Hello, Elisa here to bring you Part 8 of Elisa & Tanya's New Mexico Road Trip Planning. In Part 2 through Part 7 of our blogs, we spent a great deal of time working on the structure of the trip, which includes our accommodations as well as creating an itinerary of the places we will be visiting in each of the cities, along the way and in between.  I hope you have been keeping up with us, each step of the way and are enjoying the progress of all of our planning for our New Mexico adventure!  Don't worry, if you haven't, links to all the previous segments are below!

Now, you may remember, from way back, when we first announced our New Mexico Road Trip plan, the inspiration for our cousins' excursion was the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.  This is the event around which, we built our road trip adventure! (see New Mexico Road Trip is Born). So, today, we are going to talk about the particulars of this spectacular event!  Both Tanya and I (and our respective troops!) arrive in Albuquerque on October 3rd.  We decided if we were going to go to Balloon Fiesta, we had to bear witness to two main events. The first is the Mass Ascension when the hot air balloons are launched. This is done on specific days (Balloon Fiesta Schedule)  and led by a balloon flying the American Flag to the sound of our National Anthem. We plan to be there bright and early on day 1 (Saturday, October 4th) to see these giant balloons take off and make their way into the sky.  The scheduled time is 7:00AM (weather permitting), but the field opens at 5AM to visitors.  We will be there bright and early, with all the kids!

Tanya and I both decided that one day of rooster wake up times will be enough for the kids. So, instead of an early day on Sunday (Day 2), we will instead start our day at a normal hour, do some local touring activities and then go back to the field for the second great event at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - the Balloon Glows. This is an evening event, in which the balloons fire their burners and light up at the same time! We can only imagine how unbelievably gorgeous this must look and will therefore, traverse back with the whole gang. If this isn't enough, Balloon Glows is followed by a magnificent fireworks display!

From the looks of things, there are quite a number of activities on site such as Arts and Crafts, Balloon rides, food stations and more.  I know we are going to have a blast!  We plan to blog daily from this spectacular event with photos and videos so mark your calendar for October 4th & 5th to check on on our site and on Facebook and Twitter for our postings!

This is the video that originally got me hooked on going to Balloon Fiesta!  It is a sensational time-lapse film created by Joel Schatt for Roadtrippers showing Balloon Fiesta from early morning with the mass ascension, through the evening Balloon Glows and fireworks display.  I know you will enjoy this as well!! 
See you next week for Part 9.
-Elisa 

Welcome to Part 7 of Tanya & Elisa's New Mexico Road trip. Things seem to be coming along in an awesome fashion! 
In Part 6, we planned out all of the sights and activities we are going to do during our two days in Taos.  While over there I am personally looking quite forward to going to the Pueblo and I also can't wait for us to get off some stunning sunset shots at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge! 
Leaving Taos, and heading over to Santa Fe we'll be stopping at the Historic El Santuario de Chimayo. Which again, should provide us with some extra lovely photo opps. After touring the Holy Shrine, we'll try out some local fare for lunch. While searching the web today Elisa found a very yummy sounding south western restaurant whose menu actually seems as though it will fit the needs of all our picky eating crew (myself included)!
Continuing our drive south to Santa Fe, we'll make one more stop; for a picture break at the Saints and Sinners Sign. Then straight to our next rental house, which is suppose to be in a great neighborhood and within walking distance to Beautiful Santa Fe Plaza. Once we're all checked in, we plan on making a nice Pasta dinner for the family. And being Italian we know it'll be good, and that we'll all be very happy!
The next day our plans consist of seeing the picturesque Nambe Falls, and searching for big ol' bisons, before heading to town and checking out Kakawa Chocolatier - Kakawa has been named one of the TOP 10 most luxurious places in the WORLD to drink hot chocolate! I do believe that we were both drooling all over our computers staring at the goodies available from this place!!!
 
Come along for the ride or plan your own with hints and tips from ours:

Day 5 Santa Fe


a)Chimayo - we are preparing to be in Awe!
b)Lunch near Chimayo
c)Saints and Sinners Sign - where the Red Light is always on! Pictures only my friends. Pictures only.

Day 6: Santa Fe

a)Nambe Falls & Bison, this is going to be a super easy 1/4 mile hike to the falls and then an around the loop trail to seek out some bison! With all of us being big animal lovers; I'm guessing that the kids will each get a kick out of this one!
b)Old Town, Santa Fe Plaza - for some sightseeing, shopping and eating. 

Day 7: Santa Fe to Albuquerque

a)Loretto Chapel - A must see! Maybe the kids can figure out the two mysteries that surround the spiral staircase in the Loretto Chapel?!
b)Brontosaurus Family (fun and quirky photo op) the kiddos should get a hoot out of this stop! 
c)Drive to Albuquerque


Even though we are all gonna be together in less than one months time in NY, we are all looking so forward to this Cousins New Mexico Road Trip! It's super exciting to think about our upcoming shared time together in October! 
- Tanya & Elisa

PS: For all of the details of this trip "at-a-glance" check out our New Mexico Road Trip Details page.

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Welcome to Part 6 of Tanya & Elisa's New Mexico Road trip. We are moving right along. In Part 5, we planned out all of the sights and activities we are going to do during our three days in Albuquerque.  Of course, Balloon Fiesta is the highlight of this segment of the trip, but as we leave Albuquerque, we will be looking forward to seeing some other wonderful places along our drive to Taos.  These will include Giant Red Arrow, Petroglyph National Monument,  Bandelier Monument and Kasha Katuwe Tent Rock National Monument.  Since we figure everyone in our troop will be tired from a long day of sightseeing and driving, our plan is to pick up some take out food on the way to our rental house so we can kick back for the evening.

Tanya took the lead on doing research on the places we had earmarked to visit in Taos and after some chatting this week, we decided on our itinerary.  After a relaxing first night, we thought would get up nice and early, enjoy a nice breakfast and then set off for some sightseeing adventures.  Our plan is to see the following:

Day 1 Taos

a) Taos Pueblo
b) Kit Carson Home & Museum in the afternoon, to get in some history about the town.  We are hoping  the kiddies will appreciate that (and not drive us too crazy).  Then our plan for the evening is to drive to the...
c) Taos Downtown Historic District for some sightseeing, shopping and eating.   
d) Rio Grande Gorge Bridge which is supposed to be beautiful at sunset.  We are anticipating that we may need to give the kids alittle incentive for one last visit before heading home for the night. So, we are going to surprise them (more like bribe them!) with some kind of decadent dessert to grab that they can eat while Tanya and I capture as many photos as we can of the Bridge at sunset.  (We'll let you know how that works out!)
 
One thing we are 100% sure about is that the kids are going to love bunking up in the same house while we are in Taos and Santa Fe, so we're thinking that we might as well take advantage of as many "at home" meals as we can.  The kids will certainly love being more casual and honestly, as a result, they will probably eat better (especially Kelsey!).  Add to that, saving money and it's a perfect combo for everyone! So, we are planning to do a home cooked meal on our second (and last) night in Taos, before getting back in the car again the next day to head to Santa Fe.

We'll have more in Part 7 next week about our itinerary of sights in Santa Fe so tune in next Travelin' Tuesday!

- Elisa & Tanya

PS: For all of the details of this trip "at-a-glance" check out our New Mexico Road Trip Details page.

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

 

Welcome to Part 5 of our New Mexico Road Trip.  We have had alot of fun sorting through the various sites and things to do while in Albuquerque.  Of course, the main focus, as you know, is the Balloon Fiesta!  We are so pumped for this trip!

So, here is the breakdown that we have come up with for the first three days of our trip. Mind you, we did all this planning on a text session yesterday - please don't think we are nuts for not just picking up the telephone to talk it through! We would love any input, if you have traveled to or are from Albuquerque!

Day 1: Albuquerque 
- Balloon Fiesta morning Session
- Afternoon for relaxing and hanging out
- Evening - Albuquerque Old Town for dinner and shopping

Day 2: Albuquerque
- Sandia Peak & Tram
- Botanical Gardens
- Balloon Fiesta Evening Session

Day 3: Drive from Albuquerque to Taos
Stop along the way to see 
a) Giant Red Arrow
b) Petroglyph National Monument
c) Bandelier Monument
d) Kasha Katuwe Tent Rock National Monument
- Arrive Taos, Eat and Settle in

We are working on finding some great dining places in and around Albuquerque that have menus for both vegan, vegetarian and picky!  Stay tuned for Part 6 and Taos Activities!!
- Elisa & Tanya

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

As of today, we have exactly three months till our Road Trip to New Mexico!  October 3rd is the big day that the "travelin' cousins" meet in Albuquerque.  So I thought it would be a good idea to do a review of our ToDo list for this trip and see what we can check off and what is left to still finalize:

• Plan Cities to Visit  - DONE (Albuquerque, Taos and Santa Fe)
• Book Accommodations - DONE (Hotel in Albuquerque and Private home Rentals in Taos and Santa Fe)
• Elisa's Rental Car - DONE
•  Tanya's Rental Car - DONE

So, that is what's is done - here is what we still have to do:

• Elisa to book airfare NY to Albuquerque (well, you've read my saga with this, so this is still a work in progress)
• Tanya to book Dave's airfare for both weekends (let's hope Tanya has better luck with airfare rates than her East Coast-based cousin!)
• Map out Driving Routes - We will be working on this together during the coming week
• Select restaurants for all three cities
• Purchase Balloon Fiesta Tickets
• Finalize Sites and Activities in all three cities and places along the driving route

This would pretty much finish off the trip!  But, as you can see, we have a ways to go.
Today, I want to talk about Sites and Activities!  That's the really fun part of any trip.     We created a very long list of possibilities, broken down by each city and those along the way.  Of course, we know that we will not have enough time in 8 days to see everything, but, for now, we are just reflecting on each and will narrow down the list over the coming weeks.  If you have any thoughts or experience with any of these, please comment and let us know. We would love the input!!
Albuquerque:

• Balloon Fiesta 

This is obviously a definite and the whole inspiration for the trip.  We are planning to go the first two days.  Balloon Fiesta is a LONG day. Up early, arriving by 4:30-5:00 AM to see the balloons take off; and then a fun, filled night with a fireworks show lighting up the night sky.  So, we've allocated two full days for this spectacular event.

Here are the other possible sites for Albuquerque:

• Albuquerque Biological Park
• Sandia Peak
• Petroglyph National Museum
• Tinkertown Museum
• Giant Red Arrow
• Hinkle Family Fun

On the Way from Albuquerque to Taos

• Bandelier National Monument
• Kasha Katuwe Tent Rock National Monument

Taos

• Rio Grande Gorge Bridge
• Kit Carson Home & Museum
• Taos Pueblo
• Manby Hot Springs
• Tree of Human Kindness
• Sants & Sinners Sign
• Ghost Town Museum

So There you have it - some fun options for things to do on our road trip.  Till next "Travelin' Tuesday" and Part 5, 
~Elisa & Tanya