I’m reposting this to give you yet another look at one of my New Mexico Favorites. The 3 Bears Lodge really launched my blogging career by providing me with the perfect subject to convey my love of New Mexico. The bottom line is: if you’re looking for a fun, clean place to stay in Red River where the hosts will treat you like family, this is it. Here’s the prior post in its entirety:
I’m a Seth Godin fan. It’s very seldom that he fails to speak an absolute truth and hit the proverbial nail on the head. He writes a lot about what most of you would call marketing, but I find that the majority of what he says actually has to do with humanity and how we can excel as humans only when we stop and think about what pleases and, in a manner of speaking, feeds our fellow man. Feeds as in this: feeds their souls, their hearts and minds, their longings and ambitions. Marketing is easy when you know what makes people happy, and you use your creative impulses and energy to try to achieve that for them. That simple.
He also talks about excelling and being the linchpin that holds a company or project together. Seth Godin believes that all of us have the capacity to both create and deliver, and he challenges us to always search for and find that within ourselves.
One of his posts was “. . .but what really blew me away. . .” and as I was reading it, I was thinking about this blog and what my goal is every time I sit down to tell you something else about New Mexico, this place I love. I always want to pass along the best info and stories I can. I want to tell you the details that really blew me away so that maybe you can make your way to some of those same places and have some of the same experiences.
I want every day in your life to include at least one experience that surprises and pleases you. I want you to be blown away.
I know I’ve already written about the 3 Bears Lodge in Red River. There are those of you who might be shaking your head and saying, “Honestly? Do you think we don’t already know enough about their 2 bedroom cabins and the fire-pit wine-drinking?” But Seth’s blog reminded me of why I write this blog, and then it reminded me of the 3 Bears Lodge.
I’m going to continue returning to my favorite places in New Mexico for good reasons – the beautiful scenery, the uniqueness of the event, the special setting. And I will keep returning to the 3 Bears for this reason – I am always blown away by how I feel the moment I check in and say hello to Chris and Debbie.
It’s like coming home to spend the weekend with your favorite cousin or your oldest friend. They are always truly delighted to see us, and they immediately want to know how we are, how we’ve been, whether we can join them down the street for a drink, or maybe dinner, and will we be around the firepit after sunset? And then they give us the key to our room where we can build a fire and relax and feel completely at home until it’s time for that drink or dinner or the firepit.
Their accommodations aren’t luxurious, or especially extraordinary. But they’re clean, and their cabins feel like the cabins I spent summer vacations in at Tres Ritos in the sixties. They feel like home.
So here’s my third 3 Bears Lodge post. What really blows me away every time we stay at the Lodge in Red River is how immediately comfortable and welcomed I feel when I get there. And I don’t think all that positive attention is only directed at me. I think Chris and Debbie Yates are able to convey that delight in their guests because they truly love what they do.
After years in corporate America (and England before that), they’ve found their method for making people happy, and that in turn has made them happy. As Seth Godin would say, they deliver. Over and Over. Every day. And it works.
I’m sure all this talk about happiness sounds a little too Pollyanna-ish for some of you. But in today’s market, finding a small business owner who recognizes and then cherishes and feeds their end user – well, that’s what Seth Godin is talking about.
People go on vacation looking for an escape and some comfort. The 3 Bears Lodge provides that. If you want a weekend where you’re really blown away by good company and relaxation, I’m recommending Chris and Debbie as your hosts. Again.