October 29, 2017

It was just Rick and me this time.  We arrived late Thursday afternoon, unpacked, and headed to Mayhill Cafe for dinner.  We tried it several times a few years ago, but it was inconsistent.  It's changed owners again, and we've been hearing good things so wanted to try it out again.  We had chicken fried steaks with green chile enchilada sauce instead of gravy.  The food was very good, the restaurant was very clean, the service was great, and they even had live music.

It was very cold on Friday with a high in the low 40s, so we had already decided to skip the Friday ride.  We had an early lunch at Mad Jack's.  I had seen on Facebook that he was  going to have pork belly burnt ends for the first time.  We were actually the first people to order and try his pork belly burnt ends and I thought they were quite good.  Everything else was good too, as always.  We did some shopping in Cloudcroft and in High Rolls, stopped by the Lodge for a beer, then headed back to the cabin.  

On Saturday, we waited until after lunch for it to warm up for our MTB ride.  We opted for a ride out of Mayhill at a lower elevation for some warmer temps.  We parked at the Mayhill Cafe in town and rode to the south on Cox Canyon Hwy.  We took Miller Flats road, had to climb up over a fairly large mountain with several switchbacks, and took some (relatively) flat roads out in several directions almost to Weed, then to Angel Canyon and back.  It was getting cool by the time we got back, but we rode almost 33 miles and had a great time.  We'll definitely be riding out in this area more often when the weather is cold.  We had a late lunch/early dinner at the Mayhill Cafe again.  I had the special (pot roast), Rick had cheese enchiladas, and we shared a slice of coconut cream pie for dessert.  It was good, and we headed back to the cabin.  We went back to Lubbock on Sunday morning.  

Mayhill Cafe on Thursday night--chicken fried steak plate with green chile enchilada sauce

Hanging out with the cats in front of the fire

Pork belly burnt ends with mac & cheese 

A BBQ feast: green chile stew, mac & cheese, pork belly burnt ends, brisket, turkey, and cherry cobbler

Top of the mountain on Miller Flat road

Mountain top looking north

A rare waterfall on Miller Flat road

Angel Canyon Road view 

Angel Canyon Road looking the other direction when we turned around

Me on Angel Canyon road  

Rick on Angel Canyon Road with mountains in the distance

Back down the mountain via some switchbacks

Good scenery

Rick

Pot roast special

Cheese enchiladas Christmas style

Oaks in front changing colors

October 8, 2017

Our trip scheduled for September 14-17 had to be cancelled due to Rick going to Houston to work on Michael, Lauren, and Lincoln's home which flooded in the hurricane.  We were hoping to have Rick (and maybe me) go up to the cabin for a week or so and get some of those long-neglected projects going.  Maybe next year.

We were joined by Amy and Vince on Thursday night (very late) and by JD and Jill on Friday.  We had tickets for the Marshall Tucker Band/Charlie Daniels Band concert at Inn of the Mountain Gods on Friday night.  We skipped riding on Friday, ate BBQ at Mad Jack's, and did some shopping.  We met JD & Jill at Cafe Rio in Ruidoso for some great pizza before the concert.  The concert was really, really good, especially Charlie Daniels.  We got some free casino credits from our beers, spent a very short time at the slot machines, and Rick walked out with $66 and Amy with $45 (from $0).

It had rained a lot during the week, and there was still some flooding in town, so we knew the trails would be really muddy.  Amy decided to run the Switchback Trail to train for her upcoming half-marathon, and Rick, Vince, and I did a MTB ride in the Pierce Canyon (first time riding there), Russia Canyon, and Karr recreation areas.  The aspens were beautiful, and we had a good and challenging ride.  JD & Jill took the 4WD pickup on some trails. We all had lunch at various times at Mad Jack's and made a trip to the Lodge for drinks on the patio.

We headed back to Lubbock on Sunday.

Marshall Tucker Band--great seats 

Marshall Tucker Band 

Charlie Daniels and his fiddle--the dude is almost 81 years old and was one of the best entertainers I've ever seen! 

Charlie Daniels Band

Aspens in an isolated meadow near Karr Recreation area on Saturday

More aspens

Rick riding through the meadow

Two hikers and a dog found this meadow too 

Rick

My Liv Obsess MTB in the meadow #bikesleaningagainststuff

An artsy pic of my Liv in the aspens

Trail back to Karr Recreation area with more aspens

More aspens and those two hikers and their dog again

September 4, 2017

We had a long Labor Day holiday weekend in the mountains with Vince and Amy.  Friday, we skipped riding, did some shopping, and ate at Mad Jack's. When we finished, the homecoming parade came down Hwy 82, crossed over to Burro Street, and went back to the school.  The entire student body was involved, and there were floats and a large variety of interesting parade entries.  It was pretty cool to watch.  

Saturday, we did a relatively short ride on 8 mile road and ate a bbq lunch at Cloud Country for the James Ridge volunteer fire dept annual fundraiser.  Vince, Amy, and I later hiked the Osha trail, then we shopped some more and hung out at the Lodge on the patio for a while.  I saw on Facebook that a high school friend of ours who lives in Arizona but rides bikes regularly was in Ruidoso, so I contacted him and invited him to ride with us on Sunday.

Sunday, we met Oscar on Burro Street, and Rick, Oscar, Vince and I rode a long loop beginning on the Rim Trail.  Oscar didn't have a lot of time, so we had Amy pick him up in High Rolls at the Apple Barn and give him a ride back up to Cloudcroft.  Rick, Vince, and I continued on to La Luz Canyon road for a 2500' climb back up to town to end the ~33 mile ride.  It was extremely challenging, and Rick cratered at the end.  We made it back to town and to the pizza place at the ski resort just before they closed up for the summer and year.  I think there were only 6 pizza doughs left when we ordered.  

We headed home on Monday--I had an extremely rare day off on the holiday!  It was a good weekend.

Cloudcroft homecoming parade

The band

Caught the first of the parade again on Burro Street

more parade

Pic on the Osha Trail during our hike (minus Rick)

Mexican Canyon Trestle and White Sands from the Osha Trail

Mountain biking with an old high school friend we hadn't seen in over 30 years

Rim Trail MTB ride with Rick, Oscar, Vince 

Nearing the end of the Rim Trail

#bikesleaningagainststuff at the top of La Luz Canyon climb

Resting after a 2500' climb