Featured Lodging: Chimayó

Hitting Home

Driving past piñon-dotted alabaster cliffs to Casa Escondida Bed and Breakfast, in Chimayó, 28 miles north of Santa Fe off N.M. 76, I marvel that this breathtaking route might be a local’s daily commute. I follow the road through Chimayó, past the famous Santuario de Chimayó and the drool-inducing Rancho de Chimayó restaurant, to the B&B. The hacienda is all that many of us picture when we envision our New Mexico dream home: a sprawling one-story adobe with a blue tin roof, tucked back from the road at the end of a private drive, its portal hung with ristras of red chiles, cowboy boots propped against the blue-painted doorways.

The friendly staff greets me with lemonade and homemade bizcochitos—a blissful snack that transports me back to childhood afternoons. I munch my cookies on the patio as songbirds flit to and from a feeder in the backyard, under the shade of cottonwoods. I drop my bags in the Sun Room, a spacious bedroom with a private entrance—as light streams through lace curtains, it’s easy to see how the room earned its name.

Casa Escondida is an eco-conscious B&B—the room is filled with environmentally friendly touches. Notes encourage guests to recycle and to use water wisely. To cut down on plastic waste, bathroom amenities such as soap and shampoo are provided in dispensers, not individual bottles. Outside, a barrel collects rainwater for the blooming native plants on the grounds.

After a good night’s rest, I lounge on the Mission-style furniture in the cozy living room as the hypnotizing scents of herbed potatoes and eggs Florentine waft from the kitchen. Like the women in my family, the staff trade local gossip with equal measures of laugher and dismay as they bustle about the kitchen. It feels just like home—and aren’t we all looking for a little piece of New Mexico to call home?

From $99 nightly. 64 County Road 0100, (505) 351-4805, www.casaescondida.com
—Ashley M. Biggers