Red River Trip

For my winter vacation, I traveled to Red River, NM with my mother, sister, and wife. It was a pleasant trip, though disappointing for my wife because she was sick a majority of it. Nevertheless, Red River, NM continues to be a place that I will always enjoy visiting for skiing and sightseeing.

I ended up skiing for 3 days (Monday - Wednesday). The first day was a good refresher, and we ended up going to the ski top (red chair lift) within the first couple of hours - something surprising because my wife had never skied before, and she picked up skiing in no time flat. The green slopes were fine for the most part, but there were a couple of treacherous parts that required one to be fearless to not fall when trying to descend. The last bit of Monday involved me and Courtney going back to the top of the mountain and trying some more dangerous (albeit exhilarating) blues.

The second day started off with just my sister and mother (Melissa was too sick and tired to come up with us). My mom didn’t get any chance to practice before going up, so she had her share of spills coming down. After one flight down, just Courtney and myself went back up top. We tried more blues and shed our fear of speed on the slopes. The afternoon I spent alone taking some of the more dangerous blue slopes (Copper Toll Road and Boomtown). Had only one spill, but I definitely had to manage speed down those slopes.

Our final day was a half day, but it was almost all blues. We started with our usual Green Acres and Crackerjack, but we also tried a few additional, untraveled slopes. Those would be:

  • Golden Treasure
  • True Grit
  • Bobcat
  • Main Street

True Grit was definitely an untraveled slope because it was extremely powdery and had no pre-groomed paths. It was one of those for more experienced skiers, or ones that have no fear. The biggest problem I had was figuring out how to control my speed when there was no flat slopes whatsoever. I ended up spilling once (intentionally) when I started to get too much speed (out-of-control speed).

In general, the skiing on the slopes of Red River is phenomenal. At the bottom of the slope (beginner blue and gold lifts), it’s extremely packed. However, if you’re adventurous to get onto the red and copper lifts, you’ll be pleasantly surprised that the traffic is not too bad. For the most part, there’s an even split of about half inexperienced/new skiers and half experienced/expert skiers. If considering an ideal place to go skiing for the first (or subsequent times), Red River is an excellent place to do so.

Reviews

There are several places that we visited (food and other establishments) that were worth reviews.

Old Tymer’s Café

6.0 out of 10.0

When we first arrived, we searched for a place to get some grub. Texas Reds Steakhouse had an hour and a half to two hour wait - something we weren’t willing to wait for. So, we headed over to Old Tymer’s Café because it didn’t seem too packed and looked to serve something other than just burgers and fries (note: a third of the restaurants here are bars that serve only burgers).

Service started out really slow (approx. 10 minute wait before our waitress came to get our drink order). My mother ordered a burger and I split a Chicken Fried Chicken with Melissa. The food didn’t take too long to get to our table, and the serving of the Chicken Fried Chicken was pretty large. However, when Melissa ordered a cup of soup to supplement her share, the waitress kept forgetting about it.

In short, the foot was delicious, but the service was slow and shotty. Thus, I’m giving this restaurant a 6.0 out of 10.0 stars.

Tia Buena

4.5 out of 10.0

This was one of the first mexican food restaurants that we saw and figured it was a good place to try out. When walking in, it was a cozy little shack attached to the side of a ski rental place. Nice furniture and nice ladies to serve us. However, they were short on a couple of items that seemed the most appealing. The price was okay, but compared to the quality of the food, it was pretty bad.

Here’s the bad in a nutshell: microwave restaurant. Their food was cooked primarily in a microwave, at least while we were there. They could have pre-cooked the pork and steak on an actual grill or a crock-pot. However, the flavor of the food was rather bland (especially the rice and potatoes), it was far too runny, and the ladies seem to misunderstand that lettuce does not get heat up with food. Thus, this restaurant gets only a 4.5 out of 10.0.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

6.5 out of 10.0

Compared to other Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factories that I’ve been do, this one was rather tiny and disappointing. They had an okay selection of different candies, but there was no fudge to be had. Sad. 6.5 out of 10.0.

Onota Bakery & Coffee Haus

9.0 out of 10.0

This place reminds me of a coffee house on College Station I frequent (Sweet Eugene’s). They had an acceptable selection of different pastries and choices of coffee. More importantly, the atmosphere was really comfortable and felt like a place that I could just chill out for several hours reading a book (something I don’t do frequently, hah!).

The food was pretty good (I loved their scones), and the coffee was superb. 9.0 out of 10.0.

Texas Reds Steakhouse & Saloon

7.0 out of 10.0

If I could give food quality alone a rating, it would be a 9.0 out of 10.0. However, since the experience at a restaurant is important. This is where Texas Reds fails. They didn’t have the Prime Rib ready by the time that we came. This was fine, as we were willing to try something else. However, after ordering, my mom and sister were told that their particular steak was not available (filet mignon). Additionally, the appetizer came out with substituted items because the ones originally listed were also out. The waitress’ demeanor was that of her not caring.

When the food came out, it was absolutely delicious. But, the attitude of the waitress and the lack of food made me a bit upset. Thus, 7.0 out of 10.0.