New Mexico over the holidays? Learn me.

Plan A for our holiday vacation looks to have fallen through, so we're developing a Plan B, and the idea of going to the Southwest has come up. We've done CO and AZ, so we're talking about NM this time around. The current version of the plan has us taking Amtrak to Albuquerque, which would be an adventure in and of itself, but my questions revolve around what things will be like on the ground upon arrival. We'd rent a car, so anything within reasonable driving distance is fair game. How's the weather likely to be? What should not be missed? What should be? Suggestions and advice much appreciated.

You could ride the Sandia Peak Tramway to Sandia Crest and enjoy the views of Albuquerque.  It will likely be a bit chilly up there. 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60933-d103161-Reviews-Sandia_Peak_Tramway-Albuquerque_New_Mexico.html

Albuquerque is awesome!  Head to the center of town and see some historical stuff I guess, as long as you can drive around and enjoy the luminaria that will be everywhere over the holidays.  Food is great, skip the chains and eat in local joints and at road-side tamale stands.  Soak in the SouthWest style, then stop at  Jackalope for a unique shopping experience and to stock up on decor for back home. Drive up to Taos, the drive is worth it and the skiing is top-notch.  Head to Los Alamos, again, great drive and an interesting place to learn some history. 

My parents take the Amtrak from Cleveland to Albuquerque once or twice a year. They enjoy it but it does take longer than driving or flying. 

The National Museum of Nuclear Science is worth a visit. Also stop by Blake's Lotaburger and get a burger with green chile. 

You can take the tram or drive up to Sandia peak, it is a great view but I have never been up there in winter months.

Cibola National Forest is just outside Albuquerque and I thought it was beautiful. It's a pine forest so it smells like Christmas and the pine needles on the forest floor make it very quiet. I thought White Sands was really cool but it's 200 miles away.

I have not been there but it is my understanding that once you arrive you will need to take sides on the great debate of Green Chile vs Red Chile.  Therefore, when you arrive I recommend spending some time focusing on researching an opinion to that debate.  

Red or Green?

We spent a night a few years back in Gallup, NM.  Stayed at the El Rancho- cool old hotel.  Totally not up to modern standards, and we didn't care.  The lobby is awesome.  You can take the train to Gallup and a lot of the town is walkable.

We ate at a place called the Plaza Cafe....I think it may be Sandra's now.  Great Mexican breakfast.  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Stopped this summer and in 2013.  

I moved to Albuquerque about seven years ago from Upstate NY and I've made it a point to explore both on my own and when we have guests in town so I have a pretty good idea of what's available.  What sort of things do you like to do and see?  Are you traveling with kids?  If so what are their ages?

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. A little clarification: my GF and I (no kids) tend to like to explore smaller towns, off the beaten track when possible, and maybe fit in a little light hiking; scenic is always a plus, as we are both fairly serious about photography. We don't mind driving (for example, when we went to CO we landed in Denver, got in the car, and took the 8+ hour scenic route to Durango straight through) to get someplace we want to be. I'm a historian, and while I could crawl from historical site to historical site until my knees bled, I'm not going to drag my GF through that; one or two such stops will be the maximum (my field is Cold War history, so the atomic sites are pretty high on my list). Places to be avoided are anything we can do/see/eat/buy at home, anything big, loud, and especially full of people. Low key, casual, and with a place to get a decent drink or two at the end is pretty much ideal.

Just drove through there last week.  Twice.  In the past, we have stayed at the Drury Inn there, just north of 40 on 25.  FREE BEER.  Uh, and dinner and breakfast.  And FREE BEER.  For the adults. Free wine and mixed drinks too, but FREE BEER.  We like the Drury's and stayed at them in Amarillo and Flagstaff this year.

New Mexico and Arizona have the best Taco Bells in the world.  Also, Del Taco is migrating eastward and available as far east as Oklahoma now.  Well worth the visit. 

Here, in no particular order are some suggestions.

Nuclear Museum Not a cheerful place but extremely well done.  Be sure and see the movie.

Los Alamos History Museum I suggest taking route 4 through Jemez Springs (make sure to stop at the Soda Dam) and the Valles Caldera National Preserve

Sandia Peak is worth a visit either by the Tram or by driving up.  There's hiking at the peak. Or if you're ambitious then you can hike to the peak.  It'll be darn cold up there.  It's generally 20 degrees f colder at the peak than in the city.  Sadly Tinker Town will be closed when you're here but I'd still stop and see what you can from the road.  If route 165 is open (it's not well maintained in the winter) then the Sandia Man Cave is a nice short hike with great photo opportunities.

The Unser Museum is worth a visit as is the J & R Vintage Auto Museum

There are hiking trails all along the east side of the city.  You can take almost any road east of Tramway to a trailhead.

For some really neat Native American history check out The Acoma Sky City

For New Mexican food with a really neat atmosphere try El Pinto.  The food is good but not great but the building is really cool.  I think the best authentic Mexican food in town is at Lindo Mexico. Try the Mole.  For New Mexican I like El Patron

Old Town Albuquerque is worth checking out.

In Santa Fe visit the plaza and check out the Palace of the Governors as well as the many art galleries and museums.  If you travel from Albuquerque to Santa Fe (or back) use route 14 along the east side of the Sandia mountain.  There are many photo opportunities along the way and the artist colony of Madrid and the once nearly abandoned village of Los Cerrillos are both interesting.  One could easily make a day out of the trip up 14.

If there's anything on this list that you'd like more information about or that you'd like to see more things like let me know.

If you like exploring off track small towns then you need to head up into the hill toward Taos. Most people head for Los Alamos and ABQ. Taos gets its share but the highway that runs through it... go on through town and keep going. Epic. 

It's been a while since I've been there, but The Very Large Array was cool, like coming up on a science fiction movie.  And the Vietnam Vetrans Memorial is good too.

Lots of really good stuff here - thanks all, and especially APEowner. Before I get too far ahead of myself here, what should I be expecting for weather? I know it's not going to be warm, which is fine, but how likely is snow/ice/frozen whatever at that time of year? I'd hate to get there only to be severely limited by a blizzard.

John Welsh said:

I have not been there but it is my understanding that once you arrive you will need to take sides on the great debate of Green Chile vs Red Chile.  Therefore, when you arrive I recommend spending some time focusing on researching an opinion to that debate.  

Red or Green?

I haven't been to New Mexico since I was a kid. But there's a tasty New Mexican restaurant nearby. They have a handy answer to this debate: "Christmas Style", which is some of each.

In reply to Ransom :

It's more than a handy answer... It's the law! 

New Mexico Statutes, Article 3, Section 12-4-4 L.

L. "Red or green?" is adopted as the official question of New Mexico. 
M. "Red and green or Christmas" is adopted as the official answer of New Mexico. 

We stopped at a Mexican restaurant in some little interstate gas stop town once.  We were the only people there.  Momma was cooking in the kitchen, screaming about them gringos at the university for messing up her chili peppers and making them not hot enough.  The food was great, if a tad on the 'warm' side.  About on the level of 'authentic' Indian food.

Dr. Hess said:

We stopped at a Mexican restaurant in some little interstate gas stop town once.  We were the only people there.  Momma was cooking in the kitchen, screaming about them gringos at the university for messing up her chili peppers and making them not hot enough.  The food was great, if a tad on the 'warm' side.  About on the level of 'authentic' Indian food.

That reminds me!  For the best Indian food I've had anywhere check out The Taj Mahal.

If you want  Vietnamese try Cafe Da Lat.  The place looks kind of iffy from the outside and it's not in the best of neighborhoods but the food is excellent.

APEowner said:

That reminds me!  For the best Indian food I've had anywhere check out The Taj Mahal.

 

I forgot about that, I went there last time I was visiting and it was delicious. 

I'll have to try that Taj next time we go through ABQ.  We took 3 days each way for the 1500 mile trip to the PRC this year, giving us a little time to do side trips like a nice restaurant, rock shop, gun store, etc.  We got good pizza, shiny rocks and a 7mm Mauser. 

The best Indian food I've ever had, and I've been to a few, is Raja Sweets on Hillcroft in Houston (Westheimer).  Absolutely amazing food, and so reasonable you would think you were in India.  Actually, you'll probably be the only ones there that are not Indian or Pak.  Visit on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday for the Saag Paneer. 

02Pilot said:

...Before I get too far ahead of myself here, what should I be expecting for weather? I know it's not going to be warm, which is fine, but how likely is snow/ice/frozen whatever at that time of year? I'd hate to get there only to be severely limited by a blizzard.

Weather is a crap shoot but a blizzard is unlikely.  Typical winter weather is around freezing at night and in the 40s during the day but it's not uncommon to see temps in the 50s or 60s.  Most snow fall is overnight with any accumulation gone by noon.  That's in Albuquerque.  As you go farther north and/or up in elevation conditions are colder and snow is more likely to stick around.  One thing to keep in mind is that the days are generally sunny and with the low humidity even low 40 degree range it can be quite pleasant outside as long as it's not windy.

Bist/De-Na-Zin Wilderness.   Book the five hour Navajo Tour. 

160 miles north west of Albuquerque in the high desert.

No mentions of “wrong turns” or blue meth? Joking aside, NM is definitely on my list of places to visit. 

So this whole trip never happened. For various reasons, we ended up doing something like Plan F, which was about as good as you'd expect. In any case, NM has been tentatively revived for late March. Instead of flying straight in, we're going to fly to Dallas (cheap and shorter from NYC), drive to Amarillo, and pick up Route 66. We'll follow that for a while (where possible), and then head up to Santa Fe. Probably take a day trip to ABQ, and try to follow some of the other suggestions in here in the limited time available.

What I'm looking for now is merely supplemental information on 1) anything along that stretch of 66 that needs to be seen, and 2) suggestions for a scenic alternate route back from Santa Fe toward Amarillo, or at least eastward until we can pick up I-40.