Santa Fe-Need hotel and idea info for trip with 12 yr. old
 

I take one kid a year on a trip of their choice so that their only memory of me is not me nagging them to death. Highly recommend the idea for some mother/child bonding. Any how this year despite the tough economy I am going to attempt to keep up the tradition. 12 yr. DD has selected Santa Fe so I would love suggestions as to the following:

1.hotels with southwest theme and pool under $300 a night. I am usually good at getting a deal but with so many places in Santa Fe, I'm at a lost. checked tripadvisor so have some idea. Would like to be centrally locate if possible but will have a car.

2. Hiking ideas or walking tours ideal for a 12 yr. old. Is there any tour to indian ruins?

3. Cooking classes-DD and I share that love and wondered if anyone had any experience with cooking classes in Santa Fe.

4. Spanish Market-just saw that dates of end of july fall when Spanish market occurs so would a 12 yr. enjoy it.

5. Any other ideas.

Thanks so much for your help.
itsv

Pretty much all the hotels in the plaza area have a southwestern theme.

You might check out Hotel Santa Fe--http://www.hotelsantafe.com/reservations it is partially owned by Picuris Pueblo and has a real native American flavor. It is a 10 minute or less walk to the plaza. They also have a van available that can take you where you want to go and will come and pick you up, if you don't want to walk back to the hotel.


I took a class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking several years ago. http://www.santafeschoolofcooking.com/ Informative, mostly demonstration and a little hands on and then we had lunch composed of the dishes the teacher had made. It was fun.

Go to Bandalier National Monument http://www.nps.gov/band/ There are some interesting trails with Anasazi ruins there.

Don't know if a 12 yr old would like a private hot tub at a cool Japanese style spa--but take a look at 10,000 Waves
http://www.tenthousandwaves.com/ If you decide to go, reservations are essential.

Will you have a car? That impacts a lot of my suggestions.

The International Folk Art Museum is great for kids and grownups. There are others in the immediate area too:

http://www.museumhill.org/

Spanish Market - it is similar to a high end flea market with Spanish SW feel. My 15 year old son found it entertaining for a walk through, but no more than that.

Spanish Market IS a VERY busy time, under normal [read that, economic] times, book room sooner rather than later and make sure it can be cancelled within a short time of anticipated arrival.

Hike Tent Rocks, which is between SF and ABQ. NEat rock formations.htt

p://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/rio_puerco/kasha_katuwe_tent_rocks.html

How about rafting on Rio Grande? We use: http://www.losriosriverrunners.com/

The Zoo in ABQ is excellent and worth the drive:
http://www.cabq.gov/biopark/zoo/

Take a ride on the Sandia Tram: http://www.sandiapeak.com/ and walk along the trail.

Cooking school:

http://www.santafeschoolofcooking.com/

I have a thread on here Santa Fe trip report with restaurant info:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...rip-report.cfm

Tinkertown Museum in ABQ http://www.tinkertown.com/

How about a baseball game? ABQ has a AAA team, The Isotopes [named from an episode of "The Simpsons"] that is a fun time, even if not a huge baseball fan. A family friendly environment, lots of people watching, a playground, good food, beautiful stadium and a good game to boot. They are the minor league team for LA Dodgers.

Horse back riding at Broken Saddle, in Cerrillos [just outside SF] http://brokensaddle.com/

A former ghost town, now a kinda hippie like place: Madrid [ pronounced MADrid, not like the city in Spain]and a drive from Santa Fe to ABQ down the Turquoise Trail: http://www.turquoisetrail.org/

For checking out pueblos: take a day trip to Taos http://www.taospueblo.com/ and please remember, they are Native Americans.

As for hotels, not sure how many of them near the plaza, which sounds like that is where you want to stay, will have a pool.

Summer is high season, so $300 might not be possible right on or close to plaza.

If you have a car, there are some other possibilities that will work and not cost as much.

Inn on Alameda, Five Graces, La Fonda are all great choices, but not sure about the prices.

Hope this helps..
Deb

I meant to add that as you can tell from my list, ABQ is really the more kid friendly town.

Also, Los Alamos has Bradbury Musuem with WW2 stuff.

There is also a great children's museum in ABQ:

http://www.explora.us/en/home/

Explore the funky shops along Central, near Univ. of NM, eat at Frontier directly across from main UNM entrance.

Deb

When we were in Santa Fe we stayed at the Inn of Governor's-it was great and you can walk to the plaza. The breakfast is wonderful-one of the best I have ever had at a hotel. They also have a pool and a restaurant/bar at the hotel.

Not far from Santa Fe is Pecos Ruin, National park, a bit east. West of SF is Bandelier National Monument. Both have ruins but are very different from each other and are very interesting.

Itsv, you're doing a wonderful thing you know. I just cherish the trips I took with my mother, and they are some of my most wonderful memories of her.

Hotel: La Fonda may be the most central hotel in town, great people watching, a quite good restaurant,and has a pool. I would imagine you can get a room under $300.

I agree w/ above, Bandolier would be great. And, drive just a bit further to the caldera, it's fabulous.

Have a great time, annie

I third Bandolier, and also very highly recommend Tent Rocks. Most 12 year olds I've known would not be too into 10,000 Waves, tho'.

I love your idea, I have twin nieces turning nine and need to think of something similar on a smaller scale for them. I'm not the parent so it's not a matter of nagging, but I do want them to remember me with more than family holiday get-togethers.

Most of the communal hot tubs at 10,000 Waves are clothing optional, if I remember correctly. They have unisex tubs and men only and women only, but all are clothing optional.
Deb

You've gotten a bunch of fabulous ideas from DebitNM!

Lee Ann

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. They are very helpful and with the economy the way it is, most hotels suggested are in the low $200's for the time and some are even offering rebates. I really hope I can pull of this trip.

Sweetannie and go_laura, I highly recommend the idea of taking a regular trip with just one child or niece pper year. My husband and children were part of the local YMCA Indian Guides/Indian Princesses program so they would go off to river raft, mountain climb, caving, etc. and I thought they were going to think "dad fun, mom a drag." So about 6-7 years ago I started this tradition. I let them pick the place (within reason) and I give them a budge estimate since some years I have more $$ than others, Even a weekend away can be special. I try hard not to nag them and I try do something out of the ordinary as a surprise. We always talk about the trips and it becomes part of my special time with them. As the oldest is looking at college in a year, i'm really glad I did it. This year I have to do two trips since last year I couldn't do it with my oldests. The first trip was with my now 12 yr. DD, she picked visiting the Charles Schluz museum in Santa Rosa, we rounded the trip out with visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The next year my now 17 yr. old DS picked Tennessee. We went to Nashville, the smokies and memphis. My favorite comment from my DS was me splurging at buying him the bike we had rented for our Cades Cove bike advenure-he said "mom are you having a mid-life crisis?" My second favorite quote was at the Elvis impresonator show in memphis "mom do these ladies know Elvis died?"

The best surprise was the washington State trip two years ago with my dd. We were going from San Juan island to Victoria and I found out i could rent a private plane and pilot for $150 for the two of us rather than take the ferry. Her eyes were huge when the plane taxied up to where i had parked the rental car and told her to jump in. Seeing the sights so close from that plane including orcas and the whole experience was well-worth the extra $100 cost. With the internet and priceline, you can do the trips quiet reasonably. I don't buy my kids that many toys during the year and I make them earn $$ for when they want something special so I think my money is better spent on these trips.

Thanks again,
itsv

When we leave Albuquerque we will visit several pueblos outside of Santa Fe. The next morning we are driving to Chama to take a ride on the steam train on the Cumbres &
Toltec Scenic Railroad. The train leaves Chama at 10:00 and goes to Antonito, CO. The return trip is by bus, and gets back at 5:45 p.m. There is a stop about noontime for lunch which is included in the fare. www.cumbrestoltec.com

I 2nd Inn at Governors. It's a couple of blocks from the Plaza, and is a very pleasant place with the southwest mofif. It also has a pool, includes a good breakfast and the attached restaurants has great burgers.

I also recommed Bandelier Park. There are several different hiking trails there of varying lengths that go through the pueblo dwellings and ruins.

If you go over 4th of July, there's a great pancake breakfast open to everyone (and free) at the plaza, along with all day entertainment and also a craft fair.

Also interesting is Los ALamos which is on the way to Bandelier. There are a couple of museums about the history of the area and the Manhattan project.

Don't take your 12 year old the train - even with the bus back! It is way too long and boring for a child that age. Trust me, I found out the hard way!

Deb

OTOH, my girls loved the Cumbres and Toltec, but they were younger - six and three, if I recall correctly. The scenery is gorgeous, too! We did the shorter version, in which you go to Osier and then back to Chama.

Inn of the Governors fits the bill since you want a pool. There are very few there and this is close to the plaza and has parking, too.

Second Bandolier and Tent Rocks and the horseback riding provides beautiful scenery as well as fun, too.

If you don't want to drive down to Broken Saddle you can also ride at Bishop's Lodge which is just north of the plaza. Sunday mornings they have a breakfast ride which if it's warm would be nice.

I have more info upstairs on kid's activities which I'll post later.

Just following up on my original post, I just booked a room with two queen beds for $200 a night so thanks to everyone for their suggestions. By waiting another month, the airfares really went down and I just was able to get a nonstop flight between SD and ABQ for $200 roundtrip. However in looking at our family's schedule this summer, the week we were planning to go is only one of two weeks my entire family will be togeather (guess this happens when you have teenagers) so it has now turned into a family trip. My dd and I have signed up for cooking lessons so we are very excited about our trip. itsv