In August I’ll be driving east-to-west across New Mexico on my Route 66 road trip, essentially crossing the state along I-40 with a major Route 66 alignment change through Santa Fe, and other minor ones in The Land of Enchantment state.
For @romansperson there are many historic sites along the old Route 66 routing. Wiki has a nice, simple, and thorough map of these routings and alignments here
A few years back we visited New Mexico in late September and stayed a little south of Taos. We did a day trip into Santa Fe, a couple of days in Taos and hit up the petroglyphs in Albuquerque on the way to the airport.
The pueblo village outside Taos was worth seeing. Mind you, much of it is then people trying to sell you things (and mostly the same things) but seeing the village, church, taking the tour and browsing the wares was worth the trip.
The Rio Grande Gorge bridge was lovely and we got to see a bit of wildlife. We also spent a afternoon hiking around at Río Grande del Norte National Monument. Definitely glad we weren’t doing it in mid summer though.
Taos was fun to explore for a day, mainly shopping and popping in and out of locations. My wife is Peruvian and liked dinner at Aji (in case you get tired of debating red or green chilis). As a side note, she loved the landscape in general which reminded her very much of the rocky mountainous deserts from back home.
The day trip to Santa Fe was all we felt we needed: Saw Meow Wolf (fun), St. Francis, various other historical bits & bobs and everyone wanting to sell us turquoise. Chuckled at the rooftops on gas stations and liquor stores all being the clay tile. It was nice but, on our “free” day, we opted to return to Taos than to see more Santa Fe.
The place we stayed was near a winery with some of the worst wine we’ve ever had when we visited one evening. They can’t all be winners, I guess. Overall, we very much liked the experience, would love to return and were engaged in idle real estate scrolling by our last night.
I spent a week on vacation between Santa Fe and Taos in October 2022. Flew in to Santa Fe (what a tiny little airport - hope they’ve finished the construction by now). Spend four nights at the Drury in Santa Fe; convenient to everything and very comfortable but doesn’t have the charm of say La Fonda or Loretto.
I lucked out with mostly great weather, but there definitely were chilly nights.
The O’Keefe museum was wonderful; the New Mexico Museum of Art was ok but not a can’t-miss. The day I was going to go to the Botanical Gardens was the one day it rained; so instead I went to the nearby Museum of Indian Arts & Culture which was pretty good.
One day I drove down the Turquoise Trail through Madrid, as others have mentioned - definitely worth it if you like scenic drives. I then drove up to the top of Sandia Crest then walked the mile or so to the top of the tramway and then back. That worked out great for me - but if you’re staying in ABQ then the tramway may be a better way to experience Sandia Crest.
Another day I drove up to Bandelier National Monument, outside of Los Alamos, to see the cliff dwellings, etc there. When I got there just before noon they weren’t letting anyone else in because it was too crowded, and at the ranger’s suggestion I drove on to Valles Caldera National Preserve, which was stunningly beautiful. There was a nice short flat walk to do right near the (small) visitor center. I was able to get in to Bandelier on my way back for an hour or so, it’s definitely worth seeing.
One last recommendation for Santa Fe is the Collected Works bookstore. If independent bookstores are your thing, it’s a very good one.
I didn’t enjoy Taos as much; the Pueblo was worth seeing but when I was there the center of Taos was under a lot of road construction. There’s also not as much to walk around to see in the center of Taos when compared to Santa Fe.
The countryside around Taos was beautiful - again if you like scenic drives and have at least a half a day the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway is worth checking out. Also as others have mentioned the Rio Grande Gorge bridge is worth the trip.
Yeah, the chile plate has proven to be very popular since they introduced it several years ago. I like it but I don’t have one on my car. I still have the traditional yellow with red letters & numbers (they would be yellow on the chile plate).
NM is my favorite state next to the one I live in (MI). The food is great, the scenery amazing, and Roswell is a goofy place to visit. My wife and I want to retire to ABQ.
The Sawmill Market in Albuquerque has a nice variety of New Mexican (and other) cuisine. A little something for everyone.
I’m a green guy. I could put that stuff on anything. Not a fan of the red.
NM sauce is made primarily from a chile pepper grown mostly in SW NM. The pepper is green is when it’s fresh and turns red when it dries. Green sauce is made from chopped fresh peppers and red is made from the powder that comes from grinding the red, dried peppers. The sauces are pretty much just chile with some broth and other spices. They differ from Mexican sauces, which may have a tomato base with vegetables and chiles added for flavor and spice. As for taste, the green sauce will have more a fresh pepper taste while the red may have a deeper, smokier flavor. One is not reliably hotter than the other. Sometimes green will be hotter than red, sometimes red will be hotter than green. The hotness can also vary depending on the pepper itself, with some peppers being milder or hotter than others. The taste can also vary depending on the growing season and which farm grew them. Some restaurants have contracts with specific farms to ensure the taste of their chile is consistent (e.g. Tomasita’s and The Shed). If you have questions about spice level, your waiter can tell you which is hotter than the other. If you’re not much of a spicy food person, the cheese enchiladas are a good choice. The cheese will help cut the heat level. But if you are into spicy foods, you might enjoy something like carne adovada, which is pork simmered in red chile for hours. It’s delicious with great heat.
I grow jalapenos, serranos and cayennes here, and have noticed little difference in flavor between picking them green and letting them go to red - it’s mainly a cosmetic thing. Heat levels mainly vary due to the strain of pepper chosen that year and the weather - drier years yield hotter peppers. I’ve had some jalapenos that would scorch your eyebrows off, while other years are fairly mild.
Growing up in NM, I was profoundly disturbed at what outsiderers considered chile (shuddering at the beef and beans, especially ground beef), but accept that it is common outside the state.
Agree that Texas or other state chili is not NM style at all. Which is what I meant when I said “It’s not chili”. Anyone ordering NM pork green chile and expecting Texmex or Hormel is in for a shock. And if they’re open minded enough, a real treat. Sorry if I said that in a confusing way.
My experience and understanding is that pork green chile (with an e, not i) is authentic NM stuff, is rather more soup-like, not thick & goopy. Pork, green chiles, and seasoned broth cooked until it’s falling apart. And IME it’s wonderful. I know CO makes it as well and there are regional variations.
Thanks for clearing up the confusion. Yeah, it’s one of those things that creates vast confusion by using the same term for profoundly different things.
Dammit… now I need to drive south, because it’s been four months since I had what I prefer for Mexican food that I haven’t made for myself.
And it’s hard to make a really good pork chile verde for a single person, since my wife won’t eat it as a vegetarian.
Well made variants are available in Pueblo, but Colorado Springs seems to emulate the Texas styles, and is overall pretty unadventurous when it comes to food.
