West - need some time/sun help!? AZ NM TX more

Early planning. Car trip, Srs. we try to avoid driving even into dusk. Headed to AZ, NM and a bit of TX in Mid-May thru early June. We live in SoCal(Escondido). Time should be same in AZ as CA by then, but is that the same or different in NM and TX (El Paso only)? Sun til 8 or so in CA at that time. What about NM?

NM-Driving from Santa FE to visit Salinas Pueblo Monuments (3). Portion of day and stop first. Moriarty is town with recognizable stays. Any comments on Mountainair for lodging. Seems a few choices with iffy data?! Our day will start about 8:30 or 9 in one of the 2 towns, then visit the three Salinas Pueblos/Churches/Ruins and then south on 55 to go to Alamogordo. Takes us on some unpaved roads leaving Grand Quiviara Ruins to get to 54. Any comments about these unpaved roads? 2003 Toyota Highlander


In Santa Fe NM we plan to visit Bandier Nat Mon, Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, The Artchdiocese of Santa Fe (we are not Catholic)... , Palace of the Goveners, New Mexico History Museum, and Chapel of San Miguel Historic Site. We plan not to do Loretto Line Tour, Santa Fe National Forest, Mus of Int'l Art and regretably El Rancho De Las Golondrinas (we are too early for normal opening and the "early tours" do not meet our needs). We have 2 1/2 full days for Santa Fe and surrounds. As site seers history buffs, animal lovers, wineos,and short flat hikers, is there something to delete?add?


Near Alamogordo is a Museum of Space History. Iffy for time, given arrival latish, and next day visit to White Sands and Alameda Park Zoo.

In Las Cruces, somewhere around Old Mesilla Village is Gadsden Museum (505-526-6293?). Anyone been there? Comments? Price, hours address? Amaro Winery any good?

Tombstone AZ is on my wife's agenda, so my too...Read so many comments from various "generic visitors" but would appreciate any FT experiences. Given that we will go there and spend a full day (2 nights), I have selected to do Birdcage Theater, Courthouse/Museum, Crystal Palace Saloon (lunch), Historama and Fairbank Ghost Town. Skipping the gunfight recreation and the false cemetory. Comments or suggestions?

In Yuma we are pondering Cocopah Indian Museum and Quccham indian Museum. If only one, any experience as to which?

Thank you. I already have 150 hours into this trip, so looking for a couple short cuts on some items that locals might be able to help us with.

New Mexico and El Paso are in the Mountain Time Zone, the rest of Texas is in the Central Time Zone. Arizona shows to be in the Mountain Time Zone, too, but does weird things with daylight savings time. http://www.timetemperature.com/tzus/time_zone.shtml
Are you turning around in El Paso, or going on? The McDonald Observatory is just outside of Fort Davis, Texas and has great stargazing nights for the public. The Big Bend Ranch State park and the Big Bend National Park are spectacular if you're looking for empty places with incredible desert scenery.

BLI FLYER

Thank you.

Looks like CA, AZ, NM and EL Paso will all be on the same clock. Perhaps Guadalupe Mtns Nat Pk will not be. Hope this means dusk does not come til 7 pm or later.

El Paso is more or part of the turn around...AZ stops then-Gallup- El Morro Nat Mon- Grants-La Ventana-El Malpais-Albuq-Santa Fe-Alamogordo-Artesia-Carlsbad-Guadalupe Mtns Nat Pk(entry into TX)-El Paso-Las Cruces-Deming-Lordsburg-Dragoon-Benson- Tombstone etc in AZ to home (or we are the beneficiary of its location...will go to El Paso Zoo and El Paso Museum of History, staying two nights(arrive PM from visit to Guad. Nat Pk; one day visit; and depart AM following day)

Thank you again

ranles

Looks like CA, AZ, NM and EL Paso will all be on the same clock. Perhaps Guadalupe Mtns Nat Pk will not be. Hope this means dusk does not come til 7 pm or later.


Just to clarify (and this is obvious if you look at the link to the map in my message above), CA, AZ, NM, and El Paso are NOT "all on the same clock." CA is in the Pacific Time Zone, NM and El Paso are in the Mountain Time Zone, a difference of 1 hour from CA. AZ does not observe daylight savings time, so it appears to go back and forth between the Pacific and Mountain Time Zones.

The Guadalupe National Park is also in the Mountain Time Zone.

Bandelier NM is just about my favorite National Park/Monument. You can easily spend all day there drifting down the trail to the Rio Grande and than back up past the big cave, the ruins and up into the old cave/ruin/kiva at the top of the trail. Only about a five mile RT for all of this with some gain in altitude.
A very special place!!

Los Alamos is a nice place to visit for a night and a day. Plenty of motels and some B & B's. Good museum stuff and incredible views. The Jemez Mtns are quite lovely and just driving around the area is pretty serene...

The smell of chiles smoking just sends me swooning for a visit. Be sure and eat lots of the local food.

I think that a stop at the coffee shop near Canyon Road in SF called (I think) Downtown Subscription is worthy. Great spot, fine folks and plenty to read. Good coffee and edibles as well. And than you should walk a bit of Canyon Road and get your fill of adobe and art.

Taos is interesting as well.

In all seriousness I have spent eight or nine days at a time in SF and have not grown weary of seeing the sights there and eating the fine food. 2.5 days will not cut it IMHO.

For Santa Fe, I'd also second walking around Canyon Rd. and also many of the streets downtown surrounding the plaza. Since you mentioned you're history buffs you may also be interested in seeing the Oldest House and Oldest Church, both are just off of Old SF Trail & DeVargas. The Loretto Chapel is just down the street and may be worth a visit.

Any particular reason for the Space Museum visit or just because it's close to Alamagordo? I wouldn't go out of my way to stop there.

Also, sunset should be around 7:30-8pm in NM that time of year.

BLI FLYER

Thanks for hanging in there with me. Today CA is 1 hr behind AZ. When we spring forward (before we leave in May), we will be on the same wristwatch time as AZ. It is my assumption that, if AZ and NM and "part" of TX are all the same watch time, then all the states (areas) we will be traveling will be on the same watchtime. Probably they move when we move and the 1 hour difference will remain. I cannot believe I do not know this! The key infor is that sunset is not until about 8 pm. So end of day by 7, to avoid night driving is safe.

JPAT

Thank you for you comments. Most of this trip will be new for us. Bandelier National Monument is a transition stop for us, from our Albuquerque stay to Santa Fe. My bad hip limits me some, but we plan on hiking the Main Trail (1.3 mi. RT) with the guide book in hand. We also plan to see the 14 minute film in the VC and review the museum.

We will be taking the transition route slowly to take all we can. We also take time to write up and photo journal our trips for "Trip Reports"...refer past reports by searching "ranles".

Staying in Los Alamos is a good idea. This will allow us to view the Los Alamos Historical Museum and to mix it up a bit with the locals.

We will not get to Taos this trip. We do plan to visit a bit of Santa Fe. Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, The Archdiocese of SF, the Goveners Palace, NM History Museum, Chapel of San Miguel Historic Site, but unfortunately missing El Rancho de las Golondrinas. We will also be catching the Wildlife West nature park down by Moriarty as we trickle down toward Alamogordo.

Anotherlincoln

Thank you.

We will do a bit of a walkabout in SF, but I need to conserve my hip for the main attractions. Thanks for the sundown data. I was finally able to find it on the internet too.

As you suspected, the space museum was more of an "its there", if we have time stop. We will be going From Moriarty to Salinas Pueblo Mission National Monument (Quarai Ruins, Abo and Gran Quivira) and then taking some unpaved roads to get to Alamogordo. We go by the museum. We also pass the Heart of the Desert Winery and Pistasio nut, Eagle Ranch and may stop there instead...if time permits. We do do wine!

Gadsden museum, I had the a/c wrong. S/b 575. Talked to Mary and have all data needed. Site of the Gadsden purchase painting.

We dumped the Space center in NM

Still NEED:
Any experience in staying in Mountainair NM
Comments on unpaved roads leaving Gran Quiviara to get to 54 headed to Alamogordo.
Comments on safety at the Chamizai National Memorial (El Paso)
Any experience with Amerind Museum in Dragoon AZ
Comments on our selections of activities in Tombstone, AZ

I've driven through Mountainair a couple of times, but don't recall anything much regarding lodging. Perhaps you want to do your lodging in Socorro...

Thank you AZ_MISMAN

We will be coming from Sante Fe at the end of the day and wanted to stay closer to our next visit, Salinas Pueblo Mission Nat Mon (3 ruins). I found named lodging Moriarty, but also some "no-names" in Mountainair. Information on the lodging in Mountainair was iffy and seemed a bit unreliable, so that is why I was seeking anyone who might know a bit about any of the places to stay. Socorro would be a good place to stay, but is further than Moriarty to our following day target and additional driving.

JPAT

Our brosure of Alb. came today. We have added a bit based on info. provided, a more detailed look at the map and adding an additional day. Now we will drive the afternoon to Bernalillo and visit the Coronado State Monument. We will then spend the night in Bernalillo (instead of Alb.). The next day we will visit kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Mon and then double back to visit Jemez State Monument. Nest we will visit the museum in Los Alamos. That night we will stay in Los Alamos. In the morning we will visit Bandelier Nat. Pk.

At least that is how it is now. I do a lot of planning, that is why the early start. Thanks for your help.

The Hyatt in Bernalillo sure looks nice, too pricy for us, unless a PL or similar. The Holiday Inn is about $100. the lodging planning has to wait til later when the itenery gets better established...more broshures to come.

While in Albuquerque you may also be interested in the Petroglyph Natl Monument - http://www.nps.gov/petr/index.htm

Keep your eye out for specials at the Tamaya - it is a really beautiful resort if you can swing it!

anotherlincoln

Thank you for the suggestion. We considered the Petroglyph Nat. Mon., but found that to see the petroglyphs, the shortest trail is 2.2 miles RT and is considered moderate-strenuous. Because of my hip and foot issue, I must stick to easy, short and level trails for the most part. Even then, I must consider the cumulative impact in a single day, as we often make several stops in one day.

As for Tamaya, WOW. This Hyatt really looks good. Alas, it does not meet our budget, but when I get to the hotel booking phase, I will check it out. Our stay at the Scottsdale Gainey Ranch Hyatt, at the begining of our planned trip is using 2 nights given as a credit card signup bonus (net cost $75 for the card). We really love this Hotel, its Italian rest. and the gondola rides. The pool complex always has a bit of shade somewhere for me, too! It won't be the same without Diamond status, but many things come to an end as retirement sets in.

Thank you again for the suggestions.

Petroglyphs can be found all over the SW. For example, here's a short, easy hike near Tucson:

http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/SignalHillTrail_8520.asp

BIG MO

Thank you for the info and for the link. These Petroglyphs were great. We made the stroll out and back on a prior trip.

We will be going back to Saguaro EAST, this trip, as we lost the pictures and therefore will go back so we can post them on trip reports.

Our AZ portion of this trip will include Jerome State Historic Park (we have been before, but is has been redone recently), Fort Verde State Historic Park, Montezuma Castle, Montezuma well, Walnut Canyon national, meteor Crater (iffy), Little Painted Desert, La Posada Inn (only visited a brief time on last trip, deserves a stay and a few hours on the grounds and the extensive interior), then on to NM. On the way back we will also stop in AZ to visit The Amerind Museum, several sites in Tombstone, Castle Dome, Lutes Casino, Cocopah Indian Museum, Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Hist. Pk., Sangueinetti House Museum, Yuma Terr. Prison St. Hist. Pk before returning home.

A side trip out of Santa Fe to Chimayo is great (about 30 minutes outside SF). There are two little rustic churches with wonderful primitive art. I'm not formally religious but I thought El Santuario de Chimayo was one of the holiest places I've ever been and the Chapel of the Ninos was touching. There are a couple of interesting gift shops and casual restaurants, also.

Thank you Jamarynn1

We,too, believe that Chimayo is worthy of a bit of a detour.

Unfortunately, I have squeezed all I can in the area, so another day will have to be added to the first 1/3 of the trip. Means having to rebalance travel, recheck days "closed" for other venues and to figure out how to handle closing on Memorial Day on the balance of the trip.

This is the third time for massive recasting for additional stops. Good thing I start early and wait to book hotels until later in the process.

Thank you again. We look forward to seeing Santo Nino Chapel, Museum, Santuario de Chimayo, Bernardo Abeyta, El Museo de Chimayo, Santa Cruz Church, staying at one of the B&B's and brousing the weavers and potters.

Note the neighboring city of Espanola looks a bit iffy, so only getting gas there...note no gas in Chimayo.

Note the neighboring city of Espanola looks a bit iffy, so only getting gas there...note no gas in Chimayo.

I've been to Espanola, and agree that it makes a good stop for gas, possibly a snack (if you need it, there is a Wal-Mart). I wouldn't call it iffy, but there really isn't much there for a tourist.

I read the comments for the Comfort Inn, and decided we would not stay in Espanola, that is what I meant by iffy. We have never been there, so iffy seemed fair.

This is the third time for massive recasting for additional stops. Good thing I start early and wait to book hotels until later in the process.


I'm starting to think you're managing all of the fun and spontaneity out of your trip. What happens if you really like a place and want to stay for an extra day or two? I'm getting exhausted just reading your itinerary! No disrespect intended, but this is sounding more like a drive-by vacation instead of one where you take the time to soak in the experience. Different strokes I guess, but this itinerary would drive me crazy! It sounds like it's exactly what you're looking for though, so I hope you have a wonderful trip.

BLI-flier

You are certainly correct in your assessment of losing most of the spontaneity out of our travel.

We attempt to do research in depth enough to avoid missing out on anything...that meets our "target" interests. Hundreds of hours of research go into a 4 week car travel trip. We do try to end each day by 4 or 5 pm (in our planning). This usually leaves us enough time to pick up/extend an item or two along the way. It is seldom we encounter things that take more time than I allot. Eating is a function, not part of our trip. We usually eat only 2 meals...breakfast (often included in our room rate) and early dinner (often something brought back to the room to have with some wine while we relax and go over the day, refine our notes and pictures.

Lots of people go on "vacation" to sit by the pool, play golf or ... That is not us. We see, learn and experience...then we share. We also try to support animal related venues along the way.

Our research allows us to mostly insure no major venue, of our interest, is missed. These driving trips are exhaustive in both coverage and activity.

We have made 7 trips to Australia and New Zealand. They have taken up 6 months and have included: fixed based weeks, weeks of daily travel, bus tours (short and long). We have seem most everything in these two countries that we wanted to ever see (except friends that we met along the way, many of which we keep in contact with and a few we have traveled with to other countries...ie Switzerland). 10 trips to Hawaii, a coupe to Alaska, 8 cruises (including Europe South America, Antartica, South Pacific and a few in the Carribean), many before we did FT trip reports.

Now we are concentrating on the lower 48. Anyone wanting to do trips like we do, can follow our Trip Reports, routing and then do the supplemental work to plug in their interests and delete those of ours that they do not share. I often write-up our motel/hotel selections...mostly mid dollar based, for additional info.

We try to use points, programs, discounts, etc as we go. I try to point those things out in my write-ups. We both were blessed with those heavy travel jobs where we amassed lots of points (hotel and air). While almost any status is gone in our program memberships, we continue to amass points where we can. Being retired, paying our own way (versus an employer) changes a lot of things. Now AARP, AAA, E-Book, Priceline, National Parks pass, Friends of the Zoo membership, booking online, internet access, FT and accumulated travel expertise help us make the best of our resources.

Sometimes I am not sure if we live to travel or travel to live.

And okay, last year we were in Winslow AZ. We tried to stay at Las Posada Inn, but could not get a reservation. We stopped by to see the place the following morning...and found out that it is a place to easy spend 3 hours looking around...ONE INN!!! So we spent an hour that we did not plan, and are returning on this trip to stay there and put in 2 1/2 hours (including a interesting video on the reconstruction) of checking it our beside dining there as well.....yes we do a few dinners along the way to enhance our trips.

Thank you for your comments.

Howdy, since you have not been getting all the information that you are looking for, here is a couple of things.

Arizona stays on Mountain Standard Time. We do not have any Daylight Savings time except on the Navajo Reservation. That means that during the summer, we have the same time as California, and during the winter we have the same time as Denver. Therefore, you will find that New Mexico, El Paso, and The Navajo Nation are an hour different. (earlier or later, I can never remember. Arizona doesn't change, so I set my watch on the local time when we travel)

Amerind is a small museum in Dragoon Arizona. Very well done, but is a private museum and not very large. Two days in Tombstone will be more than enough. (Kinda like two days at Disneyland is more than enough for anyone over 12)

The Petroglyphs at Signal Hill are decent. There are Petroglyphs all over the southwest. The ones at Signal Hill are in Saguaro National Park and do require the fee to be paid. But if you have the annual or senior pass, no problem. One of the better places for Petroglyphs is the former Petroglyph State Park next to Painted Rock Reservoir. Now part of the BLM land. Just off I-8 between Casa Grande and Yuma.

http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/recreation/camping/dev_camps/painted_rock.html

And Finally, whenever we have done a road trip like this, we always get the Exit Info or Roomsavers (Exitinfo.com or roomsavers.com) newspaper that lists cheapo hotel deals along the interstates. The magazine can usually be found in Denny's Restaurants (and IHOPs, Cracker Barrels, truck stops, etc.) across the states.
Often you will find decent deals for roadside motels, in the range of $29-$69 per night. But they do specify that they are space available, so you need to check in early for a lot of them. (Choice Hotels, BW, Motel 6, Ramada, HIExpress, LaQuinta, and so on.)

Btw, if you visit the Navajo Nation which observes DST keep in mind that the Hopi Nation which is surrounded by the Navajo Nation doesn't observe DST.

I'm coming into this thread a little late, so here are just a couple of personal thoughts. If you are going to Tombstone, then you will most likely go through Tucson. I'm not a "zoo-person" but I was blown away by the Desert Museum. I've been there twice now and would go back in a second any time I'm in the area.

We had mixed feelings about Tombstone. The cemetary on the outskirts of town is a total bust. The whole thing seems totally rigged - nothing old or original, but there are names of people who were in the town and died there. We enjoyed visiting the town, though there is not much to the OK Corral. We enjoyed walking along the old streets and our favorites stops were the theater and the museum.

We had been told to continue on to Bisbee but did not take people's advice. From all I've read since, I am sorry we didn't do it.

Once you get to Santa Fe, you will likely wonder about Taos. We drove there and were disappointed. I don't want to make any critical remarks, but the Pueblo did not offer much to see and has been a little too commercialized for my taste. I understand the need to raise money, but it detracted from our experience. I think Chimaya, about midway between Santa Fe and Taos, is worth a stop.

"Exitinfo.com" works like a MSC cruise liner food service worker (=doesn't).

Thank You.

mapsmith: thanks for filling in some of the gaps. We are planning to visit Amerind Museum after staying in Lordsburg, driving thru Dragoon on our way to Tombstone. We are also making a stop at Saguaro East after leaving Tombstone. We were there last year, but somehow the picture at this stop "went south", so we need a replay. Thank you for the tip on motels. We always are fully booked before we leave home. The time I spend mixing points, new cc, and bonus programs coupled with reading most all of the comments on each motel in each city on tripadvisor is unspeakable! This year we are planning to max Priority Club. While over 45 days to departure, 3 nights are already booked (one of those we were too late to get one of the two balcony rooms!...in Winslow, AZ-La Posada. Two reward nights at the Scottsdale Hyatt were not a problem. Most of the other cities (19) I have a "short list" which I will match to various payment/point/program options.

If BLI flyer reads this wow, thought I over planned before!

tlglenn thank you we did the Navajo lands before. Worried mostly about the wine we were toting in our vehicle

JerryFF thank you. We are zoo people. We have been to the Desert Museum. It have a fantastic array of desert plant too. Tombstone is my wife's choice. We plan to seethe Fairbank Ghost Town, Birdcage Theatre, Courthouse, Crystal Palace Saloon (lunch), Historama and do a bit of walkabout in the town. We are in a quandry about our stay. The Trail Rider's Inn has great location (except for hwy noise and parking) and generally good ratings, but may be a bit rustic for us. The Holiday Inn Express is a bit out of town on a hill...good for sitting and having a glass of wine?? Bisbee and Taos are not on the schedule this trip (mostly routing).

sonofzeus thank you. Like I said before we will be fully booked before we live home.

We are zoo people. We have been to the Desert Museum.

Tucson has a more conventional zoo in Reid Park. It's not very big, but we enjoy it.

Big Mo
As did we, thank you.

Anyone interested in zoos, can read of zoos plus trip report last year thru CA. We did 8 or so, along with wineries, museums, nat and state parks.

I agree that you may have too much time in Tombstone. All the shops sell the same stuff and the whole town can be done in 4-6 hours. You may want to head over to Kartchner Caverns State Park in Benson and be blown away by some of the best preserved/displayed caves around. It is on the way to Tucson after you leave Tombstone.

I've been to Espanola, and agree that it makes a good stop for gas, possibly a snack (if you need it, there is a Wal-Mart). I wouldn't call it iffy, but there really isn't much there for a tourist.

I lived in Espanola for two years. I would not (and did not) go out on foot after dark in that town.

Fine to stop and get gas or food or whatever.

saunders111

Nest we will visit the museum in Los Alamos. That night we will stay in Los Alamos. In the morning we will visit Bandelier Nat. Pk.



In Los Alamos, do not miss the Bradbury Science Museum. It gives you a positively fascinating view of the history of Los Alamos National Lab and also a really cool overview of the cutting edge science now being done at the lab. Worth about two hours or so, I would suggest.

There is a second part of Bandelier National Monument, called Tsankawi, at the intersection of East Jemez Rd. and NM Rt. 4, which is less well known than the main section but also well worth a visit. It has many cliff dwellings and a mesa-top pueblo ruin, all accessible via a short, mostly flat hike.

saunders111

Thank you everyone for your help the trip report has been posted and the pictures too!