MEOW WOLF & GEORGIA O'KEEFFE : SANTA FE

My girlfriends and I drove to Santa Fe on Halloween to check out Meow Wolf and the Georgia O'keeffe Museum.

Santa Fe has been on my travel bucket list for a few year now. Mostly for one reason: MEOW WOLF. I drove down to Santa Fe with some girlfriends for Halloween (6 easy hours in the car with a Carl's Jr. stop at the half-way point). We frickin' DUG it. Not only is Santa Fe absolutely gorgeous, but it is chalked full of artist endeavors. I usually don't visit the same place twice, but I'd totally to go back again.

The order of events:
We arrived early evening on Friday night to an awesome AirBnb. This house was a quintessential Santa Fe house, equipped with a stunning indoor fireplace, arched walkways and a nice backyard against a bright blue sky. We had some wine, freshened up, and headed out to dinner at a recommended restaurant called La Choza. The restaurant was cute as heck and the bartender sent us over some chips and spicy salsa to accompany our margaritas while we waited at the bar for our table. The colors were vibrant, the music was appealing, and we were loving it. The food was...YUM. So good and cheesy, which we learned was the Santa Fe way. We had high hopes of hitting the town after dinner but...no. Santa Fe is not known for it's night life. We were disappointed and grateful at the same time to go home after a long day of travel.

The next day we were we went for a nice brunch at Tune Up Café. You should go. They have an incredible gluten-free waffle and some pretty choice chai options. We stuffed ourselves before going on a beautiful hike. There was this cool dichotomy of desert landscape and adobo architecture with the changing of the fall leaves. It was so colorful and different than anywhere I'd traveled to. We took some beautiful photos, tired out the dog, and drank the cool, fresh fall New Mexico air. 

Our next stop was the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. I had wanted to go here FOR-E-VER. I did my senior thesis at St. Kate's on O'Keeffe and have a profound love for her artwork. Her museum is stunning. Curated and special...exactly what she feels like to me. It was easy to get in and out of there in 30 minutes, which I imagine some of my friends were thankful for. I picked up a postcard for my desk of her stunning Horse's Skull with White Rose, one of my favorite paintings she did. Another place I'd recommend checking out. 

We shopped around for a few hours after the museum. The shopping is so fun in Santa Fe. I could have walked around forever in the town square. The textiles, artwork, dishware and jewelry are very honoring of the New Mexican style. I'd have loved to pick up a few home items while we were there. I do have to say...that sh*t is expensive! I mean, we found ashtrays for $800. I get it - and I appreciate it! But my postcard was all I needed.

We loved the house we rented so much that we opted for a hefty happy hour there while we put on our Halloween costumes before heading to Meow Wolf. Meow What?? You guys...MEOW WOLF. Here's the thing: if you LOVE art, creation, color, experiences, texture, and secret portals to other worlds, then Meow Wolf is for you. Being there for Halloween was extra fun as everyone in the exhibit was dressed up. 

It is honestly an overwhelming experience. Imagine yourself walking into what looks like a bowling alley, then entering a glowing tree forest, then climbing into a fireplace in a living room and arriving in the middle of a dinosaur's belly. Yeah, stuff like that. There are hundreds of rooms to explore, each leading you into something so opposite from that last that you have to ask yourself if you've gone in the right direction. Note: there is no right or wrong direction, you just...go. One of my favorite parts was opening up a dryer in a laundry room and sliding down into a little nook with couches and mirrors. It's insane and everyone should experience it. There are puzzles to be solved but we just went to check out the place. I didn't need any more stimulation than just being there.

The exhibit basically closed on us, we were there for a few hours. We actually hung out in the lobby bar chatting with the bartender for a long time before we even entered the exhibit. Afterwards, we walked over to the brewery down the road and enjoyed some cold drinks while listening to a super weird band. Since there's not much of a night life in Santa Fe, we headed home before midnight to relax and unwind.

We woke up early on Sunday and drove up to the 10,000 Waves Spa. That place is so gorgeous. We opted to hang out in the many spa pools while soaking in the fall sun.