Thursday, July 12, 2018

Colorado 2018 - Part 3

After saying our goodbyes at Camp on Saturday morning we loaded up and set off toward Santa Fe.



It was about a 4.5 hour drive and after a quick stop for lunch we were ready to check out Meow Wolf.



We'd heard about Meow Wolf in looking for things to do and see in Santa Fe and were immediately intrigued from the website...

The small mountain town of Santa Fe hides a secret straight out of science fiction. An unassuming building in the city’s industrial district is a nexus of colorful, chaotic portals that take explorers to worlds they’ve only seen in their wildest dreams.
Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return is a unique art experience featuring an astonishing new form of non-linear storytelling that unfolds through exploration, discovery and 21st century interactivity.
The House is a 20,000 square foot art exhibit designed by the Meow Wolf collective. There are dozens of rooms, secret passages and interactive light and musical objects with which guests can play for hours or investigate the mystery of the Selig family, who disappeared one night after conducting a forbidden experiment inside their Victorian mansion. Who were the Seligs? Where did they go? and why is their home overrun by figures in white lab coats?

Meow Wolf was unlike anything I've ever experienced.  It's hard to even convey through pictures/videos though because so much of it was interactive.  It was this HUGE house (inside a warehouse type building) with tons of hidden passages, art installations, etc. etc. etc.


It was REALLY busy (duh... Saturday in June) which was kind of nerve-wracking given that the place is full of secret passages, but we stuck together and explored for about 2 and a half hours.  I'll try to let the pictures speak for themselves...
























We took a break from the overstimulation of the exhibit and headed into the art studio for a little break.  It was amazing.







We colored and crafted and created for almost an hour before we headed back into the exhibit to check out a few things one more time.




Mason was absolutely in his element and is begging for an art table FULL of supplies just like this one ;)



We crawled through a fireplace to get in this "aquarium" - told you it was crazy :)




Yes... he's climbing into a dryer and when you got in you slid down into a little compartment where the walls were plexiglass (or maybe epoxy?) full of clothes and twinkle lights.  It was awesome.





There were "performers" all around - some stranger than others - but all super nice. 


When you opened the refrigerator it led to a secret passage that led into another room. 


What in the world?!?! :)


We ended our visit with a pitstop inside this giant head.  And I feel like that's a sentence I never thought I'd write :)


I've had a lot of questions about Meow Wolf... what we thought and whether or not it was worth it and to answer that I'd have to say that it depends on you and your kids.  

We loved it.  My kids weren't freaked out - but I think that's because we never talked about it like they might get freaked out.  For example, we never said anything like, "this might be a little bit scary, but..."  Instead we let them look at a few pictures ahead of time and positioned it like, "Isn't the art so cool?!?!"  They loved exploring, touching and experiencing.  Also, we didn't tell them about the "missing family mystery" aspect of it... we just went in and explored.  

After Meow Wolf we headed to our hotel for the night.

We stayed at Hotel Santa Fe and it couldn't have been nicer.



It's the only hotel in Santa Fe that's owned and operated by a native tribe and everything there was beautiful.



We stopped by the Hacienda lounge for a snack and then headed downstairs to watch some native dancers.




It was beautiful and something I'm so glad the kids had a chance to experience.





After the dancing we made our way to the plaza for some exploring and dinner.  The hotel offered a shuttle service to take you to and from wherever you wanted to go which was perfect.  We stopped by the Loretta Chapel first to check out the spiral staircase but we were there after they closed - boo!!!  The grounds were beautiful and we did have fun watching  this video later about the staircase.




We made our way over the plaza...


... and we stumbled upon Rooftop Pizza right on the plaza and it was exactly what we all needed.  Check out that bruschetta!



After a bit more exploring we headed back to the hotel for a quick swim.








Sunday morning we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel...


... packed it up and danced it out before getting on the road for our 10 hour drive home.




The drive went really smoothly until about an hour and a half away from home when we hit this...




We had to pull over for about 20 minutes because visibility was so low and it was mildly terrifying but we made it home before 8 pm which we totally counted a win!

It was a great way to end our trip and we absolutely loved Santa Fe! 

Here's a video of our quick time in Santa Fe - it should give you a better idea about Meow Wolf if you're thinking of checking it out!  Also - apparently they're building a bigger Meow Wolf in Denver and then an EVEN bigger one in Vegas... so if you're going to either of those two places is may be worth checking out as well!


Happy THURSDAY, friends!

9 comments :

  1. Andrea, I don't want these posts to end!!!!

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  2. Santa Fe looks lovely. It seems to be a hot spot this summer. Another friend posted about Meow Wolf and I was like...What??? You pictures are awesome and make me want to see it live. P.S. You have the best trip recaps! I love how real they are.

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  3. I’m pretty sure I asked three different times if you were at some kind of a rave!!! Ha! This makes so much more sense! :)

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  4. I never take video when we're out and about but I always regret it when I see your video recaps. Gonna have to change my ways on this one. Do you use special software to knit everything together?

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  5. Your Meow Wolf pictures gave me slight anxiety (ha!) but I can see where kids would love it! I've really enjoyed your CO vacation recaps- looks like such a great trip!

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  6. That was a fabulous and very interesting post! WOW! You have me totally intrigued by Meow Wolf now! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. This looks like such a fun trip! Now I need to go to Santa Fe!

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  8. Meow Wolf looks like an awesome experience.

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  9. Wow, Meow Wolf looks so cool! Definitely putting this on my bucket list to visit someday.

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