Help with AR/NM trip with kids
 

Some of this may be a repeat, but...Next June we are taking our 11-, 13-, and 16-year old boys to AR/NM area. My husband goes out there on business and has a lot of places he wants to show us, but I'm a little worried about the amount of driving and would like advice on what the boys might enjoy most. We are starting out in Prescott for two nights, seeing Montezuma's Castle and well, doing the railroad trip near Jerome, and maybe seeing Jerome. Next we want to take the scenic Oak Creek Canyon drive (89A), go to Slide Rock Park (on a weekday), see some of the Red Rock country and spend the night. The next day we drive to the South Rim and spend three nights. I would like to go horseback riding along the rim - if available - but not the mule trip down the canyon (too long for my non-riders). The IMax showing the canyon sounds good, and much easier than trying to get me into a helicopter! From there - and this is where I start worrying about distance - take 2 days to get to Albuequerque (SP?, with possible stops being the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, pueblos in Grants/Acoma area); spend two nights there (balloon ride and Sandia Tramway); drive to Taos fo two nights (guided white water rafting trip); head south through San Antonio (eat at The Owl) and spend a night near Ruidoso; see Roswell the next day, then down to White City for two nights (Carlsbad Caverns and Sitting Bull Falls, if time), then El Paso and home.
Also, if you have hotel/motel suggestions (we prefer historic/funky to chain) or restaurant suggestions I would appreciate hearing them.

Am impressed by all you're attempting to see. One spring break our family of five did a loop from Vegas to Zion, Bryce, Lake Powell, Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly, Gallup,Sedona,Jerome, and
Grand Canyon, Kingman, Chloride, Hoover Dam and back to Vegas. I think
we covered 1500 miles over 9 days which was plenty
but left us wishing we'd had more time to savor spots like Monument Valley,
Canyon de Chelly and Zion. I agree, 3 nights at Grand Canyon might be too many unless you have some luck hiking below the rim.
More recently, some friends and I had a
whole trip planned to Sedona which had
to be cancelled at the last minute....
we'd booked ourselves into the Sky Ranch Lodge (which I hear has a good location and is a good value), had a
jeep tour booked there (which I understand is
a must in Sedona). Quickly the group needed to find a different destination.....so we
switched gears to focus instead on 2
nights in Santa Fe and one in Taos.
We stayed at Garrett's in Santa Fe, which we'd found recommended on this forum, which was very clean, economical, has a decent pool(thinking of kids) and has a great location. We could walk everywhere we wanted to go.
In Taos we stayed at the Historic Taos Inn, which turned out to be the happening place in Taos. There were Flamenco dancers performing in the lobby, Adobe Bar, the night we were there and Doc Martin's restaurant provided us a scrumptuous meal. Here's the big "Beware" re: the Taos Inn. I'd read on this forum, too, that one poster had had all their belongings stolen from their car while it was parked out back behind the Inn in the hotel's lot. Heeding this advice we made sure to strip our car of all our valuables hoping to avoid any trouble.
We woke up the next morning to police in the lobby looking for me!! since our rent-a-car now had a pick-up truck imbedded in the passenger door!
Apparently, after all the festivities during the night some very
disoriented soul plowed into the pick-up (shoving it into my car) and grazed still another parked car on its way out of the lot. The corker is that the cops told us "they have incidents, of one sort or another, in the Taos Inn lot ALL THE TIME." It's such a shame...the message is....we loved the hotel but hated the parking lot!
I learned this hard way to be sure to carry my insurance card with me (I'd left mine in my glove compartment at home) and be sure to travel with my calling card. I could never get a cell signal in the Taos area and all the phone calling that I needed to do to sort out my insurance, etc., had to be done with the hotel phone (thankfully, Taos Inn, waived those nasty phone charges for me)---but in general, we'd had difficulty making rafting reservations etc. since we'd expected our cell phone to work.
The good news is that our luck turned around greatly once we got hooked up with Joe, our guide, at Los Rios River Tours. Cisco, the owner, was most accomodating and arranged a magnificent river trip on very little notice (we'd been stood up, basically, by another outfitter). I don't recommend leaving it so last minute -- call Los Rios in the first place! The Rio Grande wasn't running much but we got a beautiful Class 3 ride and got to see the Cottonwoods turned golden for fall. Joe kept telling us that June is when the river really has a kick so you and your boys should be in for a great ride and real treat.
Taos Pueblo took our breath away. I don't know how anyone could not be impressed, even teenagers.We would've stayed longer (had we not had to kill so much time with the friendly Taos police force....they were great, the experience was not).
Another location that I would think would work for kids was Bandelier, cave dwelling. It's near Santa Fe, about an hour's drive, up near Los Alamos (which apparently is the home of the atomic bomb--might interest boys? we'd run out of time and so couldn't pursue)...the cave dwellings have tons of ladders that one can climb to enter little cubbies in the canyon walls. I'm frankly, amazed at how much freedom there is to roam and climb at Bandelier.
One extra detail, we arrived in the early a.m. after grabbing a coffee in Santa Fe.....surprisingly, the snack bar AT this National Park looked like it was putting out some delicious breakfast burritos. Usually, I figure one should pass on the food in the National Parks...but we were all sorry we'd eaten Balance bars on the way never imagining that there would be something better to have had on site.
From Taos, be sure to drive down the "High Road" on your way back to Santa Fe....the landscape changes dramatically and some of the vistas are truly stunning.
There's my fresh input on the "Land of Enchantment", what little I know about Sedona (Slide Rock looked like any kid's paradise) and road trips, in general. Have you figured out how many miles you're considering over how many days yet? The Southwest is a wonderland, you can't go wrong.

Thanks - that gave me a lot to think about - plus it's nice to know that other families do road trips like ours! Being from Florida, and unlikely to get to this area again (at least as a family and only because there are so many places we want to see all over the world that we probably won't cover everything the first time around - unless we win the lottery and spend the rest of our lives travelling!). OK, we were thinking 3 nights at the Grand Canyon so we could get in two full days (arrive late and leave early). Since we won't be hking below the rim, except just enough to say we did it (our youngest tires very easily), you think a full day would be plenty for doing the public transport to overlooks and maybe a little walking between bus stops? If that is so, maybe a two night stop (instead of one) near Sedona and do a jeep tour? We had planned for only an afternoon in Santa Fe - see the historic something (I don't have my notes here - the old adobe ? that is now a museum) and a bit of the old town. It sounded really nice for adults, but not much active stuff for boys. What do you think? Whatever we do, we won't park our car in the Taos Inn lot! Seriously though, would that be an ok place for kids? Flamenco dancers sound fun! Thanks for the tip on the Bandlier cave dwellings We had considered Los Alamos, but weren't sure about the distance - but with cave dwellings you can actually explore thrown in - sounds good. One last quetion, how much longer does the "High Road" take? It was on my original list - but it seemed to fall at a time when we would be doing alot of driving... Haven't figured the mileage yet, but we do have 11 or 12 full days and a half day (due to the time change) when we arrive.

I have been to Santa Fe, Alburqurque, Taos and the Acoma Pueblo, west of ABQ but none of the other places you mention. So my two piece of advice are:

1. Plan more than one afternoon in Santa Fe - it is so different and much more to do than in Taos or ABQ, though I understand your need to do the rafting trip.

2. If the Acoma Pueblo is having a feast day, definitely visit that day. We had an amazing experience there on Labor day Sunday last year.

I sure wish I could find something similar for my kids to experience in the was of a native american site in Arizona where we are going for spring break.

You're taking them to AR (Arkansas) or AZ (Arizona) ?

Eeeekkkk! Arkansas and New Mexico would be a strage combination! NOT AR, but Arizona!

Wow, what a trip! If you go to Ruidoso I have a great cabin that you can email me about or there is a charming motel called the Swiss Chalet Inn with gorgeous views of the mountains. There are beautiful lakes for fishing, horseback riding and shopping. Take the boys to Farley's for burgers and billiards. Funtrackers has go-carts my kids love. 45 minutes away is White Sands. The kids love just running around the huge pure white dunes. Let us know all about it when you return.