• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Smokey Bear Historical State Park

Pay your respects to America’s firefighting bear crusader in his final resting place. 575-354-2748; www.smokeybearpark.com; 118 Smokey Bear Blvd, NM; per day $2; 9am-5pm

EAT

Casa Blanca

Dine on Southwestern cuisine and delish margaritas from a table on the pleasant patio or inside the renovated Spanish-style house. 575-257-2495; 501 Mechem Dr, Ruidoso, NM; mains $6-20; 11am-9pm

Greenhouse Café

Call for reservations, this restaurant, specializing in home-grown ingredients, is very popular with residents from around the region. 575-354-0373; 103 Lincoln St, Capitan, NM; mains $12; 11am-2pm & 5-9pm Wed-Sat & 10am-2pm Sun May–mid-Sep

Tinnie Silver Dollar Steakhouse & Saloon

A well-respected steakhouse that also does a fancy brunch. 575-653-4425; www.tinniesilverdollar.com; Tinnie, NM; mains $20-35; 4-10pm Mon-Sat, 10am-3pm Sun

SLEEP

Hurd la Rinconada Gallery & Guest Ranch

Stylish casitas on a 2500-acre art ranch. The biggest unit sleeps six. 575-653-4331; www.wyethartists.com; 105 La Rinconada, San Patricio, NM; casitas $125-250

Smokey Bear Motel

It may not offer the most original, or luxurious, rooms in the region, but it is very good value. 575-354-2253; www.smokeybearmotel.com; 315 Smokey Bear Blvd, Capitan, NM; r $50-65

USEFUL WEBSITES

www.billybyway.com

LINK YOUR TRIP www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner

TRIP

1 Four Corners Cruise

6 Gunfighters & Gold Miners

43 Out of This World

* * *

Return to beginning of chapter

Southwest by Train

* * *

WHY GO Stare blankly out your window at the plaintive desert of New Mexico and Arizona, stroll downtown Santa Fe and Flagstaff, bed down in historic hotels, and choo-choo up to the canyon on a vintage train. In an age of rising fuel costs and city sprawl, riding the rails can be easy and economical.

* * *

* * *

TIME

5 days

DISTANCE

470 miles

BEST TIME TO GO

Sep – Jun

START

Santa Fe, NM

END

Grand Canyon South Rim, AZ

ALSO GOOD FOR

* * *

Following the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, travelers rode steam trains to the Wild West. Stories of Kit Carson, photographs by Edward Curtis and paintings by Thomas Moran fueled the imagination, and Americans eagerly voyaged across the country to see the mountains and the canyons. They were, after all, young America’s cathedrals, billed as grander than the Swiss Alps and more stunning than the Sistine Chapel. While today the interstates, fast food joints and ubiquitous chain motels give easy access to the West, they take something away as well. This train trip brings back a little bit of that something.

Begin with a few days exploring Santa Fe’s historic landmarks, museums and galleries, most within walking distance of La Fonda. Built in 1922, the hotel was purchased by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in 1925 and leased to Fred Harvey. Nicknamed “the civilizer of the West,” Harvey had exclusive rights to hotels and restaurants along the rail-line west of the Mississippi, and his elegant “Harvey Hotels” played an integral role in developing tourism in the Southwest. Today, La Fonda drips Southwestern charm, Fred Harvey–style. For a less expensive option, try the El Rey Inn, a short cab ride from downtown Santa Fe.

The westbound Amtrak departs Lamy, 20 minutes south of Santa Fe and accessible via a prearranged Amtrak shuttle from your hotel, daily at 2:24pm. One-and-a-half hours later, the train arrives in Albuquerque, where vendors sell turquoise jewelry and Navajo-style blankets from the platform and new passengers board. You sit with a glass of wine as the train pulls away from the city’s outskirts, and stare out at the massive red-rock mesas and plateaus of Navajo country, your book lying open and unread in your lap. The train rolls on, through the flat desert plains of western Arizona, and, in about five hours, up into the Ponderosa surrounds of Flagstaff.

Gather your bags and hop onto the platform. It’s colder here, and even in the summer you will pull on your fleece