BlogChatterA2Z Challenge, travel

Road Trip -> New Mexico – Travel Destinations USA for Retirement

This is the fourteenth in the series Travel Destinations in the USA for Your Retirement List. This destination starts with the Letter N. New Mexico is one of the most beautiful states in the USA.

New Mexico is a quiet state bordering Mexico sandwiched between Texas and Arizona. At first, you may think, ah, what can you do there. But trust me it is very pretty and very different from the rest of the US. First off is the architecture. They have made it a point to be different from the rest of the states. They follow Spanish, Pueblo and Tao architecture, complete with Stucco finishes and the flat roofs so common to the Native American designs. This gives an air of romanticism to the cities, which are all smaller and so more peaceful. The state is a haven for artists, both painters and other handicraft artists. You can see some of the creations on display in Santa Fe especially.

Vintage Car Show, Santa Fe, New Mexico

A fun thing to do is to visit an antique cars exhibit! There are more than 30 cars on show in beautiful condition in Santa Fe during vintage car festivals. If your family and friends are into car races and rallies, it is a paradise! We loved seeing the vintage and classic cars, and ooh-ed and aah-ed over them!

golden car at vintage car fetsival in santa fe
Mercedes Benz Sports Coupe

orange car at vintage car festival in santa fe
Corvette classic car
maroon car at vintage car festival

Sandia Mountain Cable Car Ride

The drive to the mountains themselves is scenic and the ride up to the peak of Sandia Mountain in the cable car is breathtaking!

View of mountain range on the albequerque road to the Sandia Peak
The drive from Albuquerque to the mountains

The area around the tram station is awesome, I’m actually running out of words to describe the beauty…!

Western tanger bird in yellow sitting on a tree branch
Western Tanger – a songbird common to middle-America
Cable car that goes up to Sandia Peak near albequerque
The ride in the tramcar up to Sandia Peak at approx. 10,000 ft

The 15 min ride is a lot of fun as it slowly makes its way up to the top. There are only two support towers for the cable car, so that is fascinating! the tram holds about 16 people standing. Grab a spot close to the front to get the best view.

View of Albuquerque from Sandia Peak
View of Albuquerque from Sandia Peak – cloud burst!
View of surroundings from Sandia Peak
New Mexico
The view from another point on Sandia Peak

A great place to taste New Mexican food, the Enchiladas is to-die-for! The Frontier Restaurant is right opposite The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

New Mexico Road Trip Suggestion:

We drove from Colorado, so it was a long road trip.

Denver -> Taos -> Santa Fe -> Albuquerque -> Monument Valley -> Four Corners Monument -> Coral Pink Sand Dunes -> Denver

I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 

#BlogchatterA2Z 2022 sticker for letter N

Looking for another road trip destination? Visit this secret destination.

27 thoughts on “Road Trip -> New Mexico – Travel Destinations USA for Retirement”

  1. Fantastic post! Brilliantly curated content! I am bookmarking this post so that I can refer to it while planning my next international trip.
    Keep writing such informative posts. #MyFriendAlexa #DiaryOfAnInsaneWriter

  2. Such a beautiful country and quite exciting too. I feel that all these names are like from my backyard, thanks to Netflix and various American drama series I have watched till date.
    Sante Fe
    Taos
    Pablo etc.. lovely read

  3. never been there but visited the beautiful place through your lenses. the pictures and beautiful and serene and so is your post. keep sharing good stuff!

  4. New Mexico has a great history. In fact we planned to make a trip thereabout we couldn’t. May be sometime in future we will visit. it.

  5. I had a friend who completed his MS degree in the university of New Mexico. You have described the attractions of New Mexico very vividly.

  6. wow…that’s an awesome picture story you have captured in your post, some breathtaking shots/ views. I haven’t been there yet but definitely appears like a go-to destination (with credit to your lovely post) 🙂

  7. Very well explained. I especially like the pictures in this post for these are the show stealers. I recently took a ride in the cable car and it was an amazing experience indeed.

  8. After I had just moved here I was flying back to Albuquerque after a Christmas visit to my family in England and the person next to me said that New Mexico is a well kept secret.

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