New Mexico with Charlie 🦮

The time in Ruidoso, actually Alto at Ken and Kristi’s was a really nice rest. They always make me feel at home and being dog people they took to Charlie right away. We got there on Saturday afternoon and Kristi took Charlie and I on a golf cart ride to show us around Alto. (I had actually played golf there once many years ago with Paul Crown). Charlie fell in love with their deck and would hang out there by himself. 

Sometimes he would just chill in the chair I usually sat in or he would hang with us if we were eating (we ate all our meals on the deck) and watch the animals hang out in the yard. One day we had elk then deer and finally horses. 

Sunday they played golf early and I just hung out, relaxed and as I often do worked on tentative trip planning. 

When they got back from golf we had lunch and then Kristi and eye took a drive down to Ruidoso Downs to a nursery looking for just the right deer resistant shrub. We didn’t find one but took a drive all through the Downs then up Sudderth through Ruidoso and all through the Upper Canyon  to check out the flood damage. From there we drove by our house on Shady Lane, it looked nice and by Sam and Lois’ it looked terrible. 

I’ve been trying to contact Paul Crown for several years with no luck so we drove by his house and there were vehicles there. When I knocked on the door and asked if he knew Paul Crown he said, “Yes he’s my brother “. It was Paul’s middle brother James whom I had never met. We visited for a while and he gave me Paul’s U.S. and Mexico phone numbers. When we got back to the house we had a nice reunion phone call. He’s moving back to the states and selling his place in Mexico so hopefully we’ll get together on another trip. 

On Tuesday Kristi and I took another road trip. We went up past Bonita Lake and walked around the beautiful area where her mother and brother Ken had their ashes spread. 

Then drove up to Mon Jeau Lookout where the views were incredible despite the hazy skies. We passed a large herd of wild horses right next to the road. 

We then drove to Capitan and visited the volunteer run library that had a cool used bookstore inside and had lunch across from Smoky Bear Museum where we had amazing green chili cheeseburgers. They had roasted green chilies and then fried green chilies on top of that. Delicious. 

On the way home we stopped at the Fort Stanton State Veterans Cemetery which is also the National Merchant Marine Cemetery. It was a good day and a good visit to the Ruidoso area.