Those of you who frequently visit Santa Fe know the trick – as soon as possible after your arrival, grab a copy of the Santa Fe Reporter from a newsstand (they’re all over town and they’re FREE) to see what’s happening this week in Santa Fe.  However, if you’re a newbie and don’t know this trick, take our advice. Whether you’re looking for great music in a local bar, gallery openings, political rants or a review of a food truck, Santa Fe Reporter always does it right.

My last dinner at La Choza. I concur – this is the best Mexican restaurant in town!

And they’re really outdone themselves this time with their analysis of Food and Dining:  Best of Santa Fe. There’s a listing for the Best New Restaurant (Swiss Bakery Pastries & Bistro, which I visited last week.  I concur. . .), Best New Mexican Restaurant (La Choza, of course, although Wendy may have another suggestion. ..), Best Red Chile, Best Green Chile, Best Food Truck, Best Breakfast Burrito, Most Affordable, Best Margaritas, Best Breakfast or Brunch. . .you get the picture.

If you’re in Santa Fe and you’re planning to eat (which would be why many of us show up), you have to check out the Reporter’s Best of Santa Fe article. And then tell us what you think after you’ve tried a few of their recommendations.

If you need a place to sleep off that huge, delicious meal, call Wendy at Two Casitas.  She’ll find you a place just down the street from your favorite eatery.

See you in Santa Fe!

Ah, luxury.  We all love it, and we all crave it from time to time. Traveling to Santa Fe is a treat in itself, but add to that the luxury of an amazing home above Canyon Road, and you’ll be surprised at how easily you adjust to living like a rock star.

I recently had out of town guests who needed a place to stay for three nights. They were some of my oldest friends traveling with their college-age son, and I wanted to give them an extra special treat. So, of course, I called Wendy at Two Casitas and asked for something fabulous. She put them in the Hummingbird.

The Hummingbird is in the perfect Eastside Santa Fe location.  It’s at 1130 Camino Delora, two blocks south of Canyon Road and Monsignor Patrick Smith Park. It sits on a hillside and is surrounded by spectacular mountain views to the north, east and west. We sat on the patio with a bottle of wine and watched the sunset over the Jemez Mountains before going indoors to light a fire in the kiva fireplace in the living area (one of three kiva fireplaces in the home).  After dark, the views were equally stunning, with the city of Santa Fe spread out below us.  I kept thinking what a romantic setting this would be for a honeymooning or vacationing couple.

If you’re looking for space, there’s plenty of room for family to gather around the large dining table.  The master suite has a king bed, its own kiva fireplace and a newly remodeled bathroom with a big tub for soaking and a separate tiled walk-in shower with a steam unit.  The guest room is charming and comfortable with yet ANOTHER kiva fireplace.

Need extra beds?  The library has a daybed with a trundle that can accommodate even more guests.

And the kitchen?  Gorgeous with Talavera tile and stainless appliances and even more of the view. . .

I’m thinking this would be a great place to spend a special holiday weekend, like Memorial Day, Labor Day, or best of all, Thanksgiving.  You could always walk down to Canyon Road and grab a meal at El Farol, Geromino, or The Compound.  Tea at The Teahouse?  Or maybe just a relaxing stroll to your favorite gallery, like The Waxlander.

All Two Casitas homes are comfortable and inviting, but the Hummingbird is something truly special.  As the website says, “This house is simply a piece of heaven that you will return to year after year.”

Treat yourself to something amazing.  Spend a few nights in the Hummingbird. You will not be disappointed!

Lensic Theater Interior

If you’re visiting Santa Fe anytime soon, you’re going to want to know what’s happening.  Performances at the Lensic, music at local watering holes, gallery openings, exhibitions, festivals on the Plaza, even hikes at the Randall Davey Audubon Center & Sanctuary.  Visiting Santa Fe is an incredible experience and gives you something new every time, but if you want to get a handle on events, we suggest you go straight to santafe.com.

Randall Davey Center

SantaFe.com has info on events that are happening right now, or if you’re planning a vacation in June, they have specific suggestions for that time period.  You can also check out Santafe.org.  It’s the Convention & Visitor’s Bureau’s website and they have great detail on events.  It just takes a couple more clicks to find their event calendar.  Luckily we’ve provided the link here.

For example, at the Lensic, you can catch the Trey McIntyre Project, Darius Brubeck, or the Santa Fe Symphony in the next couple of months.  Santa Fe Opera season is just around the corner, with this year’s playlist including The Marriage of Figaro and La Traviata together with the world premier of Oscar.  Oscar is composer Theodore Morrison’s opera based on the life of Oscar Wilde.

Santa Fe Opera

And there’s the Santa Fe Playhouse, the longest-running playhouse west of the Mississippi.  The Playhouse was founded by author/poet Mary Austin in 1922.  They’re just finishing up “Buried Child” by Sam Sheppard, with a Playhouse Children’s Theatre Production of Hansel & Gretel coming up in May.  We love the Santa Fe Playhouse, and I can honestly say I’ve never left there without saying, “That show was amazing!”

If music and theatre aren’t up your alley, you’ll find plenty of tours, instructional workshops (Santa Fe Cooking School?  Santa Fe Creative Tourism where you can take classes ranging from a Wild Horse Photography Workshop to Digital Filmmaking to Sketching and Painting Santa Fe?), hikes, and lectures on everything from the Civil War in New Mexico to finding your inner peace.  Just check out either of the suggested sites and create a schedule including a couple of events to make your visit memorable.  Or sit back on the patio at the Ore House or the Cowgirl or the Inn at the Anasazi or La Casa Sena and do nothing more ambitious than soaking up the New Mexico sunshine.

We always want your Santa Fe vacation to be something stellar.  We don’t want you arriving without a clue about what to do and where to go.  Yes, there’s tons of sightseeing and shopping opportunities, but be sure you don’t miss the very unique events on the calendars of both these sites.

And of course, we hope you’ll stay with us at Two Casitas.  There’s no better place to live like a local than one of Wendy Kapp’s properties, almost of all of which are situated within walking distance to the Santa Fe Plaza and the Railyard District.  See you soon!

Love that cobalt tile in the Luna’s kitchen!

I wrote about this property in December 2011, but wanted to take a minute to remind everyone that THIS house is in an amazing location.  Now that I live just down the street from the Luna and have had the chance to explore the Railyard, I’m recommending that everyone consider staying here!

Front view of the Luna

Let me tell you something about hanging out in Santa Fe.  It’s always fun. And when you can stay a short walk from The Cowgirl BBQ, Sanbusco Center, The Zia Diner, Ristra Restaurant, the Guadalupe Chapel (El Santuario de Guadalupe), Second Street Brewery and Tomasita’s, it’s amazing.

Living Area of the Luna

Add a few blocks of walking, and you can be at the Santa Fe Plaza within minutes.  I know.  I walked down to the Santa Fe Library yesterday afternoon in the Spring sunshine, ended up sitting on a bench on the Plaza for a while, and then had beer and pizza on a balcony overlooking the Plaza at Marble Brewery and Tap Room.

Master Bedroom of the Luna

So, staying in a beautiful home in Santa Fe is one thing.  Getting to get out and enjoy amazing weather and walk to wherever your heart desires is another.

Dinind room of the Luna

Don’t want to leave your gorgeous Santa Fe Two Casitas home?  Stick around and enjoy the wide portal or the coyote fenced backyard at the Luna.

Master Bath of the Luna – love that tile!

Wendy is a master at finding the exactly right place for you to stay in Santa Fe.  Need less room? She has efficiencies and one-bedrooms.  Need a place for a crowd?  She has several options, including properties that can be combined to provide room for your entire crew.

When I called Wendy about staying somewhere close in, she put six of us in the Luna, located at 628 Don Felix in Santa Fe.  It’s a 100 year-old adobe home tucked in a neighborhood just behind the Railyard off of Agua Fria.  High fences with a private front patio/courtyard (loved that front gate) and plenty of on-street parking (a luxury in Santa Fe) .

Hallway – complete with built-in buffet and bookcases (loaded with board games and great books)

Hardwood floors, kiva fireplace (which we used every night we were there), cobalt blue tile in the kitchen, beautiful built-ins in the hallway and the dining rooms, a king bed in one bedroom, queen bed in another and one room with twins.  That’s what our house had physically, and it all looked good.

Second bedroom with queen bed – this is where I slept. Very quiet and comfy!

But the better thing about this house was how it felt. . .it was cozy and comfy and it felt friendly and happy.

Third bedroom where the skiing kids slept

This is a great house and I loved how comfortable it was and how it felt.  Staying in a home is a vast improvement over traveling and staying in a hotel.  I’m an early riser, so I could get up without disturbing everyone in the room, make coffee, get my laptop out in the living room, and work in peace and quiet.  Maybe stir the ashes in the fireplace and get the fire going again.  That’s how I like to spend my early mornings in Santa Fe, and staying in one of Wendy’s houses gives me that relaxed method of starting my day.

It also gives everyone a great place to crash in the evenings.  There was some really good visiting in that living room with the fire going every night.  Which wouldn’t have occurred if we were all in a hotel in separate rooms. . .

I’m a huge fan of Two Casitas.  I highly recommend Wendy and her properties.  Her customer service and the homes she manages can’t be beat by anyone else in the city.

We frequently post links on this blog to Santa Fe Travelers, simply because they’re continually on the move, finding the best that Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico has to offer both the newbie and the seasoned traveler to our area.  And in one of their recent posts, they’ve outdone themselves with a review of Albuquerque food writer Andrea Feucht’s just-released book,Food Lovers Guide to Santa Fe, Albuquerque & Taos (Globe Pequot 2013).

When guests come to visit me in Santa Fe, the first question out of their mouth is “Where are we having dinner?”  They know already that one of the joys of living in and visiting Santa Fe is the amazing array of restaurant and menu choices.  Whether you’re looking for authentic New Mexican food (I’m on a lifelong search for the best carne adovada in the world) or fine dining and international cuisine, we have it here.  In dozens of locations.  So many that after living here for a year, I’m still finding new favorites.  Every single week.

Check out Santa Fe Travelers’ post.  Check out the book. And then, check out the crazy but fabulous choices offered by Feucht. There’s nothing like the food here!

Post link:  http://www.santafetravelers.com/food-thoughts/the-indispensaible-food-lovers-guide-to-albuquerque-santa-fe-and-taos/

This is a repost from 2012, but the information is still very timely.  If the past year has proven to be difficult, or if you’re just needing a new perspective or a spiritual awakening of sorts, walking to Chimayo on Good Friday (March 29) may be just what you need to restore your soul.  Pilgrims from all over the world will test their faith and humility, some of them by walking barefoot, some of them by carrying crosses, some of them in groups and some of them on solitary missions.  And they’ll all be headed for El Santuario de Chimayo. It’s a tradition as old as the world, the pilgrimage to El Santuario de Chimayo.  El Santuario is considered one of the most important and heavily traveled pilgrimage sites in the world, with as many as 40,000 people converging on the church by Saturday afternoon of Easter Weekend.  The Holy Week brings the faithful from around the world to Chimayo

The New Mexico Tourism site says it better than I can:

“During Holy Week thousands of pilgrims journey to El Santuario de Chimayó, a tiny shrine in northern New Mexico. They leave from their homes, or their cars parked on the roadside, to walk 10, 20, 30, or even 100 miles to reach Chimayo. In the darkness before Good Friday, pilgrims line the highways north of Santa Fe carrying crosses and glow sticks. By Easter Sunday tens of thousands of worshipers pass through the doors of the little chapel, built almost 200 years ago on a site that is sacred to many Pueblo Indians and descendants of Spanish settlers.”

As legend has it, sometime around 1810, a Chimayo friar saw a light flashing from a hillside while performing penances.  ”Digging, he found a crucifix, quickly dubbed the miraculous crucifix of Our Lord of Esquipulas. A local priest brought the crucifix to Santa Cruz, but three times it disappeared and was later found back in its hole. By the third time, everyone understood that El Senor de Esquipulas wanted to remain in Chimayó, and so a small chapel was built on the site. Then the miraculous healings began. These grew so numerous that the chapel had to be replaced by the larger, current Chimayó Shrine — an adobe mission — in 1816.

The holy dirt from the sacristy is believed to have healing powers

Believed to be built on sacred earth with miraculous healing powers, the legendary shrine El Santuario de Chimayó, is probably the most visited church in New Mexico. The crucifix which began the original shrine still resides on the chapel alter, but for some reason its curative powers have been overshadowed by El Posito, the “sacred sand pit” from which it sprang. Each year during Holy Week thousands of people make a pilgrimage to Chimayó to visit the Santuario and take away a bit of the sacred dirt. Pilgrims walk a few yards or a hundred miles. Many claim to have been cured there of diseases, infirmities and unhappiness. The walls of the sacristy are hung with discarded crutches and before-and-after photographs as evidence of the healing.” (NM Tourism Website)

I located this video created by Santa Fe Photographer, Julien McRoberts.  If you’re not familiar with the event, take a minute to see what it’s all about:  Pilgrimage to Chimayo, New Mexico

Wendy Kapp of Two Casitas has done the Pilgrimage from Santa Fe several times and I’m hoping to do it this year.  Regardless of your faith or background, a visit to Chimayo on this holiest of weekends can only be, at the very least magical, and at the most, spiritually cleansing and awakening.

Living Area of the Kiva, a Two Casitas Property

As always, if you’re thinking of joining those tens of thousands of pilgrims, you’re more than welcome to stay at Two Casitas.  You can stay at the Kiva on Galisteo Street, only a stone’s throw from the Santa Fe Plaza and one of the more traditional adobes in Wendy’s inventory.

Have no plans for Easter?  Join New Mexico and the world’s faithful and create an entirely new tradition for yourself.  We think you’ll be glad you did.

Kiss Me – That’s All by Phyllis Kapp, Wendy’s Mom. View this and more by Phyllis at Waxlander Gallery

Artist or art collector?  Whichever you claim to be, Santa Fe is the place to spend a weekend, or if you’re lucky, a lifetime, making art.  Or collecting it.  Santa Fe, despite its small population (68,000) is the fourth largest art market in the United States behind New York, L.A. and San Francisco.

If you’re an artist, whether accomplished or aspiring, you’ll be drawn to the amazingly blue and seemingly endless sky as well as the austerely stunning landscape of both desert and mountains.  You’ll want to attend one of the dozens of workshops held at Santa Fe Creative Tourism, where offerings from abstract art to glass fusion to watercolors abound.  Spend a week learning film and video techniques with Santa Fe Photography Workshops.  Or just set your easel up on a street corner and catch the unending human stage that is Santa Fe on any day of the week.

It’s Canyon Road – art exists everywhere!

If you’re a collector, you’ll find some of the nation’s top galleries on both Canyon Road and surrounding the Santa Fe Plaza.  The Georgia O’Keefe Museum offers a rotating schedule of exhibits that will keep you coming back for more.  Through the end of May, 2013, catch Annie Leibovitz’s Pilgrimage at the O’Keefe.  The New Mexico Art Museum is currently featuring several fascinating exhibits, including “It’s about time – 14,000 years of art in New Mexico.”  While you can’t purchase these works for your private collection, you can whet your appetite for a broader art palette by spending a day there.

Did we already mention Canyon Road?  It bears a second look.  With over 100 galleries, boutiques and restaurants in the first half mile alone, you can spend several days wandering Canyon Road and never see the same work of art twice. You can even rent a vacation rental from Two Casitas that puts you right at the center of Canyon Road’s action.

Pink Adobe Courtyard

And if art isn’t your thing, Santa Fe has a myriad of offerings for every visitor.  Restaurants like The Coyote Café, where Mark Miller started New Southwest Cuisine over 20 years ago, or the Pink Adobe, where Rosalea Murphy started serving her famous apple pie and green chile in 1944, are on every corner.  You don’t have to look far to find the perfect meal, many of which are their own works of art.

And then there’s the architecture.  The Palace of the Governors on the north side of the Santa Fe Plaza is the oldest continuously used public building in the country, and it is a work on art in its own right while providing shade to Native American artists selling their wares under its portal.  Santa Fe’s churches range from the San Miguel Mission (the nation’s oldest standing Catholic Church) built in 1610 to the St. Francis Cathedral, a Romanesque Cathedral that rivals any European church in both size and beauty.

Love Art?  We have it in abundance in Santa Fe, whether you’re thinking canvas or landscape or architecture or just rich human experience.

Sometimes you just have to tout the amazing place where you live.  And where you hope everyone will visit.  That’s how we came up with this post.

Canyon Road, Christmas Eve

Santa Fe. It’s the place where you can indulge every whim, whether it’s spending Christmas Eve wandering Canyon Road galleries, amidst farolitos and little bonfires while a light snow dusts adobe walls, or dancing to local musicians on the Plaza on a summer evening.  It’s Saturday morning strolling the popular Farmer’s Market at the Santa Fe Railyard, picking through heirloom tomatoes and freshly roasted green chile.

Santa Fe Farmer’s Market

It’s outdoor fun – hitting the slopes at Ski Santa Fe, hiking Hyde Park or the Pecos Wilderness, visiting the dog park with views of the Sangre de Cristos and Jemez Mountains, river rafting the Rio Grande or Rio Chama Rivers.   It’s a breathtaking sunset from your seat at the open-air Santa Fe Opera or a relaxing evening at the historic Lensic Theater, watching performances from the Santa Fe Symphony or the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet to Americana artists like Rodney Crowell.

It’s one evening of upscale eating in places like The Compound, Geronimo or La Casa Sena and then another evening of hitting local hot spots like The Cowgirl BBQ, Del Charro and Second Street Brewery, where you can get a healthy dose of green or red chile in almost every dish.  It’s breakfast at Pasqual’s or Tia Sophia’s or Tecolote Café, mulling over the hard choices of huevos rancheros or a breakfast burrito after your luxurious evening of sitting around the kiva fireplace in a home, provided by Two Casitas Vacation Rentals.

Breakfast at Pasqual’s

And then there’s the shopping.  Whether you’re drawn to the Native American artists under the portal at the Palace of the Governors, the luxury of Lucchese, Santa Fe Dry Goods, Overland Sheepskin Company or even Ortega’s on the Plaza, you’ll find the perfect gift for someone at home.  Or better yet, for yourself.

And spas.  From the open tubs at Ten Thousand Waves to the full service Body or the luxury of Bishop’s Lodge, there are dozens of places to indulge your need for total relaxation and pampering.

Did we mention museums?  The Georgia O’Keefe, New Mexico Museum of Art and the New Mexico History Museum, right off the Plaza.  Or Museum Hill with the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, and the ever amazing and entertaining Museum of International Folk Art.

St. Francis Cathedral

Do you like churches?  Northern New Mexico, known for the historically rich and architecturally unique churches boasts El Santuario de Chimayo, a healing site where dirt from a back room of the church can heal physical and spiritual ills, considered the most important Catholic pilgrimage center in the U.S. There’s the St. Francis Cathedral, a beautiful Romanesque Revival architectural marvel, built by Archbishop Lamy.  Or Loretto Chapel, home of the miraculous staircase some believe to have been constructed by St. Joseph himself.

Santa Fe is all this and more.  It is luxury and playfulness, beauty and rugged outdoors, a black tie or hiking and cowboy boots town where you’ll find exactly the activity, food and fun that suit you.  Come see us soon!

Ski Santa Fe! Those three words conjure up visions of fresh powder and green chile cheeseburgers for lunch at Totemoff’s , the restaurant halfway up the slopes.  With an average of 225 inches of snowfall per year, 660 acres and 77 trails, Ski Santa Fe has runs for every level skier.  At an elevation of 12,075 and 1,725 vertical feet of skiing, the longest run clocks in at just three miles.

And it’s convenient.  Only 16 miles from downtown Santa Fe, it’s the perfect place to spend the day, and if you’re traveling with non-skiers, you can leave them shopping on the Plaza or warming up by the fire in your Two Casitas property while you run to the mountain to whet your appetite for an afternoon in the sun.

I drove up the mountain this past weekend to see how things were looking, and to enjoy the incredible scenery that a trip up Hyde Park Road affords.  Once again, the views around each corner were breathtaking, and when I arrived at the ski area, I found that La Casa Lodge, the base area lodge, looked different from when I was here a couple of years ago.  They’ve undergone a 12,000 square foot addition and the upper level food court has some great new choices.  I tried the Pizza and Pasta Bar, but could have just as easily had a steaming bowl of green chile stew (perfect after a morning of boarding or skiing).  The food was hearty, the service friendly, and I was very sorry that I hadn’t packed my skis and boots – the sunshine and snow were inviting, to say the least

New Mexico ski season offers just that – lots of sunshine and snow that invite you to spend a day outdoors testing your mettle against the mountain. And a full day lift ticket at Ski Santa Fe is competitively priced – $66 for adults, $50 for teens, $46 for children and seniors.

Never skied?  For $85 you can get rentals AND two group lessons, which is a screaming deal and a great way to get yourself oriented to skis.  The same deal is available to boarders for $95.  Just need a refresher?  Group lessons are $45 (which I’ll need next time around – I’m feeling VERY rusty).

Its fun, the scenery is amazing, and there’s no better way to spend time with your family.  Make some memories this winter with a few days at Ski Santa Fe.

And of course, we’d love to have to spend your après ski hours in a Two Casitas home. Whether you’re traveling in a group or with one other ski fan, we have over 30 homes, one of which will surely fit your budget and your needs.  Two Casitas gives you a comfortable home to return to after a day on the slopes – we’d love to have you and your skis for the weekend!

At Two Casitas, we obviously love Santa Fe.  We’ve made it our bread and butter, providing luxury vacation homes for countless visitors to the City Different.  We want everyone to have an authentic Santa Fe experience.  And if you ask us, the early months of each year are the perfect time to hang with the locals and get a true taste of what it means to live here full time.

It’s that time of year again, with January, February and March being those magical winter months when you’re presented with the chance to beat the summer crowds and hang out with the locals.

The other aspect of staying at Two Casitas that we pride ourselves on is that all of our properties are within walking distance to Santa Fe’s hottest venues.  We’re walkers and hikers, and we think your Santa Fe trip will only be enhanced by staying someplace where you can walk around the corner to an art gallery on Canyon Road, a great coffeehouse on Garcia Street, a bookstore downtown, a local bar with great margaritas or Bloody Marys, or the Plaza.

Want someplace incredibly quiet but charming for a romantic getaway in the next few weeks?  Let me tell you about the last Two Casitas property in which I stayed.  It was all of the things I’ve described above- authentic, magical, within walking distance to everything (only ONE block to Canyon Road, and five to the Plaza), just around the corner from the Downtown Subscription (local coffeehouse), charming (love that colorful kiva fireplace), and cozy.  For good measure, it was also just steps away from Garcia Street Books, one of my favorite local bookstores filled with regional works.

Casita Bonita, an historic Santa Fe adobe that’s almost 150 years old, is hidden behind an antique gate – you’d never know it was there unless you were specifically searching for it.  Located at 509 Acequia Madre, with hardwood floors, skylights, vigas and a colorful kiva fireplace in a living area that opens up onto a private enclosed patio, this is a great home to wake up in.  And a great place to relax in front of the fire with a glass of wine after a relaxing stroll downtown.  If you’re bringing guests, the living area has a queen sleeper sofa.

Located on the original Acequia Madre (“mother ditch”), Casita Bonita sits in the middle of one of the most highly sought-after property areas in Santa Fe.  Acequias were the primary methods for delivering water to residents in Santa Fe, and this one is still used at times for farming and gardening.

Casita Bonita was extremely quiet and comfortable the two nights I stayed there and I loved the privacy.  It was amazing to step outside the gate and find myself in the very center of Santa Fe local living.

I’ll be recommending Casita Bonita to all my friends – romantic, fabulously located, luxurious while being historic – all the best reasons to visit Santa Fe.