Red River, NM.

Good, fun trip.....once we got there and once we got home. Great to see family, great to see Little A ski for the first time and to see Big E ski faster than me...down some BLACK runs, no less! BUT, I'm not convinced 28 hours in the car is a balanced trade-off for 12 hours of skiing. Perhaps you've asked yourself "How many Dairy Queens are there between Austin and Red River?". I lost count by the time we got to Abilene, but let me assure you that you will never be far from a Dilly Bar. Or perhaps you've asked yourself "Just how big is West Texas?". Once again, let me assure you....it's darn big. I learned not to take gas stations for granted. Under the impression that gas stations, due to some oil and gas phenomenon, naturally occur ever 20 -30 miles we were in great jeopardy of being stranded since this isn't necessarily the case, especially at night in west Texas. The car was running on fumes and sheer will (I'm sure my intense pushing and squeezing on the steering wheel is what gave us the little extra oomph we needed to coast into the gas station after an hour of saying "Surely the NEXT town will have an open gas station"). Who knew sheer will was combustible? All in all, I'm glad we went. The view of the foothills as we drove out of the mountains just after sunset with the crescent moon rising over the hills and Venus beside it against a royal blue sky....great ending to a great weekend.