We had the continental breakfast at our hotel in Raton and hit the road at about 10AM. Our destination was Cimarron, which is the location of Philmont Boy Scout Ranch. We were amazed at the road that stretched out before us!
Our plan was to find our hotel and then go on a scenic drive to see some of the country in and around Philmont. We found our hotel and then drove through Cimarron and into the northern section of the ranch.
We stopped by some steep cliffs near a river and got out of the car and spent some time just hanging out in such a beautiful site. Ryan, Spencer, Carter, and Matthew took a photo that may eventually be the cover of an upcoming rock album (should they decide to form a band).
We kept on driving and arrived at Eagle's Nest Lake in a town called Angel Fire. Lots of advertistements for houses/land for sale. After driving by the lake we arrived at the AngelFire Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, and we spent some time inside. We watched an incredibly sad movie, and learned a lot of statistics about the average ages of the men that served in the Vietnam War. We also saw a helicopter used in Vietnam.
We continued on our way (starting at AngelFire we were actually driving in a circle around a set of mountains) and next arrive in the town of Taos , an artist/tourist/skiing community with a lot of adobe houses and shops. We had lunch in Taos and Pat met one of his relatives, who joined us for lunch. After lunch we walked into the center of Taos and took some pictures, before we said goodbye and continued on our drive.
Our next stop was in Red River, NM, another skiing/tourist community. The boys played some mini-golf, shot some pool, and went to an arcade. We also had some ice cream and did a little shopping. Everyone enjoyed the town of Red River. Matthew found a buddy .
We continued our tour of the "Circle of Enchantment" and eventually made it back to Cimarron and went for dinner at the famous St. James Hotel, a popular hotel on the Santa Fe trail with a lot of gunslingers and murders in its history. There were still bullet holes in the ceiling, and lots of stories of "who stayed (and who got murdered) at the St. James. Spencer worried about getting stuffed.
Our dinner took forever, and MikeH started to get altitude sickness during dinner, which led to some vomiting before we finally got to our motel. Overall it was another good day, and tomorrow we'd arrive at Philmont for the start of the real stuff!!!!
