A New Mexican Oktoberfest

 

It’s Sunday morning and we slept in late. Looking out the window, Capt. Larry realized that it rained last night. As we are getting ready to go to breakfast, Jane went out to get some things from the minivan and came running back in agitated that the door handles had iced over.

Brilliant Fall Aspens

Welcome to North country! Our plans were to mosey around some of the local Eagle’s Nest businesses and maybe find a nice little restaurant for lunch or dinner. At breakfast we struck up a conversation with a couple from Amarillo, TX, who told us that they come here every year to the neighboring community of Red River for Oktoberfest.

The Red River Community

They informed us that the festival was continuing through Sunday. Jane was excited and felt that we should travel the 17 miles to this ski resort community to see if we could partake of some of that German fun. It had stopped raining and the temperatures were above freezing so we decided to give it a go.

We started out with clear skies and a gently rolling highway that deceptively continuously rose in elevation.

Red River's Ski Slopes

Approaching Red River, we were over 9500 feet in elevation and then started a precipitous decline down to the Red River community. We got there just before lunch time, and things were just beginning to open up. Jane spotted a couple of gift shops that she had to peruse, and as she was finishing up her shopping duties she said that it was beginning to sprinkle and that she was going back to the van to get an umbrella.

Here comes the snow! (background) 

No sooner had she left than Capt. Larry realized that it was not rain but snow, and the temperature was continuing to decline. Not expecting snow, Jane had only packed light jackets but made sure that the three she brought were all on her! We entered the festival and began walking around, but as with most festivals, it was mostly food and craft vendors offering their goods.

Snow in the mountains

The vendors came from a wide area and there were several craft beer tents that looked appealing. But the blowing wind was so cold that drinking beer just didn’t seem to be an option (nor eating ice cream from the poor ice cream vendor). A German oompah band started playing in a covered pavilion, so we decided to get us some lunch and enjoy the music. There was one authentic German vendor with awesome looking food and we made a selection of two sandwiches, one schnitzel, and one bratwurst with all the trimmings that we decided to share.

Mountain driving in the snow!

We moved to the pavilion and began eating when the band’s tuba player looked out and announced “here comes the snow.” We turned around and saw one hell of a storm descending upon us. Everyone at the festival crowded into the pavilion and for the next 15 minutes we watched what Capt. Larry considered to be near blizzard-like conditions envelope us. Everyone around us was drinking beer and having a good time, but Capt. Larry, having experienced similar storms in Minnesota (without the damn mountains!), had a gut feeling that it was time for us to go.

Eagle Nest Lake

And Jane had just made some good friends and was sharing her life story! But she sensed Capt. Larry’s concerns, so she said her goodbyes and we headed out. Going up the mountain the temperature remained above freezing so we were basically dealing with just wet pavement. But on the downside, the temperature dropped to freezing and slush started to form on the road. Jane started freaking out when the road turned white with sticking snow. We gingerly made our way down and in the valley the temperature started to rise above freezing with the snow returning to rain. Back in Eagle Nest, we drove around trying to find an access to Eagle Nest Lake, but could only get so close, so it would have to do. We went back to our room and hunkered down for the night, knowing that tomorrow we would be headed for Santa Fe and a different part of the state.

Oktoberfest in the snow!