Notes from the Hinterland

La Posada de Taos Sponsors 26th Annual Wine Festival

2012-01-11T14:49:00.001-07:00

We're proud to once again be sponsoring this year's Taos Winter Wine Festival.

If you're interested in attending any of the events, we'll pay your entry fees ($75 value) for the event. Just book 3 or more nights with us and we'll provide your ticket.

It's a terrific time of year in Taos and we hope you can join us as we continue our 30th Anniversary Celebration.

Anniversary Savings in January at La Posada de Taos

2012-01-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

January at La Posada de Taos means our guests can take advantage of unique deals as part of our ongoing 30th Anniversary Celebration.

Crystal Clear Blue Skies at La Posada de Taos

Are you a skier? Great!

You can ask for our Ski Week Deal. We'll pick up your Ski Week Lessons at Taos Ski Valley -- a $99 value.

Discounted Lift Tickets. Because we purchase Taos Ski Valley Lift Tickets via a wholesale agreement, we're able to pass that savings along to you. Multi-Day passes are the best deal since we can pass along about $12 a day in savings directly to you. Combine this offer with the Ski Week Deal and get an incredible stay no one else in Taos can offer.

Discounted Lodging. During January we can offer you a 30% discount on lodging when you stay between January 16 and January 31. This incredible savings can only be offered during that time to a limited number of guests, so consider booking soon to take advantage of this deal. Sorry, we can't combine this offer with any other discounts.

Rocky Mountain Powdery Snow at La Posada de Taos

Finally, if you're interested in a different form of adventure during your stay in Taos, consider taking advantage of our Balloon Adventure Package. When you book three or more nights with us, we'll set up a discount on the one-of-a-kind flight through the Taos Rio Grande Gorge outside of town on Pueblo Balloons. Regularly Priced $250 to $300 per person, our price $200 per person.

Ballooning in Taos is a One-of-a-Kind Experience

Call today to Book with us and take advantage of one of these deals: (800) 645-4803

Christmas at La Posada de Taos

2011-12-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

Christmas in Taos! It's a special time in a special place.

At La Posada de Taos we simply don't hold back in any way. On Christmas Eve, for example, we provide our guests, close friends and neighbors with an Open House immediately following the festivities at the Taos Pueblo. With the house decorated for the holiday inside and out, we open our doors for a traditional New Mexico feast that includes foods and treats prepared by Chef's Rochelle and Michael.

With heavy snow already accumulating in the mountains around Taos, we're bound to have a White Christmas here as well.

A Snow-Covered Front Courtyard at La Posada de Taos

This year's festivities will also include a special Christmas morning treat for our guests -- but it's a surprise, so I can say anything more.

As of the time I write this entry, we have three rooms open for guests on Christmas. Sorry, the week after is completely booked up, but if you're wanting some skiing along with your Christmas, consider La Posada de Taos as your perfect home away from home.

30 Years at Taos' First B&B and a Remarkable Sale

2011-11-13T18:06:00.000-07:00

We're kicking off our 30th Anniversary season a little early with a remarkable 30% off sale good until December 15 excluding Thanksgiving.

It's remarkable because we know that if you come to say with us, regardless of the price you pay, you'll know that you're being taken care of as few in Taos do. For example, with two professional chefs on staff, your breakfast each morning will be prepared to a very high standard: Fine Dining Standard.

Think about it: we're the top-ranked B&B in Taos on TripAdvisor.com. We're the oldest B&B in Taos. We're a short walk to the center of town and all that Taos has to offer. 600-threadcount sheets. Wood-burning fireplaces. Free parking. Free wi-fi. Top-of-the-line breakfast included in the price of your room.


Outside the El Solecito Room

Why not give us a try?

And . . .

Here's a secret only those reading this post will know about.

Later this winter -- beginning in January -- we'll be offering deeply discounted Lift Tickets to New Mexico's Top-Ranked Ski Resort Taos Ski Valley along with free 3-course lunches at the Bavarian Restaurant. If you call now, we'll offer you these amenities before they're officially advertised in December 2011.

Embrace the Climate You're In

2011-09-27T19:14:00.000-06:00

Winter in Taos has been variously described as "magical" and "surprising." But, what does it mean to your Innkeepers as former denizens of the sub-tropics of Florida and far Southern Texas?

We have chosen to "Embrace the Climate We're In." And we're convinced that you will find something special if you join us this Winter.

There are two key ingredients to remember:

Magical: Snow in Taos is Rocky Mountain powder. It's so small as to be almost "not there" since its moisture content averages around 7%. This means that if I'm a good worker-bee Innkeeper, I can sweep the snow off the front courtyard with a broom. Of course, if more than a few inches of snow has fallen overnight, I'll get out and shovel it. But shoveling a few inches of snow in Taos is almost like shoveling feathers.

Surprising: Winter storms in Northern New Mexico typically ride the Jet Stream, meaning they move fast. Remember that Taos averages over 300 days of sunshine a year, so it's very rare for a winter storm to linger here more than a day or so.

As the storms break and ride away to points east, the skies open up to the incredible azure blue the artists found over a century ago. These are the Bluebird Days and as Taos is blanketed with powdery white snow, the seemingly endless days of blue skies and brilliant sunshine bring warmth to the soul.

The towering mountains above town remain covered as the dry snow evaporates around town and we celebrate Winter with a gusto. It's ABOVE town where we go for Downhill and Cross-Country Skiing.

It's important to note that "cold" applies to nights in Taos, but rarely to the days. Three layers of clothing is all you'll ever need: a wicking layer next to your skin, a mid-layer such as a polar-tech type pullover and a heavier coat if you're going to be out and about during the snowfall or after sunset. Gloves are nice and we always recommend a warm hat for your head.

Finally, Taos has an aggressive snow removal program on all its streets. All roads leading into Taos are "lifelines" meaning that they are cleared as quickly as possible. It is rare for any road into or out of Taos to be closed due to snow for more than the briefest periods of time. Even the tiny one-lane street leading into La Posada de Taos is cleared during and after every snowfall.

Snow never paralyzes Taos. In fact, last winter during a relative drought between storms, we all started longing for a big storm. It's a normal part of the cycle that we all live here and we love it dearly.

In the next couple of weeks, La Posada de Taos will be announcing its Winter Adventure Packages that will consist of columns of choices. Each item will be discounted anywhere from 10 to 25% off the retail price you would pay if purchased on your own. As you consider something to do this Winter, think about the magical and surprising Town of Taos and all that La Posada de Taos can offer.

Hiking For Everyone! Hundreds of Miles of National Forest Trails.

2011-07-25T19:42:00.000-06:00

If you've already visited us in Taos this year, we hope you found your way back home safe and sound. New Mexico certainly made news headlines for a few weeks while the horrific fires burned far to our south. Although the fires were far, far away, the Forest Service closed them as far north as Taos as a safety precaution. Our relatively wet Spring had given us some moisture compared to those places around Los Alamos and Santa Fe that are still closed because of both fire damage and continuing fire danger.

But for those of you who are yet to come to Taos, we wanted to let you know that much still awaits anyone wanting to come.

The dry weather pattern that seemed to have persisted across the State of New Mexico for so many months has finally broken and the seasonal "monsoons" have arrived. Daily showers can be seen building above town in the mountains and they might occasionally drift this way or that, so we're never really sure whether we'll get rain in town. You can be assured, however, that if you're above 10,000 feet anywhere in the Southern Rockies these days, you're most likely going to get very wet and cold.

The National Forests in and around the immediate vicinity of Taos have been reopened, meaning that all the best hiking and biking trails are ready for you to visit. Additionally, all of the Taos Ski Valley venues are wide open as well, including the most popular Williams Lake Trail. Some of our guests reported a light dosing of "gropel" the other day -- very light snow that resembles styro-foam. They enjoyed the experience.

If you're coming to hike during monsoon season, leave right after breakfast, pack lots of water, sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, food and (did I mention?) water. More water, in fact, than you think you'll need. Altitude can quickly dehydrate anyone.

A View of Taos Mountain from La Posada de Taos

Schedule your return to your car for no later than 3:30 PM each day. That's about the time that locally heavy rain or snow might visit the higher trails. The more intense any particular thunderstorm may become, the colder the temperatures it will deliver to any section of the higher mountain terrain. So, don't risk ruining a great day -- come on back down to Taos where it might be sunny and warm or we might be having a brief shower.

La Posada has also had a Day Hikes for Guests of La Posada de Taos book printed that features some of the finest choices for hiking if you're just here for a couple or three days. If you have time, review it once you've arrived. It's terrific.

Northern New Mexico Sky Early Afternoon July 21, 2011

August is a joyous time in Taos when the monsoons can keep things cool for everyone while so much of the country bakes in 100+ degree temperatures. That kind of heat is virtually unheard of in Taos, so plan on coming to the mountains for a cool time.

Hiking, horseback riding, and llama trekking await you!

July in Taos: The Taos Pueblo Pow Wow

2011-07-03T15:34:00.000-06:00

We've been busy here at La Posada de Taos for the last several weeks with wonderful guests from all over the world. A recent announcement from the Town of Taos detailed the events we can expect in July, so I'd like to fill in some details for those of you coming in the upcoming weeks starting with the Pow Wow.


Regalia from "Southern" Tribe

The Taos Pueblo Pow Wow is scheduled for July 8, 9 and 10. Beginning that Friday night at 7 pm with the Grand Entry, Native peoples from across the Western Hemisphere will entertain us wearing the regalia of their Nations and honoring their friendships with one another that date back centuries before Europeans arrived in North America. I've been told in the past the incredible clothes you'll see are NOT costumes -- they are regalia.

Preparing for the Grand Entry, July 2010

Unlike many other ceremonies and observances at the Taos Pueblo, the Pow Wow isn't considered a religious event. It is a social gathering and celebration of Native peoples and cultures honoring traditions and the proud histories of the many tribes participating.

Pow Wow's are a time for old friends to reunite.

If you attend, be prepared with hats, sunscreen and sunglasses. Cameras are allowed, but be advised that you may not take anyone's picture without their explicit consent. I can say without a doubt, however, that a camera is highly advised. Be courteous, patient and observant. Ask questions. Meet people. Spend time doing nothing but being a spectator and then begin thinking about the camera. Not once were we denied the opportunity to photograph, but we also felt that it was a privilege and not a right to do so. You should know that some folks make their living working at Pow Wows. That means that they may charge you for permission to take their photograph. It's their job, after all.

Be Polite, Posing for Photographs is Work!

I encourage you to visit the link to the descriptions of various dances to be held, including the Gourd Dance, Grass Dance, Men's Fancy Dance, Northern and Southern Traditionals and the Women's Dances to be held during the festivities.

Finally, although I've been holding a room for the weekend, if you're interested in seeing this amazing display of a rich history, heritage and tradition, you'll need to call soon. (800) 645-4803.

Quick Itineraries

2011-05-24T20:31:00.001-06:00

Coming to Taos for a couple nights? Here are some quick thoughts with web links on what to do.

Art? Go to the Collector's Guide Online and look at the many Taos Gallery offerings. Ask you Innkeeper for information on the Taos Museum Association's offerings. In particular, we love the Millicent Rogers, the Harwood and the Taos Art Museum.

Adventure? Try a half-day white water trip from one of the many outfitters here in town, or a balloon ride with Pueblo Balloons, a Horseback Trip with Big Al at the Taos Ski Valley or the Llama Trek.

Driving Tours? Two of the nation's Top 50 scenic drives originate in Taos. The Enchanted Circle and the High Road to Taos.

Hiking? La Posada de Taos has had a special Hiking Guide prepared for its guests featuring some of the best hikes in our area, including easy, moderate and difficult trails. Ask you Innkeeper to mail you a copy. Or, visit the Carson National Forest Website for extensive details on trails with maps and other guidelines.

Architecture? The Taos Pueblo's 1000-year-old structures are a great place to start followed by the many fascinating churches in our area. The San Francisco de Asis Church in Ranchos de Taos is perhaps the most painted and photographed church in the Southwestern U.S.

Live music, entertainment? Each Thursday night during the Summer Months, the Taos Chamber of Commerce hosts Taos Plaza Live. It's a free venue and is always entertaining. Within an easy walk from La Posada de Taos each night are two other live music venues. Ask your Innkeeper for details when you check in.

Please forgive me, but I'm still leaving so much out, I'll have to keep posting updates as the season progresses. Enjoy!

Service to our Community

2011-05-14T18:51:00.000-06:00

As we celebrate our 3rd Anniversary at La Posada de Taos, we realize that we have a lot to be thankful for. Since Day 1, our new hometown has welcomed us with open arms and embraced us with enthusiasm for our goals in restoring and preserving Taos' First B&B.

La Posada de Taos Front Courtyard

We knew all along that our efforts would succeed -- I mean, with an owner who supports everything we do, how could we fail?

The long-term plan was that once we had "settled in" to the business and things were well established, we would turn our attention to serving our community.

The Town of Taos has about 5000 permanent residents. There are another 10,000 or so in the unincorporated areas immediately surrounding Taos and a total of just over 30,000 in the entire County.

Incredibly, we get about a million visitors a year to Taos and the Taos Pueblo. So, even though the permanent population is small, the community is large in many ways.

Last year, yours truly, Innkeeper Brad Malone, was elected to the Board of Directors of the Taos Association of Bed & Breakfast Inns. Within the last few weeks I have been elected to the Board of Directors of the Taos County Chamber of Commerce.

Both positions are all about "Service" in organizations that are dedicated to keeping Taos in the forefront of the nation's list of "Top Destinations" and both require that evolving trends in Internet Marketing and other business tools be studied and quickly implemented.

The Chef's Garden at La Posada de Taos

But don't worry. I'm still around every hour of the day possible to focus on the needs of our guests and to help everyone have a great stay in Taos. In fact, this time of year, as we pass our average "last frost" date, I'll be here working in the yard and getting our Chef's Garden ready to plant in a few weeks.

C'mon out, won't you?

What is the Taos Pueblo?

2011-05-11T18:57:00.000-06:00

It's hard to summarize in a blog just exactly what the Taos Pueblo is, but I'm going to try.

First, it is a World Heritage Site recognized by UNESCO as one of those places that all of us have a duty to preserve. Take a few minutes to read the "official" description as to why Taos Pueblo is such a special place.

Second, Taos Pueblo is the only inhabited World Heritage Site in the United States. This means that in addition to all those incredible things that make it a World Heritage Site, it is also a place that many people call home.

Third, the people of the Taos Pueblo are nothing short of a treasure. They have worked tirelessly over the decades of American rule to preserve their heritage while also being citizens of the United States. Taos Indians have long been known to be the best type of friends anyone can have and their allegiance to our country in the form of the ultimate sacrifice is legendary.

Finally, the five story structures made of adobe are the oldest continuously inhabited structures in North America.   When the Spanish Conquistadors arrived 500 years ago, the buildings had already been standing for 500 years. Yes, right here in Taos on the Pueblo are 1000 year-old homes.

I'll revisit this topic from time to time in the future. My Mom and I visited there on a beautiful early Spring day in March and fell in love with this incredible place all over again.

In the meantime, I encourage you to read my reviews on TripAdvisor.com regarding the Pueblo. I can assure you that anyone posting a negative review is simply confused at the difference between an ancient people's ancestral home and Disney World.

Visit their website and plan a trip to Taos. You'll be welcome with open arms.

New Adventure Package Makes It Easier to Stay

2011-05-08T10:18:00.002-06:00

We're pleased to announce our updated Adventure Package for the 2011 Season that makes it easier than ever to stay at a top-ranked B&B in Taos and get unmatched savings on a white water trip, a horseback ride, a llama trek or even a hot air balloon ride.

Firing the Hot Air Balloon Prior to Launch

When you book 3 or more nights, double occupancy at $275 per night, we'll throw in one of the adventures of a lifetime that await you here in Taos.

Flying the Rio Grande Gorge -- La Posada de Taos and Pueblo Balloon Team Up for the Ride of a Lifetime!

Of course, as you can see from these photos courtesy Pueblo Balloon Company, we recommend that you include the Hot Air Balloon Flight through the Rio Grande Gorge as your choice of adventures.

Preparing to Land on the West Mesa Outside Taos

Give your Innkeeper, Brad Malone, a call to get more information. (800) 645-4803. La Posada de Taos.

A Beautiful Spring Snowfall

2011-05-02T18:28:00.001-06:00

It's a little-known secret that the Southern Rocky Mountains receive most of their snow-laden moisture in the Spring months of March, April and May. The relatively dry winter left us all wondering if the Spring would bring its bounty.

The answer has been "Yes." Our friends at Taos Ski Valley have reported several feet of heavy wet snow in the last few weeks. Too bad the lifts are closed.

But the moisture does bode well for the river running we so enjoy.

White water, anyone?

High Season Begins at La Posada de Taos

2011-04-23T09:56:00.001-06:00

We've been busy in these recent weeks not only with lots of guests, but in preparation for an amazing High Season in Taos. It's good to know that we're ready. All the rooms have undergone a deep cleaning, all the old fixtures have been tightened and the 60-odd pots of flowers have begun to sprout. Soon, the entire property will have blooms aplenty.

On June 11, we'll be hosting our annual Texas Bar-B-Que. It's a time when we thank all the locals who have contributed to or participated in our success. Since coming to La Posada on May 1, 2008, the owners and Innkeepers have seen a meteoric rise in occupancy and our ranking on Trip Advisor and other travel sites has moved into the top spot among traditional Bed and Breakfasts in Taos.

As in the past, this year's event will feature amazing food prepared our two chefs, Michael Carter and Rochelle Woollard. Because we love food so much, that's usually the star of the event. Beef brisket, venison sausage, grilled chicken and all the trimmings to be sure. Potato salad, cole slaw and pinto beans. Yum.

If you'd like to join us, please give us a call at (800) 645-4803. We'll save a seat at the table for you. If you'd like to book a room and get the entire experience as part of your stay, check availability online or call your Innkeeper, Brad Malone.

Only One Night in Taos? Sorry . . .

2011-04-14T10:41:00.000-06:00

With only 6 rooms and one vacation rental, La Posada de Taos can't book 1-night stays in advance. If we've got something open at the last minute, we can do it, but why take the chance?

Besides, one night in Taos isn't a good idea.

There's too much to see and do. If you're driving into Taos for a one-night stay, you're not going to get here until mid-day at the earliest. This gives you about a half-day to visit the Pueblo and maybe do some gallery and shop-hopping. You'll check into your B&B, go to dinner and come back for a nice restful night.

The next morning you'll have an amazing breakfast and then what? Check out is 11 am. Oh, I'm sorry, you're leaving already? Did you get to visit the Pueblo? Did you get to the Harwood or Millicent Rogers Museums? Did you visit the John Dunn Shops? What about that horseback trip or the Hot Air Balloon Ride? Did you drive the Enchanted Circle? What did you think of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge or the Wild Rivers Recreation Area? Did you get to eat at Graham's Grille or El Meze or Lambert's? Lunch at Lula's?

I don't want to belabor the point, but Taos simply isn't the kind of place that offers much or caters to people who are in a hurry or just passing through. Nothing personal, really. Many of us stayed here or came here specifically to avoid moving at Mach IX with our hair on fire. If you're ready to quietly slow down, then you're in for a treat. If not . . .

As D.H. Lawrence said, "Time moves differently here." If you're in a hurry, you're just not going to enjoy Taos at all. In fact, you're probably going to think that people here are rude or indifferent.


Innkeeper Brad Malone and his Mother, Mary Malone at Taos Pueblo

I said in my recent review of Taos Pueblo on TripAdvisor.com, that people rushing through Taos often experience a major disconnect. The problem is that we believe in moving at the "Speed of Taos." It's slower and much quieter than many are used to.

A recent guest experience says it all. While visiting the Pueblo, they allowed themselves the opportunity to find a place to quietly sit and take in the scene. They're not sure how long they sat there, but it was at least a half hour. Finally, they got up and visited some of the shops and met some of the residents of the Pueblo. As they put it, "Suddenly this entire new world opened up to us. People were friendly and genuinely interested in not only telling their story, but learning ours."

Open your heart to the possibilities of what this place offers to those who stay. Many guests to La Posada de Taos leave with an understanding that they'll need to come back to finish what they started.

That's Taos.

Stay at a Real Bed & Breakfast

2011-04-12T20:22:00.000-06:00

La Posada de Taos was the first B&B in Taos when it opened its doors almost 30 years ago. Since that time it has remained continuously open and operating to offer its guests both Beds and Breakfasts each day.

La Posada de Taos always serves fresh-baked items at Breakfast

Why am I mentioning this? Many people don't know it, but at least one of the "B&B's" at or near the top of Trip Advisor's Taos B&B page isn't a B&B at all. Fact is that guests at that small Inn have to pay extra for breakfast, so most simply skip the extra expense. Don't let their reviews fool you: if someone mentions they had breakfast at this non-B&B, they paid a boatload of extra cash for it.

Staying at that "other place" means missing out on one of the essential truths of a B&B: that special time each morning when guests from all over the world gather in some of Taos' most historic homes and break bread together.

At La Posada de Taos and other members of the local Taos Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns (TABBI) we never charge extra for breakfast. It's simply not done in our industry.

La Posada de Taos' Breakfast is included in the price of your room.

Be sure to ask when you're booking whether that price includes breakfast. If the quoted price only includes the room with some other frilly-sounding stuff, call a B&B and compare.

You get the beds, the breakfasts and all the other great stuff at one cost when you stay with us. Don't let Trip Advisor's categories fool you.

Call your Innkeeper, Brad Malone today and ask him, "What's for breakfast, Brad?"

Adventure Package: Horeseback Riding

2011-04-10T17:53:00.000-06:00

Since we've announced our participation in the national B&B's Kick Gas Campaign, we've almost forgotten about the Adventure Package we're offering this year. In previous posts we discussed the Hot Air Balloon Ride and the White Water Rafting. Remember that once you're in Taos, you're going to be right where you need to be for these adventures. No long drives anywhere else.

There are two primary venues for horseback riding in Taos: the Taos Pueblo and the Taos Ski Valley. The availability of either of these locations is going to be based on weather. This time of year riding at the Ski Valley isn't possible because of the deep snow, but rides on the Pueblo are available as long as the weather's OK.

Earlier this year we took the ride on the Pueblo and it was fantastic. Starting just outside the tiny community of Arroyo Seco, you enter the Pueblo from the west. It's a more rustic experience here. Because Pueblo land isn't generally fenced on the interior sections, the trails meander along the flat expanse just below the mountains and then approach the steep climbs. Depending upon the length of your ride, the climbs up the steep slopes are for folks with lots of horse experience.

At the Taos Ski Valley the rides are nothing short of spectacular. Nestled near the end of a beautiful Rocky Mountain Valley, TSV is known in the winter-time for its 'steeps,' the unbelievable runs coming down from over 12,000 feet to the base. Horse trails don't generally follow the steeps. They're on the opposite side of the valley and are not groomed (that's a little ski humor). The experience is unbeatable because you get to ride -- the horses are doing most of the work. Again depending upon the length of the trip you want, you and the guide will take a break somewhere along the way for a wonderful lunch.

Longer trips are available through the outfitter that include a chuck wagon dinner. Although it's not part of La Posada's Adventure Package, we recommend that you consider this extension of your trip up the mountain slopes on horseback.

There are other venues available for horseback riding in the Taos area. Since we're a fairly rural place, the number of horse farms and ranches allows for lots of choices.

When you're ready to do some more research, follow some of the links provided in this post and then give us a call at (800) 645-4803. We're looking forward to providing lots of guests with an incredible horseback ride this summer in Taos.

Adventure Package Update

2011-04-05T14:48:00.001-06:00

La Posada de Taos recently announced that we would be offering an Adventure Package that includes 4 nights in a premium room and your choice of one of the following: White Water Rafting, Horseback Riding, or the Llama Trek. For an additional $75 per person, guests can choose the Hot Air Balloon Ride through the Rio Grande Gorge outside Taos.

As the snow begins to melt in earnest and the Spring Storms bring wet snows to the region, the headwaters of the Rio Grande River will begin to rise and pick up speed heading south. Located in the San Juan Mountains northwest of Taos, the headwaters this year will be fed by a snow pack that is well above average. Huge storms have pounded the San Juan Mountains all winter long and more are expected to bring that needed moisture in the coming weeks. Although snow pack in the immediate vicinity of Taos is only 80% of normal, that will not adversely impact the white water rafting season.

Simply put, the White Water Season is here NOW and it's time to come and see what all the fuss is about. Here's a general video from Travel Guide New Mexico regarding Adventure Sports in Taos.

Another source of some great Taos Box White Water experience can be found in the following video:

Here's another particularly good video we love:

The White Water portion of the package is truly an exciting adventure and we wanted to fill in some details.

1. Any true package includes features that you cannot possibly buy separately for the same price or less elsewhere. In this case, the individual costs of rooms plus white water rafting trips for 2 would range from $1,100 to $1,300. Not only do we discount our rooms, but we discount the white water rafting trip and we pay the local lodger's tax. Total savings for guests booking La Posada de Taos' Adventure Package is substantial.

2. Local white water companies do not guarantee any particular run of the Rio Grande in advance due to changing weather and water conditions. Therefore, when you book with us, although we cannot guarantee the Taos Box is going to be available, the outfitter company does guarantee an amazing adventure somewhere in the nearby vicinity that will include some whitewater. In our experience the need to change away from the Taos Box can be governed primarily by extreme high or low water conditions as well as extreme weather. Although the need to change away from the box is rare, we believe in full disclosure.

3. White Water Rafting is a sport. This means that you need to be able to swim. All Taos outfitters insist that those participating in this sport on their rafts must be able to assist in their own rescue. Each person is provided with safety equipment including helmets, life vests and other gear the guide believes is necessary on the day of launch.

4. Children under 12 are not allowed on these trips and age restrictions rise with water levels, so be sure to check with us regarding age limitations. If you have children under 12, there are plenty of other white water choices right here in the vicinity for just about any age.

5. La Posada de Taos' Premium rooms are large and comfy. They have whirlpool style tubs and showers in the private bath. Each room has a private entrance and a wood-burning kiva fireplace. Each morning you will be provided with the full, multi-course breakfast prepared by one of our professional chefs and each day our housekeeping staff will refresh your room completely. Your Innkeeper will serve as your Concierge during your stay, assisting you in making restaurant reservations and directing you to and from the Adventure.

If you're ready, give your Innkeeper, Brad Malone a call today: (800) 645-4803.

La Posada de Taos Kicks Gas!

2011-04-01T11:15:00.000-06:00

As part of the national Better Way to Stay Campaign sponsored by the Professional Association of Innkeepers International, La Posada de Taos Kicks Gas!

The B&B's Kick Gas promotion offers incentives to try a B&B for a change. La Posada de Taos is offering two options:

1. Book 4 or more nights and we'll give you a $50 gas card to enjoy driving either of the nationally listed scenic byways in our area: the Enchanted Circle or the High Road to Taos,

or

2. Arrive in a Hybrid and we'll give you a $25 gas card.

With gas prices through the roof, we're aware that many of our guests are feeling the pinch this year, so we're trying to add some value to an already remarkable stay at La Posada de Taos. You'll still receive all the amenities we offer including the incredible multi-course gourmet breakfast, afternoon snack, free parking, free wi-fi, free DVD collection and our close-to-everything location.

Innkeeper Brad Malone is Ready for Your Call to La Posada de Taos

Give your Innkeeper, Brad Malone, a call at (800) 645-4803 and he'll set it all up for you.

Spring Has Sprung at La Posada de Taos

2011-03-28T21:53:00.000-06:00

The daffodil blooms are about to burst. The crocus are showing off. The soil is slowly warming up here in Taos and we're excited that Spring has really arrived.

It's kind of wonderful since we're planning our Summer Chef's Garden already. We're trying to hold back since we know that being at 7000 feet means that Spring may be more of a concept right now than a fact.

Believe it not Spring in Taos is a Rocky Mountain Spring. Meaning that at any time a little storm could come flying overhead and dump several inches -- or a foot -- of snow here in town.

Two years ago Michael and I drove to a little town outside San Antonio, Texas to visit my extended family for Easter. It was such a beautiful trip. Leaving Taos the giant herds of elk had already migrated down into the Moreno Valley east of Taos. Geese and ducks could be seen flying their "vees" north. We saw Bald Eagles and giant flocks of Sand Hill Cranes along the way. Down in Texas the trees were green and the bluebonnets were peaking.

On our way back to New Mexico, we camped overnight in Garner State Park in our tent and sleeping bags. It was warm! Foxes were chasing rabbits through our campsite and we were glad to have some ice-cold drinks for dinner.

Not being in a hurry, we visited our dear friends, Shaan and Collen at Casa Cuma B&B in Santa Fe for a night and took care of some B&B business before heading home early the next morning. It was a little cool that morning in Santa Fe, but nothing signaled what we were about to encounter.

When we're on our way home after a long trip, we always take the so-called Low Road to Taos. This means taking State Highway 68 from Espanola north and east through the beginnings of the Rio Grande Gorge. About 10 miles north of Espanola you start following a carefully engineered road that hugs the twisty Rio Grande river channel. About 10 more miles along the river, steep cliff faces begin to rise along the road. Finally, as you prepare to come up into the San Luis Valley, home of Taos, you make one final climb up and out into a breathtaking view of the giant crack in the Earth that is the Rio Grande Gorge.

On this day in the 3rd week of April, 2009 we drove north knowing that home and our own warm bed would be awaiting us after two weeks away. As the road began shadowing the Rio Grande we noticed something odd for late April: southbound cars were covered with snow. In fact, the farther north we drove, the more snow there seemed to be on passing cars. By the time we started up the last hill out of the gorge, some cars had as much as a foot of snow on them.

We looked at each other. We looked at the cars. We looked back at each other and both of us busted out laughing. The tent and sleeping bags we had just used two nights before in the Texas Hill Country obviously were immediately going into storage.

Climbing up and out into the valley with Taos off in the distance, we were awestruck. The whole San Luis Valley was covered with the pristine white of freshly fallen snow. The steep walls of the Rio Grande Gorge held ledges of snow accentuating its depth and majesty.

This year hasn't brought the heavy spring snows yet. We're kind of melancholy about it. Historically, the Southern Rockies receive the majority of their snowfall and almost all of their snow-sourced moisture in March and April. It hasn't happened yet and long-term forecasts are for that trend to continue into the summer.

Not to worry, experts say that the snow-pack as of early March was just below average. The rivers will run and the adventure sports will continue. Plus -- and here's the big one for our guests -- the weather is absolutely spectacular. I mean day after day after day of cool, crisp mornings followed by 60 degree afternoons. It's really special.

We'll be taking our first white water trips in a few weeks. Why don't you come join us? La Posada de Taos awaits. . .

Hot Air Ballooning in Taos: A Once in a Lifetime Adventure

2011-03-24T21:27:00.001-06:00

Have you ever imagined a balloon trip where the main thrill

is going down instead of up?

We're very excited to be offering this year's Adventure Package featuring a hot air balloon adventure on Pueblo Balloons. It's an amazing opportunity to experience something that few ever get to see or do.

A balloon adventure in Taos can truly be described as one-of-a-kind. Where else in the world can you fly down? Really.


Innkeeper and La Posada de Taos' Chef Michael Carter Prepares for the Flight

Just outside Taos where hot air balloons fly just about every day sits a huge volcanic rift known as the Rio Grande Gorge. Located at the bottom of the virtually flat San Luis Valley, the Gorge is quite a sight. Each morning just after sunrise, balloons launch near the rim of the Gorge and ride a cool, sinking current of air into that giant crack in the Earth.


Flying in the Rio Grande Gorge (Photo Courtesy Pueblo Balloons)

As the balloon sinks the pilot guides it down to the Rio Grande River where riders are treated to various forms of "baptism." Pilots are known to simply skim the bottom of the basket along the top of the water or to allow it to sink slightly below the surface for a "Splash and Dash."

Because the bottom of the Gorge slowly drops in elevation as it meanders south just outside Taos, the current of air takes the balloon slowly beneath the towering cliffs. Ranging from several hundred to almost 1000 feet, the walls of the Gorge are impressive volcanic formations.


Flying Just Above the River in the Rio Grande Gorge

Before you know, however, it'll be time to pop up and gain altitude to get a magnificent view not only of that incredible rift, but of the towering Sangre de Christo Mountains of the Southern Rocky Mountain Chain.


Flying Above the Rio Grande Gorge

La Posada de Taos' Hot Air Balloon Adventure Package offers you a deal you can't get anywhere else: 4 Nights in a Premium Room at Taos' Top-Ranked B&B, all the amenities we offer plus a once-in-a-lifetime Hot Air Balloon Ride through the Rio Grande Gorge. Because this is a Package Deal, you save over $250 by booking it directly with us.

Give Innkeeper Brad Malone a call to book your Adventure today: (800) 645-4803.

Don't Be Fooled: Book Your Rooms Directly With La Posada de Taos

2011-03-16T23:02:00.000-06:00

The Message: if you want the most accurate information about availability at La Posada de Taos with the best pricing we offer, give us a call at (800) 645-4803 or visit our website at laposadadetaos.com.

La Posada de Taos Late Afternoon in Winter

Expedia.com, hotels.com, travelocity.com, kayak, and hotwire.com all claim to have the most comprehensive listings and the best priced lodging on the Internet. Then why do they tell those surfing their sites that La Posada de Taos has nothing available when we have open room nights?

Simply put, we provide services to our guests. We care about the quality of each and every form of that service we provide. The booking sites sell "products" that mean only dollar signs to them.

In recent years various online booking "portals" have been created for folks to make lodging reservations just about anywhere in the world. These sites claim to have all of the information you need to allow you to make discount reservations in places such as Taos, New Mexico.

The problem is that these sites don't even begin to offer all that's out there -- especially at small B&B's or boutique Inns such as ours.

Until recently, La Posada de Taos participated directly with these online reservation sites, allowing guests to find us at hotels.com, expedia.com, travelocity, and others. These sites were all linked into information we provided to BedandBreakfast.com.

Our research indicated that guests who found us through those sites typically went ahead and looked directly at our website or called us. They sometimes booked through the larger company, but most people found that the best deals were offered directly through us -- not through a 3rd party reseller.

We frequently visited those sites ourselves and found the information they had posted about La Posada de Taos contained critical errors and omissions, often to the detriment of the guests themselves. For example, stating that breakfast was not included in the price of the rooms (we're a bed and BREAKFAST, so the price includes the full, multi-course breakfast) or that the rooms did not contain features that are standard here at La Posada. Guests were confused about check-in and check-out times or they did not know that there were specific limitations on the number of guests that each room can safely and comfortably accommodate.

We and all the others using these 3rd party resellers, had to pay hefty commissions. By the time we discounted their commission off of our rate, the real savings for guests was negligible or non-existent.

Their inventory systems did not match up with ours and we sometimes ended up with double bookings. In each case, we and we alone offered the guest a goodwill gesture of arranging upgraded accommodations for them at another local B&B.

When we left this system about a month ago, we joined a new network known as "GDS" that we hope will offer up-to-date and accurate information for anyone wishing to book rooms with La Posada deTaos. That system should be up and running in a few weeks. In the meantime, visit our online booking portal or call us directly, please.

If you visit one of these monster online 3rd-party companies and look for La Posada de Taos, they will tell you that we have no availability. That's nice information but it is dead wrong. In fact, it's deliberately false information designed to get you to book with a hotel or B&B that's paying the 25 or 30% commission to that 3rd party. David v. Goliath.

La Posada de Taos Offers Homemade Fare Each Morning

So, give us a call, won't you? We'll offer you competitive rates based on the value of the services we offer: full, professionally-prepared, multi-course, gourmet breakfast; 600-thread-count sheets; concierge services, DVD collection, jetted tubs in premium rooms; privacy; close-in access to all the amenties offered by Taos itself; free parking; free wi-fi; free waters, sodas and teas. All in one price that you won't find anywhere else through any online re-seller.

White Water Rafting: Just One Reason We Settled Here

2011-03-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

My first white water experience was over 20 years ago on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, just outside Salmon, Idaho. It was a short half-day trip that launched just outside town and followed the river along some Class I and II rapids, but culminating in a wonderful Class III+ rapid where everyone got wet and then we pulled out of the river.

Five years later, I was invited to go on a trip down the Wild and Scenic Wilderness section of the Chama River in Northern New Mexico. I was hooked!

A View from Alongside the Rio Chama by Brad Malone

Shortly after moving to New Mexico permanently in 2005, Michael and I were invited on a trip down the Chama in mid-April. Spring weather being what it is in Northern New Mexico, we started out on a beautiful sunny day, set up camp alongside the river as the skies turned overcast and woke up the next morning with about 8" of snow on the ground.

Being old hands at back-country camping, Michael and I had the right clothing and the right tent and sleeping bags. The friends who had invited us along for this first trip had all the rest of the gear, including a portable kitchen and shelter for breakfast.

That first morning alongside the Rio Chama, high in the back country, Michael sprung a surprise on our hosts. He produced all the ingredients for an amazing gourmet breakfast and then proceeded to shoo us all away while he made blueberry buttermilk pancakes, bacon and sausage, along with fresh fruits and juices. I was jokingly told by one friend that Michael would always be welcome on their white water trips, but I was another story. Only after I completely cleaned up and put everything away did I earn my right to future invitations.

Since that time, we've spent a lot of time on the Chama River. If you want an extended white water adventure, that is one of the destinations you can book from the outfitters here in Taos. The drive over to the "put-in" is about an hour west of us. The river flows south through an ever-deepening canyon that becomes a gorge lined with sandstone walls. After about 30 miles or so, you suddenly come upon the amazing Christ of the Desert Monastery, a Benedictine enclave alongside the river (and the subject of a future discussion in this blog).


Walls of the Piedre Lumbre by Brad Malone

At the Monastery, the walls of the canyon begin to open up dramatically into what is now commonly called "O'Keefe Country" where Georgia O'Keefe lived and painted for so many years in the 20th Century. Layers of red, orange, yellow and even green stone shine above the plain where the Chama River forms Class II and III rapids.

Skull Bridge Rapid on the Rio Chama by Brad Malone

In my next entry, I'll write about the Taos Box along the Rio Grande and the trips you can take on that white water as part of the Adventure Package La Posada de Taos is offering this year.

La Posada de Taos's Adventure Package Promotion

2011-03-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I announced La Posada de Taos' new Adventure Package promotion. It's a great deal because you won't be able to get this anywhere else in Taos.

The best travel packages always have one thing in common: you can't purchase the individual parts for less than the package offers.

With La Posada de Taos' Adventure Package, you get 4 nights in a premium room in Taos' top-ranked B&B. You'll be entitled to all the amenities we offer, including the full breakfast prepared by one of our professional chefs and the concierge service offered by yours truly.

The Adventure Trip arrangements will be made and paid for you. Each one of them offers an experience unique to Taos. Did you know, for example, that National Geographic Traveler has listed the Taos Llama Trek as one of their Top 10 Adventures? Amazing!

With the ski season drawing to a close in a few short weeks, why not think about that return trip to Taos with an Adventure built in? White water season lasts from late April through June. Horseback rides at Taos Ski Valley are available from mid-May through September and the Llama Trek will be available May through September.


Hot Air Balloon Trips Arranged by La Posada de Taos with Pueblo Balloon Co.

Hot Air Balloon Trips in Taos typically involve a dawn launch near the Rio Grande Gorge outside of town. Pueblo Balloons will pick you up at our Inn and take you to the launch site. Flights then take you hundreds of feet down the walls of the Rio Grande Gorge where the professional pilot will dip the basket in what is sometimes called a "Splash and Dash." You'll then fly along the bottom of the gorge until the pilot takes exits up and out for a view of the San Luis Valley and Taos, nestled against the towering Sangre de Christo Mountains.

Regarding the Hot Air Balloon Adventure: average cost per flight is about $250 per person. La Posada will charge you $75 per person for the trip, thus making it an outstanding value you can't get anywhere else. You still get the 4 night stay at top accommodations making it possible to immediately reschedule a flight that may have been initially cancelled. It's a great way to get the ride of a lifetime.

Check room availability for your dates online at La Posada de Taos' website and give us a call at (800) 645-4803 to book a package.

What to Do in Taos: Adventure!

2011-03-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

La Posada de Taos has just announced an exciting new Adventure Package for 2011.

The Rio Grande Gorge West of La Posada de Taos

Continuing with the success of our Lifts and Lodging Package, we're about to break down the barriers --

No calling around. No waiting for return calls.
We've done the research.
We've done the Adventures, too!
You pick what you'd like to do. . .

We'll make it happen for you!

The package: Book 4 Nights in a Premium Room, double occupancy for $250 per night and we will provide you with one of the following adventure tours:

White water rafting on the Taos Box,
Horseback Riding on Taos Pueblo or at Taos Ski Valley, or
Llama Trekking.

Hot Air Balloon Trips for 2 when purchased with this package will be an additional charge of $75 per person.

Not only do we do all the legwork, you save up to $300 with this package. It's a great deal!

Here are some details:

White Water trips will be booked based on their availability with a licensed Outfitter based in Taos. You can choose a full-day trip down the Taos Box or a half-day trip down the Racecourse.

The Taos Box contains Class IV+ rapids. You must be able to swim in order to make this trip. Children are not allowed. Additionally, this is an inherently dangerous sport, so please consider another Adventure Option if you have any doubt about your abilities.

Horseback Trips will be arranged through any locally available company with a minimum 4 hour ride for each person.

Llama Treks are offered only through one company and will be arranged subject to availability (i.e., please book early).

Balloon Trips will be arranged through Pueblo Balloon Company. Because these trips are subject to cancellation due to weather conditions, you will need to select an alternative Adventure in the event of flight cancellation.

Other than the Balloon Rides, you will need transportation to and from the starting places of these Adventures. Pueblo Balloon will pick you up at La Posada the morning of your flight.

If you want to book an Adventure Package with La Posada de Taos, please call us at (800) 645-4803 today.

Do You Use Trip Advisor? Warning!

2011-03-03T13:12:00.001-07:00

Do you use Trip Advisor? About half of those who call us report that they found us on TripAdvisor.com. That's huge for a small business. When half of your customers come from one source, you kind of feel like you should be paying attention.

Because we track the sources of hits to our website using a product called Google Analytics, we know that our guests also find us using BedandBreakfast.com, the New Mexico Bed & Breakfast Association, the Taos Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns, the Taos Vacation Guide, and the Taos Chamber of Commerce. There are at least another dozen sources of hits to laposadadetaos.com originating with companies other than Trip Advisor who provide unbiased information regarding destinations in Taos.

Within the last quarter, however, TripAdvisor.com has overtaken everyone on our Google Analytics Report to become the #2 means of finding us -- behind only the ever-omnipresent "Google Organic Search." TripAdvisor.com recently moved into the Top 30 websites on the entire Planet! With 60,000,000 hits per month, its volume dwarfs all other Social Networking Travel sites. The increase in hits to our website from this one site has been in excess of 5000%.

Incredible isn't it?

Because we have recently moved into the top slot on TripAdvisor.com's listing of Taos County B&B's, we're also working hard to merit that listing (of course, to really hold onto this type of thing, you have to be having fun doing it!). A competitor who also sometimes inhabits the #1 spot doesn't include breakfast in the price of his lodging.   Regardless of the exact placement, being at or near the top of TripAdvisor's listings has also brought us not only more hits to the website, but a healthy increase in business.

I wish that I could end this blog entry there with the sunny story of success. Not so, however.

As a Board Member of the Taos Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns, I'm always interested in the overall trends in the industry. Trip Advisor's impact on lodgers in Taos continues to play itself out, but we can already see that it's doing both good and bad things in our small town.

On the good side, Trip Advisor is available for visitors to get some additional information about the choices in Taos.

On the bad side, the choices in "Taos" that Trip Advisor is showing are incomplete and in some cases downright misleading. Trip Advisor is arbitrarily excluding some of the top choices available to visitors by using an ancient Zip Code map that ignores some of the best B&B's in the entire Southwestern U.S.

In some cases, B&B's are not listed as "Taos" and you cannot find them unless you know the name of the tiny old Zip Code they are in (these aren't incorporated areas, by the way). Another way to find them is to find the tiny little green print near the top of the page that has geographical breakdowns. If you can find it, click on "Taos County," please.

In an effort to make full disclosure: as you have probably guessed, La Posada isn't excluded from the Taos listings. We have no financial interest in the businesses who are being hurt by this. Our interest is in making sure that all visitors to Taos get complete information.

I've addressed this issue before and I'm part of a continuing effort by various professional associations to get Trip Advisor to fix the problem. Please understand that this effort has been going on for years. Trip Advisor's corporate mentality, however, is clearly self-absorbed and defensive. They not only cannot see how their arbitrary geographic designations are destroying small businesses, they deny that it could possibly be true. Very defensive!

Problem is that the numbers don't lie and TripAdvisor doesn't care. I've heard various local businesses discussing litigation.

In the meantime, please don't use Trip Advisor as your only source of information. Use it for reviews, but please realize that it is not authoritative. What you can count on is that TripAdvisor.com's listing for Taos will be inaccurate, incomplete, misleading and arbitrary.

We recommend that you use at least one other source of information when planning your Taos trip, please.

What To Do In Taos: Downhill Skiing

2011-03-01T20:41:00.001-07:00

For all entries in the "What To Do" Series, my personal and professional bias as an Innkeeper is clearly going to show through. Please use the links in each individual category to get more comprehensive information.

Taos Ski Valley Photo by Michael Carter, Chef and Innkeeper at La Posada de Taos in 2010

Downhill Skiing

Taos Ski Valley is the grand-daddy of all ski resorts in the entire State of New Mexico. It is the only ski destination in the state that is routinely listed in rankings of the nation's top ski resorts.including rankings by skiers themselves in Ski Magazine. There are two primary places to start for complete information:

Taos Ski Valley
Taos Ski Valley Chamber of Commerce

The ski season at TSV typically runs from Thanksgiving Day through the first weekend of April. Although the opening day may be delayed due to snow conditions, the closing day is never beyond that first Sunday of April.

La Posada de Taos offers various Ski Packages during the season for our guests -- all of them involve lifts or ski schools for Taos Ski Valley only. For example, this year our Lifts and Lodging Package offers guests 3 nights in a premium room (king bed, whirlpool-style bathtub, and wood-burning fireplace) plus 2 each 2-day lift tickets to TSV for $240 per night, double occupancy. We also will be participating in the final discounted ski week package promoted by TSV. In that program, if you book six nights with us, you'll get six days (that's right, 6 days!) of ski lessons at TSV for FREE! This last promotional package is only available during the last week of March 2011.

Taos Ski Valley is known as a "Skiers Mountain." To me this means that the resort is focused solely on the skiing experience. Although there are shops and clubs where you can enjoy apres ski activities, they are not the focus of what is offered.

Being a Skiers Mountain also means that the Ski and Snowboard Schools at TSV are among the best. The Children's Learning Center is one of the largest buildings at TSV and the adult and teen schools are simply incredible. If you bring your children to Taos to learn, they will be able to enjoy the sport anywhere in the world. The schools really are that good!

However, being a Skiers Mountain does NOT mean that TSV isn't a great place to snowboard. Since the resort allowed boarders for the first time just a few short years ago, the mountain has become home to many who love to shred. All the hoopla about folks not getting along simply has not come to pass. In fact, because the average age of the snowboard crowd continues to climb each year, the mountain tends to be populate with lots of 30-something boarders but even younger skiers.

There is a myth that Taos is "too hard" to ski for the novice. Not true. I finally learned to ski at TSV in January. The amount of beginner terrain that I haven't even seen yet is unbelievable. There is a lot of terrain and the green (beginner) and blue (intermediate) runs are extensive. The ski-able terrain is simply massive and the wonderful easier runs wind back and forth down the contours of the mountain.

The black (expert) and double-black (insane) runs at TSV are also extensive and are the reason why so many folks are intimidated by the resort. It's true that the blacks and double-blacks at TSV are challenging, but that's what their rating implies. These more difficult runs are really why Taos is famous in the Ski World. Only Jackson Hole has more vertical drop than TSV. It's where the hard-core skier can come and really test their mettle.

With an average of 305" of powdery white snow each season, TSV will still get close to 200" in a "bad" year. In other words, unless you're looking to jump off one of the double-blacks, there's always going to be lots and lots of greens, blues and blacks available to ski.

I realize that I've completely ignored the other ski destination in our area and I promise that I will try to get back to describing them next season. Each has its own merits and each is a place you should look into for an easy-going Family Trip. Here are the links.

Angel Fire
Red River
Sipapu
Ski Santa Fe
Pajarito (Los Alamos)

Angel Fire, Red River and Sipapu are all within 45 minutes of the Town of Taos. Pajarito Ski Basin is above Los Alamos while Ski Santa Fe is 18 miles above Santa Fe proper, thus making it the farthest drive.

What to do in Taos

2011-02-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

A proper answer to the question originates from two key pieces of information: how long are you here and what are you most interested in.

In this first entry I'm simply going to list things and provide links. If you need more information, please search the blog by keyword for later entries or please contact me directly via telephone (800) 645-4803, e-mail or our Ask the Innkeeper feature from our website.

One Night:
Because La Posada de Taos has only six guest rooms, we cannot take advance reservations for one-night stays. We understand that you might not be able to stay more than one night and we really wish that we could be included in your advance planning.

We do take single-night stays, but they are only if an available room is booked within a day or two of the actual stay. We recommend that you read the reviews of various places on TripAdvisor.com for Taos County and that you then pick ONE thing from the lists below.

Two Nights or More:
1. Arrive in the early afternoon and visit the Taos Pueblo. Be sure to call ahead to confirm they are open. The Taos Pueblo Tourism Office phone number is (575) 758-1028.

2. Arrive at La Posada de Taos during check-in time between 4 and 6 pm. If you haven't already made dinner reservations, be sure to ask me about the menus and our recommendations for choices in and immediately around Taos Plaza. If it's a holiday weekend, you'll need to do this BEFORE coming to Taos.

3. Stroll over to Taos Plaza and visit shops and galleries and find your dinner destination. We don't recommend that you drive on your first night -- just relax and stay close to home. There are at least two venues that feature live music each night within a 5 minute stroll of La Posada.

4. Next Day: Pick One . . . or Two . . . or More

Museums and the Arts: We always recommend that you visit members of the Museum Association of Taos where you can buy a single pass that will get you into all of them. But, if you only have time to get to one museum, pick one of these three: The Harwood Museum of Art, The Taos Art Museum or the Millicent Rogers Museum.

Eco-Tourism: If museums aren't your thing, then there are more eco-adventures here than you can possibly complete in a week:

Downhill Skiing -- there are 4 ski resorts close by
Cross-Country Skiing -- both public and private areas open
White Water Rafting -- there are a dozen whitewater outfitters here
Horseback Riding -- there are several horse outfitters here
Llama Trekking - National Geographic Magazine's Bucket List
Hiking -- easy to difficult
Hot Air Ballooning -- there are several ballooning companies here
Mountain Biking -- miles and miles of world-class trails
Golfing -- Taos Country Club or in Angel Fire

Driving Tours: if you want to see some beautiful scenery, we have two of the country's most scenic drives right here.

The High Road to Taos
The Enchanted Circle

Shopping: Taos has lots of small shops and galleries where local artists and artisans have their world-class creations on sale. Almost all of these businesses are within an easy walk of La Posada de Taos.

Workshops and Classes: Taos has a thriving community of Master Artists, including painters, sculptors, potters, jewelry makers, and chefs who teach their craft. Although we're working on making a single clearinghouse for these classes available to our guests, we recommend that you contact galleries directly for art classes.

Spas: There are dozens of businesses in Taos dedicated to top-notch spa services. We recommend that you start with the Taos Vacation Guide listing as a reference of what' available.

During 2011, La Posada de Taos will be offering Cooking Classes to its guests upon Request. Costs will vary based upon themes and number of students.

Special Events, Festivals, Openings, Etc.: there are whole calanders full of things such as this weekend's Taos Shortz Film Festival or Independent Films at the Taos Community Auditorium or any number of incredible winter events at the world-class Taos Ski Valley Resort.

Complete Listings: You can find the best listings of things to do and special events at the Taos County Chamber of Commerce and the Taos Vacation Guide. The Taos Ski Valley Chamber of Commerce also works hard to provide up-to-date information.

5. Repeat to Your Heart's Content or as Time Allows

6. Come back on work on the list a little more.

Observations On Time

2011-02-24T23:03:00.002-07:00

I'll be 49 this Sunday. I've got time on my mind. Taos Time, that is. Others have noticed well before me --notably D.H. Lawrence -- that time moves differently here.

Locals in Taos seem to barely accept the measures of time that the world at large has adopted. Watches are virtually never worn here. Business hours of the shops and galleries in town rarely seem to be according to any kind of schedule. In fact, it's common to see a sign on the door saying what the hours "might be" with an explanation that the shopkeeper is out _______________ (fill in the blank).

Around these parts, we sometimes like to say "Carpe Manana." It's not a complete disregard of the standards of time. The time to do something will eventually arrive, but it's probably not right now. It's more like an acknowledgment that perhaps we all need to slow down a little. In other cases it's just another way of saying "No."

I've noticed that many of us in Taos have set our body clocks to the cycles that nature provides. We rise with the sun, for example. Who would want to miss that glorious sunrise over the foothills of the Sangre de Christos on the outskirts of town each morning? The middle of the day involves running errands and performing chores while the sun is high in the sky.

Fact is, I rely upon a natural rhythm to do my job well. Working 7-days a week as an Innkeeper, sometimes 12 to 16 hours a day, I'm best when I'm "in the rhythm of Taos." It may be next week that I get a day off or it may be 3 months from now, so a natural cyclic rhythm is essential.

I have to admit that it's no small help that I love my job. It's just that if I measured the hours or the days. . . let's just say it wouldn't work.

But let's take a less concrete perspective. I encourage you to jump into the realm of the abstract with me.

Most of us think of time as the clock or the calendar -- in other words, a construct that people have invented to assist in commerce, mark religious observances or to otherwise organize their lives. These measures of time, however, rely upon an element of faith that everyone else will observe the same rules of time as you.

Step back from the clock and calendar. People are believed to have moved to Taos permanently about 1000 years ago. A millennium ago. They have farmed the land, built homes, lived and died here for centuries. Each successive generation built where their ancestors lived and each passing season has brought the Story of Taos to the present.

To be in Taos is to move both forward and backward across time. D.H. Lawrence notwithstanding, as a first-time visitor you need to surrender to this aspect of Taos. Take that watch off, please.

In the Native American tradition, time may be thought of as seasons and generations -- in most ways it is explained in their traditional stories. There are no mentions of years or months. If you think of time as a continuum composed of your ancestors, your understanding of the world around you shifts doesn't it? If you think of time as successive seasons, you can understand it without trying to remember the name of the year or the month. Time has more context than a date.

In Taos, time might be thought of as the ground you stand on. Layers of life and of dirt, sand, and rock beneath you measure time. In a place like Taos, the layers of life spanning back a thousand years might be just at the surface, or they may be buried under mankind's intentional efforts to cover over the past.

In a place as old as Taos, digging in the dirt is tantamount to unearthing a time machine.

I think you get my point: let yourself experience a time shift in Taos. Don't worry. Those measures of time you left behind beyond the mountains will still be there when you get back. It is our hope that after a few visits to Taos you'll never see time the same way again.

Culinary Destinations

2011-02-20T12:44:00.001-07:00

Guests who come to B&B's in Taos expect something more than the "toaster breakfast" served at local motels. It's a given.

Those that stay at La Posada de Taos also tend to have very refined palettes. When they eat away from home, for example, they frequent fine dining establishments.

It's also a given that the cost of that breakfast is included in the price of your room. Not so everywhere in Taos. One boutique Inn that TripAdvisor.com ranks among the tops in Taos charges extra if you want the Innkeeper to serve breakfast. Of course, Trip Advisor doesn't know or care about that. Guests are on their own to find out whether that B&B actually provides both "B's" as part of its inclusive services.

From the very beginning of our time here at La Posada de Taos, we decided that our guests deserved the best we could offer. We immediately focused on both "B's: the beds and the breakfasts. I'll save the story of our incredible linens for later, but I just wanted to introduce you to a few of our culinary creations.

Breakfast at La Posada de Taos always begins with cut fresh fruit, organic yogurt and our signature housemade granola. This simple beginning sets the stage for a wholesome, hearty breakfast. The first course is always accompanied by a variety of fruit juices such as our favorite Blueberry Pomegranate juice or orange juice.


Fresh Cut Fruit with Organic Yogurt and Housemade Granola Begins Breakfast Each Day at La Posada de Taos

But what is breakfast without something baked fresh in the oven each day? We're not talking store-bought muffins here. And we're definitely not talking about anything prepared from a mix. Nope. At La Posada de Taos our chefs had determined that the only way our guests are going to enjoy their breakfast from beginning to end is that the baked item be made completely from scratch. The housemade delicacies vary from day to day, but typically include a housemade blueberry muffin or a made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuit. Yum!

La Posada de Taos' Made-from-Scratch Buttermilk Bisquit with a Selection of Chili Jams

Michael Carter, our own "Breakfast Guru," next prepares an entree that our guests always find memorable. The Breakfast Tostada pictured below is an example. The photo pretty much shows the makings of the dish: corn tortilla, black beans, cheese, poached egg, corn chip strips, and a small avocado and tomato side. It's hearty, it's healthy and it's just one part of the well-balanced meal that our chef will prepare each and every day for our guests.

The La Posada de Taos Breakfast Tostada

I'll focus more on the incredible entrees and baked items in future posts. We hope you get to come and enjoy breakfast with us some day. It's always a memorable meal.

Millicent Rogers in Taos: Why We Love Her

2011-02-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, I focused on "facts" about Millicent Rogers, in particular her legacy as one of the leading icons of style in the 20th Century. There is little doubt that she carved out a special place in the history of Taos and in the development of style, the arts, and culture in this region as a whole.

But none of that is why I love her. Certainly, her achievements are unique, but until I visited her museum a few years ago, her iconic image meant little. As I wound up my visit I approached a side entrance into the gift shop of the Millicent Rogers Museum. There at the end was "The Letter."

Do you ever think back on your life and wonder how it is that you got where you are? I'm not talking about being harsh or critical of your life -- just allowing yourself to observe the paths that have led you to this point. Some might call this an admission that you have accepted your own mid-life crisis or a step in the process of resolving yourself to give up the past. Or something more, perhaps.

For me, the process began before I got to Taos and ended not long after I got here. It's a part of accepting life on life's terms in this very special place. In a way, I've always thought of myself as a person attempting to find some kind of spiritual peace with the world. Be this a spiritual journey or be it simply surviving the vicissitudes of life, I had to experience all that came before "here" before I could truly appreciate "here." Landing in Taos brought an amazing peace to my restless soul.

Finding the words to describe these things was difficult. I knew I had powerful feelings and emotions about being in Taos and I knew that my soul was finally beginning to let go of the angst that had burdened it for so many years. But all I could grasp were concepts and broad brush strokes.

Millicent Rogers

Then I read Millicent Rogers' letter to her son written over 60 years ago in Taos. Although the letter is hanging on a wall in her museum, I heard her voice speaking the words. As I listened, my heart melted. I fell in love with Millicent Rogers the way that I had fallen in love with Taos.

Darling Paulie,

Did I ever tell you about the feeling I had a little while ago? Suddenly passing Taos Mountain I felt that I was part of the Earth, so that I felt the Sun on my Surface and the rain. I felt the Stars and the growth of the Moon, under me, rivers ran. And against me were the tides. The waters of rain sank into me. And I thought if I stretched out my hands they would be Earth and green would grow from me. And I knew that there was no reason to be lonely that one was everything, and Death was as easy as the rising sun and as calm and natural - that to be enfolded in Earth was not an end but part of oneself, part of every day and night that we lived, so that Being part of the Earth one was never alone. And all fear went out of me - with a great, good stillness and strength.

If anything should happen to me now, ever, just remember all this. I want to be buried in Taos with the wide sky - Life has been marvelous, all the experiences good and bad I have enjoyed, even pain and illness because out of it so many things were discovered. One has so little time to be still, to lie still and look at the Earth and the changing colors and the Forest - and the voices of people and clouds and light on water, smells and sound and music and the taste of wood smoke in the air.

Life is absolutely beautiful if one will disassociate oneself from noise and talk and live it according to one's inner light. Don't fool yourself more than you can help. Do what you want - do what you want knowingly. Anger is a curtain that people pull down over life so that they only see through it dimly - missing all the savor, the instincts - the delight - they feel safe only when they can down someone. And if one does that they end by being to many, more than one person, and life is dimmed - blotted and blurred! - I've had a most lovely life to myself - I've enjoyed it as thoroughly as it could be enjoyed. And when my time comes, no one is to feel that I have lost anything of it - or be too sorry - I've been in all of you - and will go on Being. So remember it peacefully - take all the good things that your life put there in your eyes - and they, your family, children, will see through your eyes. My love to all of you.

Millicent Rogers in Taos: 20th Century Style Icon

2011-02-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

In their 1994 book The Power of Style, Annette Tapert and Diana Edkins focused on 14 women of the 20th Century who "defined the art of living well." Among the select group were Coco Chanel, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Millicent Rogers. Because my blog focuses on all things Taos, I wanted to relay a few pieces of information about Millicent Rogers in the next couple of entries.

Millicent Rogers

She moved to Taos in 1947 and died five short years later at the relatively young age of 53. In that span of time, Millicent Rogers amassed important collections of art, textiles, jewelry, and pottery that remain intact today at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos. The authors of The Power of Style noted that "No other American woman of style assembled a collection of anything that still remains intact." One thing that makes them so extraordinary is that these are the collections of lifetimes -- not just one lifetime and certainly not just five brief years of one lifetime.

Coming as she did to Taos near the end of her life, she entered a world that was completely alien to her upbringing in the high society circles of Manhattan and Europe. Before coming here major fashion houses of the 20th Century had determined that the "perfect" measurements for draping their creations were those of Millicent Rogers' body. There are many, many stories of her influence on styles of her time that happened long before she came to New Mexico. But it is here that her influence has endured and its reach has lasted.

When she arrived in 1947, Taos was already well-known as a major art capital. In part due to her influence, Taos has remained so for decades. As Dave Hicky said in his 2009 introduction to Dennis Hopper's show at Taos' Harwood Museum,

"In the twentieth century, [Taos] has probably produced more serious art and literature than any other non-metropolitan area in the United States..."

But for all its amazing artistic influence, Taos was not known as a fashion center or a place of "style" other than perhaps Pueblo architecture. No matter. That, too, would change.

She immediately began meeting the local artists and artisans of her time. Maria Martinez, for example, who's "black-on-black" style pottery was the first of its kind, became very close with Millicent Rogers. The largest collection of "Maria Pots" in the world now resides at the Millicent Rogers Museum.

Maria Martinez Pottery

In addition to pottery and art, Millicent Rogers loved jewelry. I have heard it said that what we all think of today as "Southwestern Jewelry" was permanently influenced by what Millicent Rogers bought or designed for herself during her time in Taos. The collection of over 400 pieces at her museum is impressive to say the least.

One final word about her collections: as time passes, experts and collectors from around the world have come to believe that many pieces in the Millicent Rogers' collections are some of the most important masterworks of their genre. They are, just as she was, nothing short of extraordinary.

Kit Carson Part II: Excerpts from "Blood and Thunder"

2011-02-13T19:59:00.002-07:00

I've just finished reading Hampton Sides' Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquests of the American West. All I can say is "Wow." I really encourage you to go out and pick up a copy. Here are some excerpts from this incredible book.

"Carson was present at the creation, it seemed. He had witnessed the dawn of the American West in all its vividness and brutality. In his constant travels he had caromed off of or intersected with nearly every major tribal group and person of consequence. He had lived the sweep of the Western experience with a directness few other men could rival."

"Yes, Christopher Carson was a lovable man. Nearly everyone said so. He was loyal, honest, and kind. In many pinpointable incidents, he acted bravely and with much physical grace. More than once, he saved people's lives without seeking recognition or pay. He was a dashing good Samaritan -- a hero, even.

"He was also a natural born killer. It is hard to reconcile the much-described sweetness of his disposition with his frenzies of violence. Carson could be brutal even for the West of his day (a West so wild it lacked outlaws, for no law yet existed to be outside of). His ferocious temper could be triggered in an instant. If you crossed him, he would find you. He pursued vengeance as though it were something sacred with a kind of dogged focus that might be called tribal--his tribe being the famously grudge-happ Scotch-Irish."

The sweeping story that Sides tells includes how Kit Carson was involved in the American take-over of New Mexico, his presence at the major battles fought against the Mexican army in California, and how he chose the Union side in the Civil War and his leadership during the Western-most battles of that war in New Mexico.

There are many sources of reliable information about the man, but the ones that touch my heart are Sides' factual biography and Willa Cather's fictional biography Death Comes for the Archbishop. Her inclusion of Carson in the story was telling of how important he was to the "respectable" class in the New Mexico territory. The lead character seeks out Carson and ultimately develops a close personal relationship with the man who so many believed was a giant among men. She includes a story of how he assisted in a rescue that saved lives but never sought recognition or payment for that act.

Kit Carson Part I: The Enigmatic Hero

2011-02-12T11:42:00.005-07:00

Just about everyone has heard of Kit Carson. If nothing else, they know that towns in every Western State are named after him. Carson City, Nevada; Carson, California; Carson, New Mexico.


Kit Carson

Public buildings and thoroughfares throughout the West, including in the state of his birth, Missouri.

Fort Carson, the massive military installation outside Colorado Springs, Colorado.


Kit Carson Statute in Colorado

He was everywhere in the West during his lifetime. Just about every major historical event that occurred in the Western U.S. between 1840 and 1868 somehow involved Kit Carson. He made his initial fame as a mountain man, trapper and scout, but his influence extended far into military and governmental affairs, having died while holding the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Army.

Most people don't know that he called Taos his home. Although his travels took him far and wide on incredible adventures, he kept his home and family here. In 1842 he married his third wife Josepha in Taos where they established their home and raised a family of 8 children just off of Taos Plaza. He recognized that there was something very special about Taos, ancestral home to the Taos Indians for at least 800 years and to the descendants of Spanish settlers for some 300 years before he arrived.

I'm going to spend a few blogs talking about him and from time to time in the future sharing stories about Kit Carson, beginning with the enigmatic nature of his story to us in the 21st Century.

Hero or Murderer? The answer to this question depends upon your perspective. During his lifetime, he was the subject of over 70 "Blood and Thunder" novels depicting him as a larger-than-life hero. While he still lived he was known to every American and most Europeans as the man who represented honesty, bravery and courage. In his rare visits to Washington, D.C. he was treated as a conquering hero or a great celebrity. In a sense he was one of our nation's first truly "famous" people.

But also during his lifetime he led or participated in the violence our nation inflicted on the Native Americans -- in particular, against the Navajo. He became known to these Americans as a man who would take away all that they cherished. His role in the forced relocation of the Navajo Nation across the rugged, wintry terrain of New Mexico was almost immediately seen as a cruel injustice. At Bosque Redondo he participated in the formation and operation of one of the first "concentration camps" of the Western Hemisphere. All this despite the fact that his first wife, Singing Grass, was an Arapaho Indian and his second wife, Making-Our-Road, was Cheyenne.

As his life wound down and he returned to Taos, he remained to the American public a famous trapper and trader. Novels and histories, of the man were fictionalized beyond reality, and published by the dozens. But the enigmatic Kit Carson was illiterate: he couldn't read a word of any of those books and he couldn't sign his name with anything other than a single initial.

In his time and with his stature, his illiteracy was ignored, however, in part because he could fluently speak at least 8 languages including English and Spanish, as well as many Native American tongues.

One final enigma: Kit Carson was just a little over 5 feet tall. All of the books of his day, all of the histories written during his time that mentioned his name, described Kit Carson as a giant of a man. Not so.

Thus my title "Enigmatic Hero." Love him or hate him, his story is the story of the American West. Taos was his home -- his touchstone -- and each of his stories ends with his return, ultimately to his final resting place here against the Sangre de Christos.

SBA Disaster Assistance

2011-02-10T19:44:00.002-07:00

If you haven't read my previous post regarding making claims in general, I encourage you to do so before you read this one.

Whether President Obama signs a Disaster Declaration for Taos County is unknown at the time of this post. It may take several more days before anything actually happens, but I'm going to post this information with hopeful optimism that Washington doesn't let us down.

There are some types of immediate assistance grants available to homeowners through FEMA. Some of the specific items covered include water delivery systems for example. You can file directly through FEMA for this assistance and they promise a 10-day turn-around time in most cases.

More comprehensive assistance is administered through the Small Business Administration. These are all Disaster Loans -- not grants. Navigating their website can be a little daunting, but here are key links:

Types of Disaster Loans are described as:

Home and Personal Property Loans
SBA states: Renters and homeowners alike may borrow up to $40,000 to repair or replace clothing, furniture, cars, appliances, etc. damaged or destroyed in the disaster. Homeowners may apply for up to $200,000 to repair or replace their primary residence to its pre-disaster condition. A Factsheet for Homeowners is available online and applications can be filed electronically or over the phone.
Business Physical Disaster Loans
Physical Disaster Loan proceeds may be used for the repair or replacement of the following: Real property, Machinery, Equipment, Fixtures, Inventory, Leasehold improvements

In addition, disaster loans to repair or replace real property or leasehold improvements may be increased by as much as 20 percent of the total amount of disaster damage to real estate and/or leasehold improvements as verified by SBA to protect the damaged real property against possible future disasters of the same type.
SBA loans cover uninsured and under-insured physical damage. If you are required to apply insurance proceeds to an outstanding mortgage on the damaged property, you can include that amount in your disaster loan application.

Economic Injury Disaster Loans
If your business is located in a declared disaster area and has suffered economic injury because of the disaster (regardless of physical damage), you may be eligible for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). Substantial economic injury is the inability of a business to meet its obligations as they mature and to pay its ordinary and necessary operating expenses. EIDLs provide the necessary working capital to help small businesses survive until normal operations resume after a disaster.
The Factsheet for Businesses should be helpful.

Please note that if you have insurance that may cover part of your loss, the SBA Factsheet states that you should not wait for your insurance claim to be processed before you file for an assistance loan with them:

Should I wait for my insurance settlement before I file my loan application?
No. Don’t miss the filing deadline by waiting for an insurance settlement. Final insurance information can be added when a settlement is made. The SBA can approve a loan for the total replacement cost, but any insurance proceeds that duplicate SBA’s loan must be applied to your SBA loan.

I hope this gets you started if you're thinking about the SBA process. They state in several places that their loan applications are processed within 18 days, but that the most common reason for delay is that some piece of information was not provided or verified to them.

This is a kind of "heads up" to those who have never dealt with the U.S. Government. They want each "i" dotted and every "t" crossed before they approve your loan and they'll want hard copies of just about everything they ask for, but don't be discouraged. This low-interest loan program is a reason why we pay Federal Income taxes each year.

Gas-tastrophe: To Claim or Not to Claim

2011-02-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

I've been asked to say a few words about making claims for losses incurred during the recent gas-tastrophe here in Taos. At this time businesses have the opportunity to consider claims to be made against New Mexico Gas Company directly or they can consider making claims under insurance policies, or there may be some other alternatives that I mention below.

My comments are going to be directed at the business community as a whole, but generally circumstances will vary greatly and you'll need to think carefully about the course of action you wish to pursue. Although I have a law degree, I'm not an attorney and I'm not familiar with the nuances of New Mexico law. If you believe that you have a monetary claim against New Mexico Gas Co., and you believe that the value of the claim is substantial in any way (not just monetary), then you better go talk to an attorney.

Get it over with. If you've lost a boatload of money or your business has been damaged to the point where it's teetering on the edge of oblivion, talk to an attorney at least for your peace of mind. Get an opinion from someone who might be able to protect you.

The most important thing you want to ask an attorney is "What is the best way that I can make myself (my business) whole again?"

Federal Disaster Declaration? As I write this there has not been a Federal Disaster Declaration. If one does come, FEMA should come to Taos and make certain low-interest loans available "on the spot" to allow you to open your doors each day and stay in business. It is not necessarily the intent of FEMA loans, but they can help tie you over while your legal claims against New Mexico Gas Co. are processed. That way you shouldn't have to rush a claim.

If a Disaster Declaration happens, that's a game-changer for the claims process. So, hold on, for a few more days and let's see if one comes.

If a Disaster Declaration does not come, things are going to be a lot tougher.

Property Insurance? If you've got property damage and you have insurance, file immediately. I suggest that you don't wait for an attorney on this one. Do it now. Find the phone number and get the claims process started. The Insurance you have contains specific contractual and statutory obligations to act quickly on your behalf. In other words, they have to pay valid claims and they have to pay them quickly.

Be advised that the insurance company will most likely attempt to "subrogate" your claims against the Gas Co. -- This means that if you have filed a property insurance claim under an insurance policy, you should not make a separate claim for property damage with the Gas Company since the Insurance Company will probably do that.

Renters Insurance? Same as above. Call the insurance company immediately. Don't wait to talk to an attorney. Don't file two claims.

Business Loss Insurance? If you've got this, you're going to need to speak with your insurance agent right away. I suggest you do this in person where you can get a checklist of all the things you're going to need to substantiate your claim. Insurance claims for business loss are really hard to make in some industries -- such as lodging, for example, where a lost room night might or might not be considered an actual business loss (I know: Ouch!)

Again, don't wait to speak to an attorney when it comes to filing an insurance claim. Your agent should be able to advise you. If you feel you're getting jerked around, contact the State Insurance Commission.

No Insurance? If FEMA doesn't come in and start offering low interest loans for business and property loss, you might be able to get something going through the Small Business Administration. Otherwise, your last chance might just be a direct claim to New Mexico Gas Co or filing a law suit (remember the attorney).

Claims Against New Mexico Gas Co. Directly? Again, if your losses are substantial and your business is teetering on the edge, go to an attorney first. My biggest concern for our business community is that none of us waives any of our rights for full compensation.

Don't sign an Arbitration Agreement if it is presented to you without first speaking to an attorney.

Any system New Mexico Gas Co sets up will be biased in their favor. It will be - by design -- full of procedural pitfalls and claims denial loopholes. Also, it will involve some type of waiver of your right to have your claims resolved in court by a jury of your peers (such as an Arbitration Agreement).

Bottom Line: Unless you're filing an insurance claim under an existing policy, don't worry about rushing to make your claim to New Mexico Gas Co. immediately if you don't have all the facts together (extra costs associated with Electrical Heating, for example).

The process will take an uncertain amount of time and if the Gas Co's response time to the actual emergency is any indication of the speed they'll address your claim, well . . . good luck.

Meet Fritz!

2011-02-09T17:54:00.002-07:00

La Posada de Taos allows guests to bring their dogs. As listed on various pet-friendly accommodation websites, we've always allowed folks with well-behaved dogs to stay with us.

I'd like to introduce everyone to our best friends, Fritz and Roxy. First: Fritz.

Fritz is a Mini-Schnauzer. When he's in the room, he is convinced that he is "in charge" -- the complete center of attention. That's primarily why our little boy lives upstairs in the Innkeepers quarters and only gets to pay visits downstairs once or twice a day before or after his walks.

He's very vocal, as they say. But he's also incredibly friendly. He'll bark, bark, bark his "Hello" until you give him his scratch behind the ears, then he'll bark, bark, bark his "Thanks."

Fritz at La Posada de Taos in his Christmas Regalia

We adopted this cute little guy in late-July 2001 and he's been with us ever since. Someone had already clipped his ears and docked his tail by the time we adopted him -- a practice we think should be outlawed.

Since he was fully grown when we met him, we assumed he was at least a year old. During his most recent visit to the Salazar Vet Clinic here in Taos, the doctor did geriatric blood work and pronounced that he's as healthy as a 3 year-old. That made us very happy, since we believe he's at least 11 years old now.

As with any aging dog, we've tried to stay on top of various things that our "Old Man" might need, such as dental work -- he's lost 3 teeth so far -- and something called Schnauzer Bumps which I don't describe. Although he can go from zero to Mach 9 in about 10 seconds, Fritz sleeps more than he used to these days. We take him to a nearby open space and run with him as often as we can. We're pretty sure that dogs get the same benefit of exercise at 7000 feet as people do.

Fritz knows he's a handsome dog and he's completely willing to show off his good looks to anyone who would notice. Because mini-Schnauzer's don't shed, they have to be groomed every 4 to 6 weeks to keep their hair from matting (I call it the "Brillo Pad" look). After a grooming, Fritz is especially interested in showing off his "new look." Because we keep his hair short (except for the beard), Fritz wears a variety of seasonal sweaters. His favorite look is the Space Man cape (photos later)

When you visit us at La Posada de Taos be sure to ask how Fritz is doing and we'll see if he's awake for a visit. Just be prepared for a very vocal greeting.

Gas-tastrophe: Protocols, Procedures

2011-02-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

I previously said that I didn't want to focus on "stupid people" and I still don't want to do that. Because what ultimately happened here is a collapse of a system that was created by lots of people. The people who created that system, by the way, aren't those who were present on Thursday at the gas company. Nope. They're all gone on to their greater reward or have simply retired.

A system failed. A human-created set of rules and procedures didn't work. When New Mexico Gas Co. decided that it didn't need to service the coldest, most isolated communities on its system, they made a conscious decision to follow a protocol that industry executives had established years ago. They followed a procedural book that someone wrote back in the 1970's.

How do I know this? Simply put: a very loud cell phone conversation in a small lobby at Taos Ski Valley on Friday morning.

Please stay with me. . .

It's Friday morning, February 4, 2011. I'm helping a guest of La Posada de Taos finish his ski week at Taos Ski Valley. We've arrived at the Ski School and he's getting his equipment. I'm standing there checking e-mail on my Blackberry. A large gentleman with a distinctive Texas accent (I know, I grew up there) is having a very loud conversation on his cell phone in the little lobby of the equipment rental office. He's not slowing down or trying to be quiet I'm assuming because he's very excited about something.

I keep hearing the words, "That's what I told the media," and "The press I spoke to were told that it's the blackouts."

What disturbed me is what I heard next. "At some point someone is going to start talking about the protocol; the 1970's protocol that set this whole thing up."

Well, I guess I can start talking about it if no one else has.

At some time in the 1970's the procedures were established for dissemination of gas from Point A to Point B in the fields that service what is now known as New Mexico Gas Co. The owners of the production and distribution system prepared for an emergency involving predictable interruptions and shortages. They made rules for where their supplies would go first, second, third, etc. The system was geared to address conditions known at the time based on federal and state law then existent, populations and power plants then existent, and other quantifiable, provable facts known at the time.

Let's say that this was developed in light of the 1970's Energy Crisis and was adopted in 1977. Therefore, I'll say that the "1977 Protocol" was the plan in place when the Winter Storm of 2011 hit our region.

The explanation that pumps were being turned on and off, that pressure could not be maintained because of the shortage caused by the inability to pump and all the related "details" that New Mexico Gas Co. gave us during the Gas-tastrophe start to fall apart in light of the truth surrounding the 1977 Protocol.

What actually happened, in my opinion, is that those who control the production followed a set of procedures -- the Protocol -- they had in front of them. They didn't care about what the results of following this protocol would be. In their minds, they didn't need any information about the "effects" on communities or who they would "affect." The simply did something by a book that was written in another time by other people who could never have anticipated explosive population growth in the region thus could never have foreseen the demand for gas created by a 21st Century Storm.

It's a shame and someone needs to look into this Protocol -- perhaps demanding that it be rewritten.

It's not a perfect comparison, but here is where I'm coming from: In the legal system today we follow protocols developed over the centuries for the orderly administration of justice. Much as it in Congress and elsewhere, the procedural rules of the legal system are often more important than outcomes. As an example, follow the development of Consumer Protection Statutes in every state from the 1970's when a consumer could make a claim without a lawyer to the present when lawyers are the only ones who can see claims through the system.

Call me cynical, but in my opinion we are often focused on the game while the score isn't being followed whatsoever. Sadly, procedures and protocols are constantly used by those who are losing or those who are wrong to prolong the game. Worse yet, they are filled with traps for the unsuspecting.

So, here we sit on our 4th night without Natural Gas, with the "relighting" proceeding at a snail's pace because of Protocols and Procedures. Rules and Regulations? Words and more words written decades ago and never considered until we got what the National Weather Service now calls an "Epic Storm."

We'll have gas tomorrow I expect and all will slowly fade into the background of the history of this region, but it's my hope that the fade will only occur after we've all had a thorough explanation as to how our lives were turned upside down by the Gas-tastophre of 2011: the Protocol of 1977.

State of Emer

2011-02-06T20:29:00.002-07:00

Driving down Paseo del Pueblo Sur on my way to run some errands, the blinking roadside marquee read: "State of Emer" and then provided some phone numbers for the public to use during the Gas-tastrophe.

Everyone in Town knows what the sign means -- it didn't need much else to explain.

The National Weather Service now acknowledges that the storm that swept across this region and much of the country last week was one of the record books. The Special Weather Statement issued for the storm predicted for later this week in New Mexico said the following:

WHILE THIS SYSTEM CURRENTLY IS EXPECTED TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS SEVERE THAN THE EPIC STORM OF LAST WEEK...IT WILL STILL HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON TRAVEL AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF SNOW...WIND...BLOWING SNOW AND MUCH COLDER AIR.

Just to update everyone: as we all expected, the electrical power grid failed in Taos. Our little B&B was without power for over 10 hours in one stretch and then two stretches of about 3 hours. With 6 fireplaces in the house, we immediately went into "Fireplace" mode and kept the Inn warm during the blackouts. Kit Carson Electric Co-operative had various excuses for the power failures, but it all boils down to the fact that no community in New Mexico -- not just Taos -- has a power grid capable of handling the heating demands created by a loss of gas heat. There simply was no way that Taos' system was going to survive unscathed by this huge winter storm.
In the meantime, the Town Officials responsible for keeping order and disseminating information to the public did a smashing job. When the citizenry began to panic on Thursday, these folks hit the radio airwaves and used the extensive e-mail program they have developed in order to give us factual information that was valid and useful in the immediacy of the developing disaster.

Amazing folks!

Cathy Connelly, Town of Taos Public Information Director. Wow, Cathy. All I can say is I hope you get some paid leave when this blows over. Have you slept? I doubt it.

Steve Fuhlendorf, President and CEO of the Taos County Chamber of Commerce. What can I say to you, Steve other than "Thanks" and "Thanks, again."

It's been remarkable. On two occasions I communicated with both Cathy and Steve and they both responded immediately to me with facts. Just the facts.

Thanks to our public officials from Governor Suzanna Martinez all the way down to those working in the trenches here in Taos.

All will return to normal tomorrow and we're thankful. Our guests will never know anything happened other than the stories I'll tell them at the breakfast table each morning, but La Posada de Taos will be a warm, comfortable oasis as our Trip Advisor ranking indicates.

Gas-tastrophe

2011-02-04T16:06:00.001-07:00

Early Thursday morning as I made coffee and prepared for the day, I kept track of the temperature outside here in Taos. It had dropped to minus 20 degrees when I first checked. The last time I checked it was minus 25 -- yes, that's 25 below zero.

It was an unusual occurrence to be sure. Record low temperatures here in Taos tend to range in the minus 10 to minus 15 area. Only a few occasions in the past have there been recorded lows as far below zero as they were on Thursday, February 1.

During breakfast we got a phone message -- we are rarely able to answer our phones while serving what we're so famous for. The message, from a concerned friend, said something like this: "All the natural gas in Northern New Mexico has been cut off and you're going to be out of gas soon."

It sounded like a joke at first. We looked at one another and said, "Really?" What else, the Zombie's are coming? We had no context for the words and we had no understanding of what was about to come within a few short hours.

According to the folks from New Mexico Gas Co., somewhere upstream in their production network, gas pumps were being turned on and off by "rolling blackouts" and "brownouts." Turning these pumps on and off had reduced pressure in the distribution system such that it had become unsafe (or such that it had run out of gas!).

At the end of the distribution network, in other words HERE in Taos and vicinity, the gas could not reach the customers and was being shut off somewhere south of here.

Gas stoves, heaters, and other essential appliances relied upon during dangerously cold weather were now inoperable. The entire Taos region was suddenly cut off from a basic necessity -- the primary source of residential and commercial heat -- during record low temperatures.

Individuals and businesses were not told about this by New Mexico Gas Co. Word of mouth was the primary means of communication about the impending gas-tastophre.

As the crisis became apparent, individuals began to panic in Taos. There were runs on the grocery stores and hardware stores. People were seeking water and heaters primarily. As the official response came slowly at first, the word-of-mouth panic spread. People were told that the power grid was going to go out next, then the water supply would be cut off. It was pandemonium, frankly.

Here at La Posada de Taos we began the process of assisting our guests with finding alternate accommodations. Without the ability to take a hot bath or shower, we feel our guests would simply never have the quality of experience they demand and deserve.

We started following advice to conserve electricity by turning off lights and computers, setting electric heaters at the minimum required to heat a room, and by making sure we turned off the lights that adorn our rooftop during the winter. Thank goodness the power grid hasn't failed yet.

As darkness descended on our town, we posted items on Facebook letting our friends and contacts know that we will be available to assist any way we possibly can. A few locals called up and booked rooms with us. We have a couple of small families staying here.

We've taken food to the shelters and we're getting ready to do some more volunteer work. Fact is that I want to RAGE in this blog about this situation, but I'm simply too busy to think about it.

New Mexico Gas Co isn't off the hook, by the way. But we're in full crisis mode here in Taos and I'm not going to think any more about stupid people.

Can't spend too much on the computer, by the way. Can't even really proof this before I post it, but I just wanted everyone to know: Taos is doing OK for now. We'll make it because we're a community that knows how to pull together.

If you want to donate some food or other items, please let me know. I can help arrange that. . .

Taos Ski Valley Ski Weeks

2011-01-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

We're skiing this week up at the top-ranked ski resort in New Mexico: Taos Ski Valley. It's such a beautiful place and the entire organization is focused on professionalism and customer service in a way that renews our own commitment to the guest experience.

La Posada de Taos offers discounted lift tickets to all of its guests. We'll help you set up any and all services you need at Taos Ski Valley so long as you let us know at least 72 hours in advance.

For each of the past few seasons, we've arranged full ski vacations for dozens of our guests.

Because we ski at TSV, we know the set-up and all of the staff who work so hard to set up ski trips for travelers from all over the world.

A big storm is supposed to come in tomorrow night through Wednesday. We have confirmed with the Ski Valley that all services continue when it's snowing and all roads are kept clear with an aggressive plowing program.

Having spent all day up there today, we can attest to the fact that there is plenty of snow at TSV already. Unless you're a top-ranked skier wanting to jump down some of the Double-Black Diamonds, the mountain is open for business. After this storm, we're hoping that these expert/professional runs are opened in time for the Extreme Skiing Event scheduled for about a month from now at TSV.

Ski Weeks, by the way, are a 6-Day package of instruction at one of the top-ranked schools in the country. The Kid's School is ranked among the best in the world.

With miles of green and blue runs open, TSV is the place to be this season.

Taos Pueblo: Spiritual Center

2011-01-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

These entries are intended as an introduction to Taos for those who are preparing to visit us at La Posada de Taos. It is my hope that others will take interest and begin the journey to learn and understand about this unique place.

I'm writing about a place in the Hinterland where history stretches as far back as time itself and where its peoples have helped shape the destiny of our great nation in ways that are unknown to most. It's the story of the Taos Pueblo and of towering historical icons such as Kit Carson. If I were to write the story of America's Conquest of the West, the story of Taos would be inextricably woven into each chapter.

Starting with the Taos Pueblo -- the oldest continually inhabited place in our country. I've always wondered how it is that the Taos were never forcibly relocated from the ancestral home as were so many other Native Americans. Why has this place somehow been continuously inhabited -- never destroyed or abandoned. It is a fundamental piece of the story of what makes Taos so incredibly special, not just to those of us who live here, but to our entire national identity. Here's why:

When I visit the Taos Pueblo with its 1000-year old dwellings, I think about all the storms it has weathered -- both literally and figuratively. In the context of American expansionism in the 19th Century and the brutality we inflicted on so many tribes, it seems miraculous that this place has remained intact much as it has always been.

Perhaps it's as simple as the fact that the Taos were already settled in place when the Spanish arrived not long after 1500. They were not nomadic as were so many other Native Americans who we forcibly removed from their lands and pushed into remote and desolate reservations. They had an architecturally complex and unique home and were farmers and traders. The Navajo Nation, on the other hand, were "enemies" because they would not settle down or remain in place as the American Government insisted was necessary for peaceful coexistence.

Another reason that the Taos have survived "in place" is that they have continuously and closely observed their religious and cultural traditions passed down from time immemorial. From the time the Spanish arrived almost 500 years ago, the Taos were a close-knit community bound together by their complex religious ceremonies. It is completely my opinion, but some measure of respect for these traditions has always overcome efforts to destroy the Taos culture.

More likely than maintaining religious freedom is the fact that when Spanish Catholics arrived to spread the Gospel, the Taos were receptive to the New Testament story because it so closely resembled some of their own oral histories. I suppose one could say that over time the two religious systems came to a form of detente where major observances were held simultaneously or within close time-frames to one another. Thus, today Taos Pueblo celebrates the 2-day ceremony of San Geronimo with Catholic Vespers every September 29 and completely Native traditions on September 30.

But peace has not always been the status quo. The Pueblo Revolt in the 1600's saw the violent rejection of all things Spanish and Catholic in New Mexico. The Taos participated from the beginning of the Revolt and saw it to the bitter end. Although I'm not trying to dismiss the importance of these years of violence and struggle in the history of the Taos people, it seems to me that when the Spanish returned, it was with a better understanding of the importance of allowing the Taos their Native religious traditions.

The Taos have also been the victims of repeated efforts to take their ancestral lands away from them. Fraud and deception sometimes resulted in the loss of lands to an amazing array of people who history does not smile upon. The Taos have had to work to retain their lands and to protect themselves from being overrun by those who want to claim this place as their own.

The Taos have had to struggle against the U.S. Government's blatant land grab in the guise of "preserving" natural resources. When Congress created the Kit Carson National Forest in the Teddy Roosevelt Era, it carved out ancestral lands of the Taos containing their most sacred place -- Blue Lake.

Problem was that the boundaries of the ancestral lands of the Taos had been recognized by the Spanish long before the United States laid claim to the New Mexico Territory. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo stipulated that the American government would honor the land and water rights granted by the King of Spain. Depriving the Taos of control over the lands containing Blue Lake can be equated with forcibly relocating them from their homes.

After years of legal efforts, however, Congress and President Richard Nixon finally returned the disputed lands to the control of the Taos Pueblo. It was the first time in this nation's history that the U.S. Government had given back lands it had taken from a Native American tribe. In fact, the peaceful triumph of the Taos in these efforts is credited with beginning a new wave of legal and civil rights efforts on behalf of Native Americans across the United States.

Next: Taos Mountain

Taos Pueblo: World Heritage Site

2011-01-27T09:06:00.001-07:00

I live in the hinterland -- a place that is far from any coastline and remote from any urban area. It is my hope that you will find some understanding of this place in Notes from the Hinterland. In many cases I'll keep each entry relatively short -- a quick read of less than 5 minutes each. As I tell the story of this place, each post will try to build upon those coming before.

Starting a story of Taos means that one should go back, back, back in time to find its original inhabitants. That means that you start with the story of the Native Americans who first called this place home.

Most people have never heard of the Taos Pueblo. They probably don't know where Taos is and they think Pueblo is a town in Colorado. Like so many other things about New Mexico, Taos Pueblo remains a secret to most of the world at large. Being the only inhabited World Heritage Site in the United States hasn't raised its profile. Being one of the oldest continually inhabited structures in the North America hasn't brought it to public attention.

Pueblo de Taos, as it is known to some, is a place you must see in your lifetime. That is the sole purpose of writing here about Taos Pueblo -- to ask that you come here and to experience it for yourself. In particular, you should Ask your Innkeeper at La Posada de Taos about which times of year are the most special to visit the Pueblo. Christmas at Taos Pueblo, for example, is one of the primary reasons Travel+Leisure Magazine designated Taos as one of the Best Places to Spend Christmas in both 2001 and 2009.

The official World Heritage designation of Pueblo de Taos says in part:

"Taos is the best preserved of the pueblos north of the borders defined by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848). Located in the valley of a small tributary of the Rio Grande, Taos comprises a group of habitations and ceremonial centres (six kivas have been conserved), which are representative of a culture largely derived from the traditions of the prehistoric Anasazi Indian tribes who settled near the present borders of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado."

Archaeologists and anthropologists believe that the two main old buildings at Taos Pueblo are at least 800 years old. The Taos people say that their buildings are much older than that. This much we know for sure: when the original Spanish explorers arrived at Taos soon after 1500, they found the Taos in their adobe buildings much as we see them today.

World Heritage Site Photo of Taos Pueblo

As you can see, these structures are not teepee's, nor are they wigwams or igloos. Constructed of adobe as only the Taos make, the structures are said to have been seven stories tall when the Spanish arrived. The bottom floors, used for food storage, had neither windows nor doors. The Taos employed their now-famous Pueblo Ladders to climb up to the safety of upper floors and pull their ladders up after them. In modern times, doors and windows have been added for function.

A Pueblo-Style Ladder at La Posada de Taos

One of the ways to understand the significance of these structures is to realize that unlike so many nomadic peoples, the Taos were settled. When the Spanish arrived about 500 years ago, the Taos had been settled here a period longer than our nation has existed. By the time the Americans arrived in the mid-1800's the Spanish and the Taos had shared the land in this valley for almost 300 years, again a period longer than the United States has been around. Americans,therefore, became the interlopers, the invaders and the uninvited. Despite promises that everyone would be protected by this nation of laws, the Taos and the Spanish were circumspect at best and rebellious at worst.

Equally important to an understanding of the modern Taos Pueblo, is the role played by the Catholic Missionaries who accompanied the Spanish explorers and settlers. As Willa Cather noted in her masterpiece "Death Comes for the Archbishop," by the time the United States annexed the New Mexico Territory, the Catholic Church had been the principal authority in the region since 1540. The whole vast expanse stretching from Texas to California had sat ignored, isolated and uncharted until the very end of America's Westward expansion. Even after California became a State, the New Mexico Territory remained just that -- seemingly unworthy of Statehood until 1912 (New Mexico's Centennial Celebration is gearing up this year).

Through all the centuries of repeated invasion and settlement, through all the years of rapid technological change, Taos Pueblo remained. As Americans violently implemented all that Manifest Destiny demanded, the Taos remained in place at their ancestral home. They were never forcibly relocated as were so many other Native Americans. The complex history of their interaction with the European-American culture tells only a part of their story.

To many the Taos Pueblo helps form the spiritual foundation of this place we all know as Taos. There are many who will disagree.

In future blog entries I'll begin to describe this special place for those who want to visit; I'll try to provide context and color. Please understand, however, that my telling of these stories will be affected by the lenses of my own life experiences and from the perspective of someone who is not from here. Although I'll try to quote authoritative sources, my telling of the story of Taos will not necessarily be what you might hear from an official source or from a local. Watch for future posts.

Kudos for New Mexico

2011-01-26T08:34:00.002-07:00

Why is New Mexico suddenly getting lots of attention in the media?

After yesterday's announcement that Sunset Magazine had listed Taos as one of the Best Places to Live Your Dream, Global Traveler Magazine has listed New Mexico as the Best Domestic Destination.

Since I've just restarted this blog, I haven't had time to tout some of the great things about Taos, but getting a little attention in a travel magazine or two reminds me that I've got lots of stories yet to tell. The incredible range of subjects yet to write about include the Taos Pueblo, Kit Carson, Bert Phillips, Georgia O'Keefe, and so many more.

A press release from the New Mexico Tourism Department stated in part:

"The readers of Global Traveler Magazine – voting on the best in business and luxury travel – have named New Mexico the Best Domestic Tourism Destination in the magazine’s seventh annual Global Traveler-Tested Reader Survey. Global Traveler is a premier luxury travel magazine written for executive business travelers."

Nice! If you're interested in coming to New Mexico, we can be your guides. Give us a call at (800) 645-4803 or visit our website.

Sunset Magazine Agrees: Taos is One of the Best Places to Live Your Dream

2011-01-25T10:48:00.002-07:00

My last post explained "Why Taos." It seems to have been prescient in light of Sunset Magazine's designation of Taos as one of the Best Places to Live Your Dream. The February 2011 issue of the magazine isn't online yet, but on page 69 you'll find a description of Taos worthy of quotation.

The focus of the spotlight Sunset Magazine shines on Taos, is the designation of Taos as the Best Place to Own a Vacation Home.

"Regardless of what brings a person to Taos -- art, snow play, its ethereal spirit -- those who fall for the town tend to fall hard. It's this enduring appeal coupled with a limited housing supply that make for about as safe a second-home bet as you'll find."

We say, "Well said!"

When we first drove up to Taos all those years ago, we hadn't even made it into the Plaza before we knew -- or at least strongly felt -- that this was going to be our home some day. It's that kind of place, really.

The dip in the housing market here, from our perspective, was a much about the national credit crisis than about any bubble. Taos' economic cycles have rarely mirrored those of the nation. With strong anti-growth forces in control of both the City and County governments for decades, Taos has never experienced what one might call a housing boom -- certainly nothing like what we've seen elsewhere throughout the Southwest.

Recent comments by the young, smart Mayor of Taos, Darren Cordova, appear to indicate a shift toward promoting some controlled growth. He represents a new generation of Taosenos who recognize that as the natural cycle of business plays out, people retire, businesses close, and new businesses must be allowed to replace them.

For those thinking of coming to Taos to shop for a Vacation Home, we'll welcome you at La Posada de Taos. Because we're right in the center of town, we routinely host folks who are looking to buy property in Taos. On several occasions during the past year or so, our guests have fallen hard for Taos, bought property, and moved here. Really!

Come pay us a visit, we'll show you why we think that this is a really special place.

Why Taos?

2011-01-22T18:34:00.001-07:00

Many of my high school and college friends as well as many of my former business and law school colleagues have asked me how I ended up in Taos -- or rather WHY TAOS? People who knew me in my "previous life" knew me as a driven individual. I suppose most of my family and friends expected something other than being an Innkeeper. Without a doubt, however, I have come to realize that Taos is my home and that this place was patiently waiting while I chased my tail elsewhere.

To quickly summarize, I chased my future career all the time. After getting a Bachelors and Masters from Trinity University in San Antonio, I went to work for the Air Force who sent me to New Mexico in 1986 for procurement training at Kirtland AFB. Never happy with what I had, I moved to Dallas where I continued to chase an elusive future of "happiness." I eventually went back to school and got a law degree, even getting published along the way (See page "x" for the title of my paper).

Even after my career took me away from the Air Force, I kept coming back to New Mexico. My stories posted to this blog from 2007 tell the story of one ill-fated trip down the Chama River in 1995. But there were lots of other trips. Climbing the La Luz Trail outside Albuquerque, visiting the Gila Cliff Dwellings, White Sands, and even doing that almost impossible drive into Dog Canyon at Guadalupe Mountains National Park and then spending a few days and nights far, far away from anything but nature.

When I went back to work I'd always have a smile on my face. Co-workers would ask, "What are smiling about?" Describing New Mexico and telling stories of my adventures here would only puzzle people in Dallas. "You did what? White-water what? Cliff Dwellings? What hotel did you stay in? Where did you eat?" were common questions that frankly I came to understand had no real answer for those who had to ask.

I now look back on all those years as preparation for Taos. When guests at La Posada de Taos ask me the question of why I came to Taos, I often jokingly tell them that Taos is a great place to have a mid-life crisis. I guess that means that Taos is my Corvette?

After years of chasing the dollar and pursuing a career track to the heart attack, I began to realize that maybe I was allowed to define success and happiness for myself. In fact, I eventually understood that I would never be happy if my success was always going to be defined by how much money I made, what kind of car I drove, whether my teeth were perfectly straight, what neighborhood I lived in and whether I got my hair cut at the top-ranked men's barber in Dallas, Texas (which I did, go figure).

Too bad it took me 17 years to figure that out.

I understand now that those years of being detached from the place where my bliss resides were probably necessary for me to enjoy the life I now have. Instead of spending an hour or two driving to work each way every day sitting in traffic watching bumpers, I now walk down a flight of stairs open the back door and take a long look at the mountain above town. Instead of being pulled in a hundred different directions to solve problems that were primarily the product of work-making inventions, I'm pulled away to help someone make reservations for a balloon ride or a white-water rafting trip. Best of all, instead of receiving dozens of phone calls and e-mails that took a staff of administrative assistants to help me sift through, I now take every call myself and answer every e-mail personally in an effort to help people come to Taos and have a great time.

Although I intend to get active and be a citizen of Taos through various volunteer efforts, I've also had time to settle in and do things that feed my soul. I've repaired and maintained a pond complete with fish and water lilly. I've grown a large vegetable garden that produced a bounty for La Posada's chefs (see pages 3 and 4) to use all summer and early fall. I've ridden down the Taos Box of the Rio Grande just outside town and have sped through walls of white water for no other reason but to make it to the other side. I've been on the lifts and the slopes (bunny only) of one of the world's most challenging ski mountains and lived to tell about it.

Most of all, I've allowed myself to finally find my own measures of success and happiness in ways that have added years back to my life.

A Fish Pond Complete with Water Lilly Was One of My First Taos Projects

By the time I left the Big D, little A, double L, A, S, my blood pressure was already through the roof and out of control. My skin was pale and I felt sick most of the time. By the time I reached New Mexico almost six years ago, my hair had turned mostly gray and the circles under my eyes had become a permanent scar -- or so I thought.

Here at 7000 feet in Taos, I smile each morning as I drink my cup of coffee and watch the sun rise to light up Taos Mountain a few miles off my back balcony. My Facebook friends from years back remark that they see the change in my face. (I always thank them.)

The life returned to my soul when I came to Taos and for that I am thankful every day.

Growing a Large Vegetable Garden at La Posada de Taos was my "Zen 2010."

Taos is a lifestyle, but it's also a place where my soul can take the spiritual journey it has longed for. Stay tuned. . .

Take Control of Your Trip Advisor Listing

2011-01-21T08:54:00.001-07:00

With 50 million visitors -- that's 50 million unique visitors -- a month, Trip Advisor is in control of the travel review world right now. Whether Yelp catches up remains to be seen. So, I'm going to focus on Trip Advisor for now.

According to an e-mail that TripAdvisor sent to us early this year, Taos' TripAdvisor.com webpage and pages related to Taos received 1.6 million hits in 2010. That's a lot of traffic for our little town.

Are you fully optimized to get any business results from this traffic?

First, it's important that you realize that Trip Advisor is not just for reviews of B&B's, hotels and motels. It has now extended its reach into restaurants, tours, and other attractions that may include ANY business in our area. Look at the Taos Page, the Taos County Page or the New Mexico Page of TripAdvisor.com to see the many types of businesses being reviewed.

For example, if you look at the Restaurant Listings on any of these pages, you'll see El Meze Restaurant. It has been consistently ranked #1 locally and either #1 or #2 statewide for some time now. It is my opinion that this is in part because El Meze has actively promoted the business through Trip Advisor, in particular by encouraging guests to post reviews as they leave the restaurant.

Second, it's important that you realize that Trip Advisor is not your enemy -- even if some of your reviews have been bad, wrong, unfair or just plain stupid. There are specific ways to deal with bad reviews and I'll discuss that issue in another blog post. My point here is that Trip Advisor is now an important business tool for you to use with as much or as little time, money and effort as you choose.

As an example, La Posada de Taos has signed up for the subscription add-on that Trip Advisor offers. On this page alone you will see links into the many ways the site has been restructured in recent years to allow you to control a lot of the information about your company that visitors to their website actually see.

Additionally, Trip Advisor has a plethora of promotional tools that any business can use. We recommend that you consider signing up for the Business Listing and then pick and choose one or more tools. We currently offer a promotional package of one type or another on our TripAdvisor listing, always trying to keep interest high for our listing.

Third, there are lesser known features about TripAdvisor.com that have been generating an increasing amount of traffic to Taos, including their Travel Forum and Travel Guide sections. I strongly encourage all businesses in Taos to get active in these aspects of the Trip Advisor pages -- in particular the Travel Guide pages. There is outdated information, useless information, self-promotional information and there are many things that need to be written or posted on these pages for the first time. For example, look at the "Culture" posting for Taos on TripAdvisor.com. It's terrible! Well, OK, it's not great. It needs help from someone in Taos who has the energy and enthusiasm to fix it.

A little over a year ago, a well-known and respected local Innkeeper asked me to assist answering questions on the Trip Advisor Travel Forum. Over time with lots of posts, I was lucky enough to be designated as a "Destination Expert" on TripAdvisor. I'll talk more about this issue in another blog post as well, but suffice it to say that before we started answering Forum questions many other so-called experts for New Mexico and Santa Fe were SLAMMING Taos, telling TripAdvisor visitors to New Mexico's Travel Forum that Taos wasn't worth visiting or that it was at most a day trip. Ouch!

We have just about stopped that nonsense being posted by New Mexico's other Destination Experts, but it's a continuing battle.

The last point I'd like to make on this topic is about volume. Any Destination is ranked in part by the volume of traffic it generates on any given website. We know Google does this. It is believed that Trip Advisor uses some Google search results for its rankings. Google also bases its ranking on the frequency of content updates or upgrades. Therefore, as a community, we can substantially raise our profile nationally and internationally if we ALL spend 15 to 30 minutes a week posting or tweaking something on the Taos Pages of TripAdvisor.com -- especially the Guide section where so much more is needed.

TripAdvisor.com is a Social Networking site. Larger destinations with more resources than Taos have staff members who do nothing but manage their Social Networking sites such as TripAdvisor.com, Facebook, Twitter, etc. We're not there yet. This means that all of us, each of us, every one of us, can help control the future of our Town on that website -- the most important tourism website in the world. I find it very exciting, personally.

Good, bad or ugly, Trip Advisor is here to stay and I'm hoping we can all do some work to get this working for ALL of us. Please help our community by doing the following:

Claiming their Google Places Pages and keeping them updated
Claiming their TripAdvisor.com listing and keeping it updated
Visiting the TripAdvisor Forums and Guide pages and keeping them updated
Posting content changes to your websites, your business listing sites and TripAdvisor.com

Trip Advisor Arbitrarily Redraws the Lines of Taos

2011-01-20T08:13:00.003-07:00

Taos is a place with a long history and with deep cultural roots extending back into time immemorial. Those of us who call it home know this and the world knows this, but TripAdvisor.com does not know this. My previous posts lauded Trip Advisor for how wonderful it can be to promote tourism. Unfortunately, there's a dark side to their story when it comes to Taos.

If one were to describe Taos, they would have to do so on many levels. Historical, cultural, political, demographics, geography, climate, and more. To be sure there is what we all know of as the Town of Taos, but there are all of Taos' additional places that have never been incorporated, but are nontheless a part of the culture, heritage, history and politics of Taos. El Prado. Ranchos de Taos. Arroyo Seco, Arroyo Hondo and more.

When Trip Advisor set up designations for lodgers in what we know of as Taos, they decided that they would use Zip Code designations. This means that a businesses location on Trip Advisor will be determined by its Zip Code and not by where it actually belongs or where it identifies itself as actually being. This also means that even if a business belongs to a Professional Association such as the Taos Lodgers Association or the Taos Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns, Trip Advisor will designate its location by its Zip Code.

When you're looking for Trip Advisor reviews and information, do you search by Zip Code? If not, will you click on something called "Taos County" when there's an adjancent link called "Taos."
It's a shameful thing because it is arbitrary, unfair and harmful. Visitors to TripAdvisor.com's Taos page will not see businesses that are outside of Taos' Zip Code 87571. In order to find our peers in El Prado, Ranchos, Arroyo Hondo, Arroyo Seco and more, a visitor to their website must somehow find and click on the "Taos County" page. This means that visitors are not allowed to find the all of the members of our business community unless they are pretty good researchers.

Compare this to a visit to the "Dallas" page on TripAdvisor.com. When the page appears, it contains listings for businesses in Grand Prairie, Duncanville, Irving and more. There is no Dallas County page whatsoever. These are towns listed on one page, not separated out by Zip Codes, but fully formed cities with populations of greater than 100,000 people each. Visitors don't have to dig around looking for choices because they're already given to them. They don't have to look at Dallas County like they would have to do here.

Why the difference, Trip Advisor?

When we spoke to Trip Advisor representatives at the recent Professional Association of Innkeepers International conference in Charleston, SC, they began a circular argument that even they ultimately agreed fell flat. Here's what they said, then caught themselves: "Only Zip Codes matter, but in places like Dallas visitors don't know the names of these smaller cities, so we include them in "Dallas," but since it's all about Zip Codes, Taos' lodgers must all identify themselves by Zip Code only, although Dallas is different."

Huh?

It's not just Dallas. Look at any TripAdvisor page for any large city and you'll see that they have conveniently included all of the bedroom communities in the city's designation. Not so here.

What's the harm? Guests will never see reviews of some of the best B&B's in the Southwest unless they can somehow figure out that TripAdvisor has excluded them from Taos. Visitors will never see Adobe and Pines Inn, designated as one of the "Best of the Southwest" or the Little Tree Inn, the nation's only true all-adobe Inn.

After repeated attempts by various individual businesses to get Trip Advisor to change this and after being told a variety of things, including "No," it's time to get some of our Professional Associations and public officals involved. Therefore, I'm asking that if you have the time, to please approach the Taos County Chamber of Commerce, the Taos Lodger's Association, the Taos Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns, the Taos Town Council, the Taos County Commissioners, the Tourism Association of New Mexico, and anyone else you feel may OFFICIALLY present this problem to Trip Advisor.

Write a letter of follow my Forum posts.

Trip Advisor, LLC
141 Needham St.
Newton, MA 02464

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i14281-k4177751-l30721587-Incorrect_Geographic_Listings_in_Taos_Area-Owners.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i12104-k4177765-l30715037-Geographic_Designations_of_Properties_in_Taos_New_Mexico-Help_us_make_TripAdvisor_better.html

Our local businesses are being hurt. It's time to get this fixed.

Google Place Pages

2011-01-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

Before I launch into details about how to use TripAdvisor.com, you should probably be aware of the importance of Google Place Pages. If you have already claimed your Google Places Page, you're not done yet. Google has recently introduced several new products that are important for you to know about. One expert recently told me that Google has introduced more new products in the last 4 months than they had in the previous 4 years.

If you haven't already claimed your business listing on Google you should immediately do so. Don't worry, it's a simply process that you can complete in less than hour. In fact, Google now has tutorials and a step-by-step lesson for you.

Why is this important?

In a recent TripAdvisor.com Forum posting, a Property Management Company representative from Santa Fe asked if there was anything she could do about how Google Places had links to reviews on Trip Advisor on her company Places Page that weren't for her company. She was told in separate correspondence that Trip Advisor relies at least in part upon Google Places to identify companies. She was told by Google that they rely on Trip Advisor listings to match reviews to "Places."

Caught in what seemed to be a circular trap, the company representative was exasperated. The problem was that the reviews for this company on Google Places were NOT reviews for this woman's business. They were reviews for a vacation rental company that had appropriated the business name via an identical domain name. Ultimately, the problem wasn't really either Trip Advisor's or Google's fault -- it was a legal matter.

The point of this example is to show you the danger of not claiming and managing your business identity on Google and of not properly managing your business reviews on Trip Advisor. If you have time, click on this link and follow the thread of responses -- there was a lot of confusion and a lot of wasted time and effort. Because the TripAdvisor Forum was not the setting for a detailed response, I communicated via e-mail with the business rep.

My recommendation for this business: they had not included the full name of their business when they claimed their Google Places identity. I recommended that she start over on Google Places as if claiming a NEW business identity and once she had that set up, she could "Suspend" the first one. Most people don't know it, but as the business owner, you have the power to remove your Google Places Page as long as Google can verify your relationship as owner.

An example of a Photo on La Posada de Taos' Google Places Page

Finally, I want to relate to you that La Posada de Taos did not claim its Google Business Identity on what is now known as Google Places until late in 2009. At the time I first went to claim it, their map had us out on the West Mesa (we're downtown) with 3 rooms instead of 6 and lots of other misinformation. We claimed our Identity and we keep our page current with visits every few months. Here's what we currently do. If the link doesn't work, do a Google Search using keywords La Posada de Taos and Google Places.

From time to time I'll have more information on Google Places Pages, but for now here are the Must Do's:

Fully complete all the information
Include photographs
Link a video (even if it's just a generic Taos video from YouTube)
Look at ALL of the business development tools available through Google, use at least one.
Check your Google Map location (you can change it here easily)

Why Trip Advisor Matters

2011-01-18T17:22:00.004-07:00

For our guests and fans, La Posada wants to extend a huge Thanks for the recent reviews on TripAdvisor.com. For local businesses in Taos, this is the first in a series of articles that I'll be posting introducing you to TripAdvisor.com and assisting you in using all the business tools that they have to help you grow in 2011.

We recently had the opportunity to attend the annual Professional Association of Innkeepers International Conference and Trade Show in Charleston, SC. At that conference, several representatives of TripAdvisor.com were there to answer questions and give factual information regarding developments at the world's largest travel review website.

When we took over Taos' First B&B in 2008, it had already been operating continuously since 1982. We didn't know much about Trip Advisor, but we knew it was the 600 pound gorilla in the corner of the room. At the time of our take-over, La Posada was #8 out of 26 B&B's in "Taos" and #12 out of 48 B&B's in the Taos area. More on the difference in "areas" later.

We quickly rose to the #2 spot early in 2009 and have held steady at #2 or #3 ever since. Earlier today, the newest listing from TripAdvisor.com came out and La Posada de Taos moved into the #1 spot for all of Taos and the Taos vicinity. We're really proud of this new designation. Here's the latest listing for "Taos" and the "Taos Area."

La Posada de Taos

If you're not familiar with TripAdvisor.com, it is the world's leading travel review website with over 50 million visits per month. Because it allows anyone and everyone to participate, it is a Social Networking website of the first degree. Facebook is the largest of them all and was featured in last summer's hit movie The Social Network.

Although other websites allow you post reviews like Trip Advisor does, none of them approach the volume of traffic. A newer -- some say more savvy -- website known as Yelp is quickly gaining popularity, but is still dwarfed by TripAdvisor.

In addition to reviews of B&B's and hotels, Trip Advisor accepts reviews of restaurants and other attractions, including other businesses in any given area. As part of an effort to assist other members of the Taos County Chamber of Commerce, I'll be posting information on the business uses of TripAdvisor.com in my upcoming blogs.

Be sure to post back comments and questions on this blog if you have anything.

The Reviews Don't Lie: La Posada is Truly Special

2011-01-16T21:09:00.004-07:00

Since becoming an Innkeeper in May 2008, I've had a shift of perspective away from many of the things found in big city life such as career tracking and toward simpler things such as the history of my new hometown and those who have lived here for over 1000 years, the Taos people. Of course, it helps that I get to do this in Taos and that I get to share it all with guests from all over the world.

La Posada de Taos is a Bed and Breakfast in Taos, NM. It was the first in town almost 30 years ago and it has remained in constant operation since its visionary founder rescued the historic home. As the first B&B in town, we believe that we have a higher set of standards to meet and we have worked hard to keep raising the bar for ourselves as we prepare to enter our 3rd full year as the stewards of La Posada.

Our focus has always been on the customer experience, particularly the comfort of our guests. Soon after we took over the Inn switched to 600 thread-count sheets and pillow cases. Guests rave about them and we offer them for sale when we can keep them in stock.

Food standards are no different. Immediately upon assuming control of the kitchen my partner and the Inn's Chef Michael Carter threw out the old 3-ring binder of breakfast casserole recipes and began introducing his own signature dishes each morning. Featured in this first of many breakfast photos to come is Michael's Blue Corn Toasted Pinon Waffle with Buttermilk Biscuits, fresh fruit, housemade granola and organic yogurt.

Blue Corn Toasted Pinon Waffles: Chef Michael Carter's Signature Dish

When you come to a B&B like La Posada, you're going to be surprised. Unless you're staying at a 5-Star resort, H\hotels and motels are sterile, impersonal places. Not so here. Reviews of La Posada de Taos posted on TripAdvisor, Yahoo, BedandBreakfast.com and other travel review sites indicate that we are the #1 B&B in Taos that includes breakfast in the price of your room.

Having just returned from the 2011 Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII) Annual Conference and Trade Show in Charleston, SC, we are ready to continue to raise our standards and to focus even more resources on the guest experience. Stay tuned.

Chama Rama, Part III

2007-10-25T18:00:00.001-06:00

As the sun set over the west rim of the Chama Canyon that late May evening, we all were a mess. Tracy, having almost drowned, was now smiling more than anyone. She was undoubtedly happy to be alive.

Attention turned to me and what we were going to do about whatever was in my knee. Various attempts to pull the thing out with tweezers were unsuccessful. It was firmly lodged in there, just out of sight. I still had full range of motion in my knee and had already resolved myself to somehow walk out of there early the next morning and begin searching for a road. Infection was my number one concern. If we went on downstream, it would be another day or two before we would be able to reach a hospital. That just wasn't going to happen if I could help it.

The group met and decided to cancel the remainder of the float down the canyon. A plan was made: first thing in the morning two people would climb out of the canyon just above our camp and hike back to the cars parked at the put-in point. No one was sure how far that would be, but they figured it was at least a ten mile walk. They would return with cars and be met by the rest of the group who would have by that time packed all the gear and carried up and out of the canyon. The entire plan rested on a road being found somewhere nearby at the top of the rim.

Someone had brought along a bottle of single malt scotch to celebrate our completion of the run down the canyon. Being the well-healed alcoholic aficionado that I was, I totally bought into the "get 'em drunk to fix 'em up" myth. The fine scotch was broken open and immediately served to me first. After getting me sufficiently buzzed, another attempt was made to grab that stick in my knee, but it failed. It was simply too far down under the skin to reach.

As morning broke, Kip and Jenny departed on their mission. The raft and kayaks were deflated, all the gear was prepared for removal and we began the arduous task of moving hundreds of pounds of gear up a steep mountainside. It was decided that if I was good for a single trip up and out of the canyon, I could also move something while I was underway. The deflated raft weighed more than any single thing, so I volunteered to help move it up.

Others in the group had to make several trips each up and down the canyon wall to move every last thing we had brought. It took most of the morning to complete this task. By the time the last of the items were being moved, Jenny and Kip returned, led us to the two cars they had retrieved, and off I went to my next adventure -- the ER in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico.

When we arrived I was surprised at the facility. Although it was small, it appeared to be well kept and professionally run. I was almost immediately escorted into an ER. Kip and Jenny were allowed to stay with me, and we tried to keep the atmosphere light while the doctor was performing a procedure on a patient about ten feet away in the open ER. Turns out the other patient was an ambulance driver who had torn ligaments in his knee on a run earlier in the day.

"TWO knee cases!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Guess knees are the popular thing."

After I explained the situation and told the doctor that the injury had happened almost 24 hours before, he shook his head and tried what we had been trying to do from the beginning -- pull the damned thing out. As he leaned over and inserted a surgical instrument into the opening, I suddenly realized that he looked very familiar. Very, very familiar. I couldn't place it and I didn't want to talk to him while he had a metal instrument stuck into my knee, so I watched and tried to recall. Nothing!

He too was unsuccessful with his first approach. "OK," he said, "let's try something else. Looks like that thing is jammed in there, so I need to get a good look at it. Mind if I take some pictures?"

"You mean x-rays?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Sure."

"It'll help me see what I'm up against. If I can pull it out, I'll do that, otherwise we're going to have to cut it out" the doctor concluded.

X-rays were taken and the doctor showed them to me. The stick had bent around all the vital tendons and ligaments without damaging any of them. But it was bent down and had a small protrusion that had already been snugly sealed during our 24-hour wait. "We're going to have to cut it out."

The doc left momentarily and came back with a bottle of gas and a mask that fit around my nose and mouth. "Breathe in deeply for a while," he said. It was laughing gas. "This will help me get you ready. By the way, are you really into your looks?"

"What?" I asked as the gas began to take effect.

"Well, I'm really going to screw this pretty knee up. It's going to look like hell."

"Who cares?" I chuckled. The gas was working.

Suddenly I recognized who the doctor looked like. "Hey! I know you! You're Jerry Garcia! The Grateful Dead, right?"

The doctor looked at me, laughed and turned around to deal with his other knee patient.

Time stopped, sped up and stopped again while I waited. The doctor warned me not to watch while he worked. I didn't. Still, he had to have Kip, Jenny and the ambulance driver hold me down on the bed as he administered anesthesia and thereafter surgically removed an inch-and-a-half long piece of tree buried in me.

The day-old nature of the injury meant that the wound had to be left open. No stitches today. After waiting to make sure that I didn't have any negative side-effects from the anesthesia, he led me into a large closet that doubled as the pharmacy, gave me antibiotics and pain medications and discharged me.

As I left the hospital that day, feeling no pain whatsoever, I had two things on my mind: (1) Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead -- the doctor -- was amazing because he was EVERYTHING: the doctor, the radiologist, the anesthesiologist, the pharmacist, the nurse, the surgeon and a great musician and entertainer; and (2) when I went to the payment window at check-out the TOTAL bill was $180. Although the hospital could not take or file my insurance, they were surprised when I took out my credit card and asked if they would take it.

"Yes, we take credit cards. How much do you want to pay?"

"The whole thing, I guess."

"The WHOLE thing, really?"

"Yes. Is that OK?"

"Sure! Just to let you know, we give a 25% discount to anyone paying in full at the time services are rendered."

"You're kidding?" I said as my jaw refused to shut.

"That'll be $125, Mr. Malone."

[When I got back home, I followed the doctor's orders and immediately went to a medical professional. Because my doctor's offices were closed, I had to go to an ER. They visually examined my knee, gave me a new prescription, which I would have to fill somewhere else, and sent me away. The total bill came to over $1000! Since I had insurance at the time, the visit was covered 100%.]

We rejoined the group about an hour later. They had decided that the trip should not be -- was not -- really over. At the end of the Wild and Scenic part of the canyon are various semi-improved camp sites along the river. That's where we had intended to wind up our trip anyway, so it was decided to go there and raft that part of the river. We spent a glorious three days in that part of the canyon.

If you've never been there, it is without a doubt one of the most beautiful and spiritual places on earth. I encourage all of my readers to go -- and take me with you each time. I'll be making future blog entries about my other white water trips down the beautiful Rio Chama in the Piedre Lumbre of New Mexico.

Although I could not get on the river again on that trip, I promised everyone -- and we all agreed -- that we would return the next year, when the water was lower, and conquer that river once and for all. That's just what we did 14 months later. I promise a funnier story and a happier ending for that future blog entry.

Tracy eventually went to a doctor and discovered that her finger was broken and she had injured her collar bone. It's possible that it had become separated but had popped back into place during that harrowing time under the raft. She, Scott and Jenny were the real heros of this trip. When crunch time came -- sorry about the pun -- each of them acted with clear-headed smarts and got us out of worse trouble. Let's face it, only a group of complete idiots would have continued down that river after what happened against that wall.

My knee injury took over three months to heal. Based upon doctors orders, I got to wear shorts to my "suit and tie" job for about eight weeks. Thinking back to the doctor asking me if was "into my looks," only once since then has anyone asked me about the huge scar on my knee -- a football player who had one very similar to it on his knee. I can always rest assured that my knee injury wasn't white-water-rafting "career" ending.

Chama Rama, Part II

2007-10-24T17:32:00.000-06:00

It was a warm afternoon when we finally boarded our raft and kayaks that day. Temperatures climbed quickly in the high mountain sun. Although the water was cold, we were warm in our wetsuits and life vests.

On the raft that day were myself and four others. Scott was the oarsman and captain. He was in charge. Allison sat beside me near the front of the raft. Behind us were Jenny and Susan.

Also on the raft that day were several hundred pounds of gear, including several large containers of fresh water. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink, as they say. Looking back, I believe that the boat was too heavy to easily maneuver in the fast current. The fresh water alone probably weighed as much as another person.

Those on the inflatable kayaks were having a great time. Relatively lightweight and compact, they are quick and easy to maneuver. On the kayaks were Tracy, Kip, Ian, David, and a couple of experienced boaters who attended law school with Scott. The kayakers were having so much fun, some of them had gone ahead on the river while others laid back behind us relaxing. They were also behind us in case something happened -- a standard safety precaution in case someone or something falls out of the raft.

Scott knew something was wrong with the raft almost immediately after we got on the river. He began giving orders for Allison and I to use our paddles to help him maneuver the overloaded raft. We gained speed quickly and shot down river. I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was concerned. He's smart and experienced and I would have been a fool to do anything but let him lead.

To this day I know Scott feels bad for what happened next, but I have to tell you -- everything in life contains an element of risk. We all hopped on that river knowing that our "risk factors" were jumping exponentially. Nothing that happened is anyone's "fault" but our own. We assumed the risk, as they say.

A few miles downstream the river took a hard left turn at a high rock wall. Scott started barking orders for us to paddle while he attempted to steer us clear of the obstacle. I didn't really look up or see the wall until we were on it. The speed of the current and the weight of the boat -- inertia -- propelled us sideways right up to that wall.

I can't describe the physics of the water against the wall or the physics of the water, the wall and boat for that matter. But suffice it to say that when we hit that wall, the boat stopped suddenly and didn't move. We had hit it side-on with the full length of the boat. The current pinned us there instantly.

Water rushing downstream piles up against any obstacle before it finds its way around. In the case of this wall, water hit it, bounced off and ran left. In the case of the raft against the wall, water began hitting the raft, piling up and rushing over the side and into the boat. The 40-something degree water started swamping us almost immediately. The raft began leaning into the water on the upstream side.

Scott issued orders for us to get toward the wall -- the downstream side of the boat. We had to dislodge ourselves somehow, so he told us to begin pushing. He even coordinated the pushing with 1-2-3 counts.

In the meantime, upstream on her kayak was Tracy, another former law school friend of Scott's. She's very athletic and has been on this river before. She's also smart, very smart, thankfully. Because on this day, when our luck had turned very bad, hers got even worse and her brains saved her.

Tracy quickly paddled toward us asking for one of us to throw our raft's rope to her. She intended to help pull us off the wall. I can see it all in super slow motion to this day. As she approached us, the current caught her kayak and it accelerated quickly toward us. Water splashed up into the raft as it began to "climb" up the wall. We were about to capsize if we didn't get off this wall immediately.

As the wave crashed up and into the boat, Tracy's kayak was pushed sideways and her boat slammed against the raft. The impact threw Tracy out of her kayak and into the water where she was immediately pushed and sucked under the raft.

In every boat, including kayaks, safety ropes are tied so that you can throw it to someone or so that you can hold onto it if you fall out. Tracy grabbed her rope as she went under the raft.

The raft is 16 feet long. It is pinned completely against a large rock wall. There is no air underneath it, just very cold rushing water pushing and holding the raft, and now Tracy, agains the wall. I feel Tracy's fists beating against the bottom of the raft. Everyone is screaming, the raft is just about to capsize, and for the first time in my life I felt raw panic. The first thoughts in my panic-stricken mind were "Tracy is pinned under the raft, drowning, and we're all about to be down there with her."

Her fists beat again against the bottom of the raft. In that instant the panic vanished. It was time for action. I remember the thoughts going through my head at that moment. They were something like, "NO! This is not the way this trip is going to end. This is not going to happen. We are not going to lose this fight! We have to get off this rock so Tracy can come up."

Still screaming, we all climbed quickly up against the wall and began pushing off, pushing off, pushing off. The boat had started to creep up the wall as it prepared to capsize, but our weight brought it down and it began to settle as the water we had taken on redistributed itself.

To my left, I saw Tracy's head bob up out of the water. She had the kayak's safety rope in her hand. Then she quickly disappeared around the corner of the wall and was gone.

"We can do this," I screamed inside my head. The rocking of the boat had begun to work, we were inching slowly to the left and were about to round the corner. Another wave rushed over the side of the boat and it actually help propel us off the wall. We were clear.

Now, with an overloaded boat of exhausted rafters, we had to get to the side of the river. There was at least 8 inches of water in the bottom of the raft so we started bailing. Scott started looking for a place to take the boat out. He was working furiously to control the boat at this point. Panic had quickly changed to exhaustion and we needed to get out of this current.

We looked for Tracy and there she was on the side of the river, shivering, wet and scared. Someone on a kayak was rushing to her aid. We knew she was OK, so we got back to the task at hand -- bailing huge amounts of water out of the raft and following Scott's orders to turn the boat. What we didn't learn until later was that Tracy had broken a finger and injured her collar bone. She never once complained that I recall.

Scott found a place for us to take out. This procedure, known as "eddying out," involves turning the front of the boat upstream and moving cross-currents to come alongside the bank of the river. But we had fast water and high water. We overshot the place Scott had identified and before we knew it, we were crashing into tree limbs and branches along the flooded bank.

Allison and I were in the front of the boat again. She was looking right as the trees approached from the left. "Lookout!" I screamed and jumped over her to grab a limb headed straight for her head. I pushed the limb down and away from her. I felt it scrape my knee, but didn't feel anything more. We didn't stay in this spot for long, however. We couldn't hold the boat against the trees in the current.

Back into the current we went and then downstream we found a better take out and pulled in there to rest and bail the remainder of the water out of the boat. Scott went to check on Tracy. We bailed water. While I was doing this, calming down a bit, I began to feel some pain in my knee. I looked down a couple of times and saw that it was bleeding a little from what looked like a scrape. "Damn!" I thought. I better get that thing covered up before it gets dirty and infected.

I asked Jenny if she had a first aid kit on the boat and she started looking for it immediately. Allison, in the meantime, looked at my knee and saw something I didn't. She told me to sit down and began inspecting the "scrape."

"What's this?" she said.

"What's what?" I replied.

"Looks like you've got something in there."

"What?" I said as I reached down to feel it. "Oh, damn! There's something in there!" I'll skip the expletives, but suffice it to say that I was pissed at this point.

Adrenaline and cold water mix well, as it turns out, to deaden pain. I still didn't feel a thing in my knee, although I felt pain at the point of the "scrape" where it had entered. But my fingers could feel what had to be a part of a tree broken off under the skin on the left side of my kneecap.

"Let's get it out of there. Got any tweezers in that First Aid Kit, Jenny?"

"I think so, just a minute. Here!" She handed the tweezers to Allison.

Allison bravely started to try to help. She poked and prodded around trying to grab onto whatever it was. Just as she started, however, a cold wind started howling down the canyon. Suddenly a thunderstorm rose up over the canyon walls. Thunder, lightning, gale force winds and heavy rain came quickly over the canyon and upon us. We huddled and slowly started getting colder and colder as the storm passed. We were all shaking from the cold.

Trying to get that thing out of my knee was useless at this point.

We waited the storm out. Within 45 minutes it was gone.

Scott returned and a decision was made that we needed to get off the river to assess the damage to the boat and to our ourselves. It was late in the afternoon by this time and we were miles downstream in a wilderness. The nearest road was an unknown distance away. Darkness had begun to fall.

It was soul-searching time. The question was presented: Do we stay on the river or do we try to get out of this canyon?

Next: Is there a doctor in the house?

Chama Rama, Part I

2007-10-23T19:03:00.000-06:00

We're going to take a break from the political commentary for a little bit so that I can tell the story about a certain white water rafting trip I took down New Mexico's beautiful Chama River canyon some years ago. I should warn you in advance that the story is full of heroism and harrowing details, certainly not for the faint of heart.

The story begins early one Friday morning in late May. At the top of the canyon sits a concrete dam behind which sits El Vado Lake brimming full with snow melt. After a beautiful night's encampment on the lakeside, we head down past the dam to start our journey. Ahead of us we have 35 miles of an untamed river that has slowly carved its way deeper and deeper into the sandstone walls of the canyon. It is known as the Chama River Wild and Scenic Recreation Area, one of just a very few such places remaining in the United States.

At several points along the way the sky becomes little more than a blue ribbon above bounded by sheer rock walls rising hundreds of feet on either side. It is a truly magical place that is untouched by the hand of man -- except for the water levels which are rigidly monitored and controlled. During the summer only those with special permits may take the trip down the river. Before Memorial Day, however, no permits are required. It was then that we had arrived.

Water is unique among all Earthly substances. It is a liquid, but has the properties of a solid when moving. In the world of river rafting the standard basic measure of a river's flow is one cubic foot of water per second. A cubic foot contains about 7.5 gallons of water.

On a typical summer day the Chama River flows past Gauging Station Rapid above Abiqui Lake at about 150 cubic feet per second (cfs). At this rate, water drops below the tops of the boulders and makes for a relatively benign rafting trip -- sometimes even some walking.

On this morning we heard a siren wail up and down the canyon walls alerting us that water levels were going to rise suddenly. The flood gates of the dam about a mile upstream were being opened to release the swelling snowmelt behind the dam. The water temperature was below 50 degrees.

We weren't really prepared for what happened next. Don't get me wrong, we were ready for the water to rise. And that it did. But the water also began to flow faster and faster. It quickly rose out of the stream bed up into the trees adjacent to the river. It swallowed the rapids and boulders. It looked almost placid as it swept quickly past us. It flowed so fast and high that it appeared much safer than it was.

What we didn't know then that we know now is that water was suddenly being released downstream at historic levels. I've checked the official records online recently and found out that since this trip in 1995, water has not flowed down the Chama River canyon anywhere near the levels we encountered that day. It was being released at 4,490 cubic feet per second. Put another way, there were 33,675 gallons of water flowing underneath us each second. Other than one day in May 1995, the river has never flowed more than 1,456 cfs in the twelve years since.

But we had come prepared that day -- we thought. We had all the gear, including wet suits to protect from hypothermia. We had life jackets in case someone fell in the water. We had lots of food and fresh water. Loaded into a 16-foot raft were enough supplies to last the 11 of us a week if necessary. We had shelter and clothing in abundance. Other than a few items taken by individuals who were on inflatable kayaks, all of it was loaded into the raft.

We didn't jump on the river right away either. After we heard the siren, it was decided that we would take as much time as we needed to double check all the gear and to take a refresher safety training course on the river bank. It added two hours to our departure time, but we weren't going to rush safety.

We were overconfident, though. We were inexperienced for the most part. There were lots of novices on this trip, including myself. There were some experts, but they could not watch over all of us all of the time. Mistakes were undoubtedly going to be made. The safety training was intended to limit the impact of those mistakes. Unfortunately, the extra time didn't prevent the disaster that awaited us a few miles down the river.

A river that normally flows at 150 cfs is nothing less than at flood stage when it flows at 4500 cfs. One government pamphlet I read recently said this about a flooding river: "Floods are deadly. Stay away from flood waters. Do not attempt to cross flood waters in your car or on a boat. Never attempt to swim across a flooded stream or river. Many preventable deaths occur every year . . ." You get the drift.

As a peaceful stream, the Chama enjoys its life at the bottom of a river channel. Tree-lined banks offer a home for Canadian Geese and their goslings, deer and other wildlife. When the river is low, the banks are dry and pleasant places. Willows and beavers abound. When the water is low and the rocks are visible, you can see the wakes and eddys -- little currents flowing downstream.

On a raft, steering the boat around these rocks becomes one of the biggest challenges of a wild river trip. Rapids form around the rocks and at places where the elevation of the river suddenly drops. They become a white water obstacle course where sudden drops and turns push a rafter around like a toy unless the person performs certain counter-actions and takes precautions against being thrown out of his boat.

On this day, there were to be no rapids. The water was so high that all of the rocks were submerged several feet under water. The rapids has been washed out. This was going to be a float trip. It might have been simple but for two things: trees and current. The trees along the riverbank were now in the river. The obstacle course for the river rafter on this day was to stay out of the trees. Because the water was flowing so fast and so high, decisions regarding trees had to be made quickly. They had to be avoided at all costs.

Before we jumped on our boats and headed downstream, I decided to take a look at the water coming out of the dam. We stood atop a steep, narrow gorge and looked up at the dam. It looked like a minature version of the Hoover Dam. It was old. But the dam couldn't hold my attention for long.

The ground was literally shaking as if from an earthquake. It was the water. Clear dark water dropped down out of an opening 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the dam, into a concrete channel that curved first down steeply and then upward and outward at a 45 degree angle. When the water reached the end of the channel, it exploded into a massive white spray reaching 75 feet into the air. As it fell, it rained down into the river with the sound of a rocket engine. It was an unending explosion that created a constant roar.

What I saw was nothing less than one of the most awesome displays of power I will ever see in my life. It made me a little weak in the knees. The ground shook. The noise was deafening. The spray of water reached out hundreds of feet. It was AWESOME.

As we left, I snapped a few photos. I had butterflies in my stomach, but wasn't terribly frightened. "Awesome," I kept hearing in my head. I was a little intimidated, but I was also confident that we could safely navigate this river.

Shortly after one o'clock that day we all boarded our boats and began our ill-fated trip down the river. We were smiling and laughing. Our adventure vacation had officially begun. Within the hour the smiles would be gone, two people would be seriously injured and one of us would be trapped several feet under our raft in 40-something degree water pinned by the current against a rock wall.

Next in "Chama Rama II" Crisis and survival on the river.

Quick Post-Show Note (Better Nate Than Lever)

2007-10-18T22:24:00.000-06:00

Hey folks. Sorry it's taken me so long to update after the GO! show, but things went well and we've been VERY busy since. My partner, Michael was chosen to be an artist in the Downtown Contemporary Art Center (DCAC) here in Albuquerque and we've been busy moving him into Studio 16. It's nothing less than a major leap forward for Michael and his art.

The GO! show was a total success. We met hundreds of people who were among the thousands who stopped by our booths in the three days of the show. This year's extravaganza was well attended and had great entertainment. For those of you who could stop by, thanks! For those who missed it, we look forward to seeing you at the next show.

Most exciting, we met a few "art types" who buy lots of art for various TV and film productions being completed here in New Mexico. Those folks expressed an interest in our stuff and want to meet with us when they're back in the state during the upcoming flurry of productions being completed. For those who don't know, New Mexico is one of the major movie production locations in the world these days. The state has matched the perfect weather and scenery with huge tax incentives, so things are busy here on that front.

Looking forward, beyond this event: with the holidays approaching, we intend to stay busy with one or two holiday shows. If you have looked at my website and would like an original of something you liked, I promise you that I can make it an affordable gift for you and yours.

What I learned about my art from this year's show is that I'm never going to repeat something from year to year (I only repeated three pieces this year from last). That's good for anyone who wants something of mine. Anyone who purchases one of my pieces can be assured that it is a one-of-a-kind work of art. Full disclosure: there are a few exceptions, namely the World Trade Center Montage. But that piece is going to be limited to 100 prints. Everything else will be numbered 1/1. It makes for more exciting art-making for me and it makes each piece mean a little more.

I'll be updating everyone on the DCAC news in a future blog. Suffice it to say, that it's a big, big deal for Michael to now be one of the artists in that prestigious community. I'll include a link to some of their stuff, but feel free to Google them.

Finally, the first actual voting in the presidential election is not far away. Time for the political commentary to crank up a bit. Of course, if you disagree with my views, please post a comment (REALLY!). That's what democracy is all about, right folks?

Best to you and yours.

GO Art Festival: Part V, Latourelle Falls

2007-09-26T10:04:00.000-06:00

Latourelle Falls, Oregon

by Brad Malone, 1997

GO Art Festival: Part IV, Prickly Pear

2007-09-26T09:56:00.000-06:00

Prickly Pear Blur

by Brad Malone, 2007

Go Art Festival: Part III, Manic Marigolds

2007-09-25T14:22:00.000-06:00

Manic Marigolds

by Brad Malone, 2007

GO Downtown Art Festival: Part II, Just Do It

2007-09-25T10:25:00.000-06:00

Impasto Burnt Orange Array

by Brad Malone 2007

As the first day of the GO Art Festival approaches, we've been furiously preparing all of the final pieces of the art puzzle that will be our booths. As I said in my last entry, staging an art show is like opening and closing a small business in a matter of a few days. There are so many little chores to do that you might lose sight of the forest for the trees.

So, here's the list of To Do's leading up to the show as presented in my last entry:

1. Make art
2. Find a show to do
3. Submit your art to the jury
4. Design a booth
5. Take care of business items.

All the work necessary before the show even begins is a bit daunting. What I have decided to do is to relax. First and foremost is the art. The business side of decisions will work themselves out. Although lots of money would be nice, I'm not doing the art show to satisfy some kind of economic need. I'm showing my art.

If people love my art, that's wonderful. Hopefully someone will buy something. If people think my art is mediocre, that's too bad. I'm not so much a narcissist to believe that everyone will love what I do.

Critiques and criticisms will undoubtedly happen. Will they prevail? No. It is what it is. No one can take the pure joy of creating art away from me.

Continuing the discussion of "How to Stage an Art Show," we get to #6: Decide what pieces you're going to put into the show. In the final days leading up to the show the actual creation of art slows to a crawl or stops altogether. I've got lots of artwork that I want to show, but it can't all go into the 10 by 10 booth.

This ain't' easy. I like everything -- sort of. But, a few pieces haven't turned out well. They haven't printed as I thought they would. The color is off. They're fuzzy. They are mediocre. They're out. Bye-bye.

Some pieces are too good to leave out. Put them in.

The final consideration in what art goes into the show is: are you going to confuse people? Have your art been progressing from one style to another? Has it transformed from one thing to another? You might confuse your audience with that transition. Show your older pieces carefully or not at all. Stay with the new.

Last year I made the mistake of trying to have too many pieces of art in my space. It created a sense of confusion and looked unprofessional. So, this year, I'm limiting my total number of pieces to no more than 30.

One of this year's rules is that I will only show one (maybe two) things that I had in last year's booth. Everything else is new. Out with the old.

The seventh step is staging an art show is: Get your art ready. Unfortunately, for me to stage everything the way that I want to, some of my pieces will have to be printed in large format and framed. That's going to cost a lot of money. I don't have a large format printer. So, I've had to research who does that sort of thing and how much they charge.

For the last two years, I've used a great printer in Dixon, New Mexico who is completely Internet savvy and can do most everything digitally. Jeff Spicer at Oil & Electron has been instrumental in helping me get large format pieces into the show at affordable prices. He makes giclee prints in sizes above 20" across. Giclee is a digital printing technique that uses dyes instead of inks. These are considered archival, museum quality prints. Last year, I used Jeff to print my Twin Towers Memory piece. This year, I used him to print a 30" by 50" print of Manic Marigolds.

Since it wouldn't be wise to clutter my booth, I know that I can limit my expenses by framing a certain number and leaving a small number unframed but mounted and matted.

Getting the art ready can be a purely financial process unless you make some tough choices. For example, if I could only afford to have two pieces of amazing art in my booth versus a dozen so-so pieces, I would only have two pieces. As I've said before, don't let the pure business side of things govern your art. Show your art.

The final step in staging a show is simply this: show your stuff, baby. GO! Enjoy yourself. Welcome people into your booth. Talk to them about your work. Give them space and watch them react to your stuff. Answer their questions. If you're a salesman, then sell. Otherwise, let the art do the selling.

My next post will be pictures only. Hope you enjoy some of them.

GO Downtown Art Festival: Part I, Getting Ready

2007-09-20T20:53:00.000-06:00

A few years ago I started getting serious about making artistic images out of my photographs. This meant that I scanned my photos, slides and negatives -- thousands of them -- into my computer and began applying special effects and other digital techniques to them. It was a lot of fun and a few of the images really turned into art.

Then came my move to New Mexico. People in the art world know this: New Mexico is an art capital. It's where famous artists have lived for years to make their world renowned art. It's where famous artists from around the world come to sell their art.

There are dozens of art festivals and hundreds of art galleries in a state with less than 2 million people. Santa Fe claims that it is the #2 or #3 art market in the United States (depending upon who's counting).

More than that, New Mexico is where art is an integral part of the daily fabric of life. Until I moved to Albuquerque, if I had told anyone that I was pursuing my art, the reactions would have been overwhelmingly negative. "Really?" they might have said. "Art? Starving artist and that whole thing, right?"

Let's face it, in most parts of this country telling someone that you're an artist is the same thing as saying "I'm a lazy slob with no dreams and no ambitions. I'm hoping to live off of my parents until they get sick of me and throw me out. After that, I'm going to flip burgers or sell electronics in a dead-end job and stay stoned all the time." The very moniker 'artist' is a euphemism for 'loser' to most Americans.

Not so in New Mexico. Artists in this state are respected and loved. People here can tell the difference between a real artist and an alleged artist. They know because of the spiritual connection everyone in this state has to art itself.

If New Mexicans cannot see or feel that art in you, they know you're just another lost soul still seeking. When you tell someone here that you are hoping to become an artist, they enthusiastically quiz you about it. "What kind of art? Oh, that's so cool. Have you ever heard of so-and-so? They do something similar to that. A friend of mine / family member / neighbor is an artist. They do the New Mexico Arts and Crafts Show every year."

You can't escape it. You can't deny it. Art is part of life itself in New Mexico.

Last year, Michael and I decided we wanted to do an art festival. What we didn't realize was the all the money and work that went into actually staging a booth. I'm not complaining, mind you. Instead, I thought I should share some of the ups, downs, ins and outs of the experience for anyone who is thinking about doing an art show anywhere in the United States.

To summarize the experience: having a booth in an art festival is like creating an entire small business venture that intentionally opens and closes within a few days. You're striving for some measure of success, but you know that everything will be over quickly. You seek a balance between the personal reward of showing your art and the financial reality of covering your expenses.

For me, the primary reason that I entered my first art festival was to show my art. It was not to make money. If ever you find yourself primarily interested only in the financial aspects of your art, you're in trouble. No doubt about it, art is big business involving big money, but art festivals are about exposure. You're not going to become a multimillionaire at an art festival.

You might, on the other hand, make contact with a broker, dealer or gallery owner who will help you stage shows in galleries or find people who want to collect your art. That's where the money is. Don't rush it. Do the festivals. Have fun.

Caged by Brad Malone, 2007

This year's show is September 28, 29, and 30 on Gold Street in Downtown Albuquerque. My booth will be between 4th and 5th Streets.

First things, first. Make art. Have fun feeding your soul. Make more art. Experience personal growth. Find your spiritual center. DO NOT think about what other people are going to say or think or feel. If you're new, simply do your thing. Whether someone likes you or your art should not drive your production of art. You are a creator first and foremost. The business side of things comes later.

Second, research the shows in your area. Most major metropolitan areas have several art festivals a year. For example, here in Albuquerque, the major shows are the Weems, the Rio Grand Arts and Crafts Festival, and the New Mexico Art and Crafts Festival. But you don't have to do the big shows. In the Albuquerque metro area of just over 800,000 people, there are literally dozens of other smaller shows staged by organizations as diverse as elementary schools and neighborhood associations.

Third, almost all festivals are "juried" to protect those staging the event. This means that you'll have to submit three or more images of your work for a jury of artists to review to make sure that you're for real. The big shows require that you submit a picture or a drawing of your booth design as well. This is where the dollar signs start appearing before your eyes.

Fourth is design. Yep. If you're required to submit a picture of your booth, the festival organizers are telling you that they don't want amateurs. They want professionals who will take the time and spend the money to set up a miniature art gallery. You can spend a few bucks with plywood or pegboard or you can go 'first class' with a professionally built booth costing thousands of dollars. Ask yourself: Am I planning on going on the Art Festival circuit? If not, get something less expensive.

In my first year I chose pegboard. I hung it from the frame of the booth and hung my art from the pegboard. It cost under a hundred bucks. This year, however, I've moved up a notch or two to something known as gridwall. Amazing stuff. Steel grid that can hang, be mounted to walls or be set up on stands made specifically for the product. It's a more polished look and the prices aren't that much more than sheets of high quality plywood.

Next year, who knows? Fabric lining behind gridwall? Special lighting? Red carpet?

Fifth, is the pure business stuff. In most locations, you have to get a business license, meaning you have to get a tax ID. These two things are rarely issued at the same place. One might be a State agency and the other a City agency. Get those taken care of and you're on you're way to conducting actual business at that festival. Unfortunately, you'll have to pay fees for the business license. Don't worry, keep your receipt -- licensing fees are tax deductible.

My next entry will dig a little deeper into my own personal experience staging a booth in this year's GO Downtown Art Festival. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

Art Show Break

2007-09-19T16:42:00.000-06:00

It's been about ten days since I've posted an entry. But with good reason: the GO Downtown Arts Festival is upon me. The month of September has required my full-time attention to the show.

This brief blog entry is to let my faithful readers know that I'm still committed to sending Notes from the Hinterland into the world of the web, but I'm a little distracted. Please forgive me.

My next few entries will detail the work involved in staging a booth at an art festival. It's amazing. Plus, I'll be posting a few of my pieces here for the world to get a better look at.

Come on down to the show. September 28, 29, 30 on Gold Street, Downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

I've been watching with great interest the recent developments regarding the former Fed chairman and the name-calling going on back and forth. You can count on a few comments upon that situation.

Also, I've gotten fed up with the commercials running on TV lately regarding "surrender" in Iraq. I want to know who is in favor of surrender. Do you know? Oh, that's right, the enemy wants us to surrender. What about Americans in favor of surrender? Do you know any? Please post their names in a comment to this blog entry. That way, we'll all have a chance to look into the matter -- the truth of the matter, that is -- when I return.

Sightings: Steamroller Mama

2007-09-05T16:44:00.000-06:00

It was one of our first "Sightings" here in New Mexico. Remember, Sightings require that everyone's jaw involuntary drops and that at least one witness does a double-take. Words like "Did you see that" and "What the . . ." are also mandatory for official Sighting status.

Driving east out of Albuquerque, IH-40 winds its way through Tijeras Canyon. It's the old passage used by Native Americans and early settlers to get from the High Plains on the eastern side of the Sandia Mountains to the Rio Grande Valley on the western side.

Construction is ever-present on our nation's freeways and the miles through Tijeras Canyon are no different. One day on a trip through the canyon we encountered Streamroller Mama.

Traffic had slowed to a crawl in the construction zone. With only one lane open in each direction, cars and trucks were lined up for miles. Slowly, slowly we inched along talking and listening to music, catching the occasional glimpse of an actual highway construction worker.

At one point we spotted everyone's favorite comic relief piece of heavy machinery -- the steamroller. Its huge "wheel" has mashed, squashed, pressed and flattened many an actor or comedian over the years. It's always good for a giggle.

I sometimes imagined myself driving a steamroller just to see what I could mash. I think I would start with dozens of watermelons and work my way up to my old Ford Explorer sitting with a broken transmission in my driveway.

But this is a Sighting, remember.

Steamroller Mama drove the steamroller. When we saw her, though, we didn't necessarily envy her as much as wonder how the heck she got up on the thing. You see, Steamroller M. weighed at least 300 -- possibly 400 -- pounds.

She was sitting, we presumed, atop a seat that was not visible. Her huge arms extended over a steering wheel. She wore a hard hat, but her features were unmistakably feminine.

She, too, was driving east. Because she was driving behind the construction barricade where there was no traffic to slow her down, she passed us. Our Sighting that day passed within ten feet of us -- that's right -- on a steamroller.

But wait. There's more! It wasn't enough that the fat lady was driving. No. . . she was singing. Yes, singing at the top of her lungs. We couldn't make out the song, but she was clearly enjoying herself. Life on the steamroller appeared to be good for Steamroller M.

How do you quickly describe what we saw without being offensive? Not easily. I understand the power of words to be hurtful, but I'm sorry this was an extremely fat lady singing on a steamroller.

The opera was officially over, folks. The fat lady sang. She sang and drove by at what must have been a whopping ten miles per hour. She was the star in an opera of the absurd happening right before our eyes. No tickets required.

We inched along on our side of the barricade and encountered Steamroller M. again as the construction zone ended. The steamroller had stopped. She was sitting atop the giant comedic machine staring straight ahead as we drove by. Singing.

Sightings: Goat Rider

2007-09-03T19:51:00.000-06:00

Although much continues to happen regarding the mortgage industry meltdown, the house flipping and mortgage discussion will have to wait until after a "Sighting" entry or two.

Albuquerque has over half a million people in its metro area. Two major interstate highways intersect near downtown. There are miles of what might be considered urban freeway through the area.

So, I'm driving down IH25 from work one afternoon last March. It's another pretty day in a long line of beautiful days. Traffic, as usual, is relatively light with the occasional crazy Indy-driver wanna-be.

The radio is playing garbage mixed with commercials.

The Sandias move past on the left as I drive south. Jumping skyward a mile above the city, they dwarf this man-made world along the highway. I promise myself that I'll hike up there again soon.

Just ahead in the right hand lane a old white truck is pulling a flat-bed trailer. The trailer is about 18 feet long. It has metal-framed sides about a foot high.

There's something on trailer, but I can't tell what for sure. I pull into the passing lane and begin approaching the truck and trailer.

It's coming into focus. It's head is down. Ropes are tied to each of its four legs from each of the four corners of the trailer. It's got horns.

It's a goat. It looks really pissed.

Travelling at least 65 miles per hour down the freeway is a truck pulling an open flat-bed trailer with a goat --head down -- riding in the middle.

A goat.

As I pass the truck, I glance at the driver. He's simply driving the truck. Oblivious that something is amiss, he's simply driving.

Did he know that he was driving along an urban interstate? Did he know that what he was doing was wrong? I think not.

Where was he going? Did he make it to his destination? I'm asking about the goat. I hope he made it safely.

I wanted to follow the Goat Rider that day, but I thought better of it. Still, witnessing this "Sighting" really got my goat.

Sightings: Joe Thirtypack

2007-08-24T17:02:00.000-06:00

I first heard about Joe and Mary Sixpack in 1982 when I was taking a political science class from Professor Hal Barger at Trinity University in San Antonio. Since that time, cable news commentators have begun to throw the term around like they invented it. Wikipedia defines Joe Sixpack on its page describing John Q. Public: John Q. Public:

"is a generic name in the United States to denote a hypothetical member of society deemed a "common man." He is presumed to have no strong political or social biases relevant to whatever topic is at hand, and to represent the randomly selected "man on the street."

Further according to the Wikiwikis, Joe Sixpack, is a term of deprecation. It seems to those making the Wikipedia entry, Joe Sixpack does not rise to the level of respect due to John Q. Public, John Doe or John Q. Taxpayer, to name a few. Too bad for the snobs at Wikipedia.

Joe and Mary Sixpack live in Hometown, USA. They have a median income and own their own home of median value. They have the statistically average number of children, cars, pets, and friends. Their very ordinary-ness makes them rather uninteresting to anyone other than demographers. Other ordinary Americans know the Sixpacks. They know them by many names. They are the neighbors that we know just well enough to say "Hi" to when we see them in their driveway. They are the neighbors whose kids are always coming and going from some kind of kid-thing (soccer, baseball). They're OK.

Lost in the all the naming and labelling of our neighbors the Sixpacks, is who they really are. From time to time I will address the perspectives of Joe and Mary Sixpack. With an election year coming up, I believe that their voice will ultimately be drowned out by shape-shifting candidates and their paid parrots. Regardless, we'll keep the Sixpacks centered on our radar screens.

Before we ever get to the politics of Joe and Mary Sixpack, however, I wanted to give you a little background. What we all forget is that the Sixpack's, just like all of us, have an extended family. And that extended family, just like all of ours, is pockmarked with colorful characters of all sorts. Some of us have crazy aunts or uncles, for the Sixpacks, it's their alcoholic cousin who I met last July 4th. Here's the story:

Michael and I were sitting on the front porch of our home near downtown Albuquerque relaxing and enjoying the sunset on our greatest national holiday. It was a warm Tuesday night and the front porch brought a cool breeze. The big beautiful blue sky was beginning to turn sunset colors. Every now and again someone walked by with their dog or rode by on a bicycle. A car hadn't passed by in over an hour.

Around 7 pm a particular bike rider caught our attention. He was moving kind of unsteadily as he approached from the south. In fact, he was pretty much wobbling northward as if he were going to lose control any moment. One hand was on the handle bars of the bike, but it was something else that really caught our eye: in the other hand and perched in between the bicyclist's legs was a 30-pack of beer. That's right -- a 30-pack!

Ever seen a 30-pack? It's bigger than a 12-pack by far. It's bigger than a case by six. It's a giant box of beer meant for the serious volume beer drinkers in this world. When you go to put a 30-pack on the counter at the store, you use two hands. When you put the 30-pack in the car, it's a two-handed affair. It's not something you'd normally see being transported on a bicycle.

But as our intrepid bicyclist rode by he held the 30-pack between his legs. Wobbling. Wobbling by he went, an intense look on his face. He was and became in that instant Joe Thirtypack. Slowly, unsteadily, but most earnestly, Joe disappeared down the street and -- we thought at the time -- out of our lives.

"Did you see that?" Michael said as he turned his head away from the street.

"I think so. Another sighting, I suppose."

"Sighting? What?"

"You know. How many times have we seen something out here that defies explanation? Giant lizards, for God's sake? A bicyclist with a 30-pack of beer between his legs? Sightings. That's what they are. Like aliens, UFOs, and liberal gay Republicans. If you admit to seeing one anywhere else in this country, people think you're crazy. But out here, they're all normal."

"We have seen some seriously crazy stuff out here, haven't we?"

"The problem is there's no context, ya' know. How do you describe that guy? That. . . that was. . . I don't know, I've heard of Joe Sixpack -- you know the average American? -- but this guy was . . ." The name popped into my head. "Joe Thirtypack. Anywhere else in this great nation we would never have seen him. But there he went."

"Weird somewhere else, normal here."

"Exactly. Oh, well, where are we going to watch fireworks?"

We like our front porch. It's a refuge from the phone, the television and the computer. It's western view is great for peaceful sunsets. So, it wasn't that odd that exactly one week later we were out on the porch again watching the sky. It was 7:00 or so -- Tuesday the 14th -- when Joe Thirtypack rode by on his bicycle again.

Just as last time, Joe rode by with only one hand on the handlebars. This time, he didn't have a huge box of beer between his legs. It was a sixpack. But something was still wrong: he had a cast on one arm. The arm he had been holding the 30-pack with the week before was in a cast from the top of his elbow down to the top of his hand.

"Another sighting?"

"A pretty good one, I think. How do you think he broke it?"

"Transporting a 30-pack?"

"Joe Thirtypack!"

It's hard to remember all the sightings out here in the Hinterland. It's a great place to live, believe me.

We remembered Joe Thirtypack and even told our friends about him after the second sighting. Everyone got a chuckle out of the story. None of us really knew Joe, but we let our imaginations run wild and came up with all kinds of scenarios involving Joe, his bicycle and that 30-pack of beer. We weren't trying to be mean. There was just too much irony. Too many hilarious possibilities. As with the first sighting, we never thought we'd see him again.

Tuesday, July 21. 7:00 pm. The front porch. Nice sunset. Calm, quiet neighborhood. A bicyclist approaches from the south.

"You're not going to believe this."

"Don't tell me . . ."

It was Joe. One hand on the handle bars. A sixpack between his legs. But something new: the cast on his arm had changed -- dramatically. It's called an "external fixator." "Scary immobilizer" is a better term. This cast ran from his shoulder down past his bent elbow to his fingers. It had a bar running from his chest to his wrist. Pins were visible running from one side of the cast, through the arm, and out the other side. It was nothing less than an emotional earthquake to see.

Joe pedalled by. He disappeared down the block just as he had before. Beer in between his legs, one hand on the handle bars. Arm, permanently immobilized at a right angle to his body, turned at the elbow.

We didn't -- couldn't -- say a word. Nothing came out of our mouths for over half an hour. I looked at Michael and he at me. Have you ever wondered what someone's face looks like when they've been simultaneously -- instantaneously -- horrified, shocked and amused to the point of peeing? It's a queer look, trust me. I can only imagine what my face looked like.

The "real" world melted briefly. It collapsed into a small speck on top of a rock in our yard. A different world came into focus. Momentarily I lived on a different planet. Planet Albuquerque, where giant Iguana's run toward oncoming traffic, goats ride atop open trailers on the freeway, rainbows lie flat upon the horizon, and torrential rain falls but never reaches the ground.

Whooosh. I was back.

We were out of town the following Tuesday and missed Joe. Sadly, we haven't seen him again. It's a shame, really.

It was a sighting. And here's the "so what?" Sightings open us up to questions. They make us briefly step outside our own worlds and into those of others. You can't think about them too much. But you do have to tell other people about them.

Finally, after it's all been said and done, here's what I've been able to definitively figure out about Joe:

I live down the street from Joe Thirtypack. He rides his bicycle in the evenings. He drinks a lot of beer. He broke his arm around July 4. He broke it again about a week later.

I'd like to tell him this: "Hope your arm gets better soon, Joe. Say 'Hello' to your cousins back in Hometown. See ya' next Tuesday?"

House Flipping Files, It's the Bomb, Conclusion

2007-08-22T16:12:00.000-06:00

Please read, Parts I and II of this story. You'll enjoy yourself more that way. Also, posting a comment is easy: just click on the link between chapters with the word "comments" in it. You don't have to give your real name -- comment anonymously.

Last year, Oprah made "The Secret" famous when she had several shows about it. If you're not familiar with it, the concept involves something known as the "Law of Attraction." To some, The Secret is a repackaging of "The Power of Positive Thinking." To others, it's hooey.

Regardless, we asked ourselves and our friends, if you only get what you "attract," then how on Earth did we end up becoming responsible for disposing of a home-made bomb? The answer, like the Secret itself, depends upon who you ask. Those who believe in the Secret told us that it was the universe's way of solving a problem. The universe delivered us to the bomb because it knew we were the ones who would figure out the answer before anyone got hurt. Those who don't believe in the Secret simply told us that we were lucky to be alive.

We got home late after faxing the list to "Bill" and Googled "Picric Acid." The results were shown in Part I of this saga below.

What was our reaction to the Google Search findings? How many sayings are there for this type of thing? Our jaws dropped. We nearly peed our pants. We pinched each other to make sure we weren't having a nightmare. My personal favorite: I tasted a little vomit in my mouth.

After "Bill" didn't call back as promised and didn't immediately return my follow-up call, we decided that this was something that couldn't wait. By this time the morning of the next day had passed. Events had already been set in motion involving contractor visits to the house.

We decided to go back to the phone list. This time, Michael made the calls. The first person he spoke to gave him another number to call. This Michael did. Turns out the second number was to the New Mexico State Environment Department. Michael called the number and got through to a gentleman who was very helpful. Let's call him "Ted." Michael briefly explained the history of the problem and what we had found.

Just as had happened with Bill on the phone, when Michael began reading the list to Ted, there were audible gasps. Ted, it turns out, was a state employee who had knowledge of what these things were, but wasn't used to receiving calls from the public asking about how to dispose of them. His gasps quickly turned to cries of shock and alarm. Within seconds, Ted's reaction to what Michael was describing had escalated into an outright panic attack.

Michael had to stop Ted at one point and ask him to calm down. "You're really scaring me," Michael said. "I'm going to cry if you don't stop. Please just tell me who I need to call."

Ted calmed down long enough to give Michael the name of a disposal company and the conversation ended. Michael took a breather trying to calm down before he called that number. Ted also calmed down long enough to tell his boss in Santa Fe about the conversation he had just had with Michael.

Cooler heads prevailed and Ted called back immediately with new instructions: call 911.

Hindsight, baby. 20-20 as they say. Call 911. Of course. 9-1-1. Duh!

Who cares what Bill said? He hadn't done what he said he would do. We looked the stuff up online and saw it was more than simply dangerous. When we found this out, we should have immediately called 9-1-1. Hindsight. 20-20.

Michael hung up from Ted and took a deep breath. The phone rang.

"Hello, this is Michael."

"Michael! This is Lieutenant "Smith" from Albuquerque Police Department. How's it going? You doing alright today?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for calling. I was about. . ."

"What the hell's going on down there? What are doing with this stuff? Do you know what kind of trouble you're in?"

"Woh, ho,ho. Hold on, sir, we found this stuff in an empty house. No one lives there. We just walked in yesterday and found it. We've been trying to figure out what to do with it. . ."

"No one lives there?"

"No sir. It's been vacant for a long time. Yesterday was our first day there."

"There's no one there?"

"No."

"You're not there right now."

"No, sir."

The conversation calmed down after that. After verifying the address, the conversation ended with an incredulous cop telling Michael that a Bomb Disposal Team had been dispatched to the house and that someone needed to go let them in.

The Remotec Andros 5A

Bomb Disposal Robot

The scene: a quite neighborhood a few miles from downtown Albuquerque. The homes are nice, the yards are well kept. Families are coming home from school and work. It's a perfectly normal beautiful spring day. Birds are chirping. Puffy white clouds form and dissipate overhead. The streets are blocked off with dozens of squad cars. Helicopters are circling overhead. Fire trucks are lined up down the street.

A strange truck arrives and a ramp is lowered. Out of the back and down the ramp comes a robot on wheels. It is followed by another of its kind. The two robots roll down the street and turn up the driveway of a nice little house in the middle of the block.

Crowds gather and are dispersed at the roadblocks down the street. An unknowing resident steps out of his house with his dog on a leash and walks right up to the scene. Before anyone sees him, he is at the foot of the driveway. He stands there while his dog pees on a bush. He is oblivious.

Someone yells at him. "Hey, you! Get out of there."

It takes him a moment to look up. The shout jolts him out of his quiet little world. He first sees a firetruck off to his left. He staggers backward as his head turns to find dozens of cops and firefighters staring at him. Panic strikes. He is frozen. Someone runs up to him and escorts him away.

The garage door to the house is now open and a robot has entered it. The camera mounted on its arm focuses on the wooden box and its contents. The second robot enters and slowly approaches the box. With extreme caution and with the skill only extensive training can give, a police bomb expert manipulates the robot's grappling device until it grabs one side of the box. Slowly, slowly. The box is lifted and the robot is brought out of the garage.

Everyone is motionless. The quiet stillness is broken only by the noise of television helicopters circling, circling overhead. A truck resembling an above-ground bomb shelter has arrived and a door in its rear has been opened. The robot crawls toward it and the box is placed inside. The door is closed and the bomb is driven away. The Dead Hand goes with it.

Reporters are swarming the ends of the block, trying to get around the barricades and down to the scene to interview someone. An unsuspecting passerby suffices as the on-the-scene expert for one television station. "Gosh, a bomb down this street? That's the last thing you would expect around here. I'm really scared. I hope they don't find one on my street."

All four local television news programs air the story that night with aerial and ground footage of the robots at work. Each reporter says essentially the same thing: "The bomb squad was called out to a residence where a bomb / bomb-making materials were found. Streets were blocked off. Residents were alarmed. Fear gripped the community. No information on where the materials came from or how they got there. Stay scared for more news."

By the way, "Bill" called me on the third day after we spoke and told me that his company would come by and get the chemicals out of the house for $3000. The money had to be paid in advance or his team would not even enter the house. They were ready to get to work the next day, but if we didn't immediately engage them, it would be a month before they could come back. What a crock.

I told Bill that time had run out and that the Albuquerque Police and Fire Departments had taken care of the problem two days before. He didn't sound in the least bit embarrassed or apologetic for blowing us off. Why had he told me not to call 911? Why did he not honor his promise to call me back that night and then not return my subsequent call? Why were the terms he offered for his company to remove the materials so onerous? Simple: he thought he had me over a barrel. He knew that if I considered him the expert and if I didn't use my own common sense, he could do whatever he wanted with me. Wrong, Bill. Hope you're not making too much money doing what you do. Thief!

The cost of calling 911 and having the Police and Fire Departments perform this work in a most heroic and professional manner: Zero point zero dollars. That's right, Bill. Zero point zero. No C.O.D. No attempted deception or theft. Nothing but honest to goodness professional services rendered by the best. Heroic services, by the way. The kind you, Bill, probably think that you deliver. Total cost: Zero point zero dollars, Bill! Okay, I got some gray hairs and my bald spot expanded a little, but otherwise, heroes don't charge for their work, it seems.

The house was "cleared" by the Police and Fire Departments and renovations began a few days later. By the end of May we had completed a top-to-bottom facelift on the place with electrical upgrades, new windows, doors, carpet, and refinishing hardwood floors. It was a real gem if I do say so myself.

In the end, love triumphed. Honesty prevailed. We chose to not be deterred by the circumstances and things turned out nicely. The best part of the whole thing, besides not being blown into tiny fleshy fragments: I will always have an incredible story to tell about the day that I encountered the Dead Hand and lived to tell about it.

Next Up: Joe Thirtypack. Come back soon, ya' hear.

House Flipping Files, It's the Bomb, Part II

2007-08-21T17:57:00.000-06:00

Note: Please read House Flipping Files, It's the Bomb, Part I before proceeding with this chapter. You'll enjoy the story a lot more that way. Thanks for visiting!

When last you left the intrepid incompetents (that's me and Michael, by the way), we had just stumbled upon some interesting old bottles and one very interesting pretty little blue one. What we did not know at the time was this: the contents of the little blue bottle marked "Picric Acid" was actually what some would call a "trigger." If that trigger had been pulled I would not be telling you this story.

What scares me even today to think about is how close we came to accidentally "pulling that trigger." In the previous post a quotation briefly described that the stuff was "shock sensitive" and that dropping something into it would produce a blast more forceful than TNT. This means, my dear readers, that dropping IT -- that pretty blue bottle -- would produce that same blast.

This explosive, it would seem, was meant as the trigger to ignite or combust all of the other chemicals we found in the house. Here's a brief listing of some of the others: Ammonium Nitrate, Sodium Nitrate, Potassium Hydroxide. . . Sorry, I've got to stop. I'm getting a little woozy.

Crazy, silly, stupid, ignorant, me decided (at first) that all of these things were really little more than a nuisance. They were in our way and would prevent us from getting work underway immediately. Therefore, I made the executive decision that all of the various bottles throughout the house should be brought together in the garage and placed in the nifty little wooden box sitting there with six or eight others inside it. Great idea, right?

Wrong, Brad! Bad Brad. Bad. Very, very bad. Ignorant me had just assembled all of the bomb-making materials into one nifty little package -- one convenient location as they say.

I was still in the land of the innocent and naive thinking that this was nothing. I was still thinking about all those people who had seen these same things and done nothing. I was still unaware that God, or fate, or some higher power had decided that Michael and I were to take care of this. Finally, I was still unaware that sometimes someone has to give a shit and that someone was Michael and me.

In the legal world there is a legal term of art known as the "Dead Hand," or, sometimes, the "Mortmain." Translated, it is the hand reaching from the grave to control various property interests in the present and future. There are Dead Hand Statutes and long old lines of court cases against control by the Dead Hand. But did they stop this Dead Hand? Not for an instant.

Because the moment I touched the little blue bottle and gathered all of its exciting, strange-named friends together in the garage, I was under the control of a dead hand. The person who had brought these things to this house was long dead. To be sure, he could never again assemble them as I had just done. But when an ignorant house flipper trying to tidy up came along -- yes, that's me -- the dead hand reached from the grave and a bomb was one step closer to being born.

Evil was afoot. All that dead hand had to do now was to get someone to pull the trigger. Was that going to be me?

Here's the spooky part: the Dead Hand tried its best that day. After picking up the blue bottle once and setting it back into the box, I gathered all of the other bottles together and went about my business. Several times after that -- I mean at least three, if not four times after that -- I went back to that box trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with it. Each time I went back I picked up that little blue bottle and tried to process what it meant. "Explosive When Dry. . . Do Not Touch to Metal" What did this mean. What was I supposed to do with this?

Luckily, I'm not completely ignorant. And, luckily, I care about the environment. You see, if I had thought that these were nothing more than household chemicals or something inert or harmless, I would have gleefully tossed the entire wooden box, bottles and all, into the large blue-green trash can provided by the City of Albuquerque for regular pickup on Wednesday mornings. If it didn't blow up the instant I tossed it into that container, it almost certainly would have gone "Boom" when it was compacted in the back of the City's trash truck. If not then, it would have done so at the landfill where the 20-ton compactor on wheels got to work.

I also believe that all the aforementioned people -- dozens of them -- who had been in that house before us had known that these bottles were dangerous and had simply told themselves it wasn't their job or their responsibility. They knew that they couldn't throw these things in the trash either or they would have done so. They were lazy, or irresponsible, or incompetent, or afraid. They did nothing because they hoped that eventually someone else would. They obviously had no thought or care for the consequences of a simple accident involving these bottles. It's a shame, really. And it's a damned good thing that I'm able to tell you this story today.

So, I found a phone book. I looked up listings in the Yellow Pages for "Hazardous Waste Disposal" and "Environmental Waste." I found a few companies and started calling them on my cell phone. Turns out that none of them are actually based here in Albuquerque. They all have answering services who will only contact someone immediately if it's an emergency. I said it was, and after about a half dozen calls and about an hour of waiting, someone finally called me back.

"Bill" wasn't his name, but it'll work for now. He was on his cell phone, standing at the Albuquerque Sunport waiting for a plane to Denver where his office actually is. "I understand you have an emergency of some sort. Tell me what you've got," he said calmly.

"I don't know for sure what I've got, Bill. All I know is that I probably shouldn't throw this stuff in the trash. I mean, one of them has a funny sounding name -- Picric Acid, I think. . . "

An audible gasp comes through the airwaves. "What? Where are you?"

"I'm at a house. . ."

"A HOUSE?" he practically screams. "What house? Here in Albuquerque?"

"Yes, we're getting ready to start renovations and today's our first day here. We found a little bottle marked Picric Acid and some others like Ammonium Nitrate and stuff I can't remember off the top of my head. Is this something you guys can properly dispose of?"

His words are rushed now. "Well, yeah, but I'm trying to figure out what it's doing in a house. I mean, that's some pretty nasty stuff there, Brad. Have you handled it? I mean, have you touched it? Did you open it? Is there something in that bottle?"

"I don't know if there's anything in it. I can't see through the blue glass. . . "

"Glass, good! Does it have a metal lid?"

"Don't know."

"Look. . ." There was a long pause. "I'm at the airport getting ready to fly home. Why don't you put together a list of all the stuff you got there and fax it to me. Here's my number. . . OK, when I get to Denver, I'll go to my office tonight and look at the list. Can I reach you at this number later tonight?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Fax me that list and I'll call you later."

"I was wondering, is this something your company usually handles? I mean, should I call someone else, and if so, who?"

"No, no. You don't need to call anyone else. We can do this. You haven't called the fire department or the city or anyone like that have you?"

"No, you're the first person I've talked to."

"Good. Don't call the City. You'll have a major mess on your hands if you do."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, Bill. You're the expert. I'll fax you that list right away. Talk to you later."

We hung up. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew," I told Michael. "Looks like this guy can take care of this stuff. Although he did ask some funny questions. I wonder why he was worried about whether we had handled it? He also said don't call the City."

So, I went BACK into the garage and picked up each bottle AGAIN and read off the names and spellings of each chemical as Michael wrote them down on a sheet of paper. I set each one back down AGAIN. As I look back now, I realize that The Dead Hand was working furiously now. It was trying it's damnedest to trigger that bomb.

But it didn't happen. Thank God! Not then, at least. Not in my presence.

Unfortunately, "Bill" never called me back that night. Nor did he call me the next day. Three days later, in fact, I finally heard from Bill, but by then it was too late. God, Fate, the Higher Power, intervened. You see, we didn't wait for Bill. When he didn't call back as promised, we didn't sit on our hands. I called his number, got the answering service and got no return call.

I remembered that audible gasp of his. I remembered his strange questions and his "instructions" not to call the fire department. I knew that something BIG was wrong and I knew we couldn't wait. We weren't going to wait. That's not who we are.

Tune in next time for the conclusion.

House Flipping Files, It's the Bomb, Part I

2007-08-20T17:37:00.000-06:00

"House Flipping Is Fun," the billboard should read. It's fun, it's hip, it's cool and for the last few years it's been one of the "in" things to do. It's high risk and often high reward. It's an entrepreneurs dream to find that diamond in the rough and polish it to a brilliance that no one can resist. There are lots of TV shows about flipping houses on cable these days. For example, there's Bravo's "Flipping Out", A&E's "Flip This House", Discovery/TLC Channel's "Flip That House, and others.

Until last April, the only risk I ever imagined associated with flipping houses was financial. You know, the house can't be turned around, it stays a dump and you lose money. Or, the market goes south and you can't sell it. It's a huge risk when credit markets are tight and housing sales are flat. But, the major payoffs come when the renovations happen right, the lenders are lending, and the buyers are snapping everything up at higher and higher prices every day.

As I said, that was what I thought until last April. Seems there was something I hadn't really thought about when it comes to flipping houses -- explosives! Yes, that's what I said, explosives!

Before I get too far into this tragi-comedy, I'll have to explain a couple of things. First, houses are easier to flip for a profit when their initial purchase price is below market value for the neighborhood. Let's face it, if a house sells substantially below market value, there's something wrong with it. Almost always, this means that there's something physically wrong, like a leaky roof that caused damage inside the house.

Joe and Mary Sixpack simply don't want to buy a house that they can't move into right away. House flippers do the dirty work -- fix it up into "new" condition -- and sell it to Joe and Mary Sixpack. The flippers deal with all the contractors and pay all the bills while the repairs are being done. Joe and Mary get their new house with no strings so they can happily raise their 1.7 kids and drive their 2.4 cars.

So, almost always the problem with the house -- the reason it's a great house to flip -- is the physical condition. But, sometimes the house may be in OK shape, but something else is wrong: there's no clear title. No one will lend money on them because they're in the no-man's land of legal paperwork. Joe and Mary Sixpack want to move in ASAP, not a day later.

It's this second, title-trouble house that we were "lucky" enough to flip with some friends starting last April. It had been tied up in probate for some time and the court would not release it for sale until all the legal "i's" were dotted and "t's" were crossed. It was finally released, the sale closed and we happily entered sometime after the first of the month.

NOTE: for many months the house was in probate, it was legally in the possession of a Probate Court in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. This means that the Court appointed someone to take care of the house - you know, pay the bills, mow the yard, clean it, make sure it wasn't falling down. I am confident that a court-appointed caretaker was paid to make monthly visits to the property and to report back to the Court about it's condition.

Before we ever stepped foot in this house, I would estimate that dozens of people had been through it not only performing caretaker duties, but inspecting it, appraising it, showing the house, or seeking to buy the house. So why, why, WHY on God's green Earth did I walk into the house after all this time and all these people had passed through it and find bomb-making materials laying around in plain sight?

It's a shame, really. The tragic part of the story is that the previous owners had both died while they were in the midst of a divorce (thus the need for probate). I'll spare you all the gory details, but it is now clear that not only had all the aforementioned people been through the house, but the Albuquerque Police Department, Fire Department and Bernalillo County Coroner had been in the house at least once after one of the owners passed away there.

So, again, I ask you: Why, why, WHY were there explosives in plain sight sitting around on the floors of several rooms and the garage? Had NONE of these people seen what I saw within a few minutes of my arrival? Had NONE of these people wondered why clearly marked bottles of bomb-making materials were in the bedroom, dining room, kitchen and arage? What the. . .? I mean, really, folks.

On a beautiful spring day in April of this year, Michael and I walked into the house and began making a list of repairs and likely contractors to use for those repairs. There were some papers lying around in the bedrooms, a couple of pieces of useless broken furniture here and there, and some bottles of chemicals clearly indicating that something was terribly wrong.

But we didn't really "see" the bottles right away. They were interesting diversions as we walked from room to room making our checklists. We were curious about them, but they didn't attract our undivided attention. They looked "cool" and we figured that the previous owner had been into collecting old bottles. As we gathered junk up to throw away, we found some old paperwork indicating that one of the owners had been a professor in the Pharmacy Department at the University of New Mexico Hospital here in Albuquerque.

"Oh," I said to Michael, "this guy was a pharmacy professor. He must have been into all these old bottles as mementos or something."

Michael nodded, agreeing to point. "Then what are these powders and liquids inside of these bottles? I hope they're not the chemicals listed on the labels."

"Hm, don't know. We probably shouldn't open them or anything just in case. We can just gather them all up, figure out what we got."

"I saw a box of more bottles out in the garage," Michael said.

"Let's check it out."

Life had been a happy, exhilarating, "New Day" kind of thing that day. It had been filled with the promise of a new house flipping project and great profits ahead. The day was perfect.

Perfect, that is, until we got to the garage and found a wooden box with no lid. Inside the box were six large brown bottles and one little translucent blue bottle. It was pretty, this little blue gem. It was the only one with handwriting on it. The letters spelled out: "Picric Acid -- Explosive When Dry" and "Do Not Touch to Metal."

Google this: Picric Acid. In the top five choices you will find the following link: www.tc.gc.ca/canutec/en/articles/documents/picric.htm. In the document behind that link you will find the following statement:

"Picric acid or Trinitrophenol is, by far, one of the more dangerous chemicals being used today. Classified as a flammable solid when wetted with more than 30% water (UN1344, class 4.1) and a class A high explosive with less than 30% water (UN0154, class 1.1D), it has some very interesting properties. It is explosive but also highly shock, heat and friction sensitive. In fact, detonation with a speed and power superior to that of TNTcan occur by a 2 kg weight falling onto solid picric acid from a height of 36 cm. Picric acid is toxic by all routes of entry, it’s also a skin irritant and allergen and will produce toxic pro-ducts on decomposition."

You have the benefit of this knowledge now. At the time we found the pretty blue bottle, we knew nothing about it. I have to admit that at the moment I found the bottle and for a few moments thereafter I was still living in the happy land of ignorant bliss, unable to believe for even an instant that someone would have a dozen bottles of bomb-making materials in their house. It just didn't register in my brain that the handwritten words I was reading was real or that it had any meaning in my world.

I really thought at this point, folks, that the previous homeowner, being a pharmacy professor, had known these things weren't dangerous and had brought them to his house as part of a collection of some sort -- a trophy case, if you will. I had also figured out by this point that many, many people had been in this house as part of their jobs before me and they must have seen the same things that I was seeing. None of them had become alarmed, right?

It took a while for it to sink in: I wasn't going to be able to do what dozens and dozens of people before me had done. I wasn't going to be able to ignore these bottles. Shit! I was going to have to take charge and do the right thing, wasn't I? Wasn't I?

The only problem was, I didn't know what the right thing was. What do you do with someone else's bomb-making materials? Who do you call? Where do you start?

We're out of time for today, but tune in next time to discover the answer to these and other burning questions like: "What do robots do for a living, Brad?" and how do you answer a cop who asks you "What the hell is going on down there?" when you honestly don't have a clue what the hell's going on down there?