February is about the time where I start feeling vacation time withdrawals. In part because of the Holidays are over, but mostly because 1st quarter of the year is the busiest at work and as a Girl Scout Leader (among of course a billion other things).

So this year we decided to go on a roadtrip to New Mexico for a few days of fun with friends. When you are going on vacation with friends it’s terribly important to make sure you go with the right friends, as you are going to be living with them for a few days, compatibility, likes and dislikes, and the rules and expectations around kids need to be similar of else it could spell recipe for disaster…

So in this case, I must say it was perfect combo!

Roadtrip started in the afternoon, we left Austin with a packed car, lots of snacks and we were having fun listening to music, Carolina watching a movie on her TV, I was checking in on foursquare as we passed little towns… and then it had to happen, flat tire in the dark middle of nowhere road we were on, joy!

Ok maybe I exaggerated, we were near Brownwood, TX 3hrs in to our roadtrip! So pulling over on the side of the road holding Carolina’s pink flashlight (As I knew exactly where that one was) to help Hubby see a bit… and this is when Southern hospitality is of its finest, and the deeper in the heart of Texas the better!
Thank you dear sweet college student who helped hubby change tire as I was useless after I jammed my finger with a nice deep cut… Anywhoo so we are fine and dandy and in the mood for a huge margarita at this point!

Spare tire we drive to the Walmart, it’s past 8pm so no such luck, there is no way we can drive another 5 hrs to the hotel where we were going to stay, so we camp in Brownwood at La Quinta for a night. By the time we got organized Chili’s is closed, so no Margaritas for us… I tell you I wasn’t feeling good about this trip at all 😉  But a little someone was extremely happy to eat dinner at McDs.

Refreshed the next morning the Saga to find the tire we needed for my Murano continues…

We finally get it all straightened… Carolina is having a blast eating Texas size waffles and I just have to join in the amusement.

We went through so many little towns on our way, some with funny names such as “Stink Creek” that was followed by a town called “Sweet Water”. I of course continued to check in to Foursquare to see or route, my favorite parts however were all the windmills  of the Windfarms we got to see throughout several towns. Amazing how big they are when you are up so close to them!

It felt like forever but we made it out of Texas, into New Mexico and finally reached the cabin in Ruidoso to be reunited with our good friends!

The Cabin is huge and gorgeous, no snow around, but it still has beautiful views of the snow covered mountains that we’d be skiing on the next few days.

The girls made the whole upstairs big room their home! They seemed to find a place for every nook and cranny in that room that had 3 sets of bunk beds with pull out beds, 2 TVs, their own balcony, fireplace and lots and lots of room for play. I think they seemed to have the best time in the cabin 😉

First things first dinner and drinks at El Camino Nuevo retelling our adventure to make it to Ruidoso and well now that it’s over just great laughs!

The Next day, up the mountain we went for a day of skiing. The Girls got a beginner’s class, it was a bit windy and I don’t think the instructor was really meant to give classes to kids, he wasn’t very good at it…

The girls soon got toppled over by the wind with a domino effect and it was a little funny to see it, but it was no fun to help all 10 kids get up again as it was hard.

After about 30-40 mins the girls did not want to be in the lesson anymore, so we decided to go up to the cafeteria and eat some lunch.

Soon after we had to make it home, it got extra windy and with the lack of snow, skiing on ice was no fun for anyone, the girls were tired and not happy so we called it a day and headed back to the cabin to rest and have a nice dinner and drinks.  

On the menu for the 1st night the grill masters (Omar, Marco and Carlos) made us some nice juicy steaks!  Hilda made us her famous martinis which we called “Ruidoso-tinis” the guys made a fire and we hung out comfy in our pjs just enjoying time and conversation while the girls were having a blast in their play area.A nice end to a busy day.

The next morning it was nice and sunny. The wind had gone away so Jennie & Omar decided to head back up the mountain for some skiing, while us 2 families with the kiddos decided to head over to the winter park for a day of tubing and playing in the snow!

The rest of the story can be told in pics!

After such a fun day playing in the snow and tubing, we surely had to have some Paella and a rack of ribs, made slowly in the oven and finished off on the grill, talk about finger licking good! Accompanied with some wine and ruidoso-tinis, followed by sitting by the fire listening to music. As much fun as I have during the day… I love the nights by the fire relaxing.

On our last day we toured around the quaint town of Ruidoso. Stopped in all the stores, did wine tastings, cheese tastings, antiques viewing…

Last night in the cabin, we had a great time for sure… The next morning we woke up to a beautiful WinterWonderland that was a bit of a challenge to get out of… but once we left the  cabin areas was an ok ride back home!