100 Days of Happiness: Day 5(long emotional post)

I have to tell you when I started gathering pictures for this blog, I never expected to end up in tears but here I am lol. There are a few reasons for the tears and I'll explain more later in the blog.

I decided I wanted Ruidoso, New Mexico to be my Day 5. To be very honest vacations weren't a regular part of my life until our first trip to Ruidoso in 2010. My family are mountain, outdoors, cool, mountain shower kind of people. We went to Lake Brownwood here in Texas one year and the trip was in short a disaster. So we decided to try something else. Everyone but my sister and me had been to Ruidoso before and let me tell you it didn't take long for my sister and me to fall totally in love with this place.

Ruidoso is village in south central New Mexico. It's surrounded by the Sierra Blanca mountains and also the Sacramento mountains. It is also surrounded by the Lincoln National Forest. There are many rivers  and  lakes around the Ruidoso are as well .  The 3 villages of Ruidoso Downs, Ruidoso, and Alto all sort of run together. The Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation is very close by and they run the ski area, Ski Apache, as well as the Inn of the Mountain Gods, which is a big resort with a casino, hotel, and golf course. Ruidoso Downs has a very nice well known horse track and is what they are known for.   Capitan, New Mexico( home of the Smokey the Bear Museum) and Cloudcroft, New Mexico(another popular vacation spot) are just short drives from Ruidoso. That's just small fraction of the stuff in and around Ruidoso.

We went every year from 2010 through 2015. I loved our trips there. I love Ruidoso. It's a little mountain village but there is a Starbucks, a Wal-Mart, lots of local restaurants, but also lots of chain restaurants. The shops are great as well. I've just found no place like Ruidoso. This place stole a large chunk of my heart the moment I first arrived and I'm afraid I'm never going to get it back. Unfortunately I'm not sure when or even if I'll ever be back there. Life changes and suddenly other things take priority. Ruidoso is just another thing that last year took from my family and me.  That's a big part of why looking at the pictures I've taken and thinking about Ruidoso made me cry. I miss it so much. I'd given anything to spend a few days there now. I'd give anything to take my nephews there. If I never get to go back, I'll be completely heartbroken. 

The other reason for the tears was a place near Ruidoso and Ski Apache called Bonito Lake. The first couple of years we went, it was one of my family and my  favorite places. It was stunning(pictures to come). The lake is fairly small but the area around was full of beautiful old trees. It was a popular place for people to camp and there was/is a church camp near by. The first couple of times we went the lake had several of the biggest fish I've ever seen. We fished there a couple of times but never caught anything. In June of 2012, a forest fire started(it was started by lightening) and burned for many days(it was call the Little Bear Fire if you wish to look it up and learn more about it). It devastated the area around the lake. Although the fire didn't reach the lake, it still got close enough that run off from rains after the fire filled the lake with tons and tons of ash, silt, and sediment(there was about 50 feet of ash, silt, and sediment deposited on the bottom of the lake). It basically ruined the lake. Those big fish I loved to watch who were who knows how old were wiped out, in fact all the fish were wiped out. They've been working since then to try to clean up the lake but it's been hard work and slow going. It's been closed all this time and they've now pushed it's reopening to August of 2018. Who really knows if that will happen. Seeing the pictures of that area before the fire and the pictures of the area after always breaks my heart and brings tears to my eyes. I know this is the natural order of things(Mother nature gives and Mother nature takes away) but it's still so so sad to me.

I guess it's time to start putting in some pictures and stuff!

The drive from Roswell to Ruidoso is amazing!! You can start to see the mountains right outside of Roswell and these pictures don't do justice to how beautiful it is! The first picture is clearly in Ruidoso, I just wanted to start off with it lol.

The main street in Ruidoso with all the shops and my favorite restaurant there, Cafe Rio. Unfortunately I never took a picture of Cafe Rio, I wish I had of lol. There are wooden bears everywhere. This one is my favorite!

The beauty around this place never stops taking my breath away, even when looking at the pictures

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The first year we went, we actually stayed in Alto. We were right across the highway from Alto lake. It was beautiful too. It also was damaged by the fire but not as bad ad Bonito and it has recovered faster than Bonito. These were taken that first trip is 2010 well before the Little Bear Fire. I don't guess I have any from after the fire but it was pretty much back to it pre fire look when we were there in 2015.

The ride up to the ski area is curvy and kind of crazy(it's even made me motion sick a couple of times lol) but it is stunning! There is a place you can stop and take pictures and it's just breath taking. These are pictures from that road at different times.

Here are some pictures from Bonito Lake in 2010 before the fire.

These are photos taken the next year(2011). The area round Ruidoso had been really dry that year and the lake was really low. It's no wonder if they were dry enough for the lake to drop that much in a year, that less than a year later the area would be devastated by a wildfire.

When we were there in 2012 it was just a few weeks after the fire and you couldn't get close to Bonito. In 2013, we went to Red River instead. So the next pictures are from 2014, over 2 years after the fire. There was burned trees and ash all over the surface of the water still. The smell was awful. The water used to be so clear you could see the bottom of the lake standing up by the road(which is a good distance). After the fire you couldn't see the bottom of the lake at all. The water was a murky green black and there was zero life in it.

The last time we were there in 2015, I'd hoped it would be better. But they were in the process of draining it and it was actually worse!

Here are the rivers that flow into and out of Bonito Lake.

The Smokey the Bear Museum was great as an adult but I imagine it would be even better for kids! Great exhibits, a video, and a walking trail outside with all kind of plants. They honor Smokey the Bear well!

They flowers and wildlife around Ruidoso are amazing! I never get enough of it!

Last but not least, the Rudisos Downs Racetrack! I love horses, so watching them run was always fun for me.

Well this blog too way longer than any other blog I have ever written lol. But it was fun! It's sad to think I may never see this place again. But it's wonderful to look back at the memories and be able to share some of them! I hope one day I do get to go back because there is no where I enjoying being more than Ruidoso and the mountains! I hope you guys enjoyed this blog. Don't expect another one this long for awhile lol!