Ruidoso, New Mexico In the Summer... Absolutely Divine

We've always gone to Ruidoso, New Mexico in the winter to ski, so it was a truly wonderful experience staying at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino during August. We've been having triple digit heat here in Texas, so 80 degree weather was like Heaven.

Ruidoso has had a blessed summer of much needed rain which has made everything look like something out of a brochure. The above picture was taken from our balcony, of the tenth hole. The rest of the 18 hole championship golf course is even more beautiful than this picture. Every single day you could see the course crew out grooming from sun-up to sundown. It was breathtaking. It was quite challenging playing with at least half the holes being uphill and we were told no carts on the course until 10:00AM... We teed off at 9:00 AM. So, for an hour we played aerobic golf since it was mostly uphill. Needless to say, we were thankful when 10:00 rolled around. Luckily, we had a fast five-some playing ahead of us and a slow five-some playing behind us. It was like we had the course to ourselves.

This was taken at twilight.

This was the 9th hole looking down at the Inn of the Mountain Gods.

One day we had lunch at the golf course grill which was nothing special, but it was good and the drinks had ice so we were happy. We also had drinks at the Buffalo Bill Bar and enjoyed the lovely views from the patio as we enjoyed them.

We were also able to do the Apache Eagle Zip Rider which was a blast! The zip line is accessed by ATV and you can go two at a time. Thankfully, hubby stayed at the bottom to record my ride. The man going at the same time as me was heavier so he went across much faster than I. Still, it was a total rush of adrenaline and such a frightening joy, if that makes any sense. You go all the way across the lake in less than 3 minutes. Video will not show here because it's too big by 34 MB. Sigh. So, here's a picture of where you launch from. I never have received my one and only picture I paid for. 

The ATV ride up to the launch was another adventure unto itself, I kid you not. There is another Zip up at the Ski Apache Ski Area called the Apache Zip Tour that is one of the 10 longest in the U.S.A. Unfortunately, it rained the day we were scheduled to go, so we cancelled. Might be more fun in the winter anyway.

Apache Indian Teepee across the lake.

All of their rooms have been updated this year and the room was lovely, the restaurants were better than ever and the room service is still outstanding. We never even saw the need to leave the hotel. We didn't gamble but we did walk through the casino to have lunch at the casino restaurant one day and it seemed pretty dead.

I think I'm back to blogging since it is the best way to recall what I've been up to and when I did it. Yes, I'm old and it's a huge help....