Wired Cafe . This internet cafe is also home to a spiritual bookstore, counseling center and one of the few places that offers printing capabilities for visitors. Most importantly is has a beautiful garden in which you can sit and enjoy really good coffee. At Wired The Amazing Ms. D and I met a local knitting circle. Being knitters ourselves we asked about yarn stores and were sent to the two in town stores. One was Moxie , a fair trade yarn and souvenir shop. There we met Terra, and loads of wonderful yarn. Moxie Your author and Terra Me at Moxie with a shirt that seemed made...