Family vacation to NM!

[xjchad]

Hey all,
My wife, kids, and I are taking our first real family vacation in a couple of weeks.  Through a weird twist, we ended up deciding to go to Albuquerque NM.  We'll be staying in a Airbnb house in the hills outside of town (Tijeras). 

I was wondering if any of you have been to or lived in the area and could recommend fun stuff to see and do?

Our kids are young (8, 6, 4, 2, and 6 mo.) so family friendly stuff for the most part.  Outdoor stuff too!
Any suggestions welcome!

Also, we'll be taking Highway 40 across from socal so if there's any cool stuff to see along the way I'd love to know that as well

Can't wait to finally take a vacation and make some great memories!

[sasquatch]

No help on what to do, but have a great time.

[LONGCAST JOE]

Hey Chad, one of my ex's (We're on friendly terms now) lives there. I'll ask her for a locals lowdown on some of the family activities to hit around there. 

[xjchad]

Thanks guys!

[Pinoyfisher]

Default option... bring your fishing pole and some tackle!!

[Eric H]

Do a google earth search in the area your staying prior to going to see if there's any fishin holes.

Then do a search to see what species are in there.

Enjoy your family trip and don't forget the camera!

[BenCantrell]

I highly recommend Fossil Creek in central Arizona.  Camp Verde is probably the nearest town.  PM me if you want GPS spots for some of the good fishing holes.

Last section of this post has photos:

http://bencantrellfish.blogspot.com/2014/04/fishing-in-desert-central-az.html

[Latimeria]

Good luck and have a fun trip, Chad!  I'd have to go through all my fossil notes from back in the day, but the northern parts of the state are beautiful while the southern areas are dry wastelands.  lol.

I'll see what I could find, but there are a ton of cool areas to stop and check out.  Mesa Verde is a little far off the Route 40 track, but has some unbelievable cities built into the side of the cliffs.

Really good food in New Mexico also.  I just remembered that I was surprised how much I liked the Southwest style of cooking they have.

Have a great time boss!

[xjchad]

Thanks ya'll!
Unfortunately, I'm not taking any gear to fish.  I just want to focus on the the family and if I start looking for fishing opportunities I'll get too distracted.

Tom, if you know of any spots we could find some fossils or shark teeth you'll be a hero, the kids would go nuts over that!  (so would I LOL!)

[vdisney]

Hey Chad, one of my ex's

How many ex's you got Joe??

[xjchad]

Hey guys!
Vacation was amazing, thanks for all the tips!
I've got a busy week getting ready for a big trade show in Vegas next week, but I'll try to get pics off the phone and post a follow up report this week or next.
Hope to get out fishing sometime soon too!