Wyatt Earp Slept Here...

...and so did Doc Holiday, Jesse James, Bat Masterson, Kit Carson, Billy the Kid, Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, Zane Grey, and Fredrick Remington. But not all at the same time. The place I'm talking about is the St. James Hotel, located about 2 miles outside the town of Cimarron, New Mexico. How all of these people found this place is beyond me as it is in the middle of nowhere. But they, and many others (mostly outlaws) did find it, and 26 of them died here over the years in gunfights. You can still see bullet holes in the tin ceiling of the saloon. When the proprietor added hotel rooms above the saloon, he had to reinforce the floor so that the guests would not be inconvenienced (i.e. killed) by the exuberance of the saloon patrons below. Wyatt Earp and his brother Morgan met up with Doc Holiday here, on their way to Tombstone where everything turned out OK a few days later. Buffalo Bill met Annie Oakley here for the first time and offered a position in his wild west show over dinner in the hotel restaurant. Zane Grey wrote his novel Fighting Caravans while staying in room 22.

From Cimarron, it is just a couple of hours to Taos, where we spent the night. We stayed in an upscale hippie-inspired resort/spa/healing center where everyone spoke in slow soothing voices. The room was really nice and Carol enjoyed the pool and hot tub, and we had a fireplace in our room. The town of Taos, itself, was a bit of a disappointment to me. I really can't see what the big deal is, other than as a jumping off point to all of the really cool places to see in the vicinity. Places like Taos Pueblo which really was worth the visit. We took the high road from Taos to Santa Fe and stopped off at another Pueblo (pueblo means Indian community) and a couple of historic old chapels, including the Santuario do Chimayo - a very special place.