Well, It's Not a Diamondback

These were the comforting words from my friend Mary Beth when she checked out the snake that had me paralyzed while hiking down the mountain in front of our rental in Taos. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to identify this snake--if you can see it cleverly camouflaged in the photo.

The house we're staying in referenced the hike as a "challenging trail," and we enjoyed making our way down to the river at the bottom. Ted especially enjoyed the challenge of crossing the river on the make-shift bridge and throwing a few rocks into the rapids.

The hike up was met with a little more difficulty--we're accustomed to hiking in an elevation of about 100 ft in Boston.

On the way down we saw both beautiful and unusual views...

What a great way to start the day!