We had such a long drive today - a whopping 35 miles! But it was through the mountains east of Taos so that we are on the opposite side of the mountain from the Taos Ski Resort. We are in Eagle’s Nest Lake State Park and only 10 miles from Angel Fire Ski Resort. It was a scenic drive except that the road was very narrow so that John had to give all his attention to his driving. The campground is on a man-made lake in the middle of an open valley, no trees to block the wind or to shade us from the sun. Today was about 20 degrees cooler than yesterday to a point where I had to wear a jacket!
We explored Angel Fire & Eagle’s Nest then drove around the lake to a campground along the Cimarron River in the hopes of finding a spot to camp near the river so that John can trout fish. We are going to play the “I’m saving this site for my husband” game in the morning so we will move another 8 miles.
On the outskirts of Angel Fire is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park. In 1968 Victor Westphall’s son was killed in Vietnam along with 13 of his fellow soldiers. The Westphall's decided to build a chapel to honor him and so they started to sell off their 800 acre ranch to pay for the building of the chapel we have photographed. It was completed in 1971. The chapel is open 24/7. In 1985 the Disabled American Veterans assumed ownership and built a visitors center. In 2004 New Mexico took ownership and it became a state park and was then remodeled and updated in 2007. This memorial was the impetus for the building of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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