If you've been behind the times Lincoln and I went on our very first vacation together this year. You can read about the initial booking and such
here.
day
one
We left
bright early on Sunday morning around 4:15. I drove the entire way, 10 hours! We made a few pit stops here and there for gas, snacks, and potty breaks. One or two may or may not have been on the side of the road. LOL That was the furtherest I have driven that I can remember and we had a nice ride just singing all songs on the radio, radio surfing, visiting, and looking at the scenery. I love farmland and in West Texas there's a lot of it. It was a beautiful to me. Plus it didn't hurt that we were the only car on the road the majority of the time and there isn't anything ahead or around you expect open highway and plains so to me the speed limit was pretty nonexistent. Once we ventured out of Texas and into New Mexico the terrain changed to a more hilly/mountain type and the roads were steadily getting more inclined. Also New Mexico's signs are weird and their speed limits suck its like 60 everywhere....me and my car don't even know what 60 looks like so I just went at our regular Texas speed. :)
We arrived at our destination around 1:30 and little did we know couldn't check in until 3. UUHHH So we drove around and found a little Chinese restaurant to have lunch. After lunch and a bit more wondering we ended up spotting a whole flock of wild turkeys hanging out in some people's yard.
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| It was so abnormal to see turkeys just walking around. We don't have a lot of those in East Texas so I told Lincoln I felt like they were planted there or something and weren't really wild. LOL just funny |
After some pictures of the turkeys we headed back to the hotel to check in, get situated, and get a game plan together. When we arrived to check in it was snowing pretty good (for us Texas folk) and so of course we had to take a few pictures right then. The hotel was set in the mountains and overlooked a little lake. There was snow here and there scattered throughout the terrain and it was really pretty.
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| front entrance of hotel- Inn of the Mountain Gods |
After settling into our room which was really nice. I wanted to go out and venture around the hotel and the lake. Well Lincoln said that he forgot his boots and wasn't thinking about his feet getting wet in his tennis shoes so we set out on a hunt to find snow/waterproof insulated boots. You would think in a mountainous region an easy feat but OH NO. We searched clothing stores, ski shops, western stores, the dollar store, Wal-Mart and everything in between and came out barefooted (so to speak). On our last trip down the road I spotted a Big 5 Sporting Goods? JACKPOT! We both got a pair of cute boots that we love. Lincoln went retro with some boots that his Dad also has (circa 1972) and so now Linc has some. He is very proud. Along with his retro find I got some official boots with the fur. LOL super cute and I'm sure I will wear them all the time when the weather is right here in the great state. After that
little big adventure it was well past dark and heading to dinner time. We headed back to the hotel to decide what we wanted to do.
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| Christmas tree in the Lobby of the hotel |
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| Linc and portion of lobby |
Once in the room we were sort of at a loss as to what to do since it was a Sunday night, we were still semi full on Chinese food and we were geared up to ski the next day. We decided to just chill and rest because I was super exhausted from that long drive. I took a long HOT bath and then we cuddled in bed and watched movies. Later after a super late nap I was hungry but didn't want to get dressed so we used one of God's greatest gifts when staying away from home....room service. LOL We both decided on Angus burgers and fries. After we were stuffed once more Lincoln stayed awake but I hit the hay...I was so tired from the drive.
day
two
After too much sleep we rose to a clear day and we geared up to head to the mountain. First we had to get directions to the Post Office and Ski Apache. I had to mail my books back to Amazon since the semester was over! YAY After a 30 minute stop at the post office we headed in the direction of the mountain. Once we turned off the main road we headed 12 miles up to the slopes. The further we went the colder it got and we were both anxious with anticipation. Mine to ski and have great fun and Lincoln because he was nervous. He hadn't ever skied before and didn't want to suck and he was still recovering from vacation phobia. LOL What is that you ask? Well on the way up there and all the first night Lincoln's stomach was hurting and he said that he was nervous to be gone away from home for so long. I just laughed and told him it would be fine and we were going to have a great time. I love going and adventuring...Lincoln not so much and he never really goes away from home for more than a night or two at the deer lease. He definitely likes the comfortable and the known. Once we arrived at the slopes he relaxed a bit and was excited to go. Hopefully after a few more awesome trips... :) he will be more willing and less anxious to have a time of his life. haha
Anyways after parking, getting our ski boots and skis fitted we headed over to purchase our lift tickets. Once we were all geared up we were set to hit the bunny slope and Lincoln was ready to learn. Even though Ruidoso hadn't gotten much snow they had enough to open the mountain and had 2 lifts going. It was a little early in the winter to book this kind of trip so southern but it was a risk and it paid off. I would have liked to ski some different runs but the two we had were great for Lincoln and we had a great time. Lincoln did great at skiing and only fell a few times when he got going too fast. He caught on really fast and I'm not sure if he is just a natural or if it was my great teaching abilities. haha
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| just WEDGE!! |
After several times on the bunny slope Lincoln felt comfortable enough to head over to the longer run called Easy Street. We skied until lunch, had a sort of good lunch at the Ski Apache cafeteria and then headed out for a few more hours. We left the slopes that first day around 3 o'clock.
On our way down the mountain we stopped at a lookout point to take some scenic shots.
Once to the bottom we took a scenic drive back to the hotel and spotted some mule deer. They are so used to people they eat right beside the road and don't run away or anything when you get close. These pictures aren't very good because the sun was blinding but you can see them anyways.
After a nap we got ready and headed to town to eat dinner at a steak and seafood restaurant, The Ranchers. The food was really good and it was a nice ending to a great first day of skiing.
day
three
On the third day of our trip, Tuesday December 18th, we headed down to the hotel buffet to eat a hardy breakfast before hitting the slopes. After breakfast we made the 12 mile journey UP the mountain to get in another fun filled day that wouldn't be complete without a couple baby ramps, wipe outs, and high winds. We stayed on the Easy Street run all that day. Not many pictures for this day since it was just more of the same.
day four
The last full day that we were scheduled to be in Ruidoso we were ready to hit the slopes all morning until lunch and then head down to the town to grab some lunch and shop the little shops that line the main road. When we left our room we could tell by looking outside that it looked very cold and once we were driving there were a lot of cloud cover on the mountain. We figured it was snowing up there but weren't in for what we found once we started up. It started snowing low on the road and once we were to the top there was ice and snow covering the road and the mountain was closed and the wind was blowing 90 to nothing. We figured about half way up that the slopes were going to be closed but we still had to finish the trek up because we had to turn in our ski gear that we had rented for 3 days. We hurried out of the car and turned in our stuff because we were going to get blown away and we also had to drive my little Toyota back down the icy roads! Once we made the nerve racking drive back down we had some time to spare before eating lunch so we hit the shops. We found some little items here and there for Christmas presents and souvenirs. We ate lunch at a mediocre Mexican restaurant and then headed back to the hotel around 1.
Me and Lincoln talked about it and we weren't supposed to check out until the following day. Since we had done pretty much all there was to do if we stayed another night we would have just been sitting idle in our hotel room and that is not fun. We decided to go ahead and check out and head to Lubbock to visit Piper and Jordan in their new home. We left right then and headed out into the wind and cold weather.
By the time we got to Lubbock it was full on dust storm. We only visited Piper and Jordan for a little bit before we got back on the road. We arrived at home sweet home around 1:30. Whew!
Lincoln and I had a great time spending copious amounts of time together doing something new for him and visiting a new place together. It was great getting to experience something different with him and I can't wait for more adventures that I'm going to send us on. LOL
