what about btween Santa Fe and ABQ? (Albuquerque, Las Cruces: homes, theater) - New Mexico (NM) -Santa Fe County - City-Data Forum

famlife · 07-30-2008, 08:31 AM

well me and my husband at first wanted to move to Pueblo, CO.. but now that we are learning more about Santa Fe, we kinda like the idea of moving there. Although, Las Cruces looks gorgeous!

well we are gradually narrowing it down.

we want to live near a sailable lake, which looks to be Cochiti

and we love the look/feel (from what we can see in pictures) of Santa Fe.

What is an affordable (salary around 100k) and safe (have kids) community between Santa Fe and ABQ, that isn't cookie-cutter or reliant on walmarts, fast food, etc? we want a community with character and down-to-earth people.. we figure there's probably decent health care in ABQ, if not Santa Fe, and we homeschool so edu is not an issue. we also want to have things to do, outdoors as well as in.

do either of these communities have nice children's theaters, zoos, etc?

well, thanks so much for any input! last you guys heard, we were pretty sure we were moving to Pueblo lol but my husband is already sending his resume out to Santa Fe and ABQ companies

we are hoping to make it down for Zozobra and the Fiestas! if we are lucky we'll be moved before October....

santafescribe · 07-30-2008, 10:21 AM

Once you get past Rio Rancho, the area between that and Santa Fe is mostly Native American land. There is Cochiti Village, at Cochiti Lake, but I don't know a lot about that. I would suggest that if your husband finds work in Santa Fe you consider Eldorado, a community south of Santa Fe which has the type of environment you might like. Although you're not interested in the school itself, Eldorado has an excellent school, and many families choose to live there because of that, making it a very family friendly area. Doctors, dentists and abundant outdoor activities are on tap there too!

I'm sure other posters will say this, but I would suggest you first secure the job, then decide where you're going to live. With $4+ gas you don't want to settle into a long daily commute.

famlife · 07-30-2008, 12:12 PM

yeah we are basically going where the job is, but where we want to live will effect where we hunt for jobs lol so far he's looking mainly in Santa Fe.

thanks for the heads up on Eldorado... sounds like it's worth checking out

good to know about the area of Native land.. i had no idea.

santafescribe · 07-30-2008, 12:52 PM

Santa Fe doesn't have a zoo (although the excellent Wildlife Center in Espanola, 15 minutes up the road is an undiscovered treasure) We have a great Childrens Museum and organizations like FACT

By the way Eldorado has its very own 4000 acre wilderness, set aside for the residents (although non-residents have been known to enter....) for horse riding, hiking and generally rambling through the woods.

TXSweetPea · 07-30-2008, 06:17 PM

HA, Chochiti ?, I never heard of anyone wanting to move there. Sorry, don't mean that as a bad thing. I remember fishing there as a kid. It is very much Native American Land. In fact I have never known anyone from there, much less anyone who moved there. By the way I was born and raised in SF

famlife · 07-31-2008, 01:57 PM

lol well there's some local input if i ever saw it

thanks for that!

Las Cruces isn't out of the picture either, we just realized Elephant Butte and Caballo Reservoir is right there about an hour away..

i don't know where we'll end up out there, we're just so anxious.. i don't think we'd be able to turn down the first employer that offers us something lol we just wanna be there!

loborick · 08-01-2008, 11:47 AM

Cochiti has some housing out there and I know friends that sail at the lake. Eldorado is a nice place to live, a rural feel but with the amenties of the city.

The Albuquerque Zoo was just rated on of the top zoos in the country. It is an excellent zoo. Albuquerque also has a nice Natural History Museum. A great day trip is the zoo, the museum and then an Isotopes baseball game in the evening!