Rio Grande Bridge hike. Ice cream in the Plaza, lunch at the Farmhouse Café.
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Rio Grande Bridge
I recently had the opportunity to take my kiddos on a quick overnighter to Taos, New Mexico. How this came to happen is a bit of a saga, involving a romantic get away to Taos (I'll share more about it later), a broken down car, finding the only rental car available for the weekend so we could get my MIL back the airport, needing to return said rental car and pick up the now fixed car the following Monday. So the kids got a taste of Taos too!
This was my game plan: get a hike in first thing in the morning before it got too hot, get a tasty brunch (so many great places to choose from), visit the plaza shops, grab our car and be back home by dinner time.
We stayed a the Hampton Inn and Suites, which was perfect with the kids because it includes a decent breakfast. If your kids are anything like mine, a good breakfast goes a long way and so does variety! We drove 10 miles out of town to the Rio Grande Gorge for our hike. The hike follows the edge of the gorge and its relatively flat, offering beautiful vistas of the Rio Grande Bridge and the river below. It was already hot by nine in the morning so we didn't last the whole 6 miles of the out and back trail. We probably only did about 1 mile total! But that was far enough to make it to a great lookout. Word to the toddler-wise: keep toddlers strapped into a stroller or leash or within arms reach so they don't accidentally wander off the edge! So yeah, those leashes come in handy. The first half mile of the trail was soft gravel and my BOB stroller was able to handle it just fine. Words cannot express how much I love my BOB. We now have both a single Revolution and a Duallie double. Once you've had a BOB it will ruin you on other strollers, just sayin!
At the trail head there were a number of vendors selling jewelry and other arts and crafts. My kids enjoyed checking these out. You may also find better deals here than you will in store in town. Its worth a look! Another plus is there are flushing toilets here.
My kids always find the climbable trees and it's a bit of a chore to get them back down!
Particularly good climbing tree in the parking area for Rio Grande Gorge.
Happy kid up in a tree...
My kids are practically monkeys and will take every chance to climb a tree that is presented to them. My oldest is always on the look out for climbing trees-- she would probably choose to live in one given the opportunity. You can tell from the pictures she found a good one in the parking area.
Next we went to the Farmhouse Cafe for a scrumptious, organic, farm-to-table brunch. The Farmhouse Cafe sources from 20 local farms and has a partnership providing meals for local schools. I wish my schools growing up provided meals like these! It's located between some quaint shops and a wind sculpture gallery, which the kiddos loved exploring!
Next stop was Taos Plaza downtown. This plaza dates back to the early 1600s and is the heart of historic Taos. Today it is full quaint shops and galleries. We recommend the Touchstone rock gallery. Like the name implies, you and your kids can touch almost all the stones in the shop! They even had a few dinosaur fossils (tiny ones). The shop keepers are passionate rock collectors and a lot fun. One even admitted she sometimes talks to her rocks (don't we all?)! We may or not have walked out with multiple purchases...
On the back side of the plaza is the Twirl Toy Shop and Discovery Place. Currently it is not at its full potential due to the pandemic but in more normal times it is arguably one of the greatest toy shops of all time. When it returns it has a magical play area with lots of hands on opportunities to test out some of the amazing toys. This time I specifically didn't visit the toy shop with my kiddos because I knew I couldn't walk out of there without buying multiple things but was already stretching my budget. Just know what you are getting into before you walk in there!
Couldn't walk past this oversized bear without snapping a pic!
After ice cream and a bit of running around the square we were able to pick up our car and drive home. The drive through the mountains from Taos in almost any direction is worth the trip in and of itself!
Have you traveled to Taos with kids? I'd love to hear what you think! What are your suggestions for what we can't miss next time?
XO
Amanda
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