Growing up, most of my family trips were more like staycations in Texas where I grew up. We never took vacations during Christmas time unless we were traveling to visit family or go to Grandma’s house. The older I got and the steadier my life became, I started to meet more and more people. This was due to the fact that my husband and I started a business in 2018. Now that I am in my forties and never skied, it seemed to be time. Now it is time for a forty something woman to become a first-time skier.
Christmas vacation in Angel Fire, NM.
What to do in Angel Fire, NM?
We started noticing on Facebook how many of our friends would travel with their kids during the Christmas break. Or even the next two months that followed to Ski lodges in Colorado or New Mexico. I am not going to lie, I started to get FOMO that I have been missing out on this whole skiing vacation. In 2020, we decided that a family skiing trip would be more memorable than giving Christmas presents to each other because we already have so much.
Cabin in the Woods
Where to stay?
I found the best way to plan a Christmas trip was to do so months in advance. This way I can let my family know that we will not be there. And to please do not buy or expect gifts for or from us. Now location for Skiing lodges can be overwhelming especially when I did not realize how many are out there. Where do you go, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, or Utah? Since this was our first time, I am not going to lie I did not want to spend an arm and a leg on an experience we have never tried. We decided to make a more price consciousness decision and drive to Angel Fire, New Mexico. I found through Airbnb a nice cabin in the woods that looked picturesque in the snow.
Snow Sledding
Fun activity to do.
We arrived in Angel Fire pretty shut down due to the covid pandemic. Restaurants were all closed down and all we could do was buy some food at a local grocery store. Now Angel Fire Ski Lodge was open to the public. But they did have a lot of rules and regulations to follow. I planned accordingly to what was open and brought a bunch of movies with us so we could spend some quality time together around the woodburning stove to stay warm. One of our favorite activities to do was to take the girls sledding. We bought some sleds that we could play around with behind our cabin or pretty much any hill that we could find nearby.
Snow Tubing Fun
Really fun activity to try out.
Another fun activity that we par tacked in was at the Angel Fire Ski Lodge where we did some snow tubing. Most of my life I have been tubing. But that was a different type in a 100-degree weather, on the river enjoying some beer with friends on the Comal River. Snow tubing was exhilarating but damn it was cold that day. I was trying to do this while looking like the Michelin man was funny and hard work. Getting dressed and ready to go out for the day was such a production, time consuming, and so many layers.
First-time skier
Trying out something new.
One of our days we had booked for us was to go to ski school at the Angel Ski Resort. This was probably one of the hardest things I have ever tried to learn at my old age. At first all seemed to be going well, until we had to put all of our gear on. Then we had to walk over to the area where they teach you to ski. Those boots were the worst thing I have ever put on my feet. And I used to wear high heels to bartend all night long and never felt this kind of pain. Next was ski school to learn pizza, side stepping, and gliding on the snow. The most important part was learning how to fall so we would not get hurt.
Ski School for a first-time skier
Skiing is harder than it looks.
Now that I feel better from our lesson, the instructor says it time to go up to the bunny hill. Yeah me, I have such a fear of heights. And now I have to get on a chairlift where I have seen so many videos of what can go wrong. Here I go, holding on for dear life just to get to the end where the instructor looks back at me and says now, you’re just going to stand up and go down a small hill. I get to the end where I am supposed to just stand up and what do I do, I freeze up. I don’t get off the lift and start to turn the corner to go back down the bunny hill. They stop the whole chairlift to get me off, it was so embarrassing.
Chair Lift for a first-time skier
I am afraid of heights.
The little girls who are working the chairlift, take off my ski’s and tell me to jump down. I am only five feet tall; the jump is at least three feet. These boots that are killing my feet are not a flat surface on the bottom and these little girls want me to jump down. My husband said he will never forget the look on my face when I turned around and looked at him. Finally, after holding up the lift for at least five minutes I get helped down. My ski instructor was like what happened, so embarrassing.
Bunny Hill for a first-time skier
Pretty sad when kids are flying past me.
Next, it is time to conquer the bunny hill. If you can imagine how well that went after my chairlift experience. I guess since I weighed a lot at this time, when I was trying to ski oh so gracefully down the bunny hill apparently, I wanted to go fast. This scared the crap out of me to the point that my pizza was not working. I took a tumble pretty hard that my husband swears everyone did one of those quite oh no’s. And one of my daughters was not doing too well either. Then my husband left us up there while we were having some panic attacks on how the hell, do we get off this mountain.
Ski School Dropout
First time skier and I couldn’t hang.
Finally, we made it down the bunny hill to be told by our instructor that we have some free time for the next couple of hours. And if we would like to keep practicing on the bunny hill we can. Then we can meet up for the second part of our ski school. Well, my one daughter and I crapped out. We sat next to an outside fire to stay warm on the 17-degree day while my husband and other daughter went back up to conquer the bunny hill again. We are now ski school dropouts because this is horrible and we do not want to keep going. He agreed and we went back to the cabin to peel off all the layers of clothes. Then we lounged around watching movies by the fire, this is more my scene any way.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Beautiful memorial you must see.
There are more amazing aspects to our trip in Angel Fire, New Mexico. We visited the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial State Park. Even though it was closed due to the pandemic we could still walk around outside. The snow was on the ground and they actually had a lot of sculptures to see when we were there. Our favorite moment on our trip was when we went horseback riding on Christmas morning into Carson National Forest. We used Nancy Burch’s Roadrunner Tours who offer horseback riding, chuckwagon’s, to sleigh rides. This was one of the most magical memories that we made. My whole family enjoyed this so much that we wish we could have done it every day.
Horseback Riding is amazing
Most beautiful Christmas morning ever.
I am not going to lie; I was a little shocked by how small the town was. And how little there was to do but the views on the drive up there was totally worth it. As well as how peaceful our cabin was with all of the deer everywhere. This might not be something I would per say do again back here in Angel Fire, New Mexico. But I would not mind trying out another beautiful snow town with a badass spa for my lazy bum to enjoy.
Written by Karen Carifee