July 2015: A Quick Stop in New Mexico Before Exploring Utah in Depth (page 14 of 15)

I was pretty behind on my current travel journals. I spent a good part of my Sunday afternoon enjoying yours—it’s fantastic: really pleasant writing and gorgeous photos, I loved it. It took me right back to our different trips and gave me some ideas for the next one. Thanks for this amazing recap. Jean-Michel.

Hi Joël

I see you had quite the journey the previous day, going from the Apache Trail to Wilcox. We preferred to stop in Tucson. It's true that after Chiricahua, we wanted to go to Tombstone.

Yes, it's true the drive was a bit long, but generally, that doesn’t bother us too much when it's the first day: we're excited, we wake up early because of the time difference, and we're not yet tired of spending time in the car! 😉 We’d already been to Tucson and Tombstone the previous year. And the constraint was to arrive in Taos by Sunday the 12th at the latest to attend the Pow Wow. Otherwise, I think we would’ve taken a bit more time.

PS: Quick logistical help: how do you add the "the rest is this way" mention with a link at the bottom of each of your pages? Thanks!

First, go to the post you're interested in; then click on "Share," and at the very bottom of the dropdown menu, there’s "Get the address of this message." Copy the address from the address bar. Then, in the message you're writing, highlight a word with your mouse and click on the kind of intertwined paperclip. A window should open where you paste the address you copied.

There you go—it’s longer to explain than to do, you’ll see! 😉

Thanks, Peggy, for this online help! I’ll give it a try 😉 What luck for the Pow Wow... and the photos are amazing (Mossy Cave too). I’ve spotted quite a few other great spots in your travel journal; I’ll save them for next time! Great job on this very complete travel journal, with beautiful photos. See you soon

Hi Peggy,

I’m "resurrecting" your travel journal from last summer to ask you a question as we plan our trip in July. We only booked our flight tickets at the beginning of the week, and since then I’ve been rereading all the journals that might be useful.

Day’s summary: Quite a bit of driving today, but it went pretty well since it was broken up (20 minutes to White Sands, 1.5 hours to Valley of Fires, 2 hours 15 to Albuquerque, and 1.5 hours to the hotel). We didn’t make any major discoveries today, but the day was full and enjoyable.

If you had to do it again, would you do this route in one day, or would you break it up? And if so, where?

Since we’re only away for a short time this year and White Sands is the most out-of-the-way spot on our loop, I’m thinking of heading straight to the park from Santa Fe via the Turquoise Trail. Ideally, I’d like to take a tour of the park before hitting the road, unless we have time to explore properly the day before.

To make it clearer, here’s an excerpt from the itinerary: Day 8: Drive from Farmington to Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks (3h15) – visit KKTR – night in Albuquerque Day 9: Albuquerque Old Town in the morning – drive to White Sands (3h30) – visit WS Day 10: Return to WS – drive to Santa Fe (where we’ll stay for the next 2 days).

Thanks in advance for your reply

Hey Virginie,

We only booked the flight tickets at the beginning of the week

Yeah, I read that somewhere in a travel journal! ;) Awesome! Did you find some good deals on tickets? And how long are you going for?

If you had to do it again, would you do this route in one day, or would you break it up? And if so, where?

Initially, I’d planned to drive less and stop to sleep in Old Town Albuquerque. But that wasn’t possible since we wanted to be at the Pow Wow the next day. So we ended up doing the Alamogordo - White Sands - Old Town Albuquerque - Santa Fe route without it feeling too tiring. We could do it like that again! ;)

Since we’re only traveling for a short time this year and White Sands is the most out-of-the-way spot on our loop, I’m thinking of heading straight from that park to Santa Fe via the Turquoise Trail.

Well, that’s a lot of miles in two days just to visit one park... but what a park! You obviously can’t miss it!

Farmington route

As for Farmington, I don’t know what hotel you found, but our hotel in Aztec was really great!

Happy planning! :)

EDIT: I just saw that our hotel now costs 109 € with free cancellation... whereas we paid 80 € last year! 🤪

Did you find any good deals on tickets? And how long are you going for?

No, not a good deal, unfortunately 🤪 We thought we’d found a promo, but the next day the prices had shot back up! I think it was more of a glitch than an actual deal.

But the damage was done! We couldn’t imagine going anywhere else after that.

Since I changed jobs in February, I can’t take a long trip. I’m just happy to have any vacation time at all. This year, it’ll only be 15 short days (on top of the 10 days coming up in Bali 😎)

That’s a lot of miles in two days just to visit one park… but what a park! We obviously can’t miss it!

The main goal is to visit New Mexico. So yeah, White Sands is a must-see. Anyway, the park is pretty remote from all the others, and no matter where you’re coming from, it takes quite a few miles to get there.

EDIT: I just saw that our hotel costs 109 € today with free cancellation… when we paid 80 € last year!🤪

Tell me about it! Planning a trip last-minute (or almost) isn’t all sunshine and rainbows! The wait until departure is shorter… but at what cost!

To make it clearer, here's the excerpt from the itinerary

I’d be interested in your full itinerary! 😉 Did you create a dedicated post? Thanks in advance... 🙂

Hi Pierre,

I’d love to see your full itinerary! 😉 Did you make a dedicated post?

Not yet, but I can do that. It’s so nicely asked 🙂 I’ll take care of it this afternoon.

Hello

Day 8: Drive from Farmington to Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks (3h15) - visit KKTR - night in Albuquerque Day 9: Albuquerque old town in the morning - drive to White Sands (3h30) - visit WS Day 10: Return to WS - drive to Santa Fe (where we stay for the next 2 days).

No problem with the Day 10 route—I did it without stopping at WS in the morning but with a detour to Valley of Fires to stretch our legs.

To avoid hijacking Peggy’s travel journal, I started a new post: Southwest Express in July 2016

Awesome! 🙂 Thanks a bunch... I'm heading there right away! 😉

Thanks Gilles. You all agree on this. It reinforces my decision to do the route without stopping.

Hi Peggy!

I read your travel journal some time ago and I’m rereading it with pleasure now that this leg of the trip will be mine in August.

Shiprock and Mesa Verde NP

And once you arrive at the foot of Ship Rock, you realize there’s a super-wide track heading south that leads to Indian Service Road 13. A track that Google Maps apparently doesn’t know about!

I just checked Google Maps, and it still doesn’t seem up to date. There *is* a straight line heading due south, but it looks more like a crack than a track 😕 Did you happen to note the intersection point with Service Road 13?

Our next stop was Spruce Tree House.

That won’t be possible this summer 2016—Spruce Tree House is closed to the public 😕

Armelle

Hi Armelle,

I just checked Google Maps and it still doesn’t seem up to date. There’s a right turn heading due south, but it looks more like a crack than a track 😕 Did you note the intersection with Service Road 13?

Actually, if you drive along Indian Service Road 13 up to the "ridge" of Shiprock, you shouldn’t miss the entrance. Zooming in on Google Maps, you can see it clearly. What threw us off is that Google Maps takes you a few hundred meters and then stops, even though the track continues and isn’t difficult. So we thought there might be a barrier or something blocking the way, but there’s nothing at all!



It won’t be possible this summer 2016: Spruce Tree House is closed to the public 😕

So you’ll have to take a guided tour instead!

Thanks Peggy for your feedback on the Indian Road: noted... and I hope to test it out soon 😉

Hi Peggy, I just stumbled upon your travel journal and was particularly interested in your time at Shiprock... where I was just a few weeks before you! I was happy to see this magnificent site again and to discover the east face of the rock!! Here are a few photos from my visit, taken at the end of the day between two showers :-p

http://www.progshots.com/#!shiprock-1/p8rxq

Best, Vincent

Following Hiacinthe’s advice, I checked out your travel journal—it’s a bit old, but that doesn’t matter. You see (or maybe not, given how old it is), it’s still useful...😎

Hi Yves,

Following Hiacinthe’s advice, I checked out your travel journal—it’s a bit old, but that doesn’t matter. You see (or maybe not, given the journal’s age), it’s still useful...😎

Thanks for your message. So glad the journal is still being read 2 years later!🙂

Hi Peggy,

I really enjoyed reading the New Mexico section of your travel journal. Why didn’t you visit Bisti Badlands or Ojito Wilderness? I thought you loved hiking, right?

If you liked the cliff dwellings at Bandelier National Monument, then you’ll love Cappadocia (Okay, it’s in Turkey, but it’s seriously stunning!) There’s also another spot in New Mexico that’s totally worth it: Plaza Blanca in Abiquiu (Isap’s journal is a goldmine!!).

I loved the comparison between your summer trip and our winter visit. We also stayed at the Lodge at Santa Fe—it’s really great!!

New Mexico deserves a trip all to itself.😄

I love the sky in this photo!!! The whole thing is just stunning!



We’re not really blown away by the view of the meanders carved by the San Juan River—it’s pretty but nothing more. We mainly think it’s overpriced for a viewpoint! Oh well, since we’ve already paid, we’ll take advantage of the shaded table to eat our lunch.

What!! You have to pay to go to Gooseneck viewpoint!!! When we were there in winter, it wasn’t the case!!!

Hi Diamina,

I love the sky in this photo!!! The whole thing is just stunning!

Thanks! We love it too, so it ended up as one of the many paintings in the house! 😉

What!! You have to pay to go to Gooseneck viewpoint now!!! When we were there in winter, it wasn’t the case!!!

And that was back in 2015—who knows, they might have raised the price since then! 🤪