Weekend Away!

We had planned to go on a "babymoon" out to Angel Fire, NM for 4-5 days.  Tim's boss has a cabin out there and it seemed like the perfect little last getaway before Robby gets here.  Well, we found out a few weeks ago that we weren't going to be able to do that due to some changes at work for Tim.  Then last week we found out that Tim wasn't going to be able to be off for Thanksgiving weekend either.  This threw a kink in our plans as we had already made plans to go to Arkansas for Thanksgiving then go to Branson for a few days with my family.  So needless to say, we were quite bummed about all of our travel plans being canceled.  Well, on Tuesday Tim called me and told me we were going to go to the cabin this weekend!  It wasn't going to be as long of a trip as we had originally planned, but he was going to get off a little early on Friday and we would head out there, spend the day there Saturday and head back Sunday.  I was grateful for any time away, especially because Tim has been pretty stressed and overwhelmed at work the last couple of weeks.

Tim got home about 2:30, we loaded up the pups and all our stuff and were on our way.

We missed the exit to a shorter way out (it turned out to be an ok thing) but Leo and Annie made sure to keep an eye on anyone around us.

We saw these on the way and Tim informed me this is where we were staying.  I called them murder cabins!  They just look like something out of a scary movie!

We ended up getting there around 7:00 New Mexico time.  It was already getting pretty dark and the dogs really needed to go out.  Since we couldn't really see what was outside and didn't know what kind of animals would be out there, Tim armed himself and took out the little stinkers!

My cowboy!  :-)

The cabin is up in the mountains, but there are other cabins around.  The best way to describe it is an unpaved, small subdivision of cabins in the woods.  On the little "road" where this cabin was there were 3 cabins built and one lot area that was in the process of being cleared.  After we unloaded and got the dogs settled, we went into town and ate dinner a little pizza place.  After that we headed back to just relax.  The next morning we got up and Tim and the dogs went out to explore.  

Leo LOVED running around and exploring.  I called him my little mountain dog all weekend!  He couldn't wait to go back outside any chance he got.

Annie felt great and was running around like she was made for the woods!!  

We headed to Taos which was about 30-40 minutes away.  We walked around some little shops and ate at a place that had an eclectic menu!  I took a picture of the menu and sent it to my brother.  I told him we were eating at his son's restaurant!

We headed back mid afternoon, stopped at the little market in Angel Fire, and went back to the cabin to relax.  

I loved having the blinds open and the sun streaming in.  It was a beautiful view on the outside and it made the inside feel so nice!

I loved looking down from the loft several times and seeing Tim just relaxing.  I'm glad he was able to take it easy and not think about anything work related.

Annie found a new little friend that she was quite interested in.  We had fun moving this little bear around to see her react to it!

Now, look in the background of this picture.  See Leo in action with his ball?  He did this ALL weekend long!  Tim would throw his ball up into the loft and Leo would scale up the stairs, get his ball, and run as fast as he could down the stairs back to Tim.  Leo LOVED the stairs!!

Saturday night Tim went outside on the wrap around deck then came back in and informed me there were a couple of elk in the partially cleared lot next to the cabin.  He grabbed the camera, I put on my shoes, and we headed out to see.  Then we looked around and saw 2 more in the little road area, then 2-3 more up behind some trees.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get great pictures since it was dark outside, but look for the little eyes that are glowing in the pictures below and their little white bottoms.  

Sunday morning we got up, cleaned the cabin and washed the sheets and towels.  I was on the couch waiting for the laundry to dry and Tim snapped a few pictures of me.  I was talking to Leo about how he had been a good boy this weekend!

After we had everything cleaned up we took some pictures of everything.  The cabin is just beautiful.  It's the kind of place that if they rented it out for people to use they could charge about $300 a night in the off season.  On the first floor is the kitchen, living room, dining room, laundry room, their girls' room, a guest room and a bathroom.  Upstairs is a little loft/landing area and the master suite.  There is a balcony off the master suite which was really nice.  We would just go out there and look up at the stars in the evenings.

We were waiting for the sheets to dry so the bed isn't made in these pictures!

View from the balcony.

Looking over to the living room from the loft.

We explored the area where the cabin was on Saturday evening, so Tim needed to get some pictures of the 4Runner after a little off roading!

Little did we know that wasn't the only time we were going to need to use the 4 wheel drive!  We went back home the way we had intended to come out but had missed our exit.  Apparently there is 9 miles of NM Hwy 120 that is unpaved!  And not just unpaved but pretty much just room for one vehicle and if you don't have an SUV you probably aren't going to make it!  Here are some pictures of that 9 miles.

It took us about 30 minutes to drive those 9 miles but Tim had the biggest grin on his face the entire time!  You would have thought he was a little kid on Christmas morning!  We were glad to be driving this on Sunday in the daylight instead of Friday at dusk.  We probably would have thought we were going the wrong way and turned around!  

We had a wonderful time and are so thankful we were able to use the cabin and get away just the two of us.  It was peaceful and just what we needed!