NW New Mexico/NE Arizona loop September 2013
 

My husband, adult son and I just took a 7 day trip in a loop from/back to Albuquerque. I am not sure how much time I will have to write a lot of detail about it in the next few weeks, but I thought I would describe the basic itinerary now so that anyone thinking of a similar trip can ask questions about any of the things we saw/places we stayed.

My husband and son had been to southern Utah and to Mesa Verde last year so we did not include these locations on our trip this time. They would both say these are areas to explore if you get up to the Four Corners region.

Our trip (not including 2 air travel days at either end) involved almost exactly 1000 miles of driving:

Day 1 (Friday August 30th) , leaving from Albuquerque after picking up our rental car;
Petroglyph National Monument
Acoma Sky pueblo
overnight at Sky City Casino Hotel in Acoma

Day 2 (Saturday August 31):
Back to Acoma pueblo cultural center
Route 66 through area around Grants, NM
Lunch and brief walk through older section of Gallop
Window Rock, AZ--we saw Window Rock itself but the museum had closed for the entire
Labor Day weekend
overnight at Quality Inn in Window Rock

Day 3 (Sunday September 1)
Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site
Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Chinle, AZ
Overnight (2 nights) Sacred Canyon Lodge (used to be called Thunderbird Lodge)

Day 4 (Monday September 2)
Canyon de Chelly

Day 5 (Tuesday September 3)
Code Talker exhibit and Shade House museum in Kayenta AZ
Monument Valley
overnight at Gouldings Lodge right outside Monument Valley in Oljato-Monument Valley, UT

Day 6 (Wednesday September 4)
Monument Valley
Drive Route 163 north into southern Utah
Bluff Fort Historic Site in Bluff,
Four Corners Monument
overnight Bloomfield, NM Best Western

Day 7 (Thursday September 5)
Salmon Ruins archeological site in Bloomfield
Chaco Culture National Historic Site
Back to Albuquerque for flight home Sept. 6

You hit some of your best features! Can't wait to read the entire report.

Sounds great! If you have time to fill in details, I'd enjoy reading them.

Lee Ann

Looking forward to your report.

Hope you write up your impressions of the places you visited soon. We'll be going in a couple of weeks and have been to most of the places on your list, so will be interested in the others.

If you have already set up an itinerary you probably have done reading about the various well-known places like Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly, Acoma Pueblo, Chaco Canyon. Here are a few random thoughts.

We stopped in Window Rock to see the Navajo Nation Museum there but it was closed for the entire Labor Day weekend, not just the holiday. I can't say how good it is as a result. I imagine Window Rock would not be on most people's lists of places to go and could be missed. It was interesting to me to see it mostly because I have read the Tony Hillerman mysteries for years.

The scenery on Route 163 north of Monument Valley is really spectacular. We drove it heading north from MV but it would be even better heading south

Salmon Ruins near Bloomfield NM is not as well known as other sites but it had some very good small exhibits and is interesting to see in connection with Chaco Canyon. It actually had much more interesting historical information than Chaco itself and a very good trail guide describing the ruins.

Four Corners is nothing much to see and costs $3/per person. WE only went because we were driving right by it on our route from Utah toward the Farmington area.

The park service recommends visiting Chaco Canyon from the entrance off of US 550 3 miles southeast of Nageezi and approximately 50 miles west of Cuba. The drive is very rough in parts (and we are used to dirt roads). The area around the visitor center and the loop to the pueblos is paved and easy. You really need to invest the better part of a day to see this site.

In Monument Valley it is really worth staying at the View Hotel. We weren't able to get rooms there and Goulding Lodge is a reasonable alternative.

Thanks for your feedback. Yes the road into Chaco can be rough, depending on when it was graded. We've gone once when it was ok and once when it was challenging. When we tried to get there from the west the road was not passable.

Did you stop at Aztec ruin, about 10 miles north of Bloomfield? It has a re done kiva that is very beautiful.

Window Rock was interesting for the code talkers memorial and the window itself, we stopped there on the way to Canyon de Chelley.

What was at Bluff Fort Historic Site?

Unfortunately we missed Aztec Ruin. we had intended to go there at the end of Day 6 but ran out of time.

Bluff Fort historic site has a brand new visitor center/recreation of the old coop with good information about the settlers in the area and some replicas of historic buildings. I thought it was interesting for a short stop. They also sell good root beer and homemade cookies and candy!
http://bluffutah.org/bluff-fort/

We did enjoy seeing Window Rock itself. I also had a long talk with a Navajo woman staying at the Quality Inn. We joked that although the tourist information about the Navajo Nation area says that most people may not seem outgoing/friendly, I encountered several women who were very talkative.

Re the code talkers, we found and watched a video of a documentary about them when we were at Hubbell's trading Post. We also visited the exhibit in Kayenta (at the Burger King, set up by the son of one of the original code talkers)

It sounds as though you have already visited much of the area, emalloy. If you have any other specific questions about places you have not seen, please let me know.

Vt, if you haven't been to Arches and Canyonlands, you should plan to. There are lots of petroglyph sites in the area as well as in the parks.

We're hooked on the area and have been back several times, always with a look at something we missed the last time. Often we wing it and go as the spirit moves us, but this time we've actually made reservations ahead for the first few nights.

My husband and sons loved Arches and Canyonlands when they visited last year. I wasn't able to go on that trip.

I was intrigued this time by pictures of Valley of the Gods and Goosenecks State Parks in southern Utah just north of Monument Valley and would like to see these, too on another trip.

Valley of the gods is kind of like a small Monument valley. We went to Natural Bridges NP then went down to Mexican Hat via the Moki dug way. The next day we went to Goosenecks and VOG.

Goosenecks was a quick stop for pictures.

Do get to Arches and Canyonlands. I do have some pictures at Flickr.com/photos/emalloy2009
In the sets from 2008 to 2011 if you care to look.

Thanks for the links to your pictures. I hope to get back and see some of the Utah parks. Zion, too

Sounds like you saw a lot and had a good trip. Brings back happy memories.

We drove up the Moki dugway. That was fun :). We went to the viewpoint at Muley point. We stayed in Mexican Hat a couple of nights.
On of my favourite holidays ever was the time we spent exploring Arizona and New Mexico.

Love your photos emalloy.

You can see my photos http://www.buckphotos.garafiano.nl//...ara/index.html I was very restrained in my choice. DH would only allow me 22 photos.

The Moki dugway is a super highway compared to the dugway the settlers in Bluff cut on their way to SE Utah. It is hard to see how they ever got their wagons through.

Glad to hear about others' trips in the area. It is an amazing part of the world.