Planning Summer Trip to Southwest
 

Message: My husband and I are planning a trip to the southwest this summer from NY--July or August. This will be a "childless" trip and we want it to be romantic. Thinking of 2 weeks, perhaps flying into/out of Albequerque? We love hiking, scenic drives, good food, and a comfortable bed to sleep in. We don't want to change hotels too frequently either. Did that last year when we saw Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Dinosaur, Teton, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon over a two week stretch and it was a great trip but tiring. My favorites were Capitol Reef and Bryce and I didn't have enough time in either. This time around we'd love to see Anasazi dwellings, petroglyphs, beautiful scenery and have time to enjoy them. Any suggestions would be welcome.
FYI: I posted this message a 2nd time because I forgot to specify Southwest in the title of the original.

Albuquerque is a good choice to fly into and out of.

I can't help with lodging, since I live in New Mexico, but you could spend a couple of days in Albuquerque visiting Old Town, museums, hiking in the mountains or along the bosque or in Petroglyph National Monument.

From Albuquerque, go up the Turquoise Trail on the east side of the Sandias to Santa Fe. On the way, you could stop at Tinkertown (cool little museum) and visit Madrid.

There is a ton of stuff to do in the Santa Fe area, but it will be more expensive to stay there than in Albuquerque. The Santa Fe Opera will be performing, you can go to Bandelier National Monument (cliff dwellings), maybe take a day trip to Taos...you could also go to Jemez Springs from either Albuquerque or Santa Fe.

Chaco Canyon is probably one of the best places to go for Anasazi ruins. I've never been to Canyon de Chelly or Mesa Verde, and can't remember if they are also Anasazi sites.

Lee Ann

I'd pencil in some time to stay in Santa Fe -- "The City Different." It's a good base for exploring some beautiful areas, including Bandalier National Monument (good hiking) and Taos. SF is a unique and charming city with lots of good food and plenty of interesting things to see and do. If you do a search on this forum, you will get some ideas. I can't resist posting about Santa Fe...it holds me off until I make my annual summer trip!

Bandalier has some petroglyphs and there's another area near there some friends told me about that had petroglyphs and incredible hiking. I will try to find out where that was -- it was kind of secluded and they considered it a real find.

Chaco is awesome, like the previous poster said. You need plenty of time to visit this most famous Anasazi site. It's a long, rough, unpaved road into the actual site and there's a lot to see. I think Albuquerque would be your base for visiting Chaco, but you'll need to map it out.

You could also spend a whole day at Mesa Verde. Many of the dwellings are by tour only, and when you arrive you have to sign up for specific tour times. It's no big deal, but I wish I had known that ahead of time and planned our visit a little better.

There's a site in Aztec, NM called Aztec Ruins, although its residents were actually Pueblo. It's pretty neat to see, too. We stopped by there on the way from Mesa Verde to Chaco.

Two weeks is a good amount of time. You should be able to see a lot. Good luck.

I'll put my vote in for Chaco, Mesa Verde and Canyon de Chelly.

Mesa Verde is worth two days to have enough time to do all three of the ranger guided tours and Spruce Tree on your own. Also nearby you might want to spend a day traveling up the Million Dollar Highway (550) between Durango and Ouray, Colorado. Very scenic mountain drive.

Utahtea

I agree on Mesa Verde and the Durango area. We spent a little time there on the way to Taos and Santa Fe as well. I would like to go back and spend more. The drive from Durango to Taos was very beautiful too, lots of green rolling hills and you go right across the Rio Grande Gorge bridge just outside of Taos.

Buy the Utah Gazeteer(sp?) map. An amazing map with great detail(60 or so Pages) at a Border's type bookstore. Travel north from approximately Mexican Hat, view the goosenecks of the San Juan River, I think, then head due north to the Grand Gulch area and the small village of Fry Canyon with a 4 room motel with no phone, no television, but a horse that will enter your room if you are not careful. You will travel straight up the 4-5000 foot bluff with hairpin turns towards Capitol Reef with an awesome view back towards Arizona and Monument Valley. My Utah stuff is stored somewhere, but I am in love with southern Utah. Moab is also an exceptional place to be, but will be amazingly hot in the summer. Saw and found pictographs and petraglyphs when we were biking and when we were just exploring outside of Moab. A great book for reference for Utah is The Utah Handbook by Lonely Planet(?). A small, but amazing book about Utah. The same publisher put one out for Texas and it is horrid! and somewhat useless. Kodachrome State Park is also supposed to be amazing, not far from Zion.

Kodachrome State Park is not far from <b>Bryce</b>. Hope that wasn't in the book....LOL!!!

Thank you all for such great info. If you can recommend any specific lodging in Santa Fe or Alburquerque--I'd be happy to hear it. I'm thinking of working out a route from Albuquerque to Ouray and then back to Alb. to fly home. I've got some maps out. We've decided to spend at least two days at Mesa Verde. Can you suggest a good town to find lodging as a base to see that park? Any recommendations would be appreciated.
By the way, it's snowing great guns here in New York!

For Mesa Verde - stay at the Far View Lodge in the park. It isn't fancy, but if you want romantic - it is quiet, and there's nothing like watching a spectacular sunset from your private balcony. The restaurant at the lodge, Metate, is also wonderful.

We always camp in the park but for LOCATION, LOCATION...then I would also say stay at the Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde. The closest town will be Cortez.

Utahtea

In Santa Fe, if I wanted to stay near the plaza, I'd choose La Fonda. For close to the plaza, but basic motel, there's Garrett's Desert Inn. If I want less expensive (hence away from the plaza) but still with plenty of unique charm and Santa Fe style, I love El Rey Inn. I'm sure others will add their favorites.

I have an idea for an itinerary, and would appreciate any comments or suggestions.
(1) Fly from NY to Albuquerque (2-3 nights?), see Chaco, Old Town, Petroglyph National Monument
(2) to Santa Fe (2 nights?) via Turquoise Trail, stop in Madrid. See Bandolier, shop etc.
(3) Taos (stay there?), then travel over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge to Durango (stay there?)
(4) Mesa Verde (2 nights, stay at Far View Lodge)
(5) Scenic drive to Ouray
(6) Canyon de Chelly (don't know distance to Chelly from Verde).


Then work our way back to Albuquerque and then home. Does this seem reasonable for 10-14 days?

If you are going to drive to Ouray, then it would be best if you did from Durango and before Mesa Verde.

I wasn't sure if you were going to do Canyon de Chelly as a day trip from Mesa Verde or some other location. From Mesa Verde it would be a 7 hour round trip drive. It would be best to just drive to Canyon de Chelly and spend the night either in the park or in Chinle and then drive to ABQ.

Utahtea