MarkB.
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2010
- Messages
- 50
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- 41
Green chile-cheeseburger at Sparky's in Hatch; there is not a better burger on the continent.
Travel in New Mexico, like everything from West Texas on, is based on hours. Use 70 mph as your basis.
For instance, its an hour from the El Paso airport to the I-10/I-25 junction in Las Cruces.
Going up I-25:
Its 45 more minutes to Hatch (including time at the checkpoint). Or an hour if you take the more scenic route up the old highway along the Rio Grande.
T or C/Hot Springs is another 45 minutes after that and two more hours to Albuquerque. The VLA is about an hour west of Socorro on your way to Albu and totally not worth it.
Santa Fe is another hour after Albuquerque.
If you go East on NM-70 from Las Cruces, the Nike-Hercules is about 20 minutes. The White Sand National Monument is about 45 minutes and the NM Space Museum in Alamogordo another 30 minutes after that. From there Rosewell is two hours over the mountains and while I agreed the Goddard museum and the UFO kitch are fun, it's not really worth the drive time.
The Nuclear Museum in Albu is absolutely worth seeing and there's lots of Route 66 kitch there, too.
On the upside, New Mexico is a great mix of Native, Spanish and American cultures. Food, art, architecture are different and great. There are lots of historic sites, both ancient and modern. The downside is rampant poverty especially north of Interstate 40/Route 66.
Travel in New Mexico, like everything from West Texas on, is based on hours. Use 70 mph as your basis.
For instance, its an hour from the El Paso airport to the I-10/I-25 junction in Las Cruces.
Going up I-25:
Its 45 more minutes to Hatch (including time at the checkpoint). Or an hour if you take the more scenic route up the old highway along the Rio Grande.
T or C/Hot Springs is another 45 minutes after that and two more hours to Albuquerque. The VLA is about an hour west of Socorro on your way to Albu and totally not worth it.
Santa Fe is another hour after Albuquerque.
If you go East on NM-70 from Las Cruces, the Nike-Hercules is about 20 minutes. The White Sand National Monument is about 45 minutes and the NM Space Museum in Alamogordo another 30 minutes after that. From there Rosewell is two hours over the mountains and while I agreed the Goddard museum and the UFO kitch are fun, it's not really worth the drive time.
The Nuclear Museum in Albu is absolutely worth seeing and there's lots of Route 66 kitch there, too.
On the upside, New Mexico is a great mix of Native, Spanish and American cultures. Food, art, architecture are different and great. There are lots of historic sites, both ancient and modern. The downside is rampant poverty especially north of Interstate 40/Route 66.
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