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

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.

Santa Fe
 

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/Sign...Trail_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.