Taos

My family decided to go skiing in Taos, New Mexico this season. Another family/couples trip. Chris and I met my parents, Ginny and John in Albuquerque. Chris got our bags off the main carousel and I waited for our skis in the "oversized baggage" section. Chris's skis and boots came, but there was no sign of mine. As I waited with another guy, I asked, "I'm waiting for my skis, what are you waiting for?!" He said quickly, "I'm waiting for my dog." Oh! I thought. I guess it could be worse. He joked, "Yea, top that!" and then must've found his dog in another part of the airport because I didn't see him again. Long story short, my skis were somehow left in Los Angeles, so they said they would pay for my rental skis.

We stayed overnight in Albuquerque and got an early start the next morning to Taos in our rented minivan. We arrived at the hotel fairly early (10:30am), and checked into our condo. But, when we walked in, the house-keeper hustled to get her coats, purse, fruit, and turn off the TV. We thought it was odd that it seemed like she was hanging out, but quickly dismissed it. My sister had to go to the bathroom, so she rushed in there, but found that it was completely clogged. We asked the owner to fix it a few times during our stay, but it never really worked properly. In the meantime, we realized that a condo with one bedroom, a loft, and a sofabed (and one broken toilet) was really too small for the 6 of us, so we asked for a 2nd condo. The guy warned us that the last guests had just left, so it had not been cleaned and that the 2nd unit was "colder". What he meant was "no heat". So, between the two condos, we ended up having one working toilet, one with heat, one working oven, one working hair dryer, one loft window that wouldn't shut, and one condo full of smoke. Admittedly, the last thing was my mom's fault, because she mistakingly assumed the dampers would open the same way, and they didn't, so one condo filled with smoke before she realized the damper was closed. Another "fun" discovery we had was during my first shower. The water was luke warm, so I turned it toward the red (heat). It got colder, so I turned it up all the way and got a shock when freezing cold water shot out at me. I shrieked and jumped out of the shower. Then, I turned it toward the cold (blue) and it got hotter!

We learned to live with all of the quirks of the cabin and wondered what other people would do if they just had one of those condos, with half working amenities. The same day we checked in, we decided to do a half day of skiing, so we changed clothes and headed to the slopes. By the time we got there, we were hungry, so we ate and I rented skis. Then it was 2:30pm and it was getting darker and colder, so we decided not to buy $50 lift tickets for only a couple of runs. We went to town instead and got some drinks and dinner.

The next couple of days, we went skiing and it was COLD! They told us it was 0 on the top of the mountain at noon! With the wind, it was almost unbearable. My toes froze so I had to take a break to warm them up. I went to the ski store to ask them if my boots were too small, but they told me that they were in fact one size too big! So, I got new boots that are custom-molded to my feet. The slopes were un-crowded and the snow was nice, but most of the runs were black diamonds and/or moguls. Compared to some of the other mountains we've been to, it was not worth returning to. Maybe Utah next year...