Red River

We did go up to Red River this weekend. Packed the small RV with food and stuff and even managed to get the bicycles in. We had lunch at Michael's Kitchen in Taos, which was very yummy, some of the best chile ever, an old favorite place to stop in Toas, and arrived in Red River late afternoon, where we met Cyndi's sister, Janey, and Ron.

We stayed at the Roadrunner RV Resort Park on the opposite end of town. The lodge office is very nice and well-staffed and the entrance is gated. We drove up and we were able to get a space without a reservation next to Janey and Ron along the river, near the showers, where we hooked up everything you could possibly hook up. I started a little charcoal in a grill, and we picnicked by the river, eating hamburgers and fruit and cheese, with a little wine and Fat Tire.

It was an okay place. Once you get beyond the entrance, I don't think I'd describe the place as a resort. Lots of trees (and the river, of course) and RVers seem to flock to the place. There is no tent camping. It's close to town, and the town runs a free trolley for all visitors but we never took advantage of that. The inlaws love this place, and the boys had plenty of space to ride their bikes, meet some other children, and explore some rocks and woodpiles with their new friends. Our place was next to the only road over the river to the back part of the park and there was a constant slow traffic of diesel engines. Our Class B converted van was the tiniest there. Lots of Class A and C RVs, travel trailers and 5th Wheels, as Jackson tells me. He knows his RV classifications.

Red River itself is tucked in a narrow valley along the river, and is mostly about a two-mile stretch of shops along the main street. The architecture is a mix of western mining clapboards and Alpine A frames. There's a rather popular bike rally here at some time in the year, so the town is very Harley-friendly. In the winter there's skiing right at the edge of the main street, and in summer there's some small amusements and lots of hiking and fishing. It wasn't crowded our weekend. The town must be hurting from the state of the economy.

The boys played along the river and even did some fishing right by our spot along the bank and from the bridge. Jackson played a lot with a boy from Texas. Both boys bicycled a lot, Ry most of all since this was the first time he could manage his new, bigger bike on his own. He wore his helmet. Ry spun out on his bike and skinned his knee. He managed to keep his bike under control, however, and it was more like he laid it down, at the cost of one knee. There was also a small playground.

In the morning there was coffee and hot chocolate. (We brought our grinder and coffee maker with us.) After breakfast along the river, we went for a good but short hike in town with a group and a guide from the Community House. Along a nice trail on both sides of the river, paved on the town side and gravel on the mountain side, we got some lessons in the history and natural history of the place. It ended at a little museum. We visited a small coffee shop nearby for kolaches, smoothies, and espressos. Jackson found a necklace for Janey. After the hike, we went fishing at a pond at Fawn Lakes in the national forest and visited another pond in town but at that point it was raining and lightning so we went back to the RV park. I managed a nap, while everyone else drove in Ron's truck to Eagle Nest, and Ry took a nap along the way.

Cyndi and Janey snuck away for some good hikes, bike rides, and little tours of shops on the main street, and Ron was often upriver to find fishing holes, especially in the wee hours of the morning while the rest of us slept.

Dinner was about the same. We finally did manage to pop the Jiffy Pop just as it turned dark. In the morning, more bicycling, more fishing, more hiking, more shopping tours. The boys and I played a little on the tennis court.

The weekend was hot and dry for the most part. Even Taos was in the mid 90s. Along the way on Friday we made a small detour to check out camping at Orilla Verde, along the river near Pilar, just below the gorge. Along the way back on Sunday, we stopped at the fish hatchery outside Questa to try their pond in the mid-day sun and feed the fish at the visitor's center. Then we stopped again in Taos for shave ice (just expensive snow cones there) and in Santa Fe at Bumblebees for burritos and tacos. Of course, we stopped at Toyopolis for lego toys and there was a quick five minutes at J Crew, our usual stops in Santa Fe. But this time, we didn't visit the plaza and just headed home.

We had wifi available at the park, but we didn't use it much and didn't miss it. Jackson did figure out how he can use his IPod Touch to send text messages, even though it's not a phone, while waiting for the guided hike to begin. My phone had no service in northern New Mexico and so it wasn't until we reached Espanola that I got Ariel's message that she was seated at the theater at the Lincoln Center to see A Disappearing Number.