Our ULTIMATE Southeast New Mexico road trip!

All right, we're back in the van! As you may remember, last year we had some unexpected struggles with Kona acquiring a fear of driving. If you want to know more, you can read about the journey in this Instagram post. But long story short, we had to pause van life and go stay with family in Texas while we figured it all out. And after six months of being mostly stationary, we finally left Texas and drove up to New Mexico. We have spent a lot of time in New Mexico over the years, but for our first trip back in the van, we're going to explore a couple new spots in southern New Mexico, plus revisit one of our favorites. And first, we're heading to the town of Capitán, which is the home of someone very famous. So it turns out that Smoky Bear was not only a real bear, but he is from right here in Capitán, New Mexico. While the character Smoky Bear was created by the U.S. Forest Service in 1944 to help prevent wildfires, in 1950 fires broke out in the nearby Lincoln National Forest and an orphaned bear cub was found. They named him Smoky in honor of the fictional character, and he became the living symbol for Smoky Bear. He lived out the rest of his life at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and both his legacy and the character Smoky Bear's legacy have continued on. It is estimated that nine out of ten wildfires are human-caused, and Smoky Bear has become an icon in the outdoor world, creating awareness of wildfire danger and spreading tips on how to prevent them. So as you recreate outdoors, remember only you can prevent forest fires. To honor Smoky here in town, they have Smoky Bear Historic Park, which is where Smoky Bear is actually buried. Plus, there's a museum where you can see lots of Smoky artifacts, watch a movie about him, and learn about the positive role that fire can play for a healthy forest. And if you Smoky the Bear, Smoky the Bear. And it confused everyone, including us. I have been trying so hard to eliminate the the when I say his name, but when you've grown up just thinking it was Smoky the Bear, and then one, you find out that it was actually a real bear, and then two, you find out you've been saying his name wrong your entire life, it is just so hard to rewire your brain. I just feel like, I don't know, my life's been a lie. So much earth-shattering information I've learned here. Smoky Bear is something you grow up with. You see commercials, and flyers, and posters, and now going to all these parks the last few years, you see him at every park. So it's really cool to be in his hometown. Only you can prevent forest fires. Unofficial rule that every time we're here in New Mexico, we have to get green chili something, and we hear that Oso Grill has some of the best green chili cheeseburgers in the state. In fact, they have won at the New Mexico State Fair multiple times. So this is their famous award-winning green chili cheeseburger. It comes with a huge thick beef patty, two slices of cheese, homemade chipotle ranch dressing, and strips of fried green chilies. This is a big hefty boy. So excited for this. I've never met a green chili cheeseburger I didn't like, but this one takes the cake. The cheese is so melty and gooey. Ranch is probably, or not probably, it is my favorite condiment of all the condiments in the world. So I love that this has a chipotle ranch on it. And I don't know why more people don't put fried green chilies on green chili cheeseburgers, but that just totally takes it to the next level. There are these just massive strips of green chili. As I've eaten the burger more, I've noticed that they're actually chopped green chilies in here as well. So it is a green chili explosion. I'm not gonna lie, my mouth is burning up a little bit. It has a good spicy kick, but that ranch really helps cool it down. I know it's cheesy, but I just, I just have to say it. The green chili cheeseburger at Oso Grill is oh so good. We have headed 20 minutes south to the Alto area, which is just north of Ruidoso in the Sierra Blanca Mountains. This area has quite a few lakes, and we're at Alto Lake, which has some trails around it to get a little walk in with Kona. Loves the snow. I am so happy to be walking among tall trees and seeing mountains again. Mountains are definitely our favorite kind of scenery, and when we were driving towards this area a couple days ago and caught our first glimpse of the mountains, I was just squealing with joy. We're not going to be in the mountains the entire year, so I'm definitely going to cherish it while I can. To get a higher view of the mountains, we are heading up to a scenic overlook for sunset, and this road is steep. We started at about 7,000 feet, and we're climbing up to over 10,000 feet. There are so many switchbacks, and at the lake earlier, we could see the road just skirting along the edges of the mountain, and that's the part we're on now, and it's just, it's just wild, and you can look up higher up on the mountain and just see more road and guardrails, and it's just wild that we're going up this. I will say I'm glad there's guardrails here, although some of them could use a bit of a refresh, and then just like a wire, and then some other parts are just completely covered in snow, so I don't know how much they'd help you. The views are amazing from up here, but they weren't, they weren't lying when they named it windy point. It is windy, and it is so cold. Since it is so frigid up here, we decided to make ourselves a little hot chocolate element to keep us warm while we watch the sunset. If you have been following along for a while, you know how much we love Element, but if you're new here, this is our absolute favorite sugar-free electrolyte drink mix. This little packet has an electrolyte ratio of 1,000 milligrams of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium, and 60 milligrams of magnesium, which helps us replenish the electrolytes that we lose while working out, running, hiking, riding our bikes, kayaking, and any other time we sweat. Plus, at both higher altitudes and in colder weather, you lose fluids and electrolytes more quickly, so it is especially important to supplement your water with electrolytes to make sure you stay hydrated. We typically drink their fruit flavors, which we enjoy cold, but we love their chocolate flavors for colder days or just when we want a sweet little treat. We personally like to add some half and half to it and whipped cream on top to take it to the next level. If you want to give Element a shot, head to drinklment.com slash a plus k to get a free sample pack with any order, which includes two packets of each of their four most popular flavors, or you can just scan the QR code on the screen. Crank the heat up, my fingers are frozen. While we were in Texas, we finally got to try a barbecue spot we've been wanting to try for years called Koi Barbecue in Houston, and it was super duper good, and we bought some of their curry sauce, so tonight we're having it with some beef and vegetables and some rice. Rui Doso is known for skiing in the winter with Ski Apache just up the road from where we watched the sunset last night, but since we're not skiers, we decided to experience the area's scenery by hiking instead. There are a lot of trails to choose from in this area, but this morning we're hiking the Moon Mountain Majesty Trail because from the photos I have seen, it looks to have some pretty amazing views of the mountain. Pictures from all trails did not lie. It is a 10 out of 10 view with these sweeping mountains, and right here at the viewpoint they have this bench that's perfectly placed so you can enjoy a picnic here. It's an awesome day, beautiful weather, wonderful views. It doesn't get better. Kona's having a good time too. That's actually a really good sandwich. Good job. Going into this hike we were a little bit nervous because we had read some reports that the trail was hard to follow, and there are some junctions and side trails that without the all trails map we would have been very confused, but thankfully with the map it was totally easy to figure out the way to go. We had also read some recent reports that the trail was really muddy and slushy, and yesterday's walk at Alto Lake was very muddy and slushy and slippery and kind of hard at times, so we were kind of like, oh we don't really want to do that for four, over four miles today, but thankfully we started the hike so early and it was so cold this morning that all the snow and mud was just completely frozen, so we just got to crunch our way along the trail which was a lot of fun and totally doable even in our trail runners. So overall, none of our fears turned out to be true and it's just been such a perfect hike. We both have just been smiling from ear to ear. This is exactly what we hoped for when coming out here. Ruidoso got its name from Spanish explorers who called it Rio Ruidoso, meaning noisy river. The town is a blend of Native American culture with the Mescalero Apache Reservation nearby, plus ranching and outdoor recreation with the surrounding Lincoln National Forest, and the heart of town is Midtown, which is full of different shops and restaurants and has an amazing view of Sierra Blanca Peak. We've been wandering around Midtown into different stores and they have so many cool stores here, and for a little sweet treat we came to the Village Buttery to get their famous buttermilk pie. I don't know that I can think of a time that I've ever had buttermilk pie, so I don't know really what to expect from this. It's very dense, it's cool, it's got a really good buttery flavor, the top is good and crunchy, the bottom crust is crunchy as well, and then it's just kind of gooey and dense in the middle and slightly sweet. It's really good and really addicting. I like that it's cool. Oh yeah, the top is so crunchy. I've never had buttermilk pie before either. I'm very intrigued to see what this is going to taste like. It almost tastes lemony to me. Yeah, it's just sweet and creamy. I love the crunchiness of it. I keep sitting here thinking about what does this taste like, because it tastes familiar, but I also have never had this before, and I think it tastes like a sour cream donut, but just creamier inside. Sour cream donuts are my favorite kind of donut, so I am all about this. We have a friend. We just stopped by Grindstone Lake, which is a beautiful lake right by town. We had planned to hike there, but unfortunately the trail we wanted to hike was closed, so that's going to do it for our time in the Ruidoso area. We are so glad that we were finally able to visit here. We wanted to visit for many years now, but we're now heading one hour south to Cloudcroft, which is another small mountain town which we plan to explore tomorrow. Located in the Sacramento Mountains, Cloudcroft was founded in 1899 after railroad surveyors for El Paso and Northeastern Railway came to the area to find more lumber to continue the railway from Alamo Gordo. They found plenty of it, and soon the Cloud Climbing Railroad opened, and Cloudcroft was a hub for logging and tourism. The town sits at 8,676 feet, almost 2,000 feet higher than Ruidoso, and when the railroad surveyors were visiting the area, they thought it was a pasture for the clouds, giving it the name Cloudcroft, and this morning we're wandering around the charming Burrow Avenue, the main strip of shops and restaurants here in Cloudcroft, which has lots of colorful murals and western-style buildings. It is a frigid morning, so we just popped into Black Bear Coffee to get some drinks. I got their Top Gun Latte, which is a mocha with blackberry, which is a delicious combination. And now that we've warmed up a tiny bit, we're off to go check out one of the town's famous railroad trestles. The first thing we noticed when we pulled into this area yesterday is there is quite a bit more snow here, which makes sense because we're a couple thousand feet higher than we were in Ruidoso, and this morning on the trail there's a good amount of snow here, and some of it's a little icy, so we brought our spikes along to give us a little bit better grip. So at one point there were 58 trestles along the Cloud Climbing Railroad from Alamo Gordo, and today only seven of them remain. And this one right here, the Mexican Canyon Trestle, is the largest of the remaining ones. So the trestle is about a football field long and as tall as a six-story building, and it is super well maintained, and there's no tracks on either side of it, so it just looks like a railroad track to nowhere. It just ends right over there. You can see the trestle from an overlook along the highway if you don't feel like hiking, but we highly recommend doing this hike because there are quite a few cool things to see along the way, including the remains of the S-Trestle, which was the first S-Trestle in the United States, and there are a couple overlooks where you can overlook the valley, and all the way back there you might be able to see this kind of bright white section, and that is actually White Sands National Park, which, spoiler alert, we will be going to tomorrow. For lunch we came to Mad Jack's Mountaintop BBQ, which is said to be the best barbecue in the state of New Mexico. The owner is from Lockhart, Texas, which is the barbecue capital of Texas, so I think he knows what he's doing, and they bring the energy at this place. When they open up, they ring this really loud bell. I think it's still ringing in my ear, and everyone that works here is just so friendly, and then you get to chat with Mad Jack in there as he's cutting your brisket and telling you all kinds of stuff about it and making some jokes. Yeah, the energy and the vibe was probably the best out of any barbecue place we've ever been to. Yeah, we got some sliced brisket here, pork ribs, mac and cheese, a link of their green chili sausage, and then this, it looks like a cake, and it might be, it's a big hunk of their cornbread. Fresh out of the oven. Yeah, oh man, it looks so good. It's so shiny on top, like it has a glaze or something. Yeah, it's like crispy maybe. Gotta start with the star of the show, the brisket. Oh my god, it's confirmed, Mad Jack knows what he's doing. Perfectly smoked, nice and moist and juicy, salty, beautiful smoke ring on it. Oh man. You know the brisket is good when you can slice it with a plastic fork. These ribs look delectable as well. They have a good little glaze on there. That looks so tender. Yeah, that is perfectly cooked as well. Almost fall off the bone, a good little pull to it, and the glaze is just a hint, slightly sweet. The sausage looks super moist inside. You can see the chunks of the green chili, and when I cut it with the knife, it just kind of popped when you busted through the skin, which I think is how you want your sausage to be. I'm normally, I like sausage, but it's not my favorite of the barbecues normally. That is some of the best sausage I've had at a barbecue spot. It's just, yeah, really moist inside, and the green chilies just give it a little bit of kick, but just mostly like extra flavor. Mac and cheese is a 10 out of 10. It is so creamy, perfect amount of liquid in there, and now it's time for this big hunk of cornbread. I think I might, this might be the thing I'm second most excited about, especially after they wheeled it through, after just finishing baking it. Yeah, dense and moist, and there's a little flecks of corn, whole corns in there. Oh, and the top is like a nice little like sugar coating, perfectly sweet. So a couple important things to know before coming to Mack Jack's Mountaintop Barbecue is one, they are not open every day, so make sure to check their schedule, and they're also only open until they sell out, which I think happens by like 2 or 3 p.m., so make sure to get here early, not only to have your pick of the barbecue, but also because the line can get crazy long. I hear like an hour to two hour wait. We came here on a Thursday in the winter, and I think we were 12th in line getting here at about 10 50 a.m., so we didn't have a long wait at all, but I hear it can be madness at Mack Jack's, so definitely plan enough time in your itinerary, get here early, but trust us, it is going to be worth it. I, this is so good. The cornbread's amazing, the meat's amazing, everything's amazing. The vibe, loved everything about this spot. So as we mentioned, there is a lot more snow in Cloudcroft, and when we arrived yesterday, we planned to boondock on some free land just outside of town, but both of the spots we checked out were completely covered in snow, so that wasn't going to work, and we knew coming here in the van in the winter, it would be risky for that, but thankfully there is a free campground just east of Cloudcroft that is over 2,000 feet lower in elevation, so it's more accessible this time of year, and it's really nice. It's just a small little campground. I think it only has five sites, and there's only two that you can actually drive up to, but there's a pit toilet, and each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. We got this coffee in Ruidoso at a store called Roots, and we've been very excited to try it. Today we are heading down to Alamo Gordo, and for our first stop, we are going to finally check out something that I have wanted to see for years and years. There it is! This is the world's largest pistachio at 30 feet tall. It's located at McGinn's Pistachio Land, which is a farm that has 90 acres of pistachio trees, plus a shop that sells all sorts of pistachio goodies. Pistachios are one of my favorite nuts, so I am so excited to be here. As you can imagine, they have thousands of pistachio-themed items in there, and we walked out with a couple, including some pistachio brittle, and then some spicy dill pickle pistachio nutmeat, which is what they call it. I think it's so funny. But the thing we were most excited for was their homemade pistachio ice cream, and we didn't ask for the large one. This is just their regular size. This is a softball-sized scoop of pistachio ice cream. It has tons of pistachios in there, too. Oh, it's so good. So pistachio-y. Not only are pistachios one of my favorite nuts, but pistachio ice cream is one of my favorite ice creams, and if you can't tell by the fact that I've already eaten over half of it, I love this. The ice cream is so sweet, and you have those chunks of nuts in there that give it kind of a little bit of a crunch and a different texture, plus this kind of roasted, nutty, more savory flavor. I cannot believe we haven't been here before. I cannot wait to come back. I can only come up with one nut pun. For our last stop in New Mexico, we're at White Sands National Park for sunset. We've actually been here once before, but when we visited, it was a national monument, and then just a couple days later, it turned into a national park, so this is technically our first time in the national park. This drive into the park is so cool. You start out on pavement with the dunes alongside of you, but then the pavement ends, and you're basically just driving through the dunes on packed-down sand. White Sands National Park is home to the world's largest gypsum dunes, so large that they can be seen from space. Gypsum is a common mineral found in everyday products like drywall and toothpaste, and one thing that is very nice about gypsum is that, unlike sand, it doesn't retain heat, making it cool to walk on or touch, no matter the temperature. There are some trails here, and you can also rent sleds to sled down the dunes, but we're just going to run around and play in the sand with Kona, because dogs are actually allowed here, and Kona says, heck yeah. She loves playing in the sand, if you can't tell by her face already. Well, that is a workout. It's just wild how different the scenery around you can look every couple of hours. When we first got here, the sun was much higher, so there weren't a ton of shadows, and then an hour later, the sun's sinking, there's more shadows around, and now the sun is well behind those mountains now, and it's just all white. I'm trying to hustle, but also not fall. So unlike most national parks, White Sands is not open 24 hours. They lock the gate 30 minutes after sunset, so we are hustling back so we don't get locked in here. And that's going to do it for our first trip back in the van. Our goal for the next month is to travel pretty slowly to eliminate any long drives, and just to make sure Kona's still doing well, so we will have some bigger video gaps for a bit, but since this first trip went well, we're going to continue making our way west.