Come for the Education, Stay for a Vacation!
2010 IRES Career Development Seminar (CDS)
This year's annual CDS will be held August 29-31, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Plan now to join us for another outstanding educational program and take this opportunity to stay for a vacation in America's Land of Enchantment — New Mexico!
Steeped in a rich and vibrant history, the City of Albuquerque is truly one of the most culturally diverse cities in the United States reflecting the convergence of Native American, Hispanic, Latino and Anglo influences. Established in 1706, Albuquerque is home to over 70 different ethnicities!
Considered the epicenter of Southwestern culture, Albuquerque's architecture, museums, cultural centers, arts, shopping, and food reflect a truly destination city. Albuquerque is also one of the sunniest cities in the United States boasting an amazing 315 days of sunshine per year.
Want to get out of the city? Use the CDS as a spring board for exploring the Southwestern region of the United States. Take a drive on historic Route 66, explore the many national parks, or visit the top of the Sandia Mountains on the Sandia Peak Tramway.
Whether you want to stay local or explore a new frontier, there is sure to be plenty for you to do on vacation in and around Albuquerque. Not sure where to start? Here is a list of some of the many things to do and see in Albuquerque and its surrounding area to help you get started on planning your Southwestern adventure.
Museums
There are over 30 museums in the City of Albuquerque and the surrounding area — from traditional art museums to historical museums to a museum dedicated to rattlesnakes!
Nature Centers, Zoo and Aquarium
There are several nature centers such as the Rio Grande Zoo, the Rio Grande Botanic Garden, and the Albuquerque Aquarium. In fact, the zoo just celebrated the recent arrival of two primates - a new baby Howler Monkey, who hasn't been named yet, and a 23 year old chimpanzee named Julie.
 Folklorico Dancing In front of the San Felipe de Neri Church in Old Town Credit: www.itsatrip.org
"Over the top" describes Albuquerque's sporting activities, from hiking to skiing to golf to hot air ballooning — all take advantage of the beautiful sunshine and vistas.
Old Town
Just one of the fun shopping adventures located just minutes from the hotel; Old Town is the heart of Albuquerque culture and boasts more than 100 shops, restaurants and nightclubs. Nob Hill and the new ABQ Uptown showcase Albuquerque's trendy, upscale vibe.
ABQ Trolley Co.
Uniquely Albuquerque, the trolley is one way to see Albuquerque and will get you to old town. They also offer tours.
Restaurants and Nightlife
Foodies and non-foodies alike will reveal in the Southwestern style made famous (and some say, best) in cities like Albuquerque. Cheap eats to gourmet delights.
Bubonicon 42: Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention
O.K. all of you Trekkies, vampire wannabies and druids, the 42nd Annual New Mexico Bubonicon is coming to Albuquerque August 27-29, 2010.
 Bandelier National MonumentCredit: New Mexico Tourism Department, Dan Monaghan
The Rail Runner is the train that runs from south of Albuquerque to Santa Fe with stops on the way. It will get you from Belen to Santa Fe and every where in between, including from the airport to downtown Albuquerque right near the CDS hotel.
Bandelier National Monument
An Indian ruin just north of Santa Fe, it encompasses 33,000 acres of scenic views with its sloped mesas and steep-walled canyons of over 10,000 feet at Cerro Grande to just over 5,000 feet at the Rio Grande.
Mesa Verde National Park
The ultimate in pueblo ruins, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years. Today, the park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States.
Grand Canyon National Park
Just a six hour drive from Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon offers powerful and inspiring landscape and breathtaking view. It overwhelms our senses through its immense size.
 Carlsbad Caverns National ParkCredit: New Mexico Tourism Department, Dan Monaghan
Walnut Canyon give you the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of people who lived at Walnut Canyon more than 700 years ago — peer into their homes, cliff dwellings built deep within canyon walls. The presence of water in a dry land made the canyon rare and valuable to its early human inhabitants and little has changed since.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Carlsbad Caverns National Park contains 117 of caves, formed when sulfuric acid dissolved the surrounding limestone, creating some of the largest caves in North America.
White Sands National Monument
White Sands National Monument is one of the world's great natural wonders — the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Located near the Carlsbad Caverns, it offers great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand that have engulfed 275 square miles of desert to create the world's largest gypsum dune field.
 Petroglyph National MonumentMore than 17,000 ancient rock carvings on five extinct volcanoes Credit: Petroglyph National Monument
Located in Albuquerque, the Petroglyph National Monument protects a variety of cultural and natural resources including volcanoes, archeological sites and an estimated 20,000 carved images ranging from animals, people, brands and crosses to more complex images.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
The Chaco was a hub of ceremony, trade, and administration from AD 850 to 1250. It is remarkable for its multi-storied public buildings, ceremonial buildings, and distinctive architecture which required considerable planning, designing, organizing of labor, and engineering to construct. The Chacoan people combined many elements: pre-planned architectural designs, astronomical alignments, geometry, landscaping, and engineering to create an ancient urban center of spectacular public architecture—one that still awes and inspires us a thousand years later.
Wupatki National Monument
The ruins at Wupatki National Monument are just outside of Flagstaff and on the way to the Grand Canyon. Less than 800 years ago, Wupatki Pueblo was the largest pueblo around. It flourished for a time as a meeting place of different cultures. Yet this was one of the warmest and driest places on the Colorado Plateau, offering little obvious food, water, or comfort. How and why did people live here? The builders of Wupatki and nearby pueblos have moved on, but their legacy remains.
Petrified Forest National Park
The Petrified Forest National Park has one of the world's largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, multi-hued badlands of the Painted Desert, historic structures, archeological sites, native grassland, and displays of over 200-million-year-old fossils.
 Sandia Peak Aerial TramwayThe tram at dusk with a spectacular Albuquerque sunset Credit: Jay Blackwood
Located in Southern Colorado the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is only a four hour drive from Albuquerque. It has a little something for everyone. Hike, slide or explore in a dunes wheelchair the tallest dunes in North America. Explore the mountain watershed of the Great Sand Dunes with its rugged 13,000' summits, alpine lakes, tundra, and ancient forests. Or explore the grasslands, shrublands and wetlands that surround Great Sand Dunes on three sides.
Sandia Peak Tramway
Located on the eastern edge of Albuquerque in the Sandia Foothills, the Sandia Peak Tramway — the world's longest aerial tramway — takes you above deep canyons and breathtaking terrain a distance of 2.7 miles. Take in the spectacular panoramic view of the Rio Grande Valley and the Land of Enchantment from the observation deck atop 10,378 foot Sandia Peak.
Meteor Crater
Meteor Crater — just outside of Flagstaff and on the way to the Grand Canyon — is the world's best preserved meteorite impact site. Created was the result of a collision between a piece of an asteroid traveling at 26,000 miles per hour and planet Earth approximately 50,000 years ago. Today, Meteor Crater is nearly one mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more than 550 feet deep. It is an international tourist venue with outdoor observation trails, air conditioned indoor viewing, wide screen movie theater, interactive discovery center, unique gift and rock shop, and Astronaut Memorial Park.
Ancient Acoma Pueblo — Sky City Cultural Center and Museum
Acoma Pueblo's Sky City is situated on a 370 foot high mesa. It is the homeland for the Acoma people and has 300 homes and structures on the mesa which are owned by Acoma women and are passed down in their families.
The Pueblo of Zuni
The Zuni Pueblo is nestled in a scenic valley, surrounded by the enchanting mesas, located about 150 miles west of Albuquerque.
Monument Valley
Located between the Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde, Monument Valley provides perhaps the most enduring and definitive images of the American West. The isolated red mesas and buttes surrounded by empty, sandy desert have been filmed and photographed countless times over the years for movies, adverts and holiday brochures.
Painted Desert Arizona
The Painted Desert — named for the multitude of colors ranging from lavenders to shades of gray with vibrant colors of red, orange and pink — encompasses over 93,500 acres and stretches over 160 miles. It is a long expanse of badland hills and buttes and although barren and austere, it is a beautiful landscape of a rainbow of colors.
Taos
Taos — an artist's colony with a 400-year old Spanish heritage and 1000-year old American Indian culture — is a unique community of regional foods, arts, festivals, and lifestyles. Taos has many festivals throughout the year celebrating Hispanic traditions, art fairs, music festivals, American Indian ceremonial dances, and yuletide events. It is also a year-round recreation destination — with a myriad of adventures including hiking, trout fishing and mountain biking in the summer and fall.
Did not find what you were looking for? Learn more about what there is to do in Albuquerque and the surrounding area by visiting the official websites of the:
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