Thanksgiving Trip to Ruidoso!

John and I took a little long weekend trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico, for the Thanksgiving Holidays.  We really love that area and had a great time reconnecting with all the places we love to visit.  

 Started with breakfast tacos!

Oil, oil, oil - everywhere!

Wednesday we traveled and arrived around 4 pm - which worked out great.  By the time we checked into our little cabin in the woods, we got settled and went to dinner at Farley's - we have to go there at least once every time!

Thursday we too at drive early just to sight-see around town and the Inn of the Mountain Gods, and then came back to the cabin for a Thanksgiving feast that we brought with us. 

 Mornings were chilly, but it warmed up nicely during the days

 John made us sweet rolls for Thanksgiving breakfast

 We sat out on the porch with coffee afterward - listening to the birds.

Afterward (I think I took a nap, very uncharacteristic! Must be the mountain air.) and then we went to see a movie at their tiny theater.  I think we found our people there - everyone was about our age! It was funny!  We saw Murder on the Orient Express - very good by the way. We both really enjoyed it.  I think they are making the second Christie movie, too, so something to look forward to.

On Friday we drove out to Tulerosa, New Mexico, to visit the Tulerosa Winery and pick up some very nice wines. We go here every time wed visit, too.  We got to visit with the owner for quite a while and he filled us in on their history. He's in his 80s, but as with it as ever.  I picked his brain about the pistachio trees he has planted in the front of the winery, I have always wondered if they would grown here. It's a bit of a mystery, he only got to start his trees because a friend of his provided the seeds many years ago.  All of his trees were started by seed. There is also a male and a female tree, just to make things even more complicated. 

 Next we stopped at the Heart of the Desert winery and had a wonderful tasting there.  This was there first day of Christmas and the whole place was buzzing with little elves and Santa's helpers.  So much fun. We might have bought several wines there, too! ha!

That evening we went out to the Inn of the Mountain Gods for dinner at their buffet, and then John lost lots of money at the casino. Ha! He sets a limit, though, so it wasn't that bad.  He has fun, and that's what counts.

On Saturday we started the day at The Log Cabin for breakfast - very popular place.  We times it perfectly - got a table very quickly, but then the crowd really came and there's usually a wait. Whew!

We walked through town and did a little shopping for a few hours with all the other tourists.  There were some shops that have survived and some new ones - we found a pretty cool tea shop and stocked up for cold weather to come.  

 They have this tree planted all through the downtown.  We asked at the local nursery and they thought it was probably a crab apple, but it looks more like a type of cherry to me. Mystery!

Then we took a drive up to Lincoln and all around the area. We enjoyed seeing how things have changed and how they've stayed the same.

We had a dinner of cheese, meats and wine at the cabin that evening and then got up early to head home.  It was very relaxing and nice to get away for a few days.  I hope we can do several "long weekend" trips in 2018, it's one of my resolutions for next year!