Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - New Mexico Road Trip with Two Young Kids -- Long

For spring break this year, our family drove from Southern California to New Mexico. We spent six days on the road, drove 2,545 miles, and saw New Mexico from as high as 9,000 feet up and low as 750 feet down. We covered art galleries and National Parks and had our fill of blue corn tortillas and pistachios.

Here’s my report:

We picked the kids up from school after lunch on Friday 4-7 and hit the road, only to get stuck in horrible Vegas-bound traffic. It took far longer than we expected to get to Williams, AZ, where we checked into connecting rooms at the Holiday Inn ($114 AAA rate). The space was nice, but the lobby had that old cigarette smell. I had considered the hotels in Tusayan, closer to the Grand Canyon, but was worried about driving the road at night and whether the hotels would be old/gross. In hindsight, I wish I had pushed to Tusayan. It was a cute-looking village, and all the inns looked well-kept, although I didn’t stop to investigate thoroughly.

In any case, we were on our way early Saturday toward the Grand Canyon. (The entrance fee is going up from $20 to $25 on May 1. We have a National Park Pass that more than pays for itself at $50. I highly suggest families thinking of this kind of trip to invest in one at the start.)

The ranger told us they had a blizzard a few days earlier that closed the south rim entrance, and there was still plenty of snow on the canyon walls and by the road. Our first exciting sight: We saw a mule deer dart across the road off into the snowy forest.

With kids just 7 and 3, we were limited to our options at the Canyon. We stopped at Mather Point, a visitor’s center with bathrooms, a gift store and some very tame nearby paths and vistas. Then we drove to the Grand Canyon Village to check out El Tovar, where we have reservations for next year. We walked the paths here, down toward the artists’ studios and lookout points, then returned and looked at the two Indian crafts shops. El Tovar has a nice dining room that opened at 11:30 for lunch, no reservations, so I lined up a few minutes before. We were rewarded with a window table that overlooked the Canyon. They had crayons and a typical kid’s menu, but also quality adult choices.

We headed toward the eastern exit after that, stopping to enjoy views while listening to Grand Canyon Suite on the car stereo. Then we headed south to Flagstaff and onto to Albuquerque for our second night’s stopover.

The Residence Inn North was a great hotel for us. We had two rooms again, at $106, plus earned Marriott points. It was clean and new and close to a zillion chain/family-type restaurants. We ended up at a Texas-themed steak place that the kids loved but was nothing special.

The location, north of the city on I-25, let us get an early start on Sunday morning. It took us several hours of country driving to get to Bandelier National Monument. In the summer, this must be very crowded, but we parked easily and bought a hiking guide. There were suggestions for one-hour, two-hours and four-plus explorations, but we stuck to the short tour.

This was an amazing place, the remnants of an ancient village from the 1100s to 1325. We were able to hike up to the caves where they lived, stacked, tenement-style. There were wooden ladders that my husband and son climbed to explore the insides of a few of the caves. (I stayed below with my preschooler, who was frustrated at being left below but too afraid to climb the ladder. This wasn’t a great place for a 3-year-old.) We saw some mule deer along the paths which practically posed for photos, and you also can spot petroglyphs. The visitor center has toilets and sells water and souvenirs.

We were headed to Santa Fe, but we stopped first in Los Alamos because we’re history buffs. We grabbed a fast-food lunch and then visited the Bradbury Science Museum. This is a good place for kids because it has a large hands-on area where little ones can work on puzzles and play with blocks or toy dinosaurs, gaze at optical illusions and brain teasers and goof around. My husband and I tag-teamed here, one of us watching the kids while the other toured through the exhibit of The Town That Never Was. This was a really fascinating exhibit that showed how this unknown town with only a boys’ ranch school was taken over by the government and turned into the birthplace of nuclear bombs. We were able to see Little Boy and Fat Man, then hit the gift store to buy our son a T-shirt with a mushroom cloud on it as well as some books.

Next, we went to the The Lodge, which was the school for “frail boys” that the government took over. (One former student, Bill Veeck!) Here, they had photos and displays of scenes from the days of the Manhattan Project. It was very interesting. From what we read in the display, scientists at different universities those days would disappear. You’d go to work, wonder where your friends were. Later, you’d get orders to report to Santa Fe, then go to Los Alamos and see all your “missing” coworkers. Things were very secret and hush-hush; the workers weren’t allowed to have bank accounts in New Mexico, or listed phone numbers. When the United States actually dropped the bomb, the Santa Fe paper was amazed that it was developed secretly in its backyard.

We spent an hour or two here before driving into Santa Fe. We stayed at the Inn on the Alameda, which had a two-room suite with private patio for $286 a night, with the third night an anniversary rate of $19.86. This included a happy hour of wine or sangria or Cokes with bread and cheese, and a full-spread breakfast buffet that had cereal, pastries and chile-cheese croissants and frittata, fruit and coffees.

The location was close to Canyon Road, so we spent a lot of time exploring galleries. We also were just three blocks from the Plaza, which might be too far for some, but it was fine for us.

Our family loves Santa Fe, so we easily spent two full days shopping, eating and exploring. We had wonderful meals at Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen and Tomasita’s. I prefer Maria’s blue corn tacos and margaritas over almost any meal on earth, but Tomasita’s was spicy hot. In fact, my face was flushed for about an hour and felt warm to the touch. I loved it, but if you don’t like spice, beware of the salsa! We had lunches at The Shed (convenient but not my fave) and the Cowgirl Barbecue, which had a play area for kids in back, which let them run around and get their ya-yas out before we went back to shopping.

When you bring young kids to Santa Fe, it’s sometimes a struggle to indulge the adult activities. We found that most galleries had benches and my kids would sit quietly and read or talk while we quickly looked. On Canyon Road, the benches often were in little gardens, so we could let them stay outside while we took turns inside. Many shops sell things that kids are interested in: jewelry, Indian dolls, drums. Our kids really liked a shop called Yippee Yi Yo right on the Plaza, which has a big kids’ section with costumes and lunchboxes. I love their western table linens. We all also had fun buying silver and turquoise jewelry from the Indian sellers/jewelry makers who spread out on the blankets on the opposite side of the Plaza. I wasn’t able to do a lot of bargaining here, but it was fun to talk to the artists, and we bought a few bracelets as gifts, as well as a bolo tie.

Another kid trick we used each day was to let them get an ice cream bar at the dime store, which by the way still sells Frito pies in the back – we skipped them, but they are supposedly legendary. We’d take the ice cream to the Plaza benches and again, let them eat and run around. For those like us who sometimes resort to bribery, there is a toy store on Marcy just off the Plaza that has Hello Kitty and Lego type toys. And for those who need a quick and clean public restroom, the nearby Public Library has a potty upstairs that came in handy a few times.

My husband took my son to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, and both kids really enjoyed the Folk Art Museum. I’d always skipped the Folk Art Museum because it seems like a pain to drive to it, but it was really great, especially for the kids. The Girard exhibit is filled with dolls arranged in little scenes. And there was a spot for children to make their own postcards and write notes. They said they’d mail them, too. We all enjoyed seeing the mysterious stairs at the Loretto Chapel, although I hated that you were forced to exit through a gift shop.

On Wednesday (4-12) we left Santa Fe and drove south to Carlsbad Caverns, another National Park. My daughter and I took the elevator to the bottom while my husband and son hiked. Then we all did the 1.5 mile Big Room loop, which showed some amazing formations. We were too early in the season to see the site of hundreds of thousands of bats exiting the cave mouth at dusk to go get their dinner. This must be awesome, however, so if you’re visiting over the summer, I’d plan to stay in the park until 7 or so to see it. Here’s another bit of advice: There are lots of signs advertising a lunchroom at the bottom of the cave, and I guess they used to do fried chicken lunches. Now, however, they sell microwave burgers and pizzas and candy bars and sodas. We brought a picnic that we ate in the parking lot, but that wasn’t really pleasant. It was hot outside, cold inside, and while it’s fascinating, it wasn’t a relaxing place. I also suggest staying in the town of Carlsbad or even Artesia or Roswell.

Since we were missing the bats, we headed quickly to Roswell to the UFO museum. Again, for us, with bored little kids, about an hour in Roswell was plenty. We were able to see the museum, buy autographed books and bumper stickers that say The Truth is Out There and stuffed aliens for the kids. It’s fun to see the street lights that look like aliens, and we heard there is a barbecue placed called Crash Cite Café that isn’t bad. I thought about staying over, maybe trying to find a shop that sold Alien Ale or something funny for gifts for friends at home. But the town wasn’t that interesting for us, particularly when I learned the alleged crash sites are on private property, so we moved on.

Our next stop was Ruidoso, and I was able to get booked into a three-year-old Best Western that had a large two-room suite ($119). I had read about this area in a tour book, but I had no idea it would be so sweet. Our visit obviously was off-season, but the town reminded me a lot of Cody, WY. There were little gift shops and art galleries, and nearby there is a racetrack (Ruidoso Downs), several casinos and skiing in the Sacramento Mountains. We drove around a bit, had dinner at the Cattle Baron, which is a small chain of steak places with enormous salad bars.

The next morning, we fed the kids free breakfast and checked out. Our first stop was about 30 minutes away at the Smokey Bear Historical Park. I had no idea that Smokey Bear was a real bear. I thought some ad exec dreamed him up. But no, he was a little two-month old black bear cub that firefighters found clinging to a tree, fur singed, during a fire. He was adopted as the fire prevention mascot and lived to be an old bear of 26. He’s buried in the park, so we were able to learn about him, pay our respects and then look at memorabilia and even buy a few souvenirs for the kids. Admission was a few bucks and included badges for the kids.

We next drove through Lincoln, the town where Billy the Kid lived and got in trouble during the bloody wars over cattle contracts after the Civil War. He’s buried there, a cage over his grave to deter vandals, and there are some museums, but driving through was enough for us. It was like visiting a ghost town. In Ruidoso, there is an old mill where he hid in a barrel. The history is very interesting, and all tour books I had with me told about the same story.

Next we visited the Hurd gallery in San Patricio. We’re very interested in the Wyeth-Hurd family of artists, and also wanted to check out the guest cottages here. They were very quaint, and the art was amazing. I’d suggest a stop here in you’re in the area.

Next we drove to Alamogordo, where we stopped to sample and buy pistachios at Eagle Ranch. They had pistachio brittle and nuts flavored with lemon, garlic, chile, cinnamon, etc. There are free tours, but we missed out. You could see the orchard though. I never realized that both pistachios and pecans are such big crops in this region.

In Alamogordo, we had a great New Mexican lunch at Margo’s, then went to the Space Museum. I didn’t love this museum, and we didn’t spend a lot of time there. They didn’t have a lot of real artifacts other than a moon rock, and the models were weirdly scaled. One great thing: You’re high above the town and have a great view of the White Sand National Monument stretching out in the distance. This wasn’t a waste of time, but even for my family of space nuts, it wasn’t a highlight.

White Sands was our next and final stop. I highly encourage anyone who can get to White Sands to make the effort. We saw several college-age kids there with picnics and bottled water, paddleballs and swimsuits and snow saucers. We followed the path, amazed as the grass became covered with enormous white dunes. Eventually, the road is covered, in spite of the constant ploughs keeping it clear for traffic.

Our daughter thought it was snow and asked for her jacket. We took off our shoes and climbed this tall white sand hill, sliding around and enjoying this incredible view. We live on the beach, where the sand is damp and sticky. This sand was like cornstarch; it just slipped through your fingers. Although it was hot, in the 90s, there was a breeze and the sand was cool. The college kids let the kids use the saucers, but they work best on the dunes that are harder packed and a long walk away. We could have spent hours here; I joked that it was as if a Siren were calling to us because I felt so relaxed and unwilling to go. I really had a tough time moving away, and as you might have guessed, we’re really a go-go family.

Finally we left, driving to Los Cruces and then all the way home. We just were ready to be home, and we weren’t tired, so we split the driving every 200 miles or so and arrived home at 2 a.m.

I felt a little woozy yesterday, but today we’re all fine.

Hope this trip report is helpful. We really loved this vacation, and I was surprised that there wasn’t a lot more information on this board. Keith wrote a great trip report not too long ago covering a lot of the same areas. If you’re planning a similar trip, try to read it. You can call it up easily by searching for Trinity Site, which wasn’t open while we were there.