Ruidoso, New Mexico native Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting the Oscars this season, so perhaps now is the perfect time to check out his hometown before it too goes Hollywood.
Ruidoso is a picturesque mountain village, 7,000 feet high in the tall pines of southern New Mexico, and the perfect place to jet away from the stress of everyday life. Check out the details at discoverruidoso.com. The Inn of the Mountain Gods a casino-resort just outside of town, might be the perfect place to land.
Ruidoso is not necessarily what you would expect of New Mexico. This is not Taos, this is not Santa Fe. Ruidoso feels more…Texan. The many hotels along the endless main drag often sport Texan flags and the music scene is country not mariachi.
During the summer horse racing season at nearby Ruidoso Downs, your fellow punters are likely to be Texans from adjacent El Paso or Amarillo in town to win, place or just show. After racing, the Cattle Baron restaurant is a great place to celebrate or commiserate over a fine steak and a cold brew. While there are several western and Native American galleries, this is not necessarily a place to come shop for southwestern art. At one gallery, I asked the clerk if they had any prints from Georgia O’Keeffe. She replied “We don’t have any of HIS work.”
But like native son Harris, Ruidoso is constantly surprising you. The Mescalero Apache tribe built the Inn of the Mountain Gods in one of the most photogenic spots imaginable. There is a view from the lobby’s picture windows over the small lake and through the pines to the north face of the aptly named Sierra Blanca. The sierra is sometimes blanca as early as late September. The hotel is gigantic and very modern, but has many Native American touches in its art and architecture. The golf course is world-class and is open nearly year round. One can also hike for miles in the pines or take a paddle boat out on the small lake and watch the sun set over the sierra.
The resort has nightlife nearly every weekend —this weekend boasts a live cooking show by celebrity chef Robert Irvine and country music by the legendary Merle Haggard. That would make an interesting double-bill by the way. The casino in the resort is small by even New Mexico standards, so there is no reason to stay inside and gamble all night until you are haggard yourself. While the buffet is merely adequate, Wendell’s restaurant, right by the main lobby, has a contemporary menu featuring a local elk tenderloin that even Chef Irvine would love.
The tribe also runs the Ski Apache resort , the southernmost ski resort in America. While the resort has plenty of sunshine, a four person gondola whisks you to the summit with some incredible bowl skiing. It’s not the Big Burn at Snowmass, but lift tickets and lodging costs won’t burn your pocketbook. On the summit, there is a view out to something else white—the desert of the White Sands National Monument which is just a short drive away. In the other direction, you might want to fly over the UFO museum in Roswell to find out if the truth is really out there.
All in all, Harris just might be the perfect host for the Oscars and Ruidoso with its Inn of the Mountain Gods just might be the perfect host for your next quick vacation.
Author: Jon Miller of RattlesnakeLaw.com
I would invite the author of this article back to Ruidoso and give him a better tour of the town and the local history. Georgia O’Keeffe may not be as well known in Ruidoso as she is in Northern NM and I would never judge the entire town on one teenage kid (I’m just guessing given who gets hired down town) not knowing who SHE was. I find it rather rude and condescending that the article centers around the Texas aspect of the visitors in Ruidoso, after all they butter the cities bread two seasons of the year, then shifts to the Inn of the Mountain Gods as if that was all there was to the area, and finally mariachi music….really, just because you were in NM doesn’t mean that would be all there is to the music scene. New Mexico is actually dripping with rich history and culture and Ruidoso has its own versions of this deep in its bones. Come back during October and watch the locals reclaim the town for their own festivities…you might even catch a mariachi band or some Southwestern art work. As for Neil, I’m not sure why you linked him to the article except to get hits and clicks. I’m sure he will appreciate this one.
Having grown up in Ruidoso New Mexico myself and attending school with Neil Patrick Harris, this article is crap. It is appears as though the Inn of the Mountain God’s hired and paid for this article to be written. As for Ruidoso being more Texas and Texan flags flying, that is complete crap!
The old gondola was 4-person. The new gondola is much faster and holds 8 people.