u/Simple-Lifeguard-303

Background: Husband I are giant D&D nerds (42/40). We’ve wanted to go to New Mexico for ages to see some of the natural scenery. We are taking my nephew (18M) on a short New Mexico trip as a graduation gift because he wants to see meow wolf. My nephew is also a nerd, but his things are Godzilla, Anime, and Video games. Here is our planned itinerary. I want it to be scalable in case someone gets tired but I’m trying to fill it with lots of little weird experiences and enough downtime to not feel crammed. Is there anything I’m missing here?

Day 1

Fly into Albuquerque in the early evening.

Sandia Peak Tramway for Sunset/Dusk

66 diner for dinner

Stay wherever

Day 2

Drive the Turquoise trail to Santa Fe

Drive out to Bandelier National Monument

Dinner wherever (The Shed if the wait is reasonable)

Evening/Sunset 10000 waves (I know it's overpriced, but I can't resist)

Stay at Hotel Glorieta (it’s cheap enough to justify 2 rooms and the views seem nice)

Day 3

Kakawa Chocolate house

Meow Wolf

Evening to chill at the hotel

Wherever for dinner (cowgirl’s BBQ?)

Stay at Hotel Glorieta

Day 4

Valles Caldera

Drive home by Jemez mountain trail national byway

Dinner at Dion’s pizza in Alburque

Stay at the Drury Inn and Suites

Day 5

Fly home.

EDIT:

Please keep the food suggestions coming! No way will we be able to try them all but I LOVE hearing from you guys what restaurants we should or shouldn't try and I like traveling with a big, open list.

Thank you so much to the good people of New Mexico. You really delivered in making suggestions to make this a great trip.

I've made a couple of changes to our itinerary. It should be noted my nephew gets bored walking around exploring cities, so I don't have a ton of that in this trip.

Day 1

Fly into Albuquerque in the early evening. (530ish)

Sandia Peak Tramway for Sunset/Dusk (we have a reservation between 5 and 8. if we miss sunset and have to do a night tram, we'll live)

~~66 diner for dinner~~

Dinner wherever (weighing options)

~~Stay wherever~~

Staying at the Wyndham

Day 2

~~Drive the Turquoise trail to Santa Fe~~

Drive out to Bandelier National Monument

Dinner wherever pending time.

Evening/Sunset 10000 waves

(we have a 7pm reservation for Ichiban. Which will be nice because my husband and I can have one pool while my nephew has another. This was the only evening reservation I could find. if we leave Bandelier at 4pm, we should have no problem making it).

Stay at Hotel Glorieta (it’s cheap enough to justify 2 rooms and the views seem nice)

Day 3

Kakawa Chocolate house

Meow Wolf

Afternoon/Evening to chill at the hotel/Explore the city

Wherever for dinner (love the suggestions)