Road Trip 2012 {Red River}

I was determined to blog about our Road Trip to Red River, New Mexico before 2012 ended.  Back in the summer before school started, I wrote about Santa Fe, our drive on the High Road from Taos to Santa Fe, and the first stop on road trip Amarillo, Texas and Route 66.  School started at the end of August, and I had very little free time after that.  The relentless pace of our fall schedule picked up and I rarely spent time on the computer, therefore I never completed sharing our road trip photos.  Here's the post about Taos. 

I hope I can remember most of the details of our fun and relaxing vacation.

We stayed in Red River for about a week.  We were fortunate to have a family friend who owns a condo there and we stayed at it.  We shared the condo with Mark's parents.  The boys loved having them with us and we were able to have a fun night out on Mark's birthday because they could watch Will and Ben.

One afternoon Mark and I decided to ride the ski lift to the top of the mountain and look around while Will and Ben stayed back with Jerry and Carol.  It was really sunny on the way up, but once we were on top of the mountain it started to thunder.  That made me really nervous so we didn't stay long.  We asked someone to take our photo before we headed back down the mountain.

The views from the ski lift were majestic.

One of the neatest memories from the vacation was a Native American dance in an open area near the shops at Red River.  I'm pretty sure they were called the Taos Pueblo dancers.

He was so talented.

Will and Ben posed for a photo with the dancers.  The people from this Native American tribe have won awards for their dancing and singing performances.

What was even cooler was that Will and Ben joined them for a big group dance!  I was surprised that Ben would join in, but he did since he could hold Will's hand.  Will and Ben are in the green and yellow and have their backs to us.  They had a blast!

After the dancing, there was an old-fashioned, Wild West gun fight.  Several days during the week there's a bank robbery and shoot out at Frye's Old Town.  It's local business owners and community members who do the performance.   I think we all agreed it was funny but mostly corny.  The boys really enjoyed it, and it attracted a pretty large crowd, but, in my opinion, the Native American dancers were the true highlight.

We had dinner one night at a local dive, The Dairy Bar.  I had the green chili stew.  It was amazing!

One day we met at the community center for a hike. 

Will, Ben and Jerry are waiting for the hike to begin. 

One of the stops on the hike.  This is the view from the bridge.

Ben is serious about his safety tips.

Carol, Ben, Jerry and Mark

One of the rustic buildings in Red River.

Will got a ride from Papaw.

It was Mark's birthday while we were on vacation so the boys made him a birthday cake. 

One of my favorite days was the day it rained and we didn't go anywhere.  I remember drinking hot tea and reading a book.  It was so relaxing.  That's what vacation should be!

I thought this was such a cute photo of Ben and Mamaw!

He loves his mamaw!  How sweet!

A few more of my favorite photos from my phone.

Mark on his birthday

We watched Hugo at the Community House on the night of his birthday.

Will and Ben the day before we left. 

View from our hike. 

One last view from our balcony. 

 Amazing scenery when we were driving into the mountains before we arrived in Red River.