El Paso Day Trips to New Mexico

El Paso Day Trips to New Mexico

Hitting the Road

This episode covers a recent trip that Leah and I took to New Mexico, including Ruidoso, Santa Fe, and Taos. We packed up our makeshift overland setup, held together with bungee cords, loaded up the two dogs, and hit the road. Along the way we passed through a checkpoint, where an officer asked if we were both U.S. citizens before waving us through.

Ruidoso

We got into Ruidoso pretty late that first night, so the next morning was our first real look at the area, which is part of the Lincoln National Forest and is really beautiful. The leaves were already changing, and we spotted a deer nearby. We stayed at a small, pet-friendly Airbnb cabin in Ruidoso that stayed plenty warm thanks to the fireplace. Leah loved it: beautiful grounds, a great spot for the dogs, and a fireplace that kept the cabin so warm it hit at least 85 degrees inside overnight, warm enough that the dogs were panting.

How Far Everything Is

One thing worth talking about is distances, because one of the things we like about El Paso is that you can turn a lot of these New Mexico spots into day trips. Looking back, we probably would have picked one place and stayed there instead of hopping around so much, but that's a lesson learned.

El Paso to Ruidoso is about two and a half hours, roughly 139 miles, so figure two and a half to three hours if you stop for gas. Ruidoso to Santa Fe is about a three hour drive, roughly 189 miles. Santa Fe to Taos is only another hour and a half away. And if you wanted to just drive straight from Taos back to El Paso, that's about six hours, 377 miles. So you can easily do any of these as a day trip.

Taos

Another lesson learned: October, or fall in general, is noticeably cooler up here than it is in El Paso. It was pretty nice when we left El Paso, and by the time we got up to Taos we were pretty cold, around 43 degrees when we were driving in.

We stayed at an awesome little Airbnb in Taos. The town has a lot of fun restaurants and stores, and it's pretty big on art, with a lot of galleries and an old school bookstore, the kind you don't see too much anymore. It had just rained while we were there, but it was still fun seeing all the fall colors.

Wrapping Up

All in all, it was a pretty great trip. I never actually got to ride the dirt bike I brought along. It turned out to have some problems, so I basically just lugged it around the whole time, which wasn't ideal. Still, we had a really great time. Santa Fe, Taos, and Ruidoso are all really beautiful places, and they're essentially right in our neighborhood. We hope everybody out there is doing well. If there's anything we can do for you, reach out, and have a great day.