Results tagged “New Mexico” from Intelligent Travel Blog

To many people, the old Route 66 represents the romance of the open road. Even though it was replaced with modern highways and officially decommissioned in 1985, this 2,400-mile stretch of road from Chicago to Los Angeles continues to have many of the one-of-a-kind motels, cafés, and other landmarks that sprung up during the Mother Road's heyday. To help locate those attractions, the National Park Service has launched an online Discover Our Shared Heritage travel itinerary on Route 66.

As a former Oklahoman, I'm very familiar with one of the more unusual sites along the old thoroughfare in Oklahoma City: a tiny triangular building with a huge milk bottle on top that was built in 1930 (I passed it every day on my way to work). Other quirky attractions mentioned on the National Park's website include the Arcadia Round Barn, also in Oklahoma; the Wigwam Village Hotel #6 in Holbrook, Arizona (above); and the 1927 KiMo Theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico. All the landmarks are plotted on an interactive map.

For more great road trips, check our Drives of a Lifetime special.

Photo: brianbutko via Flickr

National Geographic Digital Media staffer Jo Dickison was in Albuquerque last week to watch the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.  She shares a few tips for travelers planning to make the trip.

Mass Happiness has begun. The 2009 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta kicked off on Saturday with the spectacular mass ascension of 600-plus hot air balloons, dancing a delicate rainbow ballet in the air. The "mass happiness" theme is apt - it's hard not to smile at the sight of these balloons gently lifting into the sky. The annual Fiesta, which runs through October 11, includes a full roster of activities, but here are a few of the highlights.

Each day of the festival begins with the Dawn Patrol, where 12 balloons ascend to test the wind speed and direction for the mass lift-off at dawn. Saturday's Mass Ascension came off beautifully, with hundreds of balloons participating and excellent weather. Aside from the some 500 regular hot air balloons this year, there are an additional 80 or so "special shape" balloons of cartoon characters that are perennial favorites with kids. Look out for a flying pink pig, a floating Pepsi can and the Two Bees, which turns up every year. In the evenings there is usually a Glow Show at dusk when the balloons on the field are inflated and lit with burners, creating a lovely glow across the field. The glows are followed by a fireworks display, bringing the day's festivities to a close around 9 p.m. each night.

The Albuquerque festival is billed as the largest balloon festival in the world, and is unique in that visitors on the field can watch every step in the process as the crews prepare, inflate and launch the balloons. Festival Launch Directors, known as Zebras for the black-and-white shirts they wear, are in charge of air traffic control and launch procedures.

Traveler and Photo District News are currently hosting our annual World in Focus Photo Contest, and this year we're letting readers preview the submissions and vote for their favorites. Each week, we're putting a new batch of images up on our website. Here's today's pic:

This photo, "She Dreams of Riding Horses," was submitted by Elizabeth Griffin. The caption reads that the little girl is "riding her grandmother's pony at Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico." That's one massive pony, and we can't help but think it calls for a caption contest. Ready? Go!

America's national parks are all the rage these days--the First Family visited Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon earlier this month, Ken Burns's six-episode PBS series on "America's best idea" premieres September 27, and your very own Traveler is putting together some handy guides to the parks. Here's yet another novel and authentic way to travel some our country's best natural places: with Native American guides on Native American land at Native American-owned and -run lodges.

Bonnie Tsui reports in the New York Times that a new generation of Native American entrepreneurs are updating and upgrading tours and accommodations of and on native land while preserving native heritage and staying pretty green in terms of the ventures' environmental practices.

The Thunderbird Lodge in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, is one such native-run enterprise. A historic trading post, the lodge is now a modern hotel run by an all-Navajo staff. It offers tours of the back country led by native guides, the only way to access this expanse of bluffs and valleys made famous by John Wayne westerns and Ansel Adam's photos of the 13th-century White House ruins. Guides provide visitors a first-person account of the historic, cultural, and personal significance of native lands.

In the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, nestled between Arizona and Utah, check out the View, a sleek hotel opened in October 2008 that melts into the landscape. Built to eco-friendly specs, the View is owned by a Navajo family and its young chef reinterprets his grandmother's recipes, serving fry-bread tacos and stews.

Another option is to visit the Sky City Cultural Center at Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico, perched on its 367-feet-high mesa. Take a guided tour of the mesa, still home to some of the Acoma's spiritual leaders, catch a cultural demonstration, or shop for traditional pottery.  Stop by the Yaak'a Café for a traditional Acoma breakfast of blue-corn pancakes.

Not sure where to start? Consider a tour operator that specializes in small-group trips led by indigenous guides and interpreters such as Go Native America, mentioned in our October 2007 installment of Tours of a Lifetime.

Photo: courtesy The View, Monument Valley

For those travelers who feel like they have done it all, a new out-of-this-world opportunity will soon be available--for a price. On June 19, New Mexico unveiled plans for the nation's first commercial spaceport, Spaceport America. The spaceport, estimated to be completed by 2010, would take travelers up 50,000 feet, break out of the Earth's atmosphere, and then fly up to 62 miles above the Earth.

The $200 million project is being fronted by the state of New Mexico in hopes of creating jobs and increasing tourism. The spaceport will work with Virgin Galactic, who will supply the space vehicles. Spaceport America is anticipating launching one Virgin Galactic flight per week, and each will hold six passengers.

If you want to be on one of the tours, you will have to add your name to the waiting list of over 45,000 other travelers, and be willing to dish out $200,000.  Passengers must also attend three days of training to prepare for the trip. The total travel time is around two hours with five minutes of weightlessness.

What do you think? Is the flight worth the price?

[Spaceport America]

Photo Courtesy of Spaceport America