On Friday I had a very familiar and favorite drive, the road between Taos and Raton, NM.  Trinidad, CO is right over the ridge line, and the CO/NM border, from Raton.

A long steady climb up Taos Canyon to the east takes you into a gigantic mountain valley with Angel Fire Ski Area at one end and Eagle Nest, NM at the other.

Besides numerous short stops to just get out of the truck and look and listen, I made two longer stops, one intentional the other impromptu.  Both are different kinds of silent stories.

When I was traveling through here regularly I remember that there were already signs about a Viet Nam Memorial.  Turns out my memory was good (this time), but what is here today is very different from what it was back then.

In 1982, a local Dr. built a chapel on this site as a memorial to his son and 12 other servicemen, and one service woman, who all died in the same battle in Viet Nam in May of 1968.  Over the years, with the Doc’s passing, the family turned the site over to the DAV with blessings for a new plan for the site.

The new site flows through a terrace area, down through and amphitheater, and to a chapel that kinda soars both inside and out.  The whole site overlooks the valley.  This was an emotional stop.

Angel Fire is one of the towns that went from ski area to town.  The towns of Eagle Nest and Cimarron look just like they did 30 years ago.  Maybe a few more people live up here now, but not many more.  A great day on the road.  Only a handful left now.