Our mountain getaway

A few weeks ago, Corey & I packed up the car and the pup and headed to Taos, NM for a short summer getaway.  I couldn't have asked for a better trip.  Being up at 7500+ ft elevation meant much cooler weather, afternoon thunderstorms and beautiful scenery.  In fact, this trip solidified our dream of one day owning a vacation home in the mountains (likely Colorado).

She loves car trips

The only let down of the trip was our failed attempt at hiking.  We picked an afternoon to take a trail that was supposed to end at a beautiful lake.  Well, turns out because of forest fires near Santa Fe and dry conditions the forestry department shut down the entire national forest.  After some frantic phone calls we learned we could buy a permit to hike on private land, which we did.  We got a map and headed off the direction of the trailhead.  Let's just say the roads were a bit steeper than we expected, the sun a bit hotter than we realized and the altitude affected our energy more than we hoped.  We made it to the trailhead after what felt like forever only to get dumped on by a rather vigorous afternoon storm.  After hiking a little further along we decided it was best for my growing blister, Corey's burning calves and our poor panting dog to turn around and head back.  

Waiting out the rain

She loved getting in the streams

He's quite happy to be heading down hill again

Despite that setback, we had a great time.  The house we rented was cute and very New Mexican (adobe, tile everywhere, etc).  The scenery in Taos and in the surrounding mountains was breathtaking.  And the food was great!  Even Lacey got to sample some local cuisine our last night there.  We ate on the patio of this restaurant that had a special menu for dogs.  It was pretty amusing to see how excited she got about having her very own plate with a grilled chicken breast on it.  Of course, like her dad, she devoured the meat and skipped over the veggies.  

Everyone we came across was in awe of Lacey.  This was the conversation we had at least 10 times in one day.

Stranger: "Wow, your dog is beautiful.  What kind of dog is it?"

Me: "She's a shiba inu, they're a Japanese breed."

Stranger: "She looks like a fox!"

Me: "Yeah we get that a lot."

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:

Our cute little casa

We found goats grazing on the side of the highway

And cows too!

Ski slopes sans snow

View driving from our house to downtown Taos

Seen on the Enchanted Circle Drive

The sunsets were amazing - reminded me of AZ sunsets

One of the many amazing restaurants we ate at.  This one was a renovated church and you actually sat on church pews