The Best-Laid Plans
Three strikes and you’re out, right? Well, sort of.
Last night we decided on going to church at San Francisco de
Assisi Mission Church. This unusual and striking adobe church was built by
Franciscans in the late 1700s and early 1800s. It is still an active parish,
and the whole community works together every June to re-mud the exterior.
Georgia O’Keeffe famously painted the church. The website listed services at 9
and 11:30; I’ll let you guess which one four 16-year-olds chose. So we arrived
there around 11:10, and we walked into the back of the full church where a
service was still in progress. My co-travelers’ greatest fears were confirmed—the
service was going to be 2 ½ hours long. We debated and decided we’d sit in the
back row of the 11:30 service, stay for a while, and leave when it seemed a
good time. 
Meanwhile, the ladies of the church had set up a spread of
cookies, cinnamon rolls, deviled eggs, etc., and they were delighted to have
these young ladies take a plateful. After enjoying the spoils of hospitality,
we sensed that the service was coming to an end. We had seen people taking
mass, we’d heard the chanted prayer, and we’d listened to a man playing an
acoustic guitar and singing “How Great Thou Art” (one of my favorites). I was
starting to look forward to what we might experience.
When the church finally emptied out, the priest oddly closed
the front doors. When we approached, he opened the door for us, but there was
no sign of the second service beginning. Then I saw a sign inside that
mentioned the service times: 8:00 and 10:00. Let this be a lesson to any
churches with websites—it’s really important to visitors to keep the times up
to date!
So, church was finished for the day. Next on the agenda was
to visit the home that Natalie’s friend lived in the first five years of her
life. We took a rather long route (thanks Google) to an adobe home that is
mostly surrounded by a privacy fence, and we went to the door to ring the
doorbell. Dogs barked inside, but no one answered.
We went around to the backside, to the neighbor across the
way who were friends back in the day. We met Joe, who chatted a few minutes and
let us know that the homeowners we were looking for were gone on vacation.
Strike two.
After eating we spent an hour or so exploring the main plaza
(read: shopping). Lots of boutiques with everything from goofy souvenirs to
gorgeous pieces of art. A couple of places only sell art made by people in the
community. One of the community buildings includes the old Taos jail, so we
couldn’t pass up a chance to stand inside a small dark holding cell for a
moment.
Back at our place we took a break from the sun and the heat.
We’re becoming fans of the late afternoon siesta, I think. The plan was to rest
up, then take a hike on the Italianos Trail, a favorite near us. Let me just
say that one of the challenges of traveling with four teens is a struggle
against a strong sense of inertia. It took a while to finally get out to the
car. As I waited in the van for the two eagerly awaiting our departure and the two
maybe not so much, I eyed the dark clouds that seemed to hover over every spot
but ours. And then I heard the sound of thunder. I looked up a weather radar on
my phone only to see a big storm system headed straight for our targeted hiking
area. Strike 4? Not sure if that’s a thing.
We ditched the plan, and I was, as you may guess, super glad
I’d slathered myself in sunscreen. Back inside we ate the leftovers of previous
days, watched a quick storm pass through with some impressive lightning and thunder (which made me very glad I wasn't hiking in it), played a game, and put in a movie. A day of forced relaxation was not
such a bad thing. It counteracts the common travel need to see everything you
can in a short period of time. I do hope we can hit that trail tomorrow though!
