The Best of Ruidoso
Our family travels around our state of New Mexico quite a bit. Austin (the husband) has a job that encompasses all of the state so we travel for work often and we love being in the outdoors. Ruidoso New Mexico has become our home away from home and it became that way the first moment we drove through it.
In this blog, I'll be explaining why we love the city so much and what our favorite things to do are!
*Disclaimer- we have never stayed at a hotel or airbnb in the city before. Our campground is in the mountains so anytime we are in town, we stay up there!
Why we LOVE Ruidoso:
The Landscape & Views
I'm from the south where our lakes are murky and dark. Ruidoso has ocean blue lakes with mountains all around them. We absolutely love taking our kids for hikes around the lakes that are close driving distance from town. Plus, the weather is perfect all year long. It's so dreamy in all seasons!
The Food
Here are some of our favorite restaurants:
Sacred Grounds- We have a love/dislike relationship with this restaurant. Most of the time we go is during lunch time and it's been hit or miss with their menu. Either they don't have all the ingredients or they have a weird menu (sometimes sit down, sometimes brunch, sometimes BBQ...) Although their menu is unsteady, everything we have been able to eat was delicious. Pros and why we go there so often is for their huge coffee & tea list, pastries (crepes were heavenly), and the view of the creek on the back porch. They've also added a few new porches so it's hopefully becoming a hit spot! *Update, we went June 2021 and were able to sit on the back porch and listen to a live bluegrass band. It was amazing. Totally redeemed itself! Just look at the hours for when it's open.
Cornerstone Bakery- Great breakfast and lunch place! Food is always delicious! They bring dough out to entertain the kids the entire meal, so in my book, this is worth every penny! Plus they have a HUGE selection of baked items so yeah, what else do you need?! Notes- they close early and are super busy on the weekends.
Log Cabin Restaurant- Best pancakes in town. Hands down. Maybe in the entire state. Other menu items are meh but go for the pancakes. They close early also.
Hall of Flames Burgers- I don't eat burgers much anymore but my husband says they're the BEST. And he's super picky so you should believe him. Everything else I've tried is delicious though!
Apache Donuts- Being a Texan and living out of state, Apache has been my Godsend because they have delicious kolaches and glazed donuts (my favorite) that are pretty close to Shipley Donuts quality! Quote me on that.
What to Do
Grindstone Lake- It's a short, family friendly hike with plenty of room to get in the cold mountain water. WEAR WATER SHOES and watch out for hooks in the water because it is a popular fishing lake. The lake is becoming friendlier to swimmers and they offer a few water activities. We also saw a new food truck that last time we were there. This lake is on our must-do list every time we are in town (summer months). Current COVID circumstances has made changes to visiting the lake. We had to pay last time for admission so check the website before you go. WEBSITE
Bonito Creek- Park at the Two Rivers Ruidoso River Park and enjoy a fun day walking and swimming in Bonito creek, playing at the playground, hiking or picnicking! It's our favorite free thing to do. Wear water shoes! WEBSITE
Flying J Ranch- My in laws took us to Flying J for a night and we all had so much fun! There is a cute little town where they do a reenactment that my boys loved. There are some cute little churches to walk in and a few activities for kids to do like shooting and horse riding. Every activity costs though. After the reenactment, they have an amazing southern buffet with great live music! It's worth it for the food, reenactment and music. The activities and the town were not as big as I was expecting but no fault to Flying J for my assumptions! WEBSITE
Main Street Shopping- There are sooooo many cute boutiques and stores to shop in. Every one of them is great! a few that we go in every time- Rocky Mountain Christmas (the owners may ACTUALLY be Santa and Mrs. Clause), Two Bears Trading Post (for those manly men), and J Roberts (for current fashion trends). There is something for everyone though!
The Hubbard Museum of the American West- We stumbled on this museum because I love horses and they have a great little nature area with giant horse statues. The museum is fairly cheap and so much to look at. The boys had a blast in the kids section and beg to go back every time we pass by. WEBSITE
Antiquing, horse races, Inn of the Mountain Gods, lakes, rivers, hunting, hiking, horseback riding, etc. There are soooo many things to do in Ruidoso! I just listed above only a few things that we've personally done and we hope we get an opportunity to do more!
Enjoy your Ruidoso trip!
