Any thoughts, suggestions?
Mrs. 914 wants to do the "Turquoise Trail" (no idea), but neither of us like the usual touristy things. Plan now for a week or 10 days, but you never know. Chama and northern areas are nice in the summer but get snow etc. for the winter. Southern areas are hot.
That's all I know about NM.
Oh yeah, rust free cars.
and I've never met a food I don't like.
If you make a wrong turn in Albuquerque you'll end up in a meth lab.
Don't bother with Four Corners. Biggest waste of time I've ever seen, and we drove like 4 hours out of our way on E36 M3ty roads to see it.
I've always wanted to visit Roswell 
/crated/thumbs/art/2014/06/05/a629f63519680811f84b04d0e7659302/960.jpg)
captdownshift wrote: If you make a wrong turn in Albuquerque you'll end up in a meth lab.
If you don't take the left you could wind up in the Black Forest.
Wifey and I did New Mexico for our honeymoon. Did a couple national parks with rocks and stuff. Went to some place where the Native Americans lived in caves half way up a cliff wall. Forgot what it was called but they had wobbly wooden ladders sort of attached to the cliffs that you could climb way up on and look around at the caves. It was scary then when I was 26 and didn't care. Now 25 years later, no way. Also took the tram thing up to the top of Sandia peak. That was well worth it but also scary. I wasn't then (and still am not) one for heights. Hanging in the tram by a couple rusty cables 1000 feet above the canyon floor. Then? ok, now? no way. Still worth it though. We were in Albuquerque for a couple days then took the rental car up the Turquoise Trail to Sante Fe and Taos for the rest of the week. Turquoise trail was actually nice and is just an east-side of the mountains alternate to the north-south interstate running through the cities. Back then there were four of five ghost towns along the trail. Some where just an single building but there was one that actually looked like what you'd expect a ghost town to look like. Very pretty area. Don't remember many meth labs, may not have been a "thing" back then. Food was superb.
We drove through last week. Twice. The best Taco Bells in the world are in New Mexico. Also, Del Taco has made it that far east. In Albuquerque, stay at the Drury Inn, like 2 miles north of 40 on 25. About a bill a night, but quiet, clean, free dinner, free 3 drinks (real drinks, not "non-ETOH" drinks), free breakfast, pool.
The Vietnam Memorial is at Angle Fire. We saw Westmoreland speak there years ago.
In reply to Drew122:
GIla Cliff Dwellings? I remember it being very worthwhile the visit. I don't mind tickety ladders at 40.
I liked White Sands; miserable and hot but you can (or at least could then) rent little snowboard like things to sled on the dunes. Might be able to see a missile launch. Cibola National Forest was beautiful. It's a pine forest so it smells great and is super quiet from all the needles on the ground.
Canyon De Chelly is one of the places with cliff dwellings. The locals still farm in the canyon the same way they have for hundreds of years. The canyon itself isn't open to the public but the rim drive is awesome. You can rent a jeep for a drive in the canyon which I wanted to do desperately. Our family is too big to fit in a jeep. 
We were there last week.
Edit: ah crap, it's actually Arizona. Still worth it.
If not the Black Forest, you might wind up in Pismo Beach and all the clams you can eat.
I've not really spent any time on the Turquoise Trail — other than being the road to the local ski area. Santa Fe's Old Town is a nice place to visit. And Santa Fe Ski Area is open now, too. They're ~1/2 hour outside of SF.
As I like the mountains, I'd recommend the Enchanted Circle (http://enchantedcircle.org/). I'm not sure if it's considered part of the circle or not, but the Taos Gorge is pretty neat, too.
The Gila Cliff Dwellings are further North, outside of Durango. But if you're venturing up that way, the Royal Gorge and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison are pretty spectacular.
White Sands is decidedly not hot at present. And, even if warm, the sands will be quite cold. :)
Canyon deChelly is amazing but it's in Arizona... and is totally worth any detour. In any case Los Alamos is an interesting place. The Valle Grande, Shiprock, Acoma Pueblo are all very cool. Chaco Canyon is kinda close to Lost Almost and is full of ruins and pottery shards. Carlsbad Caverns... man, this is one impressive hole in the ground but the drive to get there is so freaking dull. Crap. It's been too long since I've been down that way.
In reply to dculberson:
I don't think it was Gilla. Too far south. Pretty sure it was Bandalier. I googled "Bandalier ladders" and the pics look about right.
To the OP, if you rent a car while there, make sure it has more than three cylinders. We had a Geo Metro. wheeze I'll leave it at that.
+1 on White Sands. If you don't want to pay to rent a sled, hit up a grocery store for some cardboard boxes, flatten them, and use them as sleds. Of course the thing I like about the place is you can hike a few dunes away from the parking lot, and it seems like you are alone in the middle of nowhere.
In reply to Drew122:
Ok wow, I'll grant that those ladders would give me some pause!!
Silver City and the surrounding mountains are on my list to visit before I leave this part of the country.
White Sands is very strange as is Ship Rock, a big monadnock of volcanic origin
.
When in Albuquerque, you have to stop in at Jackalope.
Your one-stop shopping for all things Southwestern, from furniture to knick-knacks. Your wife will thank you.
I also did the tour of Los Alamos. Worth it for the drive up there alone, the history of the atomic bomb is pretty interesting and sobering.
My wife and I were there last week visiting my Dad.
The road from Kingston to Silver City over Emory Pass is one of the twistiest in the country, and the scenery is pretty spectacular.
It's not fast though, and always makes my wife carsick.
The wife likes Ruidoso. Mountains, casinos, horse track, the occasional bear ...
There's Old West / Billy the Kid stuff at Ft. Sumner, Lincoln, and a few other sites. Lincoln County has some scenic driving and a little history mixed in.
The Valley of Fire is a neat lava flow.
Not on topic, but as someone who lives in a somewhat more isolated city in the southwest, New Mexico as a whole seems "out there". I've been to ABQ, and it's a nice enough city, heard great things about Santa Fe and the rest of New Mexico's major cities, but man it's a pretty wide open state. When I was looking for jobs I was turned off by how ABQ doesn't have direct flights to many places on the east coast (only larger airports).
That being said, the fact that New Mexico has maintained its more historical architectural styles make me a bit jealous out here in Arizona where it seems like the only neat old towns are the old mining towns.
Out where my Dad lives, it's a 40 minute drive each way just to buy milk. It's definitely "out there."
Mountain top on his 75th birthday
House is in kind of the middle left--
In reply to Karacticus:
Does he have to haul in water, or is he on a well?
In reply to petegossett:
Well. Electric from the utility, propane, septic. Internet, TV via satellite. Landline phone not available, cellular available has improved over the last 10 years.
He's on a 60 acre lot in what's called a "Heritage Ranch" development. Grazing rights weren't sold with the parcel, so he can only fence an acre around the house. Cattle move through pretty fast though-- it takes 60 acres to support one cow around there.
You'll need to log in to post.
