How To Squeeze The Juice Out Of New Mexico.

Dear reader... You must visit New Mexico!

I hope you have time since this post ended up being a little long.
With that being said, let's begin: 

New Mexico is a state with a variety of tourist attractions, in my experience the brochures you find at the hotels helps a little to live the experience but they are very focused on museums and that sort of things.

Now, I have nothing against museums, I actually visited a few on my tour, but let’s be honest, one does not take vacations to visit museums.

So if you are planning to enjoy a good holiday soon and you still have not chosen a destination let me share with you what I experienced and the places I visited on my tour all around the New Mexico state.

• White Sands National Monument. 

A must-visit.

Imagine a completely white desert, wherever you turn around you see a permanently white horizon, is like walking into salt, the most fun thing here is to practice sand surfing.

Pros: Admission is only $20 per vehicle ($15 if you're riding a motorcycle). 

Cons: Be prepared to end up with sand in your shoes, even in your underwear.

Where is this?

• White Sands Missile Range

Interesting place to take pictures with a lot of different missiles, if you have time I recommend you to stop by, or you can continue to Alamogordo where you can see rockets and missiles too.

Where is this?

• Alamogordo

My number one on the list, reasonably priced hotels, friendly people and great weather. Alamogordo is a city for Aerospace Science lovers, and even those who are not they won’t be able to reject the temptation to take pictures in front of lots of planes, rockets and missiles at:

• NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF SPACE HISTORY: It can be free or not, on the outside there are plenty of rockets and aircrafts that once were on service, you can take lots of pictures there, but you can also pay the museum admission which has a cost of 6 dollars per adult. It also has an IMAX screen where you can watch an interesting documentary. Directions
• TOY TRAIN DEPOT: I’ll be honest, it’s simply a huge collection of toy trains, however, it is impressive. Directions
  • Other places are: Alameda Park Zoo, Bowling’s Running Indian and Shroud Exhibit And Museum.

Pros: Of all New Mexico, I found the friendliest people in Alamogordo.

Cons: The city is infested with flying grasshoppers, this may not happen the entire year (I went in June).

• World's Biggest Pistachio.

So you finish hanging around Alamogordo and then take the road to Ruidoso, suddenly to one side of the road you see a giant Pistachio! A good place to stop by and take pictures, you can also buy pistachios covered with chocolate, caramel, flavored with ranch, chili and more.

Where is this?

• Lincoln National Forest

A huge forest where you can see very beautiful scenery and you can camp, it is also located between Alamogordo and Ruidoso. 

Directions


 

• Ruidoso

I’ll be completely honest here; Ruidoso was a small disappointment for me, but that is largely due to the treatment I received from the people, I can not generalize it, but in my experience many people treated me in a dry not-very-friendly way, I don’t know how to explain it. Anyway, many agree that one should visit Ruidoso in the winter season, in my case (as I mentioned) I went in summer, although there are some parks that make their own snow to ski, but I think the experience is lived best if you go in winter.

Even so, I tried to make the most of this city.

My recommended places are:

• RUIDOSO WINTER PARK: A bit far from the city, recommended to experience skiing. Directions
• PILLOW’S FUNTRACKERS: Excellent place to have fun, there are Go Karts, you can get lost in the Mountain Maze, play Mini Golf, there are Bumper Boats among other things. Directions
• BILLY THE KID CASINO: I won a dollar here! So, what are you waiting for? It also has a huge Horse Racetrack. Directions
• THE MOUNTAIN. Just get lost on the hill above town (there are deer walking outside so, be careful).
• SKI APACHE: As I had been skiing at Ruidoso Winter Park I only visited Ski Apache to take the Gondola Ride, great view, but a bit pricey for my taste. Directions
• HUBBARD MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN WEST: Outside you can take pictures with huge horses (statues) and you can enter the museum which is interesting. Directions

Pros:

• If you are a horse lover then Ruidoso is a place for you (even if is not winter).
• Actually, Ruidoso is a beautiful and colorful town.

Cons:

• 80% of the people I dealt with were not very friendly.
• If you are a smoker you will suffer in Ruidoso, you can not smoke in open spaces, you’ll be fined if you do, there are specific smoking bars.
• Most cabins have a high price.

• Roswell

UFOs! Aliens everywhere!

A quick stop, Roswell has much to offer but … it’s all about aliens, there's even a  McDonald’s that is a spaceship. You will find souvenirs of aliens, UFOs and practically wherever you go everything will be customized in an extra terrestrial style.

Most interesting places are:

• ALIEN ZONE: You can take lots of pictures in its small Alien museum. Directions. Along that same street you can find the:
• INTERNATIONAL UFO MUSEUM: If you visit Alien Zone first then this museum will probably be tedious to you, but if you haven’t had enough with the UFO experience then take the tour, it’s quite interesting. Directions
• SPRING RIVER PARK & ZOO: A free place! Excellent for a picnic, is a medium-sized zoo and a very good alternative to escape from the UFO Fever. Directions
• BOTTOMLESS LAKES STATE PARK: Natural beauty, good place for hiking and camping, but it is a bit out of the city. Directions

Pros: Roswell is particularly fun for kids, but as an adult you can also enjoy.

Cons: Not a place to be more than 2 days, it becomes tedious.

• Vaughn, Nuevo México.

Located between Roswell and Santa Fe, is a quaint little town worth knowing, I recommend you buy fried chicken at the store of the Conoco gas station (to accompany your journey) or in front of that same gas station you can stop at the 50’s styled Dinner Stop (both locations next to the road). 

• Santa Fe

Santa Fe is practically an old colloquial town, almost all the attractions are at the downtown, you feel as if you've traveled to the past, the buildings are like from an Apache village. The points of interest are:

• SANTA FE PLAZA: Cultural events, people dancing or resting on the grass, walking their dogs, live music, this is the heart of Santa Fe. Around it, there are all the souvenir shops (I do not recommend buying here, but … it’s up to you), there are also many cafes, perhaps more than it should be. Directions
• ST. LORETTO CHAPEL: Even if you’re not religious you can satisfy your curiosity here, basically, there's a staircase whose construction was and still is a mystery since it doesn’t have a single screw (or nails) and still stands firm. Directions
• SANTA FE OPERA HOUSE: The ideal is to attend an event here, otherwise the visit will be only to know the outside of it (and the gift shop), but again, to witness an event here is amazing. Directions
• NEDRA MATTEUCCI GALLERIES: A gallery experience is compounded by a beautiful garden, it's worth visiting. Directions 

Pros:

• Santa Fe is a city for dogs lovers, you’ll see a lot of people walking their dogs at the downtown.
• Everything is relatively close (except for the Opera House).

Cons:

• Locals know how to squeeze dollars from practically anything, I saw a wooden doll which cost was $500 dollars!, In fact, everything is expensive here.

• Albuquerque

This place combines natural beauty with the privileges of a big city, lots of attractions here, my recommended ones are:

• MURDER MYSTERY DINNER EVENT: Imagine to have dinner while you are part of a game at the pure style of “Clue”, guests will discover who is the murderer that night, it’s fun. Directions
• SANDIA PEAK TRAMWAY: If you didn’t live the experience of the cableway in Ruidoso here’s one more chance, do not hesitate to visit, great view! Directions
• TINGLE BEACH: Obviously not a beach, I would describe it as an “Artificial Lake”. Nice place to feed ducks, swimming is not allowed so (personally) it’s a just a quick stop. Directions
• ISLETA CASINO & RESORT: A huge casino where I saw a bunch of people dancing to country music. In “The Show Room” there is generally good concerts, I planned my vacation to make this my last destination and attend a concert here.  Directions
• CLIFF’S AMUSEMENT PARK: You can read a few reviews, some people agree that this place is expensive, others disagree, but we all agree that is a fun place. Directions
• OLD TOWN. Historic, but not much to see, excellent choice to buy souvenirs and maybe eat something, worth visiting. Directions 
• CENTRAL AVENUE. Cinemas, theaters, nightclubs for all tastes, the downtown is truly a very nice ride, my advice: don’t go too far walking, some places are left alone and can be dangerous. Directions

Pros:

• Albuquerque is a city that many artists schedule in their tours, all you have to do is sync your vacation with an event of your interest.

Cons:

• Some destinations may take up to 40 or 60 minutes to get there, you might be used to it, you might not. 

New Mexico in general

Sorry I can not speak of Taos, NM. I had to miss that destination due to lack of time, but many people recommended it to me, I might go someday, I hope my review will  encourage you to visit New Mexico, by the way, I'm not being paid in any form for promoting it, but for me it was a trip that I’ll never forget, in general terms I can say that the state has the following pros and cons:

Pros:

• You can cross New Mexico by car, it’s a small state, I don’t consider it necessary to take a single plane, also if you make stops lasting 1 to 2 days you can go to all the destinations mentioned in a week.
• Roads in good condition.
• Lots of natural beauty.
• You can squeeze the juice out of New Mexico without severely affecting your pocket (this, of course, depends directly on the places you visit).

Cons:

• Besides hotels there and many cabins to stay, but many of them are expensive.
• The state law prohibits to transport open containers of alcohol, a common thing in some states, so even if you haven’t taken a single drop of alcohol this merits jail, you can only transport alcohol containers tightly sealed.

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