My wife and I are taking a long overdue vacation the week of the 10/21 to New Mexico.  I need to figure out dinner two nights in Albuquerque, and two nights in Santa Fe.  So far I have reservations at The Compound in Santa Fe, and Joseph's Table in Taos.  Other than that, I'm open to suggestions as to places to eat, things to do, and what to make sure not to miss.  I'd appreciate any suggestions.

My very favorite restaurant in Albuquerque is Sadies. Used to be in a bowling alley and now is on its own. Huge portions, but the food is awesome.

The best breakfast/brunch in Santa Fe is Cafe Pasqual's.

Ah, my home town of Albuquerque. Unfortunately, when I lived there I had a different budget and different expectations so my dining recommendations are based on just a few recent visits.

Restaurants:
Coyote Cafe or Cafe Pasqual. "315" is a bit more romantic. All three iin Santa Fe.
Ask 10 locals where to go for Mexican Food in Albq and you'll probably get 10 different answers. I like El Pinto. DO NOT go to Gardunos UNLESS your taste in Mexican Food runs more to Chevy's Fresh Mex or El Torito. In that case, Gardunos is better.

Ride the tramway up to Sandia Crest (Albq). Do it a bit before Sundown and watch the sun set over the desert while having drinks at the bar up top. The restaurant up top is great for the view, but unless they have changed, food is mediocre. Ride the tram down after sunset and go to dinner someplace else.

Do you like birds and/or wildlife. Drive down the Rio Grande 20 minutes or so from Albq and visit Bosque del Apache. Thousands of migratory waterfowl should be there this time of year.

Ask around about the Aspens. My folks were up in the mountains above Santa Fe last week and the colors were fantastic. You may by now have to go further north.

Los Alamos is a great tour of things that go boom. It also caps off a beautiful drive. Drive north from Albq, turn off at Bernalillo and go northwest around and through the Jemez mountains and back around approaching Los Alamos and Santa Fe from the Northwest. If you have time stop at the Bandolier cave dwellings. You could do any part of that trip to shorten it to a half day.

Or you can just shop.

Have fun.

Unfortunately the trip is off.  My wife fell yesterday and broke her ankle and tore the ligiments.  She will have surgery next week and I don't see that we will be able to go as she will not be mobile for a while.

Wow, that's tough. Sorry to hear that din. Something similar happened to PURPLE and myself while on vacation and playing golf. Fortunately she didn't break it but she was on crutches for a while.

Randy,

Thanks for the suggestions, I wish we were going to be able to take advantage.  Well maybe after she gets better.  I did want to say that I did order some of the Match, just that I piggybacked on a friends order so we could take advantage of the free shipping.  This is the second year in a row that I've done it, I hope you don't mind.

Dinwiddie,

Sorry to hear about your wife and hope she's back to chasing you back in line soon.

No problem piggy backing... you're probably both benefitting from the increased discount but if ever one of you decides to drop out, let me know and we'll straighten it out so that you can still get the repeat customer discount that you deserve.