Getting to the Taos House

Saturday we started our journey to Taos. We headed north to Fort Worth, and then west to Amarillo. This was our destination for the night. We stopped in Fort Worth to sell some books at half price books. We had a great result getting $27 for our old books and magazines! Woo! Half a tank of gas :o) That would be important with all the driving we were going to be doing in the next week and a half. We arrived in Amarillo just fine, but were ready for dinner and a good night's sleep. We walked over to Outback, got a to-go order, and then headed back to the hotel. We found the Royals' game on TV, so we got to watch them beat the White Sox 9-1.

Up and at 'em the next morning - final destination for today was Taos!! The transition of scenery between west Texas and north New Mexico was pretty amazing. Flat, plains with wind turbines to spectacular mountains was a fun one to drive. The views definitely improved once off the interstate. Slower driving, but well worth it.

We arrived in Taos around 4:00 and found that Mom & Dad, and Matt & Brandy had arrived. We unpacked the car, and had a few minutes to visit. But it wasn't long before mom, Brandy and I headed to the grocery store for the week's food. When we got back to the house, the Hughes had arrived! I wasn't surprised to find the kids already in the back yard - JC and Julia were hunting for bunny rabbits with Andrew and Jetta was playing with a pile of rocks. Finding, looking at, and sometimes throwing rocks would be a favorite pasttime of the kids. At the end of the week I got them a book called "Everybody Needs A Rock" by Byrd Baylor. It's one that I had heard before and really liked. It's 10 rules for finding the perfect "pet rock." I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.

That night we had pork steaks, orange fluff, tomatos, and other great food. It was so fun to sit down as a family to our first meal that week. That's one of my favorite memories as a kid. I loved our family dinners every night. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip, too.

The rest of the night found everyone just getting settled and enjoying the family. It was good that everyone arrived at the Taos House, and were off to a good week of vacation.