Albuquerque – Santa Fe – Espanola – – Taos Albuquerque
Ride to Taos with breakfast at El Parasol in Santa Fe —North on I-25 to NM 599, then north on NM 599 to US 285 to Espanola, then north on NM 68 to Taos-Return trip south on NM 68, South on US 285, south on NM 599, south on NM 14, east on I -40
The ride was 270 miles with about 5 hours of ride time.
Sunday June 23, 2013
View Larger Map
My wife and I were planning on riding to Colorado for an overnight trip. But the area were we going to stay was evacuated because of a forest fire. We talked about riding somewhere else, but it just didn’t happen. So we decided to take a ride to Taos for breakfast on Sunday.
We took the Interstate to Santa Fe, as hot as the days have been, it was surprisingly cool in the morning. I really enjoy riding NM 68 between Espanola and Taos. Some people prefer the high road, but I like the low road. What does that say about me? NM 68 runs along the Rio Grande and the morning light can really make the canyon look different.
Seeing these people rafting down the river reminded us of last summer when we rafted down this same section of the Rio Grande.
In Taos we went to a couple of restaurants that already had long lines, we need to start just a little earlier to beat the people leaving church. Not wanting to wait in line we headed over to the plaza and walked around.
After wandering around a couple of stores, we decided to eat lunch in Santa Fe. So we got on the bike and rode back to Santa Fe for lunch at El Parasol.
El Parasol is a restaurant that I eat at pretty frequently even though it’s 55 miles from my front door. We both had hamburgers and split some fries, the food was good as we knew it would be. Then we took NM 14 back to Albuquerque. We really started feeling the 100+ heat as we got back into the city. We had a great time and it was perfect way to spend a Sunday morning with my wife.