I’m planning a trip to Angel Fire and Santa Fe and I’m interested in makery things to do. We’re looking for rocks, clay and wood things in particular but have so many hobbies that any suggestions are welcome. I looked up the mica clay but I don’t know if I want to drive to Albuquerque just for that, it might make more sense just to order it unless the store is amazing or there are other reasons to go to Albuquerque.
If you have any interest at all in atomic energy, there are:
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Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos
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National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, Albuquerque
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Trinity Atomic Bomb site, Socorro
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Whereis if space and rockets is more to your liking:
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New Mexico Museum of Space History, Alamogordo
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White Sands Missile Range Museum, a bit north of Las Cruces
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National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, Albuquerque (lots of missiles on display)
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Or volcano:
- Capulin Volcano National Monument, between Raton and Dalhart, TX (you can drive to the top and hike around the rim)
I know, not very makery…
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Meow wolf!!!
Is fantastic and not to be missed.
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Years and years ago (Ayden was probably 2) we went to the Santa Fe children’s museum. It was perfect in its open air hippie approach to new experiences for young children. Its probably updated by now but I enjoyed the “stick a stick in it and see what happens” approach to educational experiences.
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All great suggestions, thank you!!! I wish I had more time to spend in New Mexico now. I also read more about New Mexico clay and we might end up in Albuquerque too. There is just not enough time 
If you get into the very south of NM - Casa Verde Edit: Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings are fantastic.
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Are you perhaps thinking of Mesa Verde in the south of Colorado?
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Re Capulin Volcano range
This was a really neat thing we did going that direction one time. Sooo glad we did it. There’s great picnic areas on the way up off of that road circling the volcano (we did stop and have picnic lunch there, under grove of trees and bluebirds everywhere), then it was really neat view from the top and all the ancient volcanoes and info. Stuff we had no idea of. It was an excellent side trip.
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Yes! Got mixed up with words like Casa Grande in AZ.
Wellll…makery stuff, there’s tons of fiberarts awesomeness in New Mexico. What? You don’t do fiberarts yet? We can fix that. (C’mon in, the water’s fine. Muahaha.)
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There seems to be many more stores in New Mexico selling handicrafts than we have here.
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How about visiting the Loretto Chapel while in Santa Fe. There you will find one of the most impressive wood working projects ever, the Mystery Spiral Staircase. This is a 22 foot tall spiral staircase that was built with wood and wooden pegs, no known internal supports. It actually defies modern science investigation as to how it was built. The identity of the maker is shrouded in mystery. Check out the link for additional information. It is awesome and a must see while in Santa Fe.
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My sister thought so. She, my brother and I were going to Colorado for a couple of weeks of hiking and geocaching. Capulin was our first chance to get some altitude.
She was in the back seat and while we were going up this road with no guardrail, all she could see out the window was air. There was a pretty good shoulder on the road, but she was not able to see that. On the way down, she commented about how nervous she was. My brother and I looked at each other and said, “You ain’t seen nothing yet…”
We would later drive on some narrow mountainside trails where I was really scared. The ones where you fold your mirrors and try to squeeze past each other and if that failed, one of you had to back up to a wider spot.
But on Capulin, we hiked around the rim and saw wildlife in the crater.
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Watch sunset from the rim of Capulin. The elongating shadow cast across the surrounding plains makes for some beautiful photography.
Also highly recommend the Bisti Badlands. ~30 miles south of Farmington.
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There’s a maker space in Santa Fe - https://makesantafe.org/ - you could go check out their space!
Not very makery, but very very fun: Wild Earth Llama Adventures (llamaadventures.com) is based in Angel Fire. Their llamas are all rescues from people that thought they’d be good pets, or thought they’d make a killing in the llama wool market. We did a llama day hike with them last year and it was awesome. I still smile when I think about it.
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Oh the llamas are cool. Wow, thanks guys! So many good suggestions. I need at least an extra week in NM.
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Ha. Any llama fiber follows you home, can show you how to spin it into yarn. Then lots of things to do with string.
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My favorite website to look at when I am road tripping it Altlasobscura.com
There are just all kinds of weird and wonderful places!
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