Spring Break

Last week was spring break! I had an incredible time! A few numbers

• number of travelers to New Mexico: 16
• number of travelers from New Mexico: 17 (we picked up an extra)
• number of hours in the car: infinity (just kidding--the trip was probably 16 or 17 hours each way, plus travel time to our various locales)
• number of drivers: 14 (and thank goodness)
• number of pages in the liability waiver: 2 (two too many, I'd say)
• days skiing: 3
• number of hospitalizations/emergency room visits: 0!!!! (SUCCESS)
• days visiting Steve and Laura: 2
• games of Mafia played by the group: another infinity here (but seriously, we spent at least 4 hours in total playing Mafia on this trip)

We skiied at Sipapu, which is a pretty small ski area in northern New Mexico (about half an hour from Taos). The small size and odd timing meant that we mostly had the mountain to ourselves for the first couple of days, so that was good! 

Saturday

We left Brown at around 5:30 Saturday morning so that we could hope to get to our hotel before midnight (and this is with an hour's advantage). The car ride mostly consisted of a lot of sleeping and a lot of singing. We had one scare with one of the cars "running out of gas," but everybody made it to the fuel station just fine. :) 

Sunday

We went to visit Steve and Laura at their house (which was BEAUTIFUL). It was more a work of art than a house, and I now have a new life goal to live in a house like that. Steve led us on a fantastic hike up La Mesita, where we hiked up to the saddle (the place where the rocks collapsed thousands (millions?) of years ago.

Full disclosure, I didn't take this picture. Stolen from facebook. :)

The backyard of Steve and Laura's house. 

To me, this looked exactly like a topographical map. 

The view from the saddle of La Mesita.

Monday

Skiing began!

Again, snatched from facebook.

Most of the group was in lessons, but a few of us went up the mountain and started working on the blue trails. I, unfortunately, had a fit of my usual grace (ahem, meaning clumsiness) and fell and hurt myself. I took the afternoon off, though, and I was ready to go on...

Tuesday

More skiing! It was snowing this day. But this was not the light, fluffy, perfect snow one would imagine. Nope, it was more like pellets. Little hard icy pellets that sting your face as you're skiing. But, on the bright side, the snow meant we had a lot of fresh powder to work with!

Wednesday

The last day of skiing. Probably six of those who had been beginners at the start of the trip had already moved on to black slopes. I was impressed--I've never done a black slope in my life, and I've skiied thrice! It was a great end to the skiing portion of the trip. We were all exhausted enough that we might not have made it to a fourth day.

Thursday

We got to visit Steve and Laura--again! Some of us took the high road to Taos, and we stopped at a few churches along the way, including the two at Chimayo. They were so old, it's hard to believe they're still standing. Later that afternoon, a group of us went into Taos to peek in all of the schmancy art shops. We inadvertently discovered 1) a bookstore with two real live cats just hanging out (not to mention plenty of excellent books 2) a cat-themed coffee shop and 3) that the parking lot of the Taos community center is the most happening hang-out in town.

Thanks, facebook.

I think that's the Rio Grande.

As seen from the road to Taos.

St. Frances of Assisi Catholic Church just outside Taos.

In front of St. Frances.

Friday

The drive back. It was snowing when we left, but our Qualified Snow Drivers handled it beautifully and we were off the mountain without a hitch. We had one adventure on this leg of the journey: the Great Burrito Quest of 2012. Let's just say that one should not always trust an iPhone when the iPhone in question claims that the town of Madisonville, Texas is home to a Chipotle. (After that little fiasco, our food-choice privileges were revoked and the other cars took over.) 

I had an excellent time on this trip, and it was wonderful to get to know some new people from Brown. Here's hoping for a repeat next year! :D