Ruidoso. {One Big, Long Post}

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A few weeks ago, Cody and I both had Friday off for our university's fall break. Now that we're both out of school and no longer have homework to rule our free time, we decided to take our long, three day weekend and make it an extra long five day vacation!

We loaded up the car bright and early (ok, not all that early!) on a Wednesday morning and headed out for Ruidoso, NM. My grandparents have a house there that they were so gracious to let us use. I grew up spending about 2 weeks in Ruidoso over the summer (one for family vacation and one with my mom, brother and grandparents, sometimes a cousins week!) but unfortunately, it's been a solid 4 years since Cody and I have had a chance to go. {Our last trip there was right after we got engaged!}


{certainly different than texas!}


{someone thought my lap was the only spot he could travel on}


{the house!}

I was dreading the drive over. According to google maps, it was going to be a very full seven hours. While it did end up taking us about that long to get there, we broke it up into three segments and it went by pretty quickly. Surprisingly enough, I even drove part of the way! {A rarity in our trips together!} We got there in time for a little bit of downtime before the Rangers game. I eventually went to grab burgers for dinner from Lincoln County Grill. {you must eat here in Ruidoso.}

We slept in the next morning and were feeling adventurous when we finally got up, so we took Kota on a walk down the mountain.





Turns out, Kota and I are not suited for walking down the mountain. I can't tell you how long we were picking out those stickers for.

Later in the day we got dressed and headed into town to do a little shopping. {a must in Ruidoso.} Last year I lost my favorite coat that I got from the store J. Roberts on the last trip to Ruidoso, so I was hoping I would get lucky again. J. Roberts was a little bit of a miss this trip, but I did end up finding something fabulous at Klassy Kids. {by Visions, two places you need to shop!}



We had a great lunch at Casablanca {eat there. Ask for the $5 menu, which we didn't know about.} We saw another table get an order of Fried Green Chili Strips. Paired with homemade ranch, they did not disappoint! I think I was eating the leftovers the whole week. I believe that evening was spent watching the Rangers {a common theme for our trip!}

The next morning we headed out to the Inn Of The Mountain Gods for their continental breakfast. Only $9.99 during the week, it's a really great deal. {eat there!} Cody was upfront and honest with me before we walked in: "I'm going to be a glutton and way over eat here, ok?" Who was I to judge? I chose a plate full of carbs for breakfast!



Don't worry, I shared an omelet with Cody later to balance it out! After giving some of our money to the Indians {casino.. go if you're lucky} we had a lazy afternoon at home before catching a matinee. We saw 50/50, which I would recommend, but the most impressive part of the movie theater was the fact that a large popcorn was only $4.25! It's like $10 in Abilene!

For our last morning in Ruidoso, we went to breakfast at the Log Cabin. {Definitely eat here!} Cody and I shared a green chili omelet and pumpkin pancakes. {I think we had green chilies in some form or fashion with every meal we ate!}



The food was so unbelievably good. Plus I ran into someone we went to college with, which was funny! The real winner of a story from the Log Cabin was the lady who came up to our table trying to figure out what type of animal was on the wall.



{we were sitting where the guy in the blue jacket is standing}

She got really close to us and asked Cody, "What's an Espinosa?" We both looked up and read the sign, which said: Shot by Man & Woman Espinosa. We both giggled after Cody explained it was someone's last name. We did a little more shopping around town, plus we stopped by the thrift store. Bami helps volunteer here when they're in town and I've heard they have some good deals. We actually ended up getting Cody a really nice blazer for $1! They were selling these beauties:



The lady working kept going on and on about what nice coats they were and didn't seem to get why I wouldn't want one. I kept laughing and tried to explain that if I did need one, I have access to a whole store of them and could get the color combo of my choice! {my grandparents own the business that makes these jackets! I believe I got one for Christmas every year till I turned 16!}


{my dear, taking pictures of deer}

After a lazy afternoon, we took a few pictures in hopes of getting a good Christmas card picture and then headed out to go putt putting!




{cody's golf ball got stuck}


{rule follower}



I said it before and I'll say it again: I married Cody for his putt putt skills. I'm {typically!} guaranteed a win :) I think his mind was already thinking about the Rangers game, because I might have whipped his tail. {Like maybe I won by 11 strokes, but who's counting?}

After that, we weren't really all that hungry for dinner, but felt like we had to go out to eat on our last night in town. We ended up at Farley's Pub because we knew they'd have the game on. {The service and food were ok. Not a must eat!} We finished the night with Starbucks and an unreal win for the Rangers.

The next morning we got up, cleaned house and hit the road early. The ride home was not nearly as enjoyable as the ride over:



This was our first vacation alone since our first anniversary and we couldn't have had a better time. We're already checking out the calendar to see when we can go back! Thanks again for letting us use the house B & B!


{*in summary: if you go to Ruidoso, eat at Lincoln County Grill, Log Cabin, Casablanca, and Inn of the Mountain Gods. Shop at J. Roberts, Klassy Kids and Visions!}
 

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