Today, October 27, 2014, I am still grateful to be on this vacation. It is so nice to be seeing a part of the Country I have never seen before. Yesterday we drove from Santa Fe to Taos on what is known as The High Road to Taos. There are highways that would have gotten us here quickly, but we chose the scenic route instead. It is a road that winds up and down through the mountains. Speed limit is usually 35 - 45 and occasionally 55. The road is just too windy to go fast. But that allowed me to really get to see the scenery. High in the mountains there were dense forests (we were actually in Carson National Forest some of the time where, at one point, we were somewhere around 10,000 feet above sea level), but when we were low, we were back in that New Mexico dirt, tumbleweed and scrub brush. It was amazing and beautiful in its own way. Sometimes it felt like I might see the Lone Ranger and Tonto or Cisco and Poncho racing along beside us. We also stopped on the way at El Santuario de Chimayó which is a National Historic landmark and is known as the most important Catholic pilgrimage center in the United States. Sometime around 1810, a Chimayo friar was performing penances when he saw a light bursting from a hillside. Digging, he found a crucifix, quickly dubbed the miraculous crucifix of Our Lord of Esquipulas. A local priest brought the crucifix to Santa Cruz, but three times it disappeared and was later found back in its hole. By the third time, everyone understood that El Senor de Esquipulas wanted to remain in Chimayo, and so a small chapel was built on the site. Then the miraculous healings began. These grew so numerous that the chapel had to be replaced by the larger, current Chimayo shrine -- an adobe mission -- in 1816. It was beautiful and we actually got there at the right time to see a little bit of a Mass that was being held. It is a very spiritual place and we spent quite a bit of time wandering through the grounds and the church. Rosaries and crosses are hanging from all the chain link fences around the site hung there by visitors to honor or memorialize a loved one. Pictures of this part of our trip are in an album titled 2014 New Mexico Trip - Taos. But here are a couple of the Church and the highs and lows of the drive. Have a great Monday everybody.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:50:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015