Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Arizona
In May we will be staying at this world famous resort/spa tucked in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona.
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In May we will be staying at this world famous resort/spa tucked in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona.
Set in the foothills of Santa Fe, New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains lies the Encantado Resort and Spa.
Proudly, the Encantado Resort and Spa, an Auberge Resort, can boast to the fact that they are New Mexico’s first and only AAA 5 Diamond resort. Putting another feather in their cap, Condé Naste Traveler has also just listed them on their 13th annual Hot List!
Encantado is located about 10 minutes outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. From the moment that we pulled up to the valet stand, we could tell why this resort has received all of the accolades. Instantly, the staff jumped to our attention, made us feel like royalty, and made is very clear that they were excited to have us visiting their property.
We were whisked into the beautiful lobby, greeted by a radiant smile at the registration desk, and after an expeditious check-in our host beamed that her new husband, who also worked at the resort, and was standing at attention behind us, would be ushering us to our private casita.
First impressions are critical, and the Encantado Resort and Spa scored high points in this area.
As we began to get settled into our casita, we heard a knock on the door and much to our surprise we were greeted with an ice cold bottle of champagne compliments of the hotel manager. Nice Touch!
We began to unpack our belongings and made notice that everything that one would desire, from a world class resort, was present and accounted for. Clearly a great deal of thought had gone into our casita to make certain that we would remember this place.
We found beautiful wood trim, exquisite tile-work in the bathroom, heated tile floors in the bath, a large soaking tub, a large shower with a rain mist head, wonderful smelling soaps, a large closet, a bed so comfortable that it almost defies you to leave it, a well stocked mini-fridge stocked with complimentary refreshments, a beautifully crafted desk to work from, a large deck over-looking the distant mountains, and a fireplace preloaded with wood simply waiting for a match upon the fire-starter block.
After refreshing ourselves a bit from our days travel, we headed off for a sunset dinner at the resort’s Terra Nova restaurant. We will tell you more about Terra Nova in a separate post, but suffice it to say it’s chef was twice nominated by the James Beard Foundation for best chef in the Southwest.
After a fabulous meal, we returned to our room to find that the lights had been dimmed, soft music was playing on the casita’s entertainment system, the bed was turned back, there were 6 dark chocolate’s sitting in a beautiful box on the bed, there were slippers set on both sides of the bed, the pillows were fluffed, and there stood a large, solitary fireplace match entreating us to lite a fire in the fireplace.
We obliged.
The next morning, after a scrumptious night’s sleep, we enjoyed breakfast in our room, and then made our way to the spa to workout, take a steam bath, and luxuriate in the spa’s surroundings.
AAA’s Five Diamond awards are not easily earned. But it is crystal clear why this has become New Mexico’s only AAA Five Diamond winner.
We give the Encantado Resort and Spa many thumbs up, and highly recommend that you make a luxurious, romantic stay at this world class resort.
Roaming Boomers Log – Santa Fe and Taos Adventure – Day #4.
Today we enjoyed breakfast at Casa de las Chimeneas, and spent a good deal of our morning shooting video, and photographs for our piece on this wonderful bed & breakfast.
We then scurried out the door to enjoy lunch, which was being hosted today by Graham’s Grille. We will be doing a separate article on this great establishment.
After lunch, we decided to head for the Wild Rivers Recreation Area, and drive on the Wild Rivers Backcountry Byway.
This scenic byway is approximately an hour north of Taos, and this 13 mile scenic road carries you along the edge of an 800 foot canyon until you reach the merging of two canyons, and two rivers (scene above). It always amazes me to think that these seemingly small rivers were able to carve out these massive canyons over the years.
After spending the whole afternoon admiring these canyons, we drove back to Taos to get cleaned up for our evening’s dining experience.
Our dining this evening was hosted by Lambert’s of Taos Restaurant and Bar. This was a marvelous dining experience and we will be telling you all about it in a separate article in the next few days.
The Scottsdale CVB has just published an extensive list of Mother’s Day Brunches available in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Also included in this substantial list are:
Mother’s Day is May 9th this year. Why not make your reservations today and beat the crowd!
Roaming Boomers Log – Santa Fe and Taos Adventure – Day #3.
Today we left Santa Fe, and made our way towards Taos, New Mexico.
Having just spent some time in the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, we decided to go peek at the land that so enchanted her.
From the moment we hit highway 84, the landscape turned into magical hues of red, pink, salmon, gray, and even hints of green.
Note: click the photograph for a much larger view.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to tour any of O’Keefe’s Ghost Ranch, but we could certainly now understand why she loved this land so much. While we were driving through this area, we even had the opportunity to see a small herd of Elk bouncing their way across the open spaces.
After this visual feast, we changed direction and headed off to Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort and Spa (video feature coming soon), and spent the afternoon soaking in lithium, soda, iron, and arsenic baths. We can’t wait to tell you more about this place.
From Ojo Caliente we made our way across the Rio Grande Gorge, and into Taos where we had a wonderful meal at Sabroso Restaurant and Bar (feature coming soon), and then tucked ourselves in to sleep at the award winning Casa de las Chimeneas (video feature coming soon).
That’s it for day #3, more from The Roaming Boomers tomorrow.
Stay tuned!