Rio Grande del Norte National Monument

On Tuesday Bob and I took a drive through a national monument near Questa where you can see the origin of the Rio Grande. This area has breathtaking vistas of surrounding mountains, deep chasms, and sweeping valleys.

It also abounds with wildlife. Bob had to drive carefully to avoid running over tarantulas that use the paved road to run along; we must have passed close to a dozen. A coyote crossed the road right in front of us. And we came upon a lovely bull snake sunning himself near the center line.

When we weren’t looking for animals we were gasping at the views. There are quite a few pull offs where you can park your car and hike a short distance to see the chasm with the River below. Here you can see the baby Rio Grande separate from the Red River.

As always, we were enchanted by the beauty of New Mexico, one of our very favorite states to visit. There’s a reason this is called the Land of Enchantment.