It may seem counter-intuitive to travel to the American Southwest to escape the summer heat, but our road trip was planned entirely around mountain locations with cool mornings and no humidity. This allowed us to avoid an extreme east coast heat wave and it provided amazing destinations for family adventure. Our 7-day road trip, with a 7 and 10 year old, began in Santa Fe and ended in Colorado Springs. It was epic and full of lifelong memories, including daily activities that had our kids exclaim “this is the best!” 

The Practical Takeaways

• This trip is a great mix of enjoying National Parks, exploring cultural heritage sites, and walking cute towns. Each of our stops from Santa Fe to Colorado Springs were roughly 1-3 hours apart with views so stunning that the drives never seemed long.
• For many parts of this road trip our phones didn’t work – and that was a-ok! The most memorable and fun parts of the trip were when we were disconnected and could fully embrace the adventure. (Just be sure to load up the directions while you have cell service!)

First Stop: Santa Fe (3 nights)

Accommodations

Our Airbnb was delightful. It was perfectly located on a cute residential street and within walking distance of the Railyard Arts District, the plaza, and the Old Santa Fe Trail. Each morning, before setting out on an adventure, I woke early to drink my coffee outside in the brisk 60 degree weather. The host sent us a long list of restaurant recommendations in advance, which was a great planning guide. If you’re traveling as a family I’d highly recommend this as a place to stay.

Things to Do

Santa Fe Plaza and Palace of the Governors: We started our trip by walking around the Santa Fe Plaza and visiting the Palace of the Governors. Dating back to 1610, the Palace is the oldest public building in continuous use in the continental United States. Today, it serves as the New Mexico History Museum. It was a great way to orient ourselves on the first day.

Georgia O’Keefe Museum: Taking kids to an art museum can be a risk. The Georgia O’Keefe museum did an excellent job of engaging them. The kids were equipped with activity books and clipboards to search for paintings and to create their own. It was an enjoyable experience for all of us.

Meow Wolf: Per my kids, Meow Wolf is “AWESOME” and “THE BEST PLACE EVER!” This immersive art experience includes a maze of over 70 rooms created by local artists. Behind each door is a portal leading to the next bizarre and otherworldly space. There are now Meow Wolf locations in other cities, but Santa Fe is the original location.

Bandelier National Monument: Just an hour west of Santa Fe, Bandelier National Monument includes petroglyphs and the cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans within a beautiful canyon. The Pueblo Loop Trail behind the Visitor’s Center is 1.4 miles. It’s great for kids, with ladders allowing you to climb into the dwellings. Note, portions of the hike are in exposed sun and can get very hot.

It’s important to understand how to access this park in the summer months. If you go before 9am you can drive up to the Visitor’s Center and park in the parking lot. After 9am you must park in the town of White Rock and take a shuttle bus to the top. If it is hot out, we highly recommend arriving before 9am, as we did. You will want to do the trail before the sun really heats things up, including the shuttle bus waiting areas. Also, the trail was relatively quiet before 9am. Once the shuttle buses started arriving, so did the noise.

Places to Eat

Santa Fe Brewing Co: Established in 1988, this well-known local brewery has two locations – one in the Railyard Arts District and the other, its headquarters, somewhat near Meow Wolf. We went to the headquarters following Meow Wolf to enjoy beer and food truck tacos. To be honest though, I think we would have enjoyed the Railyard Arts District location more because of its neighborhood.

Henry and the Fish: Our host recommended this lunch spot and it was a great after visiting the nearby museums. The kids loved their smoothies and sandwiches and we enjoyed a healthy break from heavy southwestern dining.

Rancho de Chimayo This restaurant is a 28-mile drive from Santa Fe and came highly recommended to us. As a James Beard award winner, we expected it to be popular but were surprised by just how popular. We arrived at 11:30am and were lucky to only wait 20 minutes for a table. We may have been one of the few parties without reservations. The food is excellent and the drive to Chimayo is beautiful. We wish we were there for dinner instead of lunch though. There is no air conditioning and it was hot! The town of Chimayo is best known for its Catholic Church, Santuario de Chimayo, said to have magical dirt. You can hear more about this on the Dear Bob and Sue Podcast.

Cowgirl: This fun restaurant gave us a good reason to explore the Railyard Arts District. 

Second Stop: Taos (1 night)

Accommodations

After binging on Schitt’s Creek, I have developed a thing for renovated roadside motels. (See Hotel de Sol in San Francisco and the Cartoon Network Hotel at Dutch Wonderland). So, I had to include one on this trip too. When we pulled up to El Pueblo Lodge we had some skepticism. It really didn’t look as nice as the photos and the street next to it was under construction. Thankfully, the room was clean, there was some shaded green space to run around. The included southwestern breakfast was excellent. While I don’t regret staying here, I do wonder whether a trip up to the ski mountain resorts would have been more interesting. 

Things to Do

White Water Rafting on the Rio Grande: It’s hard to say what the highlight of the trip was. I think the kids would make the case that this was it. There are many options for rafting trips in the area – we chose to raft with New Mexico River Adventures. The four of us were assigned an excellent guide, knowledgeable on the history and ecology of the Rio Grande. She skillfully led us through the class I-III rapids, which were perfect for first timers and kids. 

Downtown Taos is a cute place to walk around for two hours and visit local shops and the plaza. The highlight for us was the chocolate shop, Chokola. The coffee mousse may be one of the best things I’ve eaten. 

Taos Pueblo Heritage Center: For over 1,000 years, Taos Pueblo has been a living Native American Village. Visitors can take a guided or self-guided tour and also wander into artisan shops within the adobe homes.  

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge/Western Rim Trail: If you drive north from Taos you’ll cross over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. While in the car, the bridge doesn’t seem all that different from the road. Once you park and step out to look at it you’ll see just how spectacular it is. The Western Rim Trail is a 0.5 mile walk from the Rio Grande Gorge Rest Stop parking lot, from which you can get your best views. 

Places to Eat

After rafting, we walked across the street from the New Mexico River Adventures headquarters to the Blue Heron Brewery. We were happy to not venture far for lunch and the beer and pizza perfectly hit the spot.

La Cueva Cafe: Our rafting guide recommended this great place above all other southwestern restaurants in Taos.

Stop 3: Great Sand Dunes National Park (2 nights)

Accommodations

We stayed at the Rustic Rook Resort, which I can’t recommend enough. This glamping site, facing the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Great Sand Dunes National Park, feels truly magical. Our tent was spacious enough for a king size bed, two cots, a wood-burning stove, and a bathroom. We may have a hard time going back to car camping after this experience!

The accommodations included everything we needed, which was certainly easier than packing up camping gear to bring with us.

The setting is unbelievable. The most majestic and memorable part of the trip for me was stepping outside our tent to see the sunrise over the mountains. There is no need to bring electronics. This is a place to fully disconnect (though they do provide USB chargers and outlets in the tents). A disc golf course and sand volleyball course also kept the kids entertained.

Each night the site owner makes a campfire for s’mores in the most spectacular setting beneath the sunset. Guests can meet one another and share their travel experiences. We chatted with visitors from Denver, New York City, Oklahoma, Paris, and Luxembourg.

Another great thing about the Rustic Rook is that they supplied grill packs for us to make dinner at our campsite each night, bagged lunches to take to the park with us, and breakfast burritos. There are limited food options in the area, though the town of Alamosa is roughly 20 minutes away.

Things to Do

Great Sand Dunes & Sand Sledding: This National Park is completely unique and a great site to visit with kids for many reasons. First of all, where else can you go sand sledding and sand boarding? We started out by sledding down the giant hills, but by the end the kids favored sandboarding over sledding (bring both types of boards!). This is such an unparalleled experience!

The area for sand sledding is relatively close to a parking lot, though walking on the sand takes a lot of energy out of you. Be prepared and don’t overdo it on the sand dunes – you’ll still have to walk back to the car with your boards. Note: you must rent sand sleds and boards outside of the park. You need specific boards and wax has to be applied to the bottom to speed down the sand. The Rustic Rook supplies boards for all its guests, so we did not need to seek them out.

To go to and from the sand dunes you’ll walk through Medano Creek. If you are there in May or June you can bring a bathing suit and play in the water, which comes rushing down as snow melts from the mountains. We were there in mid-July, and by then the creek was fairly shallow and full of mosquitoes (wear repellent if you come this time of year!). 

After a sand dune adventure, the Visitor Center provides a nice place to cool off and learn how creeks and streams brought large amounts of sediment into the valley, forming the Sand Dunes shaped by wind storms. There is also a flat 0.5 mile nature trail and overlook at the Center – after sandboarding we were too exhausted to walk it.

Great Sand Dunes Recreation Center: In the middle of nowhere, this 50 x 100, 98 degree hot spring pool feels like an oasis. The facility doesn’t look like it’s changed much from when it opened in the 1930’s, but its age didn’t matter to our kids who thought the water was amazing. They spent hours jumping off the diving boards and going down the slide. It was a great way to spend the afternoon following a long drive.

Zapata Falls: About 20 minutes from the Sand Dunes in the San Luis Valley you’ll find Zapata Falls. The hike to the falls is a 0.5 rocky incline, which seemed tiring after going to the Dunes. Once reaching the top, there is shade and cool water to play in. If you’re adventurous, you can walk in the water to the cave where the falls descend.

Note: the water is from melting snow and ice in the mountains and is therefore very cold. Like many other visitors, my husband and kids walked barefoot in the water to see the cave. I couldn’t handle the temperature and stayed behind. I suggest shoes that can get wet!

UFO Watchtower: When visiting this part of the Country it seems obligatory to stop at a roadside attraction to “feel the energy of the vortexes that open into a parallel universe…” er… well, we couldn’t just drive by and not stop.

Stop 4: Colorado Springs, with a short visit to Salida (1 night)

A Quick Stop in Salida

I had been given a tip by a local to take the longer, western, route between the Great Sand Dunes and Colorado Springs so we could stop in Salida. While Salida had not been on our radar, it seemed the detour would only add 20-30 minutes so we went for it. Once we were there, I thought my husband was going to propose we move to Salida and not come home! It was such a cute town with shops, an old ice cream fountain parlor, and a beautiful park along the Arkansas River with urban surfing. If we had an extra night we would have stayed here.

Accommodations

Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort: For our last night we stayed in the funny little motel at the foot of Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. The night we were there they had a bluegrass band and market set up in their plaza. As expected with bicycle themed lodging, there are corrals of bikes available for both adults and kids until 9pm. Our kids loved spending their last night biking around the premises until the sun went down. This place is probably not for everyone and can use some renovations, but it made for a very memorable conclusion to our trip.

Things to Do

Garden of Gods: This 480 acre park includes 300′ sandstone rock formations against the backdrop of Pikes Peak. There are paved trails and a multitude of parking lots, making it very easy to visit….almost too easy. When we went at 2pm there were tour buses and loads of people, making it a bit jarring after having been in the mostly desolate Sand Dunes. Thankfully our hotel was within walking distance of a secluded trail and I was able to walk back early in the morning to have a better appreciation for the spectacular geology.

Pikes Peak: The main draw to Colorado Springs is a visit 14,115 above sea level to Pikes Peak. We chose to take the Pikes Peak Cog Railway up, rather than the twisty road of hairpin turns. The train was an hour in each direction and was packed solid with tourists – this was a bit jarring after having just spent so much time out in the openness of the Great Sand Dunes. The views from the train, however, were incredible and when we got to the top it was snowing! In July! Though we were prepared by bringing sweatshirts, we were still cold and spent a good amount of time drinking hot chocolate in the Visitor’s Center.

Manitou Incline: Early one morning, my husband hiked the 2,744 steps of the Manitou Incline to see the sunrise. He then descended down the three-mile Barr Trail back down to the base. To me this seems crazy, but he loved the challenge.     

Helpful Hints

• To pass the time in the car, we all enjoyed listening to the podcast 4th and Inches. It is about a 13-year-old girl whose dad is an NFL player. The podcast was perfect for our 7-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl.
• In advance of the trip, I listened to a lot of Dear Bob and Sue episodes. I can’t get enough of these when planning National Parks trips. I also used their guidance to plan our New River Gorge trip.
• If you are doing this trip in the summer, plan your outdoor activities in the morning before the sun heats things up. Save the museums and visitor centers for the afternoons.
• Planning the right footwear for this trip was challenging. These water sneakers worked well for both white water rafting and the hot sand dunes. I should have worn them for the Zapata Falls hike too. They were also great to have when we were hiking in Puerto Rico.