Ruidoso Vacation

We took a family vacation to Ruidoso this past week and had such a nice, relaxing time. It really was what the doctor ordered for us all. Several times I commented to Corry just how nice it was not to really have to think about anything that needed to be done. The extent of what needed to be done was what we were going to do that day and what we were going to eat.

The girls were so good in the car the entire trip. They entertained themselves a lot of the time with their books, toy laptops, and stuffed animals. We also took our laptop so they could watch movies which was helpful at times. They both tend to get carsick which was very obvious this trip. We've known Autumn gets carsick but found that Shelby gets carsick now, too. Shelby was the only one who actually threw up but we had to stop many times, especially when we weren't on a flat, straight road. Although they've both been known to get carsick on flat roads, too. Keeping them occupied or sleeping worked best at keeping them from getting sick. Maybe they'll outgrow it??

We split the drive into two days on the way to Ruidoso stopping in Carlsbad to sleep the first night. We left at 6:30 in the morning so that the girls would sleep for a while in the car that morning. We arrived in Carlsbad around 5 p.m., which was perfect. We were not impressed with Carlsbad whatsoever, though. Finding a decent place to eat was pretty challenging and we ended up at a subpar Denny's. Apparently the caverns are their only claim to fame.

Our drive to Ruidoso was not exactly what we were expecting either because it was so dry and dead everywhere but once we got to the actual town it was gorgeous with green trees, hills, and mountains. One feature was missing that we had planned on...snow. They've had a dry winter and haven't had much snow. That was okay, though, because we still got to go snow tubing since they blow fake snow in. We just didn't have the picturesque view with snow out of our window or get to build a snowman. We did have really nice weather, though, and didn't have to battle the wet cold.

Here are some of the pictures from our trip...Starting with the day we got to Ruidoso and were waiting to get the keys to the cabin. We drove from Carlsbad to Ruidoso, ate Mexican food when we got there and then walked on a nature trail.

The back of the cabin...

Autumn taking our picture in front of the cabin...

Corry and the girls in the hottub. We all enjoyed the hottub so much. We wrapped Shelby's arm with the cast in a grocery or trash bag each time and she usually sat on the side with it propped up. She's gotten pretty good about making sure she keeps it out of the water luckily.

There were tons of deer and they would come up to the house every morning and afternoon. I even got one to eat out of my hand by the last day!

Posing in some kind of dead branch fort that was in the backyard...

Day 2 in Ruidoso:

We went tubing at a winter park. They had an area with a small hill for young children and then different levels of paths to tube down. Shelby went down the big hills a total of three times. The first time was down a path that was not very steep and went very slow. The second time, I unknowingly and unobservantly, took her down a path that had a jump and it scared both of us! I'm a weeny when it comes to heights and anything that feels slightly dangerous especially when my child is riding with me (with a fractured wrist no less). So the third time we got to the top to ride down the slow and easy path but Shelby changed her mind and didn't want to go down! You ride an escalator up the hill and it only goes one way so there's really only one way down. Luckily Corry came up with Autumn after I stood up there for about 5 minutes trying to talk Shelby into it and he was able to get her to ride down with him. We stuck to the kiddy slope after that!

Autumn, on the other hand, loved it! The little daredevil loved going fast! She and Corry were a good match.

Checking out the people tubing before we got started...

Autumn and Shelby decked out in their snowgear (the only time they wore it!)...

Autumn tubing on the kiddy slope...

Corry & Autumn headed towards the escalator...

Day 3 in Ruidoso:

We drove for about an hour and a half to a place called Three Rivers Petroglyph Park where there were petroglyphs that were created by ancient Indian tribes. We had a lot of fun walking around on the trails looking at all of the pictures on the rocks. It was beautiful in it's own desert mountain way. Corry took dozens of pictures of the rocks- ask him to take pictures of people, not so good. Take him to a place with hieroglyphics and he goes snap happy!

Here's my favorite picture of the girls from the trip...

We carried Shelby much of the way because parts of it were steep and it was really rocky.

One of the many, many pictures Corry took...

After the petroglyph park we headed towards Alamogordo where the White Sands National Park is. The girls had so much fun there and we decided it was better than snow anyways.

The girls had so much fun just running and playing.

Daddy pulled the girls up and down the dunes on the little sled until he got tired. I tried pulling it, once.

The girls wanted to try to make a snowman so I went with it. We didn't get too far with that.

Day 4 in Ruidoso:
We took it easy, we shopped downtown, ate the best Mexican food at a place called Taco Ole recommended by the locals, and drove to Ski Apache just to check it out. Luckily the girls fell asleep before we started up the mountain to Ski Apache because it ended up being quite a drive and I'm pretty sure both girls would have been sick. It was beautiful, though, and a little bit scary for me.
Me posing at the overlook...

Finally, as always, vacation had to come to an end. We were not in as much of a hurry to head home so didn't leave until 8 in the morning on the last day. Once on the road we were ready to be home so made the drive all in the same day and got home at one in the morning. The girls did amazingly well. It's funny what a difference a year can make with traveling with the kids. I would never have believed we would have been able to drive home all in the same day but it just seemed easier than stopping somewhere and starting all over in the morning to head home.

(I just thought this was a good end-of-vacation pic!)