Last week Blake and I returned from a week-long vacation to Taos, New Mexico, where we got to spend our days shredding the slopes and our evenings hanging out and playing games with family. Since we had tons of luggage, food, and snowboarding gear, we decided to road trip rather than fly and enjoy the beautiful scenery you get when you cross the huge plains and plateaus of Texas into the mountainous terrain of New Mexico.
My hometown happens to be one of the commonly-traveled-through stops along the road from southern Texas to any snowboarding destination in New Mexico or Colorado; in fact, Blake and I realized early on in our relationship that he had passed through my town (and likely even stopped for gas) several times when we were younger and his family used to take regular vacations up to Colorado — what a crazy, small world! As such, we decided to make a two-day affair of it and drove the first part of the trip to stay with my family the first night. We got to visit for a few hours and meet our brand new nephew, and then headed out the next morning to complete the short but winding trek up into the mountains.
The scenery was so beautiful and ever-changing along the way that we were both grateful to have a leisurely drive that allowed us to stop for pictures multiple times. I had so many landscape shots to choose from that it was seriously hard to narrow it down! Once we finally made it into the twisting mountain roads, we pulled off at a scenic stop to snap some more pictures, stretch our legs, and take in the crisp cool air, beautiful pine trees, and sound of the half-frozen river meandering by.
After hopping around and getting some energy out from our hours in the car, we jumped back in the vehicle with renewed vigor and completed the drive past the iconic frozen lake and gorgeous vistas of the snow-covered valley, to the beautiful adobe house that we stayed in for the week, which I’ll be sharing pictures of in my next posts (if you follow me on Instagram, you’ve already gotten to see a few sneak peeks of what’s to come!)
P.S. Blake off-roaded a bit and drove up to the top of the hill that we’re sitting on to get the above two photos. His willingness to take ‘expeditions’ as he calls them is matched only by my need to not miss any opportunity for a great photo!
Shop the post:
BLACK DOWN WINTER COAT (also available HERE) | STRIPED SHIRT (1, 2) | WHITE SKINNY JEANS (1, 2) | BOOTS (SIMILAR)
Lynda Gergen says
nice scenery… I love that pink door
Tristan says
I had to stop for a picture of it!
Vanessa @ Living in Steil says
Looks like an amazing trip, Tristan! Your photos are stunning and the landscape out there is so beautiful. I’m going to follow you on Instagram now so I don’t miss your future adventures!
http://www.livinginsteil.com
Tristan says
Thanks Vanessa! We’ve made this drive many times but never took the time to stop and document the gorgeous landscape; I’m so glad we did this time!
And happy we finally connected on IG!
Trang Do says
Beautiful pictures! Love your outfit!
Xoxo,
Love from http://www.trangscorner.com {a lifestyle, fashion, beauty, and food blog}
Tristan says
Thank you!