New Mexico Road Trip - Ruidoso Day 1

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Our goal for our first day in Ruidoso is to drive to White Sands National Park passing through two other scenic drives from our list to get there.  Surprisingly, as we were pretty tired last night, we were up and on the road just after nine.

Our plan today was to drive to White Sands National Park (Scenic Byway 24) on Scenic Byways 27 and 27, but we had time to do Scenic Byway 26 as a bonus.

The first scenic byway was #27, that started just outside of Ruidoso off US-70 (not to be confused with I-70) and followed NM-244 down to the town of Cloudcroft.  There is a faster way to get to Cloudcroft, but this was the backroad version, and it was very scenic.  We reached Cloudcroft and it was still pretty early so we decided to take a side trip from Cloudcroft up to a place called Sunspot that is Scenic Byway #26.  It is only a 17 miles drive, but it was slow going as the road had quite a few twists and bends to reach the 9200 feet altitude at Sunspot.

Scenic Byway 27

 

We enter Cloudcroft.

Before we started our side trip, we had to get gas and decided to get some sandwiches for lunch as we saw a sandwich shop near the gas station.  Unfortunately, it hadn’t opened yet, but when a woman inside saw us at the door she said to come in and they’d make some sandwiches for us.  She was very nice, and we were very grateful.  We got our sandwiches, something to drink and a very large chocolate chip cookie and started the drive up to Sunspot, the home of the Sunspot Solar Observatory.  It was built in 1950 and at their peak of activity there were three telescopes in operation, but now there is only one.  Here is a link to some more detailed information on Sunspot, it is very interesting.

It was a beautiful day with blue skies and temperatures in the low seventies even at the higher altitudes.  The drive up was very beautiful, but we weren’t really expecting much at the top as we thought the observatory would be closed off, but we were wrong and had a wonderful visit.

We arrive at the entrance to the Sunspot Solar Observatory

There was a gift shop / museum at the top where we talked to two very nice and very friendly women.  They filled us in on the history of the observatory and even set up a telescope outside where we could look at the sun.  It was a small telescope, but you could actually see the solar flares erupting around the edges and some sunspots on the surface, we had never seen anything like it.

There is a very nice museum and gift shop.

We found that they do offer guided tours of the observatory, but not on weekends so we were out of luck since it was Sunday.  There was a walkway around the facility for a self guided tour with information signs posted at the buildings.  The walk was very interesting, and we learned a lot, but at 9200 feet it was pretty easy to get out of breath.

This is the Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope that is 134 feet tall and extends another 200 feet underground.  It was built in 1969 and is the only telescope in operation now.

This is the John W. Evans Solar Facility that housed to solar telescopes.  It was in operation from 1952 to 2015.

This is the Hilltop Dome that housed several telescopes.  It was used from 1963 to 2014.

This is the original solar telescope called the Grain Bin Dome as it was built in 1951 from a grain silo ordered from Sears & Roebuck.  It was in operation until 1963.

There were great views from Sunspot.  Most of the area in the distance is part of the huge White Sands Missile Range.  White Sands National Park is a small part of the area.

We didn’t expect much more from this Sunspot byway than a scenic drive, but it turned out to be a great stop and we were reluctant to leave, but we had other place to go today, so we headed back down to Cloudcroft.

We were getting hungry, so before we got all the way back to Cloudcroft, we found a side road and a place to stop and eat our lunch.  The sandwiches we got from the Cloudcroft sandwich shop were very good, so we had an excellent lunch.

We found a nice spot for lunch on a side road on our way back to Cloudcroft.

From Cloudcroft we started our third scenic byway of the day, US-82 between Cloudcroft and Alamogordo, Scenic Byway #25.  Val thought she remembered something about Alamogordo having something to do with the development of the first atomic bomb and after looking it up, sure enough, she was right, it was the monitoring point of the testing of the first atomic bomb, I had no idea.

As always, the drive was beautiful, and we dropped from the 8700-foot altitude pf Cloudcroft down to around 5000.  The scenic drive ended in Alamogordo and the scenery was anything but beautiful after that until we got to White Sands National Park.  We rejoined US-70 and it was a four-lane highway, and the outskirts of the town was littered with industrial and deserted buildings along the road.  After that the road went through some pretty desolate countryside on its way to El Paso, Texas and Las Cruces, New Mexico.

This area is also home to the huge White Sands Missile Range that covers 3200 square miles with an additional 4100 square miles of additional restricted space set aside that goes all the way south to the Mexican border.  There are also several military bases in this area including Holloman Air Force Base.  It is a highly restricted area and access is very limited, if you look at a map of the south-central area of New Mexico you’ll see a huge empty space with very few roads and no towns.  This area is bigger that the state of New Jersey.

As we drove west toward White Sand National Park, the altitude continued to drop reaching a low of 4000 feet; that’s the closest we’ve been to sea level since our stop in Laughlin.  We finally reached White Sands National Park and after a stop at the Visitor’s Center, we drove into the park.  At first, we felt a little disappointed, but as we got further into the dunes our disappointment turned to amazement.  It was a stark desolate landscape stretching as far as the eye could see.  There is no restriction on people being in the sand dunes so there were a lot of people hiking and sliding down the dunes.  We drove the loop road (the only road in the park) through the park taking pictures along the way and I had my GoPro mounted on the 4Runner taking videos the whole way.  This was Scenic Byway #24, our fourth scenic byway of the day.

Although interesting, we weren't exactly blown away as we entered the park, but ...

 

that soon changed as we got into the dunes, it was amazing.

We drove into one of the parking areas and noticed a few Indian women in their colorful saris in the dunes and stopped to take some pictures.

It was a little after three, so we were beginning to see the shadows and textures of the dunes that were very photogenic.  We could see why all the photo guides we read suggested going near sunrise or sunset, but on this trip that wasn’t possible for us.  The sand was also quite different than the beach sand we are used to in Southern California.  It is a gypsum sand that is a fine grain that feels smooth and silky and surprisingly, it doesn't absorb heat so even in the hot summer months it doesn't burn your feet when you walk on it.

 

In White Sands the temperature was up in the mid-eighties but not really to uncomfortable, but it did feel good to be in the air-conditioned car between our stops.  As it got later in the afternoon, we decided to start back to Ruidoso.  Instead of the scenic route back, we took the fastest way that took us only a little over an hour.  There were scenic portions as we neared Ruidoso, but for the main part, it was four land highway.  We made one stop in the small town of Tularosa where Val found a roadside stand hopefully selling the type of chilis she was looking for.  She didn’t find what she was looking for, but did find some pinion nuts that are shockingly expensive because they are so hard to gather, but also very good so we bought some to take home with us.

It was time to head back to Ruidoso.

We got back the Inn of the Mountain Gods around 4:30 and after relaxing a bit we went to the casino for a while and then had some dinner and returned to our room for the night.

When we returned to the Inn of the Mountain Gods we saw a woman in her native attire and Val struck up a conversation with her and found that she was Miss 2024 Mescalaro Apache and was there for an event.

It was a very nice view from our room.

Because we did four of the scenic byways today, we only have one short drive to do tomorrow, so we can relax a bit, and I think Val may continue her search for chillis.  Today was a really wonderful day and we enjoyed everywhere we went.  The road trip is turning out to be one of our best and we’ll judge it when it’s over, but at this point Val and I both think it may be the very best we have ever done.

Scenic Drives Completed: 20 of 35

Scenic Drives Missed: 1

New Mexico Road Trip - Santa Fe to Ruidoso

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Today we drove south to Ruidoso, New Mexico taking three more of the scenic byways on our list.  We were up at eight and thanks to doing most of our packing yesterday, we were on the road by 9:30.

Our route today from Santa Fe to Ruidoso.  The main part of our drive will be on Scenic Bywayss 15 and 17 with a side trip on Scenic Byway 16.

The main route south out of Santa Fe is I-25 that goes to Albuquerque, but we are taking New Mexico Highway 14 that is a Scenic Drive called the Turquoise Trail, Scenic Byway #15, the first of our scenic byways today.  The Turquoise Trail got its name because when the Spaniards arrived, they found the area rich in turquoise and of course helped themselves to what the indigenous people had mined.

The road goes through the small towns of Los Cerillos, Madrid and Golden.  All of them were much bigger in their heyday as there was a lot of mining going on and particularly turquoise in the early days followed by gold and lead and later coal.  Today the mining is gone, and the towns are barely there anymore.  Madrid is interesting as in 1973 the owner of the town and its rundown buildings started selling them cheap to artists and people looking for an alternative lifestyle.  As we drove through it there was quite a bit of life to it and you could see galleries and other shops lining the main street.

South on the Turquoise Trail, Scenic Byway 15.

The town of Madrid.  Most of the small towns we drove through were very small and pretty lifeless, but Madrid was pretty lively with shops and galleries as it is a home to many artists and craft people.

As we neared the southern end of the Turquoise Trail, we turned off for a side trip on Scenic Byway #16 up to Sandia Crest in the Sandia Mountains.  The road ends at an elevation of 10,600 feet, and it is a steep 14-mile climb to the top.  At the top there is a restaurant and the terminus of the Sandia Peak Tramway that starts in Albuquerque on the other side of the mountain.  Many years ago, when I was still working, I attended a conference in Albuquerque and Val came with me.  One evening Val and I took the tram up from Albuquerque and had dinner at the restaurant and it was quite nice and the views from the tramway were amazing.

We took a side trip up to Sandia Crest.

A picture of our GPS screen shows just how many twist and turns there were.  Surprisingly, despite the steep climb, we saw quite a few bicyclist making the climb.

Sandia Crest, end of the road.

Not a great picture, but you can get an idea of the views from the top.

We did have good cell service up at the top.

After the side trip to Sandia Crest, it was a short drive to the town of Tijeras on I-40.  This is where the Turquoise Trail ends and where our Scenic Byway #17 begins.  After passing under I-40, we drove New Mexico highways 337 and 55 from Tijeras to Gran Quivira where the scenic byway ends.  The byway is called Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument because the southern part of this route passes through the monument.  The drive was through a very rural area and the further south we got, the fewer cars we saw on the highway.  We passed through a few small villages, but there weren’t many services available, and we were getting hungry.

Highway 337, Scenic Drive Byway 17.

The biggest town we passed through was called Mountainair, with a population of 884, and we thought we would find a café to eat.  We drove through the main part of the town and didn’t find anywhere to eat, but after getting back on the main highway and driving out of town, we saw an old hotel that had a dining room.  The hotel was named the Shaffer Hotel and was built in 1923.  It felt a bit like we had stepped back in time as the hotel and dining room were quite ornate with an interesting ceiling and chandeliers.  It looked like most of the town had turned out for Saturday lunch as everyone there seemed to be locals.  (Here is a link to an interesting article about the Shaffer Hotel Val found after this was published.)

The Shaffer Hotel has been here since 1923.

The ceiling of the Shaffer Hotel Restaurant.  It was Saturday afternoon and it looked like all the locals of the area were here for lunch, luckily it was a big place, but it took a while to get our food.

When you're in New Mexico you have to have a green chili cheeseburger.  Chili is a big deal in New Mexico.

A remnant of the old days across from the hotel.

After a good (but lengthy lunch), we continued our journey south.  The Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is spread over many sites in the area and just south of Mountainair we took a side trip to one of them, the Salinas Pueblo Missions.  They had a very nice visitor’s center and there were some ruins nearby.  The ruins were mostly just foundations, but there was one building where the walls were still standing and probably three stories high.  Very impressive for something so old.

Now we're on Highway 55.

 

We arrive at the the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument Visitors Center.

We continued south and passed by several more sites, but the day was getting late, and we didn’t have time to stop.  After the end of the scenic byway, the area became even more isolated and we felt like we were the only ones around, on one long stretch we only saw three other cars.

The area was mostly flat with rolling hills and was almost entirely grassland.  The starkness of it was actually quite beautiful.  It was in this area that the altitude was the lowest we’ve been in since arriving in New Mexico at 5500 feet, but it quickly started rising again as we headed into the mountains and Ruidoso.

The town of Claunch consisted of a church and not much else.

Those mountains ahead of us are where Ruidoso is and where we're headed.

As we started our drive into the mountains, we left the grasslands and there were more signs of civilization.  Ruidoso is a popular resort area so as we neared the town there was quite a bit of traffic.  It was a Saturday night, so everyone seemed to be out and about.  We are staying at the Inn of the Mountains Gods, a tribal hotel and casino on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

There was some construction going on, so it was a round about and confusing route we had to take to the hotel, but we finally made it around five.  It had been a long day, but the drive was very interesting, and we really enjoyed it.  There are five scenic byways in this area, so we’ll be here for three days.

The Inn of the Mountain Gods is located on a nice lake on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

We finally made it to the hotel.  It was a long day of driving, but very scenic and interesting and well worth it.

The hotel was quite nice, but very crowded, we found out later that celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse was here for a dinner event and the hotel was sold out.  The hotel is on a lake and our room looks out over the lake.  It is a nice room, and the whole facility seems very nice.

After settling in and getting cleaned up, we went to the casino for a little while, but we were tired and were back in our room by eight.  We had eaten a late lunch, so we weren’t very hungry and just picked up a couple of snacks for our dinner.  Tomorrow we will try to do three of the scenic byways including a drive to White Sands National Park that we are looking forward to.

Scenic Drives Completed: 16 of 35

Scenic Drives Missed: 1

Three more scenic drives off our list.