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Quick trip to New Mexico
I'm starting a new post because our itinerary has changed. We are three senior citizens who will be leaving Durango on a Wed morning in September. We have to be in Albuquerque Fri night for an early Sat morning flight. That gives us most of Wed, all of Thurs, and most of Fri to visit New Mexico. We've gotten lots of suggestions - Taos, Santa Fe, Chaco Canyon, Bandelier Nat'l Monument. So many beautiful places, so little time! We are mostly interested in photo opportunities and local history. I know we can't do it all, so what are the "must see" spots between Durango and Albuquerque? Thanks!
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What are you fishing for??? You had lots of excellent responses on the round for this question.
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Are you starting all over again?? You had a good plan; what is it that you feel you need change?
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Chama, NM for incredibly well-preserved narrow gauge trains. My Spanish friends in Santa Fe used to go up there in the fall to collect piñones, pine nuts.
Tierra Amarilla, NM, is a county seat that isn't a town. It isn't picturesque, either. There are a ton of monasteries and spiritual (sometimes "sic") retreats, but you can't usually see them from the highway. There are also ghost towns -- not to be confused with Ghost Ranch -- but it would be a HUGE mistake for a carload of seniors (I'm a senior) to drive off the highway in search of romantic sites. Abiquiu, NM for exteriors of Georgia O'Keefe's house (reservations required for the interior, long in advance). If you like to take pictures of cars, Española used to be a big center for Low Riders, but fashions change. You could stop in Chimayo to learn about the miraculous mud in the church. Put on your wide angle lenses because this part of NM is, in a very, very, beautiful way, a whole lot of nothing. |
What are you seeing/doing during your Durango program? You said photography, but what else. I couldn't find the specific program for your dates. I assume the train. If so, that is probably enough train exposure, pun intended, in your 21/2 days alloted. I don't know what additional info we could give. You just need to select and do it. Certainly you aren't going to keep questioning for the next four months. Yikes!
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St Thomas church, anchoring la penitente morada trail, is above abiquiqu and very scenic and historic. A bit off the beaten path, but well worth a visit and easy to do.
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What are you wanting to change from the suggestions we gave in your other post? Have you looked into all of them? If so, I would pick what your top choices are as they were all good, in my opinion.
From a photography standpoint, are you looking for landscape or buildings & people? Landscape at Abiquiu is like no other place in NM. Beautiful scenery. Taos: San Francisco de Asis Mission Church, charming courtyards that will have color in September as well as the cottonwood and aspen trees starting to change color depending on how the weather is. The drive from Tierra Amarilla (south of Chama) over to Taos on HWY 64 is a fall drive we take at least once every fall. Beautiful scenery of the Brazos Cliffs and the fall colors. If you are going to Taos this would be a beautiful drive from Durango. There isn't enough time, as you said, to get everything in. There never is! That's why you'll have to come back again and again. :-) |
Are you hoping that the attractions between Durango and Albuquerque have changed since we gave responses to your first post on this topic? They haven't.
HTtY |
To avoid spending almost too much time on the road, if it was my trip I would head to Taos early on Wednesday (maybe via Pagosa Springs if that is not too out of the way). I would see whatever I wanted in Taos and spend the night, maybe having dinner at Doc Martin's, where there's usually some nice live local music. There's a motel adjacent to the restaurant, but I have never stayed there.
On Thursday, I would head to Santa Fe early, perhaps stopping at Chimayo or any other place of interest. I would try to stay near the plaza in Santa Fe, if possible, and take time to walk around, browse some shops, museums or other sites. So many good possibilities! Be sure and pick up a free Santa Fe Reporter or take a look at the publication's website to see if there's anything going on that you might like. On Friday, I would do whatever else I wanted in Santa Fe that morning, then meander down the Turquoise Trail (Highway 14) to Albuquerque. There's so much beauty and magic in that whole area that you really don't need to look hard to find it. |
Wow, sorry - didn't mean to offend anyone. I've always gotten such helpful responses from this site in years past. No, I will not continue to question for the remaining months. We're having to plan as much as possible in advance because I will be having major surgery in June, followed by a couple of months of treatment and won't really be able to plan our itinerary.
No, I did not think the attractions had changed since my last post. However, now that we have eliminated Mesa Verde and added Taos back in, I was hoping to get some ideas that wouldn't have us backtracking all over the place between Durango and Albuquerque. Our Road Scholar trip will be on the photographer's train that they do once a year - we will be stopping for landscape photo ops along the way. Since no one has said much about Chaco Canyon or Bandelier, I'm assuming we should skip those. I will definitely look into Abiquiu, Chimayo, and Brazos Cliffs. Thanks so much to those of you who bothered to take the time and try a help a group of elderly women have a nice trip! I will continue my research on another travel site, so as not to bother anyone here. |
Chaco and Bandolier are both worth visiting, but Chaco takes much too long to get to on this trip. It is way west of where you are, there is about 15 miles of unpaved road to get there which is unpassable if it rains.
Bandelier is only about an hour from Santa Fe and is pretty easy to walk around. There are some steps but not too many and you only need to go up ladders if you want to go into some of the upper dwellings. Since you eliminated Mesa Verde, I would go to Bandolier, different from MV, but an interesting site and very photogenic. If you want an idea of what it looks like go to my flickr page and click the 2013 album. www.flickr.com/emalloy2009/photos |
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Thanks, emalloy - love your Flickr photos!
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Bandolier would be an easy stop between Taos and Santa Fe.
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