Combining vacation with visit

[RamblinRoseRanch]

Yep, lunch and dinner (my kids are gonna think they've died and gone to heaven- I cook breakfast and dinner six days a week. They're going to love eating out so much!) and yep, we like local. Nothing drives me battier than going to a Mom and Pop place and the food tasting like it came straight off the sysco truck!

I like spice, but my husband can't take it. He's getting better though.. lol

[Pintada Kid]

Mountainair has lots of Artists all over town its called the Gate way to Ancient cities. Its 30 miles east of I 25,. And if you take the road headed north you will pass all kinds of little towns and old Churches And HUge Indian Ruins and little towns like Torreon, Manzano, Tajique, Chilili, Escobosa and come back out at I 40 at Tijeras Canyon. It can also be a nice drive coming from Albuquerque to BELEN TO Mountainair and back to I 40 and into ALbuquerque all in a days drive. P.S. it used to be Beautiful Country out through there but they had the Trigo Fire there a week ago so im dreading what that area will like now. pintada kid at webtv.net

[jlbythebay]

Zia Airmac cover it all! The only thing I'd add is come back in the Fall for Balloon Festival; its amazing! ttfn

Originally Posted by ziaAirmac

I'd throw in Explora for the kids (of all ages) for the kids. It's right next to the Natural History Museum in Abuquerque. It's sort of an interactive science exploratorium kind of thing, but it has stuff for all ages. There's a nice park with a big playground just south of Explora/NHM as well.
If you're looking for full on kid fun there's Cliff's amusement park on San Mateo the Putt-Putt golf on San Mateo or Hinkley family fun center up in the heights. Hinkley has a little of everything, including an arcade, mini-golf, paint ball, inner tube war pond, etc...

The Tram up to the Sandia Crest can be a fun experience for kids who aren't obviously uncomfortable with heights.

Up the Mesa from Petroglyph there's an R/C airport. Obviously it would depend on who happens to be flying, but the kids might enjoy even seeing static models.

There's a train that travels around the zoo and another on a separate loop that connects the zoo to The Botanical Gardens and Tingley Beach. You can get tickets at the station in the 'African' section of the zoo. They had a great 'human gerbil' play area at the zoo but it's closed for maintenance. Hopefully it'll be finished up by June. Seal feeding is at 10:30 and there's a cool show with all sorts of birds flying around and other animals at 11:00 near the Cottonwood Cafe.

The Botanical Gardens is gorgeous, and has a section that is made to look as if you've been miniaturized, with giant ants, veggies and stuff. The new 'Japanese Garden' in the back is gorgeous and there's a 'working farm' section with livestock the kids can check out. There's a butterfly pavillion where you actually go in and the butterflies frolic about. There's also a large scale model train track.

Right next to the Botanical Gardens is the Aquarium. It's not huge, but the displays are very nicely done. There's a theater with a great movie about the Rio Grande and valley.

Moriarity airport hosts a very large glider community. If you're into that kind of thing it can be interesting to watch all the activities around the gliders. There used to be a pilot out there that had his license signed off by Orville.

Have fun!