Anyone know anything about Albuquerque ?

[goldmom]

I KNOW it's a chain restaurant in that part of the world but I loved the food at Garduno's. Off the interstate north in Rio Rancho on the way to Santa Fe.

New Mexico is such a great little secret. Fabulous scenery everywhere. .

 

[FSUTribe76]

I KNOW it's a chain restaurant in that part of the world but I loved the food at Garduno's. Off the interstate north in Rio Rancho on the way to Santa Fe.

New Mexico is such a great little secret. Fabulous scenery everywhere. .

I can't comment about the chains other than Blake's Lottaburger which is my favorite fast food burger bar none. Their green Chili burger may not literally be the best version of it in New Mexico as there are a lot of great mom and pops that do it right on the "Green Chili Burger Trail" that the OP should look up. BUT...it blows away In N Out, Whataburger, Shake Shack, Fatburger and Five Guys and even beats Steak N Shake in my book which is huge as I love SNS. I'd grab a Blakes Lotaburger right now if I could.

But I agree with you Goldmom, New Mexico is an exceptionally beautiful state (just maybe a hair behind Arizona and Utah but miles nicer than Texas, Nevada (except Valley of Fire) and Southern California. And the food there is fantastic as well and surprisingly it's not just the foodie destination of Santa Fe, even the little towns like Alamagordo and Roswell have fantastic food. I LOVE New Mexican food, it's just so much better than Tex-Mex and Cal-Mex as it really focuses on using fresh local ingredients and of course the Hatch Chili sauce (esp green or "Christmas") cannot be beat. The only thing I like slightly better is the Navajo and Apache influenced Arizona Mex tacos that use "Indian" fry bread as a shell instead of the typical flour or corn tortilla, the "fluffy" taxis or the New Mexican sopapilla taco. If I could have Arizona fry bread tacos and the rest of the meal New Mexican....I would be in heaven.

 

[appynole]

We stayed there on my trip West a few weeks ago. 'bout all I can add…carry on

 

[seminolesfan5]

Lived there for some time, very underrated. I agree with what others have said in going to the Sandias. I've hiked just about every trail in the Sandia Mountains and if you have the time take some to visit them. I would recommend taking the tram up and then hiking over on the crest trail to the actual top of the mountain where you can drive up to from the backside. Then hike back to the tram and have lunch or dinner at the restaurant and afterward take the tram back down. If you have more time and are more interested in a harder hike, you can take the trail to visit a small canyon in the mountains (The tram crosses 1000 ft. above it) where a TWA plane crashed and you can still see debris from that plane. Very somber but interesting place.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Lived there for some time, very underrated. I agree with what others have said in going to the Sandias. I've hiked just about every trail in the Sandia Mountains and if you have the time take some to visit them. I would recommend taking the tram up and then hiking over on the crest trail to the actual top of the mountain where you can drive up to from the backside. Then hike back to the tram and have lunch or dinner at the restaurant and afterward take the tram back down. If you have more time and are more interested in a harder hike, you can take the trail to visit a small canyon in the mountains (The tram crosses 1000 ft. above it) where a TWA plane crashed and you can still see debris from that plane. Very somber but interesting place.

Other than the fact that there was SNOW on Sandia when I was there in June? At least May?, I loved the hike. Since I had my pics up for another thread, I'll post a couple of shots from my trip.

Here's the Valley of Fires (not to be confused with the singular Valley of Fire which is even better in Nevada)

Here's some pics of Tent Rocks and its slot canyon you hike through on the way to the crest

Here's a couple of pics from Sandia

Sorry I don't have more from Sandia but I havent uploaded pics from my real camera yet, all of these are from my uploaded iPhone pics so I was actually too busy taking real pics and trying to breath the thin air to take iPhone pics. But here's some iphone pics from White Sands

Here's some pics in between Alamagordo and Albuquerque

Here's some iPhone pics from in and around Santa Fe including a couple on the Turquoise Trail

 

[goldmom]

The photo with the trains - was it one of those that was way over a mile long? Those were amazing.
Reminds me of that movie Starman.

 

[FSUTribe76]

The photo with the trains - was it one of those that was way over a mile long? Those were amazing.
Reminds me of that movie Starman.

Oh yeah, it was huge.

 

[seminolesfan5]

Other than the fact that there was SNOW on Sandia when I was there in June? At least May?, I loved the hike. Since I had my pics up for another thread, I'll post a couple of shots from my trip.
[\QUOTE]

Yeah, if the mountains have had a good year the snowpack stays around for a while. Really cool in the late spring when it's warming up down in the city but nice and cool with snow at the top. I think you said you drove up the dirt road that connects Placitas to the paved byway to the crest? There's a short trail that begins off of that road up the side of the ridge next to it which takes you to a cave with remains of a man believed to be some of the earliest ever found (at the time anyway).