Thursday, October 22, 2015

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Being on the Road Always Manages to Surprise Me


This gorge caught me totally by surprise. I was driving along somewhere around Taos, NM in what I thought was a relatively flat valley between two mountain ranges. I saw a sign for the Rio Grande Gorge, but it didn't even register; I was focused on the road I guess. The next thing I know, the earth dropped away from me on all sides and I was driving on this narrow little bridge across a deep, dark gorge, whose river looked like a thin silver ribbon from my vantage point. I looked around, amazed, and pulled over in a dirt lot at the far end of the bridge along with a few other travellers and several vendors setting up for a day of hawking their goods. I walked along the narrow sidewalk to the middle of the bridge, and peeked over the railing. Six hundred and something feet below me, the Rio Grande roared down the gorge it had carved for itself across the mountain valley. I stared down, trying to comprehend how this had caught me by surprise. Apparently I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings at all. After drinking in the view, I wandered back among the first vendors of the day, looking at Indian jewelry and pots, fry bread and knives, then headed back to my car to continue my journey. Really, its little stops like this that make being on the road an adventure of its own.

Leave me a comment below and tell me about a time a roadside attraction suprised you.

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