Those who live in the New Mexico and Arizona areas

[girlymama]

My family and I will be driving to see the Grand Canyons and then across Arizona and end in Hollywood before coming back to Texas. I wanted to know what we should not miss while in the New Mexico and Arizona states. What are the must sees.

 

I would love to hear about any cool tours that I could arrange ahead of time. We plan to travel for two weeks in May.

 

Thanks for any information.

Madonna

[Shelly in IL]

We went to AZ in Feb. It was awesome! Absolutely LOVED the Pink Jeep tour. They were pricey, but it was just incredible and worth the price. You need to call way in advance to schedule, because they are booked way out. Otherwise, Sedona was beautiful, but too commercial for us, but did I mention that it was Beautiful??If you go in summer there are some neat rock slides (into water) that I've heard you should not miss. It was too cold for us in Feb.

 

There are tons of hiking options and Flagstaff has a neat museum ( think it is museum of Northern Arizona) and a neat tour of the home of the main logging family in the area - pretty home/child friendly etc.

[Linda in NM]

Wow...my favorite places in NM include the Jemez mountains (red cliffs, peublo ruins, waterfall, soda dam), the Pecos Wilderness (river, more ruins), Taos (river, Old Town plaza, Taos Pueblo)--sense a theme here? Driving the high road from Santa Fe to Taos...Raton Pass (awesome). More pueblos (climbing down from Acoma)...White Sands and Alamagordo (space museum)...Ruidoso (more mountain beauty)...everyone loves Santa Fe...the Sisters of Loredo Chapel is worth the visit.

[PiCO]

In the Tucson area, I really like Saguaro Nat'l Monument (west side) and Colosal Cave.

[girlymama]

Sounds great, I will definitely check those places out. By the way,

are there any demonstrations of real life Indian pow wows.

I remember going to one as a child but it was somewhere in Oklahoma.

[Linda in NM]

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque has dances; the giant powwow is at the Pit at the end of April..not sure when the corn dances are at the pueblos...

[Lady Katherine]

It takes a lot of extra time, but it's worth it to drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Very beautiful, and much less crowded than the South Rim. Of course, you REALLY have to want to go there. It's about eight hours out of the way -- one way.

[girlymama]

I believe we will be going to the North Rim of the Canyon as we head toward Zion. Is there any reason we should not miss the South Rim?

Also, that pow wow sounds great. Thanks for all the information. You ladies are wonderful.

Anymore ideas would be highly appreciated.

[Linda in NM]

Finally remembered the name--it's called the Gathering of Nations...supposed to be the biggest powwow in the U.S...it's pretty impressive.

[Ravin]

The Painted Desert is really cool, and you can drive through for a scenic leg to your trip even if you don't want to stop there for long.

 

Carlsbad Caverns is way cool, and the weather is always predictable!

 

If you come through the Phoenix area, the Phoenix Zoo, the Science Center, and the Mesa Southwest Museum are all big hits. ASU has every rattlesnake species in Arizona on display in the Life Sciences building, and the Mars Exploration center makes for a cool tour.