How is the drive from Austin to Colorado Springs or Santa Fe (Amarillo: where to stay, ski resort)

[l0ll1]

Planning to go with 2 kids. We wanted to play in snow, skiing, and seeing any other tourist attractions.

Planning to go last week of December. How is the drive though...which drive will be safer? For 12/15 hour drive I think we will have to stop overnight at some place. Any good places to stay?

Appreciate your help.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by l0ll1

Planning to go with 2 kids. We wanted to play in snow, skiing, and seeing any other tourist attractions.

Planning to go last week of December. How is the drive though...which drive will be safer? For 12/15 hour drive I think we will have to stop overnight at some place. Any good places to stay?

Appreciate your help.

We go to the grand canyon and do that drive. We usually drive 6 hours stop in lubbock then drive 6 hours to santa fe. I wouldnt say lubbock is a good place to stay but it is a big enough city that you can priceline the hotel there (use biddingfortravel.com to find the best bidding strategy) and get it for pretty cheap.

[Idlewile]

Depends on the weather. The drive to CS from here is not bad at all, Raton Pass -- not bad at all in fine weather. If the weather is bad it will depend on your car and your skill, of course.

Yes, with kids you will want to stay overnight. Going from Denver to Austin we stay in Amarillo. There are two La Quintas in town that are good. It really depends on how far you want to go on the first day as far as where to stay overnight.

I've been to Santa Fe many times but never in winter and never driven to or from here so I can't comment.

Also, if you're serious about skiing you'll need to decide ahead of time where you want to ski and make a special trip to I-70 general area as there are no resorts near CS. https://www.coloradoinfo.com/resortmap

There are others that are small and to the south (but not easy to get to either) that could be an option but places like Wolf Creek are not for the faint of heart -- it's steep.

You may know this but usually there's no snow on the ground in Colorado unless you're AT a ski resort or it's just snowed yesterday or there was a BIG storm a week ago. Many know this but many don't so I'll put that out there.

Good luck to you guys, sounds fun.

[l0ll1]

Thanks for the tip Austin97.

[l0ll1]

Thanks Idlewile. I'm not a regular skier. My kids never tried (8 and 4), and they wanted to play in the snow. Closest I found is Ruidoso, then Santa Fe (or Taos) and Colorado Springs. Have to decide one of these.

[atxcio]

Be sure to check that there is snow if you are planning to try to ski in Ruidoso or Santa Fe (or any NM resort). They don't always get any decent snow by the last week in December, and this year has been really light. I think Ruidoso and Ski Santa Fe have pushed back their opening days.

But there is snow in Colorado. If you are driving up, you might look into Wolf Creek (closest CO ski resort to NM and usually always decent snow) or some of the ski areas around Durango.

[ericsami]

I just drove to rodusu,nm this last march for ski.

I can tell you there is absolute nothing on that west texas road.

if you can (sleep during the day.)

gets the kids in the car by 10 PM.

drive through the night have your wife take a tynol pm and sleep like a baby too.

in 8-9 hours you will be out of texas. by then then it will be 7 AM.

the kids will want breakfast. you and your wife can switch for a few hours. and then you have another 7 hours to go.

That way you are driving through colorado during day time.

and you go get to ski location at 3 or so in the afternoon.

get a good night sleep and get ready for an early start.

by the way I highly recommend Frisco,CO over any other place.

you can basically park you car. they have buses to few near by resorts.

there is like 8 amazing ski location within 20 miles of frisco.

[gpurcell]

For Santa Fe, stay in Carlsbad then hit the caverns in the morning before the rush.

[mimimomx3]

We drive to Taos every spring. It's an easy 12 hour drive. We leave around 5, stop in Amarillo for breakfast, Clovis for lunch, then push through to Taos to arrive by early evening. It's not bad at all. Last spring, Taos had more snow than CO.

[l0ll1]

Thanks ericsami...thanks for the advice. I normally don't prefer driving through night...we don't know when we fall asleep...happened couple of times to me, so since then I stopped driving late nights.

Thanks gpurcell. Yes, my plan is to stay in Carlsbad and see caverns in the morning and if possible go to White Sands (through Cloudcroft) too on the same day. Not sure how much time I would need for White Sands. From there head to Taos via Albuquerque.

mimimomx3, thanks. Which is the best place to ski in Taos (we are all first timers)? Do you go to ski valley? Whats the best place to stay?