Ruidoso Village 10k Volksmarch - Thursday, April 21, 2022

Today, we're checking out of our campsite in Roswell, New Mexico, and heading up the mountain to Ruidoso which has an elevation of around 6,500'. It will be cooler there.

The fire in Ruidoso has been contained. They sent the hotshot crews to battle other blazes. Over 200 structures were lost in Ruidoso. A number of people were displaced from their homes. Our hearts go out to them.

As we were driving out of Roswell, we saw Sheri Logan, Andy Thomas, and Susan Noonan out walking. I yelled "Hi" out the window to them. They were surprised to hear someone yelling a greeting at them in Roswell. They will be traveling to Ruidoso this afternoon, too, for the Ruidoso Walking Weekend. Bob and I will do the 10k Ruidoso Village Walk with Andy this afternoon. 

We had an uneventful drive and checked in to Midtown Mountain RV Park at 12:30 pm. After lunch and a nice rest, we picked up Andy at his hotel and headed to the Chamber of Commerce to sign in for the walk and pick up our directions.

A beautiful mural in the 
Chamber of Commerce.

Woodcarving in front of
the Chamber of Commerce.

Eagle woodcarving at the
Chamber of Commerce.

The walk start point was at the Ruidoso River Trail park directly behind the Chamber of Commerce. We moved our truck to the parking lot there. 

On the first section of this walk is the Two Rivers Fairy Trail. Hidden along the trail are 10 fairy houses. Each fairy house location is marked with a white wand on the side of the trail where the house is hidden. We only found five of the 10 fairy houses (even with the help of a map). Two fairy houses were found by a little girl on the trail ahead of us.

"Crazy Quilt," by 
Gordon Snidow.

"Newcomer," by Veryl Goodnight.

Tom's bridge fairy.

Briar Oak

At Bill the Troll's bridge.

The walk along the river in the trees was beautiful and cool. The elk were active here this afternoon.

Elk staying cool in the shade.

Ruidoso River.

A pleasant, shaded park.

Willow.

Whimsie.

From the Ruidoso River Trail, we took a steep road up to Main St. We walked up one side of Main Street and down the other side. It was fun to window shop and look at the restaurants. Many colorful murals adorned the businesses.

A fire tower overlooks the
Village of Ruidoso.

Samaritan's Purse had items for
people displaced by the fire.

Midtown Ruidoso, New Mexico.

Noisy Water: the Cellar -
wine and oil & vinegar tasting.

Andy and Bob.

Lots of different chainsaw-
carved animals for sale.

The otter is great.

An artistic door.

The gazebo in this plaza looks inviting.

This is the left side of the 
mural below. A telephone 
pole cut the mural in two.

More art next to the sidewalk.

A fence made of old skis.

Ruidoso is a mountain town where a lot of Texans like to get away from the heat in the summer. Around June, people like to come here for the horse racing at Ruidoso Downs. But it is also a ski resort in the winter. We saw a photo in the Cornerstone Bakery Cafe showing downtown Ruidoso when it is covered in snow. 

Another reason people come here is for gambling. There is a casino at Ruidoso Downs and the Inn of the Gods Casino as well. 

Today is a lovely spring day, sunny and not a cloud in the sky. We continued on Main St. to Allsup's gas station and then crossed the street and walked down the other side back to Center St.

A store for all your 
Christmas needs.

Rocky Mountain Christmas store.

Welcome to Ruidoso.

When we got to Center Street, our instructions said to turn left. So we did. That just didn't seem right. I had done this walk four years ago and we turned right at this intersection. We went down the hill a block and the park was not there. We turned around to go back up the hill, but Center Street was torn up and closed due to construction of the streets and sidewalks. All the construction workers were leaving for the day, so we walked through the dirt to get to Wingfield Park.

From the park, we headed even farther up Center Street into some neighborhoods. This is where it got hilly. The upside was the beautiful view from up there!

Our view on this part of the walk.

The rest of the walk was downhill from here. We returned to Main Street and retraced our steps down to the Ruidoso River Trail. It was nice to finish up along the river. Mule deer and elk were down by the river grazing and drinking water. 

This was one elk out of a herd of
about 15.

Airyn fairy house.

At the end of the walk, we dropped Andy off at his hotel. Bob and I went to dinner at Farley's. The salads were great, the pizza not so much. We wouldn't go there again unless we got a different entree. 

Our campsite at Midtown Mountain
RV Park. It's in a very convenient
location.

With that, we called it a night. Tomorrow is supposed to be very windy so we will do a 6k hike at Grindstone Lake. 

Invasion of the Little Green Men, Part 1 - Wednesday, April 20, 2022

"War of the Worlds," "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "Star Trek," "Star Wars," "Men in Black," "E.T.," "Independence Day," "The X-Men," "Dune," "The Fifth Element," "GalaxyQuest"... The list goes on and on. Our society is fascinated by aliens and other-worldly occurrences.

In early July 1947, something strange allegedly happened in the high desert outside Roswell, New Mexico. A rancher saw something crash land on his property. When he found the crash site, there were strange metal pieces scattered about. He believed the material came from outer space. Authorities were called in and they originally released his story. But a few days later, they revoked the information that this was an unidentified flying object and sent out news releases telling the public that the crash site revealed a weather balloon. This set off conspiracy theories about the government covering up an alien crash landing. 

Roswell is home to the International UFO Museum and Research Center. This museum has been on my bucket list for years. I am determined to visit this museum today after our 11k walk.

We started walking at 8:20 am. The first couple of miles were on Main St. There were so many things to look at. First up, we saw the Invasion Station Gift Shop which was surrounded by aliens.

The Invasion Station Gift Shop, as
alien as it gets.

A mural of the 1947 crash site.

Take me to your leader.

Scattered throughout Roswell are myriad murals depicting everything from sunsets to alien happenings (but mostly aliens!).

A gorgeous sunset mural (not an 
alien in sight, although the clouds do
look like flying saucers).

Just a few doors down, we came to the famous Roswell McDonald's which got into the whole alien thing and made their dining room look like a spaceship had landed in the building.

McDonald's in Roswell, New Mexico.

A McDonald's space mural. 

Our walk instructions told us to go to the back of the building next to the McDonald's drive-thru to see a large mural. They weren't kidding. It took me six photos to get it all in!!

We continued down Main Street to see more crazy stuff. This walk is interesting!

The other side of McDonald's.

Dunkin' has a massive alien in front.

Even the U.S. Postal Service
got in on the act. Here's R2D2
disguised as a mailbox.

On our way north, we passed the new Roswell Convention Center and then the  Roswell History Museum and Art Center which contains the Goddard Planetarium. An outside display shows Dr. Robert H. Goddard "who here laid the foundations for the science of rocket propulsion." He also had 214 patents, 130 of them received posthumously. More on that in Part 2 of this blog. 

Bob standing next to Robert
Goddard's rocket propulsion
tower.

Dr. Robert H. Goddard.

The rocket propulsion tower.

Our next destination came as a big surprise to us. Bob and I did not know about the New Mexico Military Institute. The buildings look like castles.

Quarters 2.

Alumni Memorial Chapel.

Lusk Hall.

Lea Hall.

Bronco Plaza.

Bronco Plaza.

Hagerman Barracks.

Hagerman Barracks.

The quadrangle at Hagerman Barracks.

Pearson Auditorium.

With that, our tour of the New Mexico Military Institute was over. We got a little lost on direction #10 coming out of the NMMI. 

The sculpture below is outside the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art.

"Artesian," by
W.A. Goodman (1996).

The Wool Bowl, Roswell's premier high
school football stadium.

Eventually, we got back on track and then walked and walked and walked. We tried to go to the Spring River Zoo but they didn't open until 10 am. We were there at 9:30 am. 

So we kept on walking, this time on the Spring River Recreation Trail. It was a long distance back to the heart of downtown. I was starting to feel like Forest Gump.

Bob is training for the Deadwood Marathon on June 5, so tomorrow morning he plans to run 10 miles on the Spring River Recreation Trail. Since I definitely won't be up that early, I asked him to run toward me so I could get an action shot. 

Bob training for the 
Deadwood Marathon.

Spring River Recreation Trail.

The Spring River Trail goes down into the drainage ditch. It's a good thing it wasn't raining!

The trail in the ditch.

An interesting place to put the trail!

Bob on the trail in the ditch.

We came up from Spring River at the Roswell History Museum and Art Center. The rock bench near the parking lot was its own work of art. The piece is called "Oasis." Dozens of little pieces of art are embedded in the bench to make them look like fossils. I loved it. 

"Oasis" benches, by Susan Wink.

We continued on the Spring River Trail to the Iron Cross Observation Point. The German Iron Cross on the river bank was created by German POWs during WW II. The locals didn't like the Iron Cross and cemented over it with five yards of concrete. Over the years, the cement washed away and the Iron Cross is visible again. (See history plaque below.)

Piece of the Berlin Wall from the 
Eastern side which is clean.

Piece of the Berlin Wall from the 
western side which is covered with graffiti.

The re-exposed Iron Cross.

In honor of the POWs-MIAs.

We also saw a carving made from a dead tree that had been moved from across the street to the front of an adult social center.

"The Oldest Citizen," by Rex
Branson & Jeremy Crow.

I think that's supposed to
be a lizard.

It wasn't long before we caught up to Helen Hull, Bonnie, Gudi, et. al. They were doing the 6k and we basically walked through a park with them and then our routes split.

Our 11k walk finished strong in town where we passed by a number of fun things. 

Historical Society Archives Building.

Historical Society Museum didn't open
until 1 pm. 

"Tree of Knowledge" sculpture
in front of the library

On the "Tree of Knowledge."

"Tree of Knowledge."

The old Carnegie Library.

Alien mural on a print shop.

LOL.

More alien art in front of the
Roswell Chamber of Commerce.

Roswell Chamber of Commerce.

Fun sculpture.

Check out the
street lamp.

Alien couple carved out of tree stumps.

Chaves County Courthouse.

Alien inside the 
Visitor Center.

Vacationing with the aliens.

Early history of Roswell, New Mexico.

John Simpson Chisum, "Cattle King
of the Pecos."

I am going to make today's blog two parts because I still want to tell you about my afternoon.

To be continued in Part 2.