No particular reason. I just don't. But I have brought it up. So we talk. A light snow powders the mountain between Taos and Angel Fire, a preview of things to come.
Icicles hang from the eaves of cabins built along the two-lane highway.
The road is dry, but a rust-colored snow blankets the shoulder, evidence of sanding crews keeping the road passable. At the end of the switchback descent into the Moreno Valley, the road straightens. Its slim white silhouette slices upward from the earth, reaching for the brilliant mountain sky. Dr. Victor Westphall began building it five days after his son, David, a Marine Corps infantry officer, was killed in Vietnam on May 22, 1968. In 1971, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Angel Fire was dedicated.