Road trip tips

Hello! We live in So. CAL and are planning a road trip to ABQ, Santa Fe and Taos during the Balloon Fest. Does anyone from SOCAL has driven to New Mexico before? Is there any info you could share, i.e. road conditions and scenic drive along the way. We like to stop and pull over at vista points to photograph...any tips where? Driving time I heard is approx. 11 hrs.

Thanks for your input.

Beenthere...

Road trip tips

Are you driving straight through? A lot depends on whether you are staying over somewhere or making the drive in one day. You have the old route 66 through Oatman, and between Kingman and Seligman, the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and abandoned and occupied Pueblos, and about a hundred other things to see and do in New Mexico.

Road trip tips

My cousin used to live there and drove out here twice a year for about a decade. He%26#39;s done it every which way: by himself with no stops, with a girlfriend taking 13 hours and sight seeing, and everything in between. 11 hours is about right, unless you do a lot of stopping. His best time was just over 9, but I shudder to think about how fast he was going. He always traveled here in summer and around the holidays, and he never had weather trouble. I%26#39;ve been stuck in snow and ice around Grants, but it only delayed us about an hour, and we got through it in a Corolla.

As far as road conditions and scenic stops, a couple other posters know way more about this than me, and will chime in and give you more details, but I%26#39;d recommend a stop at the Petrified Forest. It%26#39;s incredibly scenic and provides ample photo ops. www.nps.gov/pefo/

We also love Sedona for the scenery, but you%26#39;re going to have plenty of sightseeing when you get here, so it may be too much. However, the red rocks of Sedona are breathtaking, in my opinion. Even taking a few hours to drive down from Flagstaff and back would give you a chance to take pictures and get a feel for the place.

I hope you have a wonderful trip! Let the forum know if you have any other questions: there%26#39;s lots of helpful people here.

We did such a road trip in Sept. 2007 and had a wonderful time.

If you are into Americana I would strongly suggest driving old Route 66. We started at Topock just off I-40 and headed north, stopping in Oatman and continuing on into Kingman. From there we headed east on I-40 to Holbrook where we stayed at the Wigwam Motel which I would recommend. On the way back home we took Route 66 west starting in Seligman and ending up in Kingman again.

If I can remember correctly, here%26#39;s what we did:

Day 1 - drove Rt. 66 through Oatman to Kingman. Stayed in Holbrook at Wigwam Motel for the night.

Day 2 - made our way to Zuni Pueblo (Hwy 191 south from I-40 in AZ to Hwy 61 which turns into Hwy 53 in NM). Stopped to check out El Morro National Monument (very interesting). Made our way to ABQ

Day 3 - Wandered around ABQ. Checked out Petroglyph National Monument, did some shopping, wandered around Old Town. Another night in ABQ.

Day 4 - Drove to Bandelier National Monument (another very interesting place). Drove to Taos and drove the Enchanted Circle (very scenic). Stayed in Taos at the Sagebrush Inn.

Day 5 - visited Taos Peublo (a definite must). Checked out the Rio Grande Bridge. Drove to Santa Fe.

Day 6 - Wandered around Santa Fe. Went to El Rancho de las Golondrinas (a living history museum - really neat). Drove to Gallup.

Day 7 - headed home and drove Rt. 66 on the way.

This is just the start of my research so we are still weighing in - nothing specific has been planned yet. Perhaps after reading other posts, we can start putting the pieces together.

Thanks much.

Beenthere~

Hi ABQInfo,

Sedona sounds like a photographers haven~ we%26#39;ll keep it in mind. Thanks a lot for your trip planning ideas.

Beenthere~

Hi BeJerky!

Thank you for sharing your itinerary. It will be very helpful in planning this trip.

We have 10 days which means we could spend more time stopping, sightseeing and photographing along the way to ABQ. In my mind, we%26#39;re planning to spend 2 days each...ABQ (Balloon Fest), SF and Taos...unless you or somebody in the forum could suggest otherwise.

A few questions please...I noticed that you visited Taos first before SF, is there a good reason?

On your way home, did you drove straight to CAL? How long did it take you to drive it?

Where did you stay in Santa Fe and ABQ?

Beenthere~

Hello again!

As I said on my earlier post, we are driving from SOCAL, Los Angeles (to be specific) to Albuquerque in Oct. for the balloon fest. I hope to be able to draw an itinerary with the help of experts on TA or people who has done this before. We will have 10 days altogether - this includes the drive to/from. Plan is to visit ABQ, Santa Fe and Taos.

BeJerky has posted an itinerary he has done before, please see below. Does anyone else has any other spin on his itinerary? Also, is it possible to include Sedona on the return trip to L.A.?

Appreciate any help - Thanks again.

Day 1 - drove Rt. 66 through Oatman to Kingman. Stayed in Holbrook at Wigwam Motel for the night.

Day 2 - made our way to Zuni Pueblo (Hwy 191 south from I-40 in AZ to Hwy 61 which turns into Hwy 53 in NM). Stopped to check out El Morro National Monument (very interesting). Made our way to ABQ

Day 3 - Wandered around ABQ. Checked out Petroglyph National Monument, did some shopping, wandered around Old Town. Another night in ABQ.

Day 4 - Drove to Bandelier National Monument (another very interesting place). Drove to Taos and drove the Enchanted Circle (very scenic). Stayed in Taos at the Sagebrush Inn.

Day 5 - visited Taos Peublo (a definite must). Checked out the Rio Grande Bridge. Drove to Santa Fe.

Day 6 - Wandered around Santa Fe. Went to El Rancho de las Golondrinas (a living history museum - really neat). Drove to Gallup.

Day 7 - headed home and drove Rt. 66 on the way.

If you are looking for diversions there are many. In Arizona you have the meteor crater, Sedona, Lake Powell (AZ/Utah border), Grand Canyon, Lake Havasu (NV.) In NM you have the Wild Wold Sanctuary in Ramah off I 40, Gallup for rugs and jewelry, Malpais Wilderness, Mt. Taylor. If you need to take a break and dont mind diverting I suggest Sedona. Flastaff is also fun but don%26#39;t stay anywhere near the railroad tracks.

Hi Hathor~

Thanks. Haven%26#39;t been to Sedona but been to Grand Canyon, Lake Power and Havasu. I%26#39;m attracted to Sedona for its beautiful landscape ripe to photograph, so how many hours will it set us back if we go there? Perhaps we could do this on our drive back to LA and stay there overnight. What do you think?

Oooppps, it should be Lake Powell!