Albuquerque Day 5: Today we took the tram to the top of Sandia Peak (from 6,500 ft to 10,378 in 15 minutes!) and hiked up to the Kiwanis Cabin via a number of trails. Afterwards we had stuffed sopapillas for lunch at Ex Novo Brewing Company and an amazing dinner at Farm & Table.
Albuquerque Day 4: We drove about an hour Northwest of Albuquerque to Jemez Hot Springs today and spent two very relaxing hours soaking in the hot pools. From there we took Route 4, the Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway to Valles Caldera National Preserve, a 13-mile wide volcanic depression. We rounded out the day with a brief stop in Los Alamos and then treated ourselves to ice cream on our way through Santa Fe, followed by a return visit to Bow and Arrow Brewing for a late dinner.
Albuquerque Day 3: This morning we headed East out of Albuquerque to Santa Rosa. We beat the heat with a dip in the Blue Hole and then had a picnic lunch: breakfast burritos (egg, hash browns, cheese, and green chilis) that we brought along from Golden Pride. On the way back to Albuquerque we dropped down to Historic Route 66 for the last 40 miles before picking up some serious New Mexican dinner from El Modelo. In the evening we attended our first baseball game since the start of the pandemic: a matchup between the Minor League Albuquerque Isotopes and El Paso Chihuahuas. Unfortunately, the Isotopes lost in the final inning, but it was a beautiful night for a ballgame.
Albuquerque Day 2: This morning, before it got too warm, we visited the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park to walk through the Bosque (forest) and then stopped at an Albuquerque institution, Duran’s Pharmacy to grab lunch. It’s still a working pharmacy, but also contains a lunch counter with (possibly) the best tortillas in town. In the afternoon we did some work and caught up on editing travel photos. For dinner we visited Bow and Arrow Brewing and ate delicious pupusa’s from the food truck that was visiting: Yarling’s Pupuseria.
Albuquerque Day 1: We set out this morning on the High Road to Taos Scenic Byway. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains and pine forests between Taos and Santa Fe. Lunch at Rowley Farmhouse Ales was fantastic and we waited out some monsoon hail before continuing to Albuquerque via the Turquoise Trail and parts of Historic Route 66. After settling in to our Airbnb (an apartment near Old Town) we headed to Sawmill Market for dinner.
We started our stay in Taos with a trip to the farmer’s market where we realized we had come to New Mexico during green chile harvest season! We got freshly roasted green chiles, along with a lot of seasonal goodies and baked goods: we were in absolute heaven! Afterwards we wandered through the local shops before heading back to make dinner: a mushroom and poblano fritatta with a big green salad.
The next morning we got an early start and headed north to hike the Big Arsenic trail, where we descended into a canyon to the Rio Grande. It was arduous (839ft from canyon rim to canyon floor) but we were rewarded with beautiful vistas of the river and a number of petroglyphs. We treated ourselves to lunch at Taos Mesa Brewing before heading home to take advantage of the high elevation and clear skies to photograph the sunset and the night sky.
This morning Meg woke up at 6:15 am to run the 1.8 mile Bosque River Loop trail. It was beautiful just after sunrise and she kept pausing to take photos! After Meg’s run, we arrived at the spa soaking pools just as they opened at 7:30am. It was extremely tranquil and we shared the pools with only about 10 other people. After a luxurious soak and mud bath, we treated ourselves to breakfast (blue corn piñon pancakes for Meg & breakfast taco’s for Matt) and delicious coffee from the resort restaurant. Our hour-long drive to Taos went smoothly, we got settled in our traditional adobe-style AirBnB, and enjoyed dinner on the patio at a local restaurant.
Our room at Ojo Caliente is extremely luxurious and includes our own patio hot spring soaking pool. We think this might be the fanciest hotel room we’ve ever had. After a very good night of sleep, we started our day with a visit to the hot spring pools. The air temperature was cool in the morning, and it wasn’t too busy, so we enjoyed a nice soak. Afterwards we hiked to the Joseph Mica Mines, a 4-mile out and back trail. As we approached the mine (three holes cut in the cliff side) all the rocks began to sparkle. After the hike we revisit the hot springs and got takeout dinner from the resort restaurant.
We woke up to a chilly morning in Cloudcroft, grabbed our first hot coffees of the trip, and then headed down the mountain, stopping to take in the Mexican Canyon Railway Trestle. We then coasted down the rest of the mountain through Alamogordo to White Sands National Park: our little Prius reported 99.9 mpg for the whole trip!
We hiked the Dune Life Nature Trail, briefly checked out the Alkali Flat Trail, and stopped at the small lake on the Playa Trail: it was amazing how varied the landscape was! We grabbed a quick taco truck lunch before heading to Pistachioland to check out the World’s Largest Pistachio and treat ourselves to some pistachio-almond ice cream. After that we made our way north to Ojo Caliente, stopping at the perfectly campy Clines Corners on a small stretch of old Route 66.
We woke early, Meg ran, and we had a quick breakfast so we could maximize our time at Carlsbad Caverns! It was a cool morning, which prepared us for the cool damp of the caverns. After purchasing our parks pass (yay!), we decided to take the Natural Entrance instead of taking the elevator directly to the Big Room: 1.25 miles long and 750 feet of descent. After 90 minutes and hundreds of pictures on the descent, we made our way efficiently around the Big Room, taking a few hundred more pictures: it was truly awe-inspiring.
Since we had taken a bit more time than planned at Carlsbad Caverns, we stopped for a quick burrito lunch and then we drove 125 miles (and 5,500 feet in elevation) to Cloudcroft, NM, where the lobby cat welcomed us to the charming Summit Inn. We had a brisk (it was 57 degrees out and windy) al fresco dinner at Dave’s Cafe, and then wandered Burro Street before heading back to the room to sort through all the pictures!
