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Published: April 11th 2009
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Inner tubing
Look ma! I am flying It was the beginning of Spring Break and we wanted to find an easy destination to go to. Why not Ruidoso, New Mexico? Ruidoso is a mountain resort town in the south central section of New Mexico. It is a popular destination for Texans who want to escape the summer heat and enjoy the alpine scenery. The Mescalero Apache operates a hotel casino - Inn of the Mountain Gods - and a ski resort right outside of Ruidoso.
Our journey took us through Alamogordo and Tularosa, NM - known for their speed traps. A friendly advice - stay within the speed limit especially if you have a Texas plate. There was also a border checkpoint before Alamogordo. After all, this is the corridor for illegal immigrants coming through Mexico. We noticed the presence of sheriffs, in addition to the normal Border Patrol agents, at the checkpoint with multiple cameras pointing to each passing car/truck. Were they waiting for someone or searching for something? We were not staying to find out.
Once we drove past Tularosa on HWY 70, we started climbing up and noticed something interesting - it was late afternoon and we had sunset behind us and extremely
Children's park
At White Mountain dark grey sky ahead of us. There was a clear separation between the darkening sky due to sunset and the dark grey one right behind it. And we were heading right into it.
As soon as we reached the village of Mescalero, it became obvious that underneath the dark grey sky was a snow storm. Big white snow flakes! Everyone was slowing down to 25-30 mph. But the best part was actually the view - just imagine white glittering pine trees all around us. It was dark already and the only source of light was from all the slow moving vehicles. It was like driving through a dimly lit white pine forest - took our breath away! I would love to stop and take some pictures. But I figured it would not be the smart thing to do.
Upon our arrival in Ruidoso area, we drove straight to Walmart. We wanted to stock up to make sure that we had food and water in case the snow storm continued throughout the night. Ruidoso had a population of around 7,700 at the 2000 census. But there is a Walmart at the edge of town … the Super Walmart with
Hubbard Museum of the America West
At Ruidoso Downs, southeast of Ruidoso a grocery store. How can the local family business survive? Lauren and I always try to avoid shopping at Walmart if we can. But we did not have too many options on a snowy night in Ruidoso.
The next morning, it was foggy but it was not snowing anymore. The entire valley in front of us was white! It was like watching a postcard picture! The sun was trying very hard to peek out of the clouds. Lauren and I had our morning coffee … glad to be in the middle of this winter wonderland. By 10:00am, the cloud cleared out and we had a clear blue sunny sky with temperature creeping up towards 40 degrees F. And slowly but surely, our white valley gradually revealed the green pine trees that surrounded us. Lauren decided to go out for a run; I stayed home … staying warm.
As the ground cleared up, we decided to venture out after lunch. The deers were out and about in our neighborhood. We stopped by at an inner tubing park on the road to Ski Apache. It was packed - certainly the place to be for some cheap winter thrill. There were
Inside Hubbard Museum
Anne Stradling's collection of carriages and wagons 3 small runs that were primarily designed for children. A temporary wooden platform supported a moving walkway that took the children (and some adults) to the top of a small hill. It was a very simple set up. And yet, it was definitely a popular playground. These kids were screaming and smiling as they rode down the hill, got up, rushed to the moving walkway and the cycle continued. We felt awkward walking around without holding or carrying any children.
We then decided to head out to Ruidoso Downs, immediately outside of the city of Ruidoso, and stopped at
Hubbard Museum of the America West (about a block away from Walmart). The museum opened in 1992 and was presented to the city of Ruidoso Downs in 2005. It is the home of Anne Stradling’s collection of carriages, wagons and saddles spanning hundreds of years. There were hardly anyone around inside the museum but we enjoyed our tour with its well preserved carriages.
The ground outside the museum was full of beautifully-balanced horse sculptures that seem to be running in the wild. There was a plaque with a description of each kind of horse and its origin. This museum
Bears
Vendors selling wood carvings along the road between Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs was a great place to spend an hour on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
Heading back towards the city, we stopped at an arts and craft store. The road was actually full of little shops selling wood carvings, especially bears. Big bears, small bears, black bears, brown bears - they were all available. Ruidoso area does have bears around and I certainly had my own friendly encounter a few years ago. These are brown bears and they are OK as long as we don’t interrupt their meals. We all know that we can’t leave food outside - that is simply a welcome sign for the local bears.
We didn’t find anything special at the store. So we decided to go to midtown Ruidoso - the heart of Ruidoso’s shopping and dining area. We stopped by to get some ice cream first … our afternoon snack. It was still pretty cool outside but we couldn’t say no to ice cream. There were not that many people in town. I assume most of them were still skiing at Ski Apache, the Indian owned ski resort that is about an hour away from midtown Ruidoso. We went into some of the shops
Dried red chili
Hanging in front of a shop in midtown Ruidoso selling American Indian art. There were a variety of paintings, dream catchers and pottery. They all made a great gift for first time visitors to Ruidoso.
Before sunset, we slowly made our way back to Alto, where we were staying. Alto is the next village north of Ruidoso (and Ruidoso Downs is located southeast of Ruidoso). We just wanted to take it easy, opened up a bottle of wine, read a book (or in my case, newspaper) and enjoyed a quiet evening. I also wanted to watch some of the college basketball games on TV. It was approaching March Madness time and there were a number of good NCAA games throughout the country. Time to have a nice and relaxing evening in the mountains of New Mexico …
The next morning, we decided to have an early lunch at Farley’s. Farley’s is a favorite hang out in Ruidoso with a small game room for the kids, pool tables, bar and dining room. It fills up fast on weekends - thus, our decision to get there early. I ordered their bowl of chili and loved it - very spicy. I was actually sweating by the time I finished it.
Snow capped mountains
From Alto, the village north of Ruidoso It felt great though .. spicy food mixed with the cool fresh air of New Mexico?
We drove around a bit after lunch. The snow capped mountains of Sierra Blanca; the tall green pine forest all around Ruidoso; the school of deer grazing on the golf course at Alto - it was so peaceful and relaxing to be in Ruidoso. Then reality brought us back to earth and we had to drive back to Texas … leaving this beautiful shangrila.
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