In Ruidoso, NM we visited the Hubbard Museum aka, The Museum of the Horse.
These life size sculptures represent the various breeds of horses. Plaques in
front of them describe the breeds.
They are so life like. Oh, I love them.
Inside the museum there are carriages, wagons, pottery, jewelry,
saddles, and on and on. All from one collection.
Even life size mules.
In another room of the museum was a display of quilts. Yes, this is a quilt.
And this too, a quilt--each feature outlined stitched.
I'm sure none of these will end up on a bed.
We went out to Ruidoso Downs, a quarter horse and thoroughbred race track.
We took a day trip to Lincoln, NM. This is where the Lincoln County Wars were.
And hangout of Billy the Kid.
The town has maintained the original look (except for paved highway) from the 1880's.
The old courthouse is now a museum. Not much updated inside.
The Lincoln County Courthouse, about 1886.
On to Roswell--where the aliens landed in 1947, and the town celebrates.
A must see is the UFO Museum and Research Center.
So the story goes, the flying saucer and occupants landed nearby and the Army
loaded up the bodies and the craft and later said this was just a
common weather balloon that had crashed.
Some folks believe--some don't.
However, when the craft crashed most of the occupants were killed,
one survived for a short time.
Supposedly the Army doctors performed an autopsy on one of the aliens.
A special treat for us was a visit to the Double Eagle Ranch in Roswell--
Home of the 2009 Kentucky Derby winner, Mine That Bird.
I remember watching the race and the pre-race with the trainer, Chip Woolley
hobbling along on crutches. Mine That Bird came from 30+ lengths off the pace
to squeeze through on the rail to win.
There is a new movie out about Mine That Bird and his come from behind win.
Be sure to see "50 to 1" at the theaters.
The photo above is a group of yearlings that were so interested in us--they kept running
around in their pasture.
The ranch trainer Jimmy, gave us a wonderful tour and
explanation of the horses at the Double Eagle Ranch. Most are
Quarter Horses, some Thoroughbreds and will be running at
Ruidoso, Sunland Park, and Albuquerque later this summer.
Our Winners Circle photo with a young filly who had just
finished her workout. She will race later this summer
at Ruidoso.
A short trip south to Artesia to see the amazing sculptures around town.
I did a little Photoshop work on this one.
Since Roswell is the "Dairy Capital of the Southwest" we wanted to tour a local dairy.
Jerry Vaz of Vaz Dairy gave us a wonderful tour. We found the folks in Roswell to
be so very friendly and accommodating.
Vaz Dairy milks over 2400 cows each day with them coming through the
milking barn about every 10 hours. Each cow produces about 10 gallons per day.
The barn can hook up 12 cows per side and within 15 minutes the cows are
finished and go outside to hang around in their pen for the next 10 hours.
Ah ha!! The Old Timers Balloon Festival was held while we were in Roswell.
Five of us volunteered to help crew for the balloon pilots. Really we didn't
do much--we helped unpack the equipment, we held the mouth of the balloon open
while it was filled with air, and after it landed we helped pack it up.
But great fun being up close and personal to see the balloons all around us being inflated
and hear the WHOSH of the propane heaters.
Then to see them rise into the air. This year there were 65 balloons. The winds were
quite calm so often the balloons just moved around a bit and landed back on the field.
"Our" balloon carried the Mayor of Roswell and his wife.
Janet and I crewed both days for our pilot Neil Freedman, and as a reward we got to fly
with him on Sunday. My first balloon ride--what a thrill! Not scary at all--just quiet,
peaceful--life in slow motion.
Got a few photos from the air. That's our take off spot, left foreground.
Other balloons were ready to land and we were still flying.
We were in the air about 40 minutes--didn't go very far.
After a safe flight Neil told us the "story" (literally) of the history
of ballooning and we celebrated with champagne. Yippee!!
Now we are moving NW to Portales/Clovis, NM.
Stay tuned.
