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"Hello Darlin, Nice to see you - Conway Twitty"
(set 4 days ago)
Location: 9764 Jeopardy Lane
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Can anyone offer me up some suggestions on a first time visiting family from Detroit? We are going down to the ABQ for the first time and any advice, input or guidance would be appreciated. We are there for 4 days excluding arrival and departure days.
Santa Fe, Taos, Jemez (Valdes Caldera NOT to be missed), Puye Cliff Dwellings, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum would be my stops for a first timer.
All good....I would add to the list ....Sandia Peak Tramway....Old Town.....Albuquerque Museum...
and maybe ....Pueblo Cultural Center...Petroglyphs National Monument and the Zoo.
Can anyone offer me up some suggestions on a first time visiting family from Detroit? We are going down to the ABQ for the first time and any advice, input or guidance would be appreciated. We are there for 4 days excluding arrival and departure days.
I recommend a trip on the Tramway, at night you see the lights of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. During the day, depending on the time of year, you might see deer or bears running below in the mountains.
Albuquerque also has a Pueblo Cultural Center with a nice restaraunt. Also, depending on the time of year there are pueblo dancers and story tellers.
There are some nice museums, a bio park with an aquarium and a nice zoo too.
It depends what your interests are, and the ages of the kids. Do you like museums, outdoor recreation, scenic drives, touristy shops, zoos, etc. And what time of year will you be visiting?
4 days isn't much. I'd allot 2 busy days for ABQ (tramway, petroglyphs, perhaps a museum or two: the art museum's good, but may not be of interest to kids), and 2 days (=1 overnight) to Santa Fe. Santa Fe has 5+ museums, is a city that has preserved the old pueblo-style architecture (old adobe-style) in the central core, and has imitation-Pueblo architecture farther out, so there's a unified look that's unique in the US (aside from Taos, farther north). There's a children's museum, if your kids are small, a world folk art museum, a state history museum, a museum of Native American art, and others.
Northwest of Santa Fe is Los Alamos National Lab, which runs a film presentation several times daily on the history of the Manhattan Project and the creation of the town in relation to that, and has a replica of the original atomic bomb. This may or may not be of interest to kids, but there's also a science center a bit like an exploratorium in the same facility. See the Bradbury Science Museum. Outside of Los Alamos is the Valles Caldera, a regional park and nature preserve. At the right time of year (early fall), migrating herds of elk and other fauna can be observed. The drive to Los Alamos is about 30-40 minutes. Spectacular scenery on the way.
OP says they're going to ABQ for the first time. Have they been to other parts of NM before? Not sure whether they want to visit only ABQ or (since the thread is titled "Magical state") want to see different parts of the state. They must already have some idea of what they want to see or wouldn't be planning a trip here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DesertRat56
I recommend a trip on the Tramway, at night you see the lights of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.
And the lights of Santa Fe. That was my first look at Santa Fe, the lights at night from the top of Sandia.
Status:
"Hello Darlin, Nice to see you - Conway Twitty"
(set 4 days ago)
Location: 9764 Jeopardy Lane
792 posts, read 372,092 times
Reputation: 830
Hi all, first I want to thank you for the great advice.
I have 3 kids ages 12, 14 and 18. We will be flying in on Oct 19th and departing the 23rd in the AM at ABQ. We will stay in the area (NW New Mexico), and will have a car. I suppose if a museum is next level we will do it but will probably look more for experience oriented things that are more exciting for kids like the tram suggestion sounds great and the cliff dwellings.
My kids have never been to the Southwest so definitely wanting to show them the outdoors.
The Puye cliff dwellings are on tribal land, and access is controlled by the tribe. They're open seasonally, so you need to find out the schedule of when they're open. I think the tribe operates shuttles to get there, to control the crowds, and when they end the shuttle service, the attraction is closed for the late fall/winter season. If it's not open during your dates, you can go to Bandelier National Monument, which is in the same general vicinity north of Santa Fe, and walk among ancient pueblo ruins.
If you do go to one of those archaeological attractions, I recommend overnighting in Santa Fe. There's hiking involved in seeing those sites, so the adults at least, if not the kids, will be tired at the end of the day. You could combine a visit to one of the archaeological sites with a visit to Los Alamos and the Bradbury Science Museum there, possibly.
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