Wrong, Bucko. The National Weather Service says 0.94″ of rain in an average May. We got a bunch of that allotment today.

We left Santa Fe under cloudy and breezy conditions for the shortest travel day of our trip, less than two hours to Taos. There are two routes to Taos: the High Road, and the Low Road. The High Road is reputed to be more scenic, so that’s how we went. Unfortunately, the clouds, wind and generally lousy weather killed most of the views. But it was a pleasant enough trip.

Historic Taos Inn, May 2019

Our hotel in Taos, the Historic Taos Inn, had our room ready when we arrived around 1:00, so we dropped our bags and went for some lunch. The hotel is a collection of adobe-style buildings, and looks nicer than it is.

We then went up to the Taos Pueblo, a traditional Native American settlement just outside of town.

Catholic Church and graveyard at Taos Pueblo, May 2019

The Pueblo has homes for over 1,000 people, but only a few dozen live there full time now. Other members of the tribe live in modern homes on the 120,000 acre reservation.

We paid for admission, and went to wait for a tour, but the guide never showed. We waited 20 minutes for the next scheduled guide, and started the tour, but it began to rain and blow shortly after she arrived. So that was pretty much a bust. And we had planned to walk around and visit some of the art galleries clustered in town near our hotel, but that didn’t look like a lot of fun in the cold, blowing rain.

Open mic night, May 2019

The hotel was having an open mic night in the lobby, we we watched a bit before dinner and then I went back after dinner again. As with all open mics, some of the performers were good, while others needed work. By the time I went back to the room, the rain had stopped. But it was pretty cold.

Kit Carson’s Taos, May 2019

The next morning I went out before breakfast just to see what the town looked like when it wasn’t raining. It’s a pleasant little place, but once you get away from the very center near the Taos Inn it devolves into strip malls designed like adobe buildings. What I learned is that Kit Carson, the famous frontiersman and guide, settled here and lived the last 25 years of his life in Taos. His home is now a museum.