Why would you live near Ruidoso, New Mexico?

When we first entered this mountainous area of Central New Mexico, we got travel advice from a high school classmate who lives near Ruidoso. Cindy told us about several places that we have now visited, as well as the Rob Jagger Campground where we were parked. She also suggested a stop at Fort Stanton Historic Site. We have visited several forts in the last month--Fort Clark, Fort Leaton, Fort Davis--so we were about forted out. But then we found that they were having a special guided tour of a part of Fort Stanton normally not available to the public. It was led by a volunteer dressed in the denim uniform worn by soldiers from that period. Our guide started the tour beside one of the guns once used here.

Then we took off toward the grassy hill-top with Cindy and her husband Aaron, and about twenty other people that showed up for the special tour.

We committed the cardinal tourist sin--we never took a good picture of the friends that we were visiting today. Aaron is standing beside Denisa in the picture below, and Cindy will show up in the pink sweat shirt in the pictures today. Even though they live just a few miles from Fort Stanton, they had never seen the area on this hill.

The fort built in the valley in 1855 was used for military purposes. But it also has served as a tuberculosis sanitarium, a CCC work camp, a hospital for the handicapped, and a women's prison. Our tour today took us out of the valley and onto the hill-top. This area was used to house a German internment camp during World War II. When a luxury cruise liner was captured in enemy waters in 1939, the crew of that ship were held in the internment camp for the remaining war years. During that time, the German men built several buildings, including a gym and living quarters. The words molded into the concrete above the door of the indoor exercise facility say "Erbaut 1944" which is German for "Built 1944."

While held against their will, their time in the United States was nothing like a prisoner of war camp experience. Besides having the use of a new indoor gym, the Germans also built a large swimming pool. They held "mini-Olympics" competitions with the locals here at the pool.

They could work on their tan while being interned in New Mexico. Most of the German men held here in New Mexico during World War II had fond memories of their time, and some stayed in the United States after the war was over.

Because this area can be desert-like, they also built large concrete tanks to store the snow and rain for use on the hill. When our guide asked for an estimate on the capacity of these tanks, Aaron's guess was right on the money. Geologists are obviously very good at estimating the size of a hole.

After an interesting tour and a little exercise walking in the hills above Fort Stanton, we were invited to Cindy and Aaron's house just a few miles away. Denisa snapped this picture as we followed their pickup. They have been living here several years, and made the decision to move to the Ruidoso area largely because of this view. Again, we forgot to take a picture of them on their lovely acreage where we were treated to a delicious meal. One of the joys of traveling is getting to spend time with people we haven't seen for years, and learn about their lives. We had a great day with Cindy and Aaron!

Another reason that they like living near Ruidoso is their proximity to the ski slopes. It is only thirty minutes from their front door to the chair lifts at the Ski Apache Resort for a day of snow skiing. Aaron buys an annual pass, and picks any good weather day in the middle of the week as a good day to go snow skiing. What a treat! While the mountain is quite close, the drive up to the top is not for the faint-hearted. It's a steep drive up hair-pin turns, as shown in the red-lined road map below.

We made the drive ourselves, stopping at the view-point about 3/4 of the way to the top. By then we could see all the snow-covered peaks around us.

We could also look down over that winding road to the valley where Ruidoso residents live.

We drove all the way to the end of the highway, where Ski Apache welcomed us to the ski resort. Owned by the Mescalero Apache tribe, the sign uses their native language to "nil daagute" (welcome) us to the ski slopes.

With more snow than usual this year, the ski mountain was open longer than it is most years. We could still see the zig-zag tracks of recent skiers down the face of the mountain.

A hiking trail starts at the ski hill, and we decided we needed a little more exercise today. While the trail was visible at first, we soon lost it in the snow.

At the base of the chair lifts we were already at 9,600 feet in elevation. We have been hiking in the desert, so we were out of breath as we headed up-hill at this high elevation.

Our climb took us high enough that we completely lost the trail. We enjoyed the white slopes and blue skies as we wandered through more of God's wonders.

The warmer temperatures were melting the icy crust, so we were post-holing through the snow. That means that our legs would break through the icy crust and we would suddenly step down so that our legs were buried in snow to our knees. We never knew when this would happen, so it was a slow slog through the deep snowy sections.

Mark made it to the top of the first peak, but Denisa was content to take his picture from her lower perch. When skiing, the top of the chair lift is at 11,500 feet. It's hard work to hike through deep snow and high elevations, so we were tired. But the views were breath-taking--in more ways than one!

We have enjoyed visiting friends, and learning more about the history of Ruidoso. It's a beautiful place with white snow in the winter and pleasant mountain temperatures in the summer. It was fun learning the reasons why people like to live near Ruidoso, New Mexico.