Taos - American Southwest - page 221

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During your visit to the pueblo you will have the opportunity to purchase traditional
fried and oven-baked bread as well as a variety of arts and crafts. If you would like to try
traditional feast-day meals, the Tiwa Kitchen, near the entrance to the pueblo, is a good
place to stop. Close to Tiwa Kitchen is the Oo-oonah Children's Art Center, where you
can see the creative works of pueblo children.
As with many of the other pueblos in New Mexico, Taos Pueblo has opened a casino.
Taos Mountain Casino ( & 888/WIN-TAOS [946-8267]; www.taosmountaincasino.
com) is on the main road to Taos Pueblo and features slot machines, blackjack, and
poker.
Note: To learn more about the pueblo and its people, I highly recommend taking a
30-minute guided tour. Ask upon arrival when the next one will be given and where you
should meet your guide. Plan to spend 2 or more hours here.
Veterans Hwy. (P.O. Box 1846), Taos Pueblo. (From Paseo del Pueblo Norte, travel north 2 miles on Veter-
ans Hwy.) & 575/758-1028. www.taospueblo.com. Admission cost, as well as camera, video, and
sketching fees, subject to change on a yearly basis; be sure to ask about telephoto lenses and digital
cameras; photography not permitted on feast days. Daily 8am-4:30pm, with a few exceptions. Guided
tours available. Closed for 45 consecutive days every year late winter or early spring (call ahead). Also,
because this is a living community, you can expect periodic closures.

MORE ATTRACTIONS
D. H. Lawrence Ranch A trip to this ranch north of Taos leads you into odd realms
of devotion for the controversial early-20th-century author who lived and wrote in the
area in the early '20s. A short uphill walk from the ranch home (not open to visitors) is
the D. H. Lawrence Memorial, a little white shrine, adorned inside by his favorite sym-
bol, a rising phoenix. The guest book is interesting: One couple wrote of trying for 24
years to get here from England.
NM 522, San Cristobal. & 575/776-2245. Free admission. Daily 8am-5pm. To reach the site, head north
from Taos about 15 miles on NM 522, and then another 6 miles east into the forested Sangre de Cristo
Range via a well-marked dirt road.

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Harwood Museum of Art of the University of New Mexico With its high
ceilings and broad wood floors, this museum is a lovely place to wander among New
Mexico-inspired images. A cultural and community center since 1923, the museum
displays paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, and photographs by Taos-area artists from
1800 to the present. Featured are paintings from the early days of the art colony by
members of the Taos Society of Artists, including Oscar Berninghaus, Ernest Blumen-
schein, Herbert Dunton, Victor Higgins, Bert Phillips, and Walter Ufer. Also included
are works by Emil Bisttram, Andrew Dasburg, Agnes Martin, Larry Bell, and Thomas
Benrimo.
Upstairs are 19th-century pounded-tin pieces and retablos, religious paintings of saints
that have traditionally been used for decoration and inspiration in the homes and
churches of New Mexico. The permanent collection includes sculptures by Patrociño
Barela, one of the leading Hispanic artists of 20th-century New Mexico. It's well worth
seeing, especially his 3-foot-tall Death Cart, a rendition of Doña Sebastiana, the bringer
of death.
The museum also schedules more than eight changing exhibitions a year, many of
which feature works by celebrated artists currently living in Taos.
238 Ledoux St. & 575/758-9826. www.harwoodmuseum.org. Admission $7, $6 seniors, free for
children 11 and under. Tues-Sat 10am-5pm; Sun noon-5pm.