I honestly don't even know how detailed I'm going to make this. It wasn't like one of our big national park trips, nor was it like a trip to Disney. Still, I took some pics and stuff happened, so why not share?
If you followed my recent rD TR, you know I always follow the weather. If you followed my 2015/2016 TR, then you also know that driving in snow puts me in a panic. I haven't lived in an area that gets real winter in decades and I never had to do much driving in the white stuff, so it really freaks me out. I spent a good 2 weeks stalking the weather forecast while also stalking the ski town's web cams to see just how quickly the roads clear after a snow storm. https://www.redriverskiarea.com/winter/lessons/teen-adult-lessons/ Had I known then what I know now, I should have also been checking the state's road conditions website and cameras. I won't go too far into it right now, but living in the south, you really don't need AWD or 4WD unless you do a lot of hunting and off road activities. Unlike the norther states, RWD is the standard down here, so no benefits either of having a FWD vehicle. I didn't go into this totally unprepared either...1. I have M+S tires on my vehicle 2. After skiing in CA, I made sure to buy tire chains just in case we needed them. Unlike CA, NM doesn't require you to have them on board, but seeing the conditions where CA requires them...I knew my tires might not be enough.
Well, before I get to all of that, here are the details...
Who- Me and the Family (Sandy, David, Kendall and Sam)
Where- Red River, NM
When- February 1-7 (if you count the road trip travel portions)
What- Probably self explanatory, but you may be interested to know that I don't ski or snowboard. I have...I just don't enjoy it, and with the running goals I may be setting, I really didn't want to risk breaking anything.
After getting the doggies to boarding bright and early on the 1st (they open at 7am!), we added some air to my tires and then hit the road. This was the plan for the day...
...because I just couldn't handle driving all of this in just one day. I really don't think any of us could.
We were on the road for about 2 hours when I was asked to stop for a bathroom break. We had just passed an exit with a Buc-ee's, but I wasn't turning around. Buc-ee's is kind of a Texas staple. The bathrooms are immaculate and they always have all kinds of incredible goodies if you need a snack. If this is all new to you, just know, if you see the logo below...it's where you should stop.
Unfortunately, since I wasn't told in time, we decided to stop an exit or two up and try Woody's instead.
I was a little skeptical, but David noted that they are the "Jerky Capital of the World" and they had locations on both the north and southbound sides, so they have to be doing something right. We walked in and can I just say- WOW! Buc-cee's is still incredible, but Woody's had all sorts of things I've never seen at Buc-cee's.
If I weren't afraid of getting sick on the road, I might have chanced it and gotten a boudin filled kolache.
I think this is their novelty smoker (and yes, the gun is smoking). I swear, only in Texas.
It was just a quick stop, because we had a TON of ground to cover.
I wasn't sure what we'd be seeing for meal stops between Ft. Worth and Amarillo, so we decided to stop for lunch in Ft. Worth. David wanted to try something different, but it wound up being a smoky bar. So, we just stopped at a Cheddars, and he and the kids indulged in buttery croissants.
Lunch wasn't overly exciting, but it hit the spot. I recall getting the sirloin and while it was a bit too peppery for my tastes, it was cooked perfectly.
We hit the road again and once I became confident that we'd make it to Amarillo, I went onto one of my travel apps and booked lodging. I've never been to Amarillo before, so I wasn't really sure where we wanted to stay. I had thought about staying near the Big Texan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Texan_Steak_Ranch but it was a Saturday night, and I'm sure it would be all out insanity to get in. Plus, we'd been driving all day and it just was more chaos than we wanted after a long day of driving. So, I picked an Embassy Suites that seemed to be along the route we'd have to go through the middle of Amarillo.
We had a lovely sunset as we got closer to our stop.
Various parts of Texas also have a ton of massive wind farms. We passed some on our way in, after the sun set. It's kind of mesmerizing watching their red lights flash in unison. Hey, it's better than some of the stink we'd experience along the way. I'm still not 100% sure as to what it was, but we drove through a spot where it wreaked like a diaper pail that had been festering in the sun for days. I read news articles about how some nearby feed plants and tanneries were creating horrible smells, so maybe that's what it was. It did have a barnyard type smell to it after we vented the vehicle for a bit.
The flashing red lights gave way to the glow of Amarillo. It's not a huge city, but it is growing. Having grown up outside of NYC and living in Houston for over 20 years, I was taken off guard by the road we turned onto being one of the main routes through downtown. It was also the road where we'd find out hotel...now if we could just find parking! There was a surprising amount of traffic and people in formal attire as we drove up to the Embassy Suites. We'd later find out that there was a large wedding taking place at the hotel. We'd also find out that the hotel doesn't offer any kind of parking, but that we could park on the street (if we could find anything) OR pay to park in an adjacent garage. At least they let us temporarily park up front to unload all of our luggage. I'm not a light packer, and I tend to go overboard when it's a cold weather trip. Some guy even audibly remarked "that's a load" at the sight of our luggage cart. Thanks.
We settled into the room and rested for a bit.
(wallpaper is actually a topographical map of the area)
Not that I wanted a view, but we were looking out on the front of the hotel.
Sam and I went out to return the luggage cart and explore a bit.
I've stayed at a number of Embassy Suites over the years and while none of them were bad, this is probably the nicest I've been to.
We went back up afterwards to discuss dinner. David resorted to parking in the parking garage, so we were thinking we'd find someplace in walking distance. I found a spot that didn't look like it was too far, so we headed out. We were hit with the smell of barnyard poop (something we also smelled upon arrival). We still aren't 100% on this, but we think the bride and groom must have shown up on their horses for their reception. The front walk areas of the hotel had all been hosed down, so that was our only explanation. Oh well, we started walking towards the restaurant, but we got spooked.
1. There was nobody walking around...or really driving in that area, for that matter.
2. The one person we did see suddenly put on his hood as he approached us and tightened it around his face, to the point that most of his face was obscured.
After booking it, I'd read that the hotel sometimes has homeless people wind up in their lobby and creating issues, so we just didn't want any problems. Sooooo, we headed to the garage...paid $2 for the hour or so we were parked there, and drove 3.5 blocks to the restaurant. Even that was kind of spooky. We found a spot on the street right behind the restaurant. It was the last spot in this area. Suddenly, this car pulls in behind me and gets right up on my bumper. As I got out of my vehicle, I see that it's a young woman behind the wheel. A tall man suddenly approached and got in with her. I saw him get out a minute later, just before we went inside, and then the girl sped away. Not sure if it was a drug deal or what, but it was odd.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coming up- Dinner at Six Car Pub and Brewery and the drive to Red River.
If you followed my recent rD TR, you know I always follow the weather. If you followed my 2015/2016 TR, then you also know that driving in snow puts me in a panic. I haven't lived in an area that gets real winter in decades and I never had to do much driving in the white stuff, so it really freaks me out. I spent a good 2 weeks stalking the weather forecast while also stalking the ski town's web cams to see just how quickly the roads clear after a snow storm. https://www.redriverskiarea.com/winter/lessons/teen-adult-lessons/ Had I known then what I know now, I should have also been checking the state's road conditions website and cameras. I won't go too far into it right now, but living in the south, you really don't need AWD or 4WD unless you do a lot of hunting and off road activities. Unlike the norther states, RWD is the standard down here, so no benefits either of having a FWD vehicle. I didn't go into this totally unprepared either...1. I have M+S tires on my vehicle 2. After skiing in CA, I made sure to buy tire chains just in case we needed them. Unlike CA, NM doesn't require you to have them on board, but seeing the conditions where CA requires them...I knew my tires might not be enough.
Well, before I get to all of that, here are the details...
Who- Me and the Family (Sandy, David, Kendall and Sam)
Where- Red River, NM
When- February 1-7 (if you count the road trip travel portions)
What- Probably self explanatory, but you may be interested to know that I don't ski or snowboard. I have...I just don't enjoy it, and with the running goals I may be setting, I really didn't want to risk breaking anything.
After getting the doggies to boarding bright and early on the 1st (they open at 7am!), we added some air to my tires and then hit the road. This was the plan for the day...
...because I just couldn't handle driving all of this in just one day. I really don't think any of us could.
We were on the road for about 2 hours when I was asked to stop for a bathroom break. We had just passed an exit with a Buc-ee's, but I wasn't turning around. Buc-ee's is kind of a Texas staple. The bathrooms are immaculate and they always have all kinds of incredible goodies if you need a snack. If this is all new to you, just know, if you see the logo below...it's where you should stop.
Unfortunately, since I wasn't told in time, we decided to stop an exit or two up and try Woody's instead.
I was a little skeptical, but David noted that they are the "Jerky Capital of the World" and they had locations on both the north and southbound sides, so they have to be doing something right. We walked in and can I just say- WOW! Buc-cee's is still incredible, but Woody's had all sorts of things I've never seen at Buc-cee's.
If I weren't afraid of getting sick on the road, I might have chanced it and gotten a boudin filled kolache.
I think this is their novelty smoker (and yes, the gun is smoking). I swear, only in Texas.
It was just a quick stop, because we had a TON of ground to cover.
I wasn't sure what we'd be seeing for meal stops between Ft. Worth and Amarillo, so we decided to stop for lunch in Ft. Worth. David wanted to try something different, but it wound up being a smoky bar. So, we just stopped at a Cheddars, and he and the kids indulged in buttery croissants.
Lunch wasn't overly exciting, but it hit the spot. I recall getting the sirloin and while it was a bit too peppery for my tastes, it was cooked perfectly.
We hit the road again and once I became confident that we'd make it to Amarillo, I went onto one of my travel apps and booked lodging. I've never been to Amarillo before, so I wasn't really sure where we wanted to stay. I had thought about staying near the Big Texan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Texan_Steak_Ranch but it was a Saturday night, and I'm sure it would be all out insanity to get in. Plus, we'd been driving all day and it just was more chaos than we wanted after a long day of driving. So, I picked an Embassy Suites that seemed to be along the route we'd have to go through the middle of Amarillo.
We had a lovely sunset as we got closer to our stop.
Various parts of Texas also have a ton of massive wind farms. We passed some on our way in, after the sun set. It's kind of mesmerizing watching their red lights flash in unison. Hey, it's better than some of the stink we'd experience along the way. I'm still not 100% sure as to what it was, but we drove through a spot where it wreaked like a diaper pail that had been festering in the sun for days. I read news articles about how some nearby feed plants and tanneries were creating horrible smells, so maybe that's what it was. It did have a barnyard type smell to it after we vented the vehicle for a bit.
The flashing red lights gave way to the glow of Amarillo. It's not a huge city, but it is growing. Having grown up outside of NYC and living in Houston for over 20 years, I was taken off guard by the road we turned onto being one of the main routes through downtown. It was also the road where we'd find out hotel...now if we could just find parking! There was a surprising amount of traffic and people in formal attire as we drove up to the Embassy Suites. We'd later find out that there was a large wedding taking place at the hotel. We'd also find out that the hotel doesn't offer any kind of parking, but that we could park on the street (if we could find anything) OR pay to park in an adjacent garage. At least they let us temporarily park up front to unload all of our luggage. I'm not a light packer, and I tend to go overboard when it's a cold weather trip. Some guy even audibly remarked "that's a load" at the sight of our luggage cart. Thanks.
We settled into the room and rested for a bit.
(wallpaper is actually a topographical map of the area)
Not that I wanted a view, but we were looking out on the front of the hotel.
Sam and I went out to return the luggage cart and explore a bit.
I've stayed at a number of Embassy Suites over the years and while none of them were bad, this is probably the nicest I've been to.
We went back up afterwards to discuss dinner. David resorted to parking in the parking garage, so we were thinking we'd find someplace in walking distance. I found a spot that didn't look like it was too far, so we headed out. We were hit with the smell of barnyard poop (something we also smelled upon arrival). We still aren't 100% on this, but we think the bride and groom must have shown up on their horses for their reception. The front walk areas of the hotel had all been hosed down, so that was our only explanation. Oh well, we started walking towards the restaurant, but we got spooked.
1. There was nobody walking around...or really driving in that area, for that matter.
2. The one person we did see suddenly put on his hood as he approached us and tightened it around his face, to the point that most of his face was obscured.
After booking it, I'd read that the hotel sometimes has homeless people wind up in their lobby and creating issues, so we just didn't want any problems. Sooooo, we headed to the garage...paid $2 for the hour or so we were parked there, and drove 3.5 blocks to the restaurant. Even that was kind of spooky. We found a spot on the street right behind the restaurant. It was the last spot in this area. Suddenly, this car pulls in behind me and gets right up on my bumper. As I got out of my vehicle, I see that it's a young woman behind the wheel. A tall man suddenly approached and got in with her. I saw him get out a minute later, just before we went inside, and then the girl sped away. Not sure if it was a drug deal or what, but it was odd.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coming up- Dinner at Six Car Pub and Brewery and the drive to Red River.
🌨❄
I wish we could have a true summer vacation this year, but I think we may be hitting a new era in travel with school and softball. So, things are going to change. Still, I have a good 7 or 8 trips stored up in my brain that may become reality at some point.