The Blue Hole, Wild Animals, Las Vegas and Tamales

I may have left out a few of the many highlights of the day so I'll add them along the way. After vacating my luxury accommodations I headed down the road to the Route 66 Cafe for a gourmet breakfast of eggs, beans, pipitas and tortillas. No coffee for me Thank You. I had to go check out the Blue Hole. It's a place where natural springs pump out 3000 gallons per minute into this 248 foot hole. The water temperature is a constant 61 degrees. People come for miles around to scuba dive. There were a bunch of Albuquerque police practicing dive victim recovery. Please note there is a prominent sign that sez "Keep Dogs Out of the Water". Darn. And the best part it's still free. While there the Life Guard found a baby skunk and was carrying it around in his ball cap. I think maybe he had held his head in that cold water for too long. Duh. I left this popular oasis and traveled 40W to 84N to 25N and straight to Las Vegas NM. They had live bands playing in the historic town square. After fantasizing about sipping on a cold beer I hopped on my trusty steed and got lost about three times by not using my GPS but eventually found 518N. The countryside was starting to look really cool and feel cool. Probably due to the gain in elevation. I took a left (that's west on the map) at La Cueva towards Mora and Cleveland. Nice little towns, curvy roads, more trees. This is where I found the great tamale smothered in green chilis at Teresa's Tamales. The place held about 12 people and had about 30 items on the menu. They're probably all very good except I wouldn't know cuz they too were out of chili rellenos. I think the government should look into this lack of chilis. It's starting to bum me out. I drove thru Carson National Forest where there are apparently alot of elk that like to cross the road and cows that like to wander onto the road. Or at least that is what the signs indicated. I finally made my way to Chimayo where there is a really old church built in 1857 or maybe earlier, but their signs were harder to understand than the elk and cow signs in the forest. I then made the decision to drive on 503. I didn't know they could make a road so steep and curvy. I got my focus on for this part of the ride. Not too much looking around but I think it was probably pretty scenic. I finally got on 285 and made my way to my white water rafting buddy Gordon and Leslie's place in Santa Fe. Not much else happened except I did have some very good fish tacos and a great glass of Sangria for dinner. Oh I also borrowed one of Gordon's Dos Equis since he just happens to live near San Diego most of the year. I drove 200 miles today and the t-shirt likes the cooler temps. Yes it now smells of fresh mountain air.