I have been to ABQ and SF around a dozen times in the last 7 years. I have doen the Rt 4 Bandlier, Valle Caldera, Jemez, red Rock loop from SF to ABQ, and I have gone to Tent Rocks and driven the Turquoise Trail.

I think you are giving short shrift to Santa Fe with your itineraries. Instead you are giving almost all the time to the places btwn the two (Tent Rocks, Bandalier, rest of Rt 4). The only exception is option 3, whihc gives you an afternoon, evening, and next morning in SF.

If that is your intention, that's certainly fine, but I just wanted to point that out, since SF is so nice and has so much to offer.

I drove the Turquoise trail from SF to ABQ on my last trip in January. Persoanlly, my travel companion and I saw nothing special at all in that route. We drove through Madrid and did not stop. a coule of places to eat, a few shops, a lot of broken down cars and trucks awaiting repair. Nothing charming or special that made us have any desire to stop, and we are both usually up for small towns and different routes. The trail was not particularly scenic either. It was just a different road, and a bit longer way, to get back to ABQ.

I almost always drive from SF to ABQ airport the day of departure. It is an easy 1 hr drive on the hwy. And rent car return is at an easy centralized location at ABQ airport, with constant 5 min shuttles to the airport. No problem doing that at all.

I had bad response to altitude in SF in Jan. on my most recent trip, passed out, etc. I know with altitude it is most important where you sleep. So perhaps a night in ABQ bfore SF would help, I don't know. The thing is that there is no way to predict if you will have problems or not w/altitude. Every time you go to altitude is a new even- your past respon is no prediction of any future response to altitude. So having a prior problem does not mean you will have it again, and not having a prior problem does not mean you won;t have it on your next time at altitude. I had been to SF so many times previously (and have gone to 10,000 ft. in Peru with no problems) and had no problems at all. But then in Jan., I ended up in the Emergency Rm, in SF. I leanred on this trip from the ER dr. it is totally unpredictable.

emd3 - I very much appreciate your thoughtful response and it has helped me greatly.

From my research, I was not sure that the Turquoise Trail was a must do for me and you have confirmed that. Also, you have highlighted my main dilemma - drive more or spend more time in SF (even though that amount of time is not nearly enough).

If I drive from SF to ABQ airport on day of departure, I can fit in an overnight in ABQ before heading to SF. That sounds like a good plan (altitude and time wise).

I will consider all of your suggestions. Is Bandelier as day trip from SF reasonable? Any idea how many hours to allow? We will not be hiking but long walking trails are OK.

Bandalier is only one hr drive from Santa Fe, so very doable as a half day trip. Get up early and head over there. There are many flat walking trails going towards the cliff dwellings. If you are not going to go up to the cliff dwellings themselves, I'd say 2 hrs at most for the visit. We stopped at a grocery store on the nwy leading up to Bandlier and got stuff for a picnic and at in a nice spot under tree cover at Bandalier w/picnic tables.

This site will give you the info you need for visiting Bandlaier:

http://www.nps.gov/band/planyourvisit/directions.htm

Having just driven both the turquoise trail and rt 25 from SF to ABQ I would certaily say that TT is more scenic and interesting but not worth a detour ( although I loved Madrid) on the day of travel and not worth missing a trip t o the Jemez for.

I like your plan 1, if you don't mind not spending much time in Santa Fe itself.

Lee Ann

Lee Ann & jubilada,

Ordinarily, I like to do a combination of cities and scenic drives. This time I have to make a choice.

I am now thinking that if i stay 2 nights in SF, with a day trip to Bandelier, I still will not have time to do much in SF, especially on day of departure. I think I would need to be at car return by noon. So if this is a somewhat wasted day, plan 1 might be best.