My first goal after we checked out of the hotel was to get to the famous Taos Pueblo. Unfortunately, it was closed until August 31st for a festival. We came back to the Taos Plaza area and parked. We walked to Kit Carson Park where it turned out there was a classic car show (I keep running into those on my trips!), then walked back to the Plaza to browse more clothing, food and art gallery shops. We had lunch at a coffee house on I-64. The food wasn't the best but the outdoor terrace was pleasant. After lunch we went down the street to the Kit Carson Museum. Three of the rooms in the museum were actually rooms of Carson's home. Other parts of the museum were tributes and collections of artifacts from his life as a scout and a Cavalry member. Peter was impressed, and so was I.
We left Taos at about 1:00 and took a scenic road through Kit Carson Forest on our way to I-25 which would take us up to Denver. The forest was very scenic but the road was very slow and windy for the first hour or two; I was very glad after that to be on an interstate.
We arrived in Denver before dark for the first time on our trip--around 7:00 p.m. We checked into the Melbourne International Hostel, a place that doubles as a bus station for service from Denver to Mexico and is not in the greatest part of town. But, it was cheap and it was within walking distance of the 16th street mall and LoDo (Lower Downtown). Because it was Saturday night, both areas were very lively. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, then went to Croc's for a cheap margarita. There happened to be a bachelorette party there that night, so it was even wilder than usual. Like there was a bartender standing on the bar pouring drinks directly into people's mouths out of something that looked like a big plastic bladder and girls eating whipped cream off cucumbers. Very weird.