"Ruidoso - New Mexico" a New Mexico Travel Page by GIDEONMORLEY

Claire and I stayed at this great place during a last trip to the USA in September 2007.

I only found this town by accident on Virtual Tourist. Some guy said there are 3 things to do in Roswell 1. Jenny bottomless lake, 2. Roswell museum and Ruidoso.

Well thanks to the excellent information available from http://www.ruidoso.net/, I managed to find a place that rented out condos on a golf course next to a lake. We stayed at Ruidoso for 5 nights. It is an excellent location to visit the county's great attractions like White sands and, Lincoln - last stand of Billy the Kid. This area is also great for walking, cycling, horse riding and skiing.

Fortunately the weekend we arrived at Ruidoso coincided with the start of the Golden Aspen Motorcycle Rally!! What a lot of bikes!!! And being a biker myself, it was great to see so many bikers having a great time.

I think we are the only Brits who have found this wonderful town!
I highly recommend a visit to this great place, which reminded us of Carmel and Bisbee.

P.S Jenny bottomless lake was worth the drive, a very serene place - nice.
And of course, you have to visit the International UFO Museum and Research Centre in Roswell.

On the way back from Ruidoso, we stayed overnight at Carlsbad. The drive from Ruidso did not take that long so we had time to visit the famous Carlsbad caves. WOW, I will say that again WOW!!! Makes Wookey hole caves in England look like a tiny crack in the ground!

Carlsbad caves are HUGE, the Big Room is 8.2 acres, that is 4 soccer pitches!
And watching the bats was really impressive despite some tourists not understanding the word "silence"!

This is a must visit if you are in New Mexico.

We stayed at Albuquerque for one night on the way down to Ruidoso and Roswell. Sandia Peak Tramway is a must visit. If you don't like heights - close your eyes!

Once up on top of the mountain there are many walks to do. We ran out of time, otherwise we would have walked back down the mountain. Instead we had dinner at the Sandiago’s Mexican Grill, which was excellent. If you want to eat at the top of the mountain, you will need to book early as there were a lot of people queuing at the bottom waiting to go up.

Obviously, one afternoon and night did not do this area justice and I daresay we will go back to Albuquerque. Perhaps next time we will get to see the great balloons!