Trailer Talk Tuesday: Shasta Edition: Our Trip to Red River, New Mexico

Hello, friends!  I hope all of you had a lovely Labor Day vacation.  We took a little break from renovating Jolene, our 1967 PlayMor camper and took our 2015 Shasta Airflyte for an end of summer trip.  This camper's name is Sundance and I'm having a little vinyl decal made of her name to put by the door.  We've had her almost 18 months and she always gets lots of looks and comments when we take her out (because she's so cute!!!)  When Forest River came out with these reissues of their 1961 Shasta Airflyte 16SC Travel Trailer, I got camper fever.  They made 1,941 of these to commemorate their 75th anniversary and they came in three colors:  Matador Red, Seafoam Green and Butternut Yellow.  Ours is the 19 foot version; there's also a smaller 16' edition.  It's not super heavy and we pull it with our Ford Expedition.  Here's the blueprint of our trailer:

source

Here are some more interior photos.  I grabbed these off the internet, because my photos turned out too dark.  It's hard to get interior photos of these little campers!

source

source

source

This past weekend we went to Red River, New Mexico.  We go to Ruidoso, NM, a couple of times a year and we've been to Santa Fe several times, but we hadn't ever made it to Red River.  It was absolutely delightful!  It's a small village with a population of 477 and the whole town is only a few streets wide.  The ski lifts are right off the main street and there are some really cute shops and restaurants.  There are so many things to do there, that we will definitely be back!

We stayed at the Road Runner RV Resort.

Road Runner RV Resort

There were a lot of campers there for the holiday weekend, but it didn't seem crowded at all.  Our campsite was right next to the river and we fished for trout, walked over the bridges and really just enjoyed the campground.  There was a road rally of some sort at Goose Lake, so, I'm glad we had a quiet place to hang out and enjoy the outdoors.  We cooked over campfires and inside the trailer and built a fire each night to roast marshmallows.  It was the perfect camp site!

On Saturday, we strolled through the town and ate at Anchovies Pizza (with a name like that, it's got to be good, right?)  The food was really good and the people there were very nice. 

After doing some souvenir shopping and exploring Main Street, we went back to the camp to relax and get ready for our evening adventure.  We had tickets for a chuckwagon BBQ dinner and Michael Martin Murphey concert at his Rockin' 3M amphitheater.  He has purchased the historic Bitter Creek Guest Ranch and has concerts up there periodically during the warmer months.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  You drive for what seems forever on  Bitter Creek Trail off of Main Street.  You eventually end up in this beautiful valley on the mountain with a lake and some cabins dating back to the 1930s.  The food was delicious and he played his hits like "Wildfire" and "Carolina in the Pines" during the first half of the concert and then his cowboy music during the last half.  My husband and I really enjoyed it and the kids seemed to, as well.  The scenery was just breathtaking and I can't think of a prettier place to eat and listen to music.

The next day we got up and went to church.  We try to do that in different towns we visit and our children get to see how other Christians worship and do things.  One of the most memorable services we have attended while on vacation was Easter Vigil at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, NM.  Red River only has 3 churches that I could see on the internet, so, we chose one of them and attended their Sunday morning service.  The people there were super friendly--I think half of the people in attendance were visitors!--and really showed wonderful hospitality.  They were from a less liturgical tradition than we come from, but the pastor said "We might worship differently, but we're all the Body of Christ, so, you're stuck with us.  Forever."  That drew a big laugh from the congregation, but it's true and it was a good reminder to celebrate what we have in common and learn from our differences.

After church and lunch, we geared up and headed out for an hour long horseback ride up the mountain.  We chose Red River Stables and were very pleased.  The horses were easy to ride and the wranglers did a great job with helping people from various levels of expertise have a good experience on the ride.  The views we had of the upper pass were spectacular and watching a fast summer storm roll in was beautiful, too.  We got caught in a pretty good rain storm, but it wasn't too cold and it didn't really put a damper on anything.  My husband grew up with horses and we had them when we first got married.  The kids were busy with their activities, so, we haven't had any for several years.  After this ride, they're ready for us to saddle up again!

Red River was a wonderful place to camp and visit. We're already planning our next visit there!  

Thank you for sticking with me through all the photos!  Spending time with the family on a trip like this is precious--thank you for letting me share it with you!

2016 Word of the Year: Adventure

Words of the year are a new thing for our family.  Although I can look back at certain years and see that there certainly seemed to be a theme for it, we've never officially sat down together as a family and voted on a specific word to apply the upcoming year.  We've done resolutions and goals, but never a theme or word for the new year.

2015 was our "Joy" year, although we didn't call it that.  I drew some chalkboard art on our kitchen wall and each month we wrote down a daily joy.  I photographed them each month and it's been fun to reflect back on those months and days and the things that brought happiness to us--big things and small things.

This New Year's, we found ourselves traveling together on a long road trip from seeing my parents over the holidays.  I wanted to do something different for 2016 with the chalkboard wall.  I didn't know quite what I wanted to do, but I did know I wanted to incorporate a word of the year and see where that took us.  Each family member submitted a word and we voted on them--4 points for our favorite and down to 1 point for our least favorite.  The words we came up with were:  fun, adventure, patience and diligence.  Thankfully, my word, adventure won, because if patience had won, it would have been a hard year for me, indeed!

I drew the little saying on my framed chalkboard, which hangs in our breakfast area.  For the kitchen chalkboard wall, I plan to draw something else "adventure-related" and have everyone write up a short 2016 bucket list of adventures and some big goals we each want to achieve this year.  With those written lists reminding us each day, I hope 2016 is the year we reach out and reach up to make those things happen.

What brave thing will you do TODAY?

Zippy Little Trailer: Bandanas and an eBay find

Meet my newest eBay find!

My latest eBay treasure:  

Another white trailer 

For your viewing pleasure.

(I promise--no more poetry...  ;-)

  Ever since I saw this photo on the Junk Gypsy Instagram feed, 

via @JunkGypsy Instagram

I've been wanting one of these sweet little toy trailers.  I scored my vintage Tonka horse trailer on eBay and bought some brand new bandanas at Gebo's Farm Supply.  I think the Pioneer Woman's photo of her bandanas with the Blue Willow plate is so pretty:

via thepioneerwoman.co

I like using cloth napkins and these cotton bandanas add a little quirky color to dinnertime and at less than $2 each, you can't go wrong.

If you're wanting to add a little country to your dinner table or kitchen, here are some current listings on eBay of some similar toy trailers that I found by searching "Tonka trailer".

This one even comes with a truck!

Too cute!

This one's in great shape--don't think it saw much play time!

The trailer and bandanas are an inexpensive way to add a little color and whimsy to your kitchen.  What are some of your favorite eBay finds?

Thank you so much for reading my blog.  I would love it if you would subscribe by email to have these posts delivered directly to your inbox.  Have a great day, friends!