Over and Under Hill

This morning we headed out early to explore Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  We did the 1 mile Big Room hike which took about 1.5 hrs.  Way cool!  (literally and figuratively)  We enjoyed introducing Ashton to many of the formations which we enjoyed 5 years ago during our first visit to the cave.  

 This one looks like a funky monster dude! 

 Lion's Tails

 We then went to "Danny's Place" for lunch.  They are famous for BBQ and for their "Flip" which is basically a green chile cheeseburger in a skillet-fried tortilla.  AMAZING!!!  

 I obviously did not like it one bit! 

We then went to play at the Playground on the Pecos River.  It is probably the best playground we have even seen!!!!  Castles and turrets and slides, swings, nooks and crannies GALORE!  Total fun for kids of all ages! 

We then drove from Carlsbad to Artesia, NM and took the scenic route (US-82) up to Cloudcroft and then took NM-244 over to I-70 to Ruidoso.  We had never been that route before.  We got to Ruidoso about 4:45pm and got checked in to our cabin.  Here is the AMAZING view from the deck (actually this house has 3 different decks).  More views to come throughout the week! 

 We then headed downtown to Cafe Rio for the best pizza in the whole universe!  We got a pepperoni pizza half with green olives and half with green chile.  Oh wow it was good!!!!

After stuffing ourselves silly, we headed to Walmart (yay) to stock up on breakfast items and snacks for the week.  The kids are now in bed.  Zach has declared that this is the best cabin yet.  We are inclined to agree with him.  Derek is making margaritas.  Time to sit on the deck and stargaze for a while (or at least until we get too cold)!  

(By the way,  Tracy I did do 2 miles on the treadmill in Carlsbad last night although I thought I was going to die with the altitude change...ugh!!!!)