Jamie and I were attending our 12th family reunion together. Her family has a big get together each year in Red River NM. It is always a great time and a wonderful time to catch up with family. As always the food was good and the catching up was even better.
Jamie and Megan left a few days prior. They always help granny get the weekend prepped. This is actually the hard work. The easy part is when we all show up and eat and drink with no worries. These early days are the hard work that make for such good reunions.
Alec and Riley actually flew in together from Denver. They did not know they were on the same flight it just worked out that way. They arrived on Wednesday.
Jacob and I had headed out on Wednesday afternoon. We drove to Tucumcari NM and stayed the evening. We had a very uneventful drive. It was a good day and we knew that the next morning we would be in the mountain air. Cooler temps were ahead. Family, food and fun was calling. It would be a great weekend.
Jacob and I got up and drove into Las Vegas NM for a good breakfast. We had to get rid of the bad taste we had left over from our dinner the night before. We at at Dell’s in Tucumcari and it was not a good experience. The food settled like a rock. We were looking for true red chili and we were greatly disappointed. We looked to erase that experience with a great meal in Las Vegas NM. We were NOT disappointed! the breakfast at Charlie’s Spic n Span was amazing! The red chili and the eggs, the service and that laid back NM attitude was just what the doctor ordered.
As we finished breakfast we decided that we would run up to the ski lodge at Sipapu NM. I love this part of the country and since we were not in a rush, it would be a nice side destination. Jacob had never been there so it was someplace new for him. We enjoyed the drive up to the lodge and just took our time to do a little site seeing.
As we were getting ready to leave the lodge, Jamie and the kids did not leave Albuquerque until almost 11am, so we had some time to burn. Since we have the new Jeep, we decided that a little exploration would be fun. We looked on the GPS and decided on NM 76. It was only 23 miles long and would drop us off in Eagle Nest NM. What could go wrong? haha.
We started off and the road was not bad at all. Just a rough forest road. Well about 10 miles into it I wondered if I had made a mistake. It got very rough, lots of rocks and to top it off it started to rain. It was very slow going. It took us almost 3 hours to drive the 23 miles. I have to say that it was a good test for the JK. The stock tires were truly tested and the Jeep performed flawlessly. I don;t know if I would do it alone again, but it was a lot of fun. You can see a video from someone doing the road a few years back here.
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| This is not too bad… but wait |
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| Then the rains came… |
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| Jacob was tired of the rough ride.. |
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| It was a beautiful day for some sight seeing.. |
We finished the trek into Red River with no issue. We enjoyed a great dinner and caught up with family. It was a good day.
Friday we woke up to cool temps and clean fresh mountain air. We enjoyed another day with the family. We got to do some off roading with all of the kids and we enjoyed family. It is what I feel weekends were intended for. I really wish I could bottle up the day. It was filled with laughter and joy and a day that I will not forget in a long time.
We finished up the weekend enjoying family, good food and telling awesome stories. The girls had a great evening out together at the local watering hole. I love that the family makes those types of memories each year. Those memories will be with all of us for the rest of our days. I love that Alec and I have been absorbed within this wonderful family. We are proud to be a part of this loving and caring family.
Here are more pics from the weekend.
