Cheri Y.
Yelp
For our Xmas Holiday, we decided to check out the legendary Historic Taos Inn to see what all the fuss is about!
The drive to Taos is a beautiful drive surrounded by majestic mountains, the "Ring of Enchantment."Just absolutely stunning views.
Since 1936, situated in the middle of a small mountain town, The Historic Taos Inn, aka "the living room of Taos," is it's lobby bar, Doc Martins, the locals hangout.
It has long been frequented by celebrities like Greta Garbo, D. H. Lawrence, and Pawnee Bill, more recently by Jessica Lange & Robert Redford among others.
It's an adobo style hotel with charming western flair that's within walking distance to the legendary Taos square.
We couldn't have been happier with the location or our southwestern style chic room. It was very large, with a king size bed, a kiev fireplace, shutters on all the windows you could close for privacy & the bathroom was truly unique, with a two person shower & a bathroom heater which came in handy during our snowy xmas stay.
We were there a week & it was quite a eventful memorable stay!
The morning we slept in, the front desk called & wanted to know if we wanted maid service. We asked for them to come & to bring us a ash bucket so we could clean the fireplace.
I still had my PJ's on when there was a knock on the door. They explained that they all leave around noon for the day so if you want maid service they had to do it right then.
It was a whole possy of them, they quickly took over the room & one guy went over to the fireplace and started shoveling hot ash not realizing that we had a fire earlier that morning, till it was too late.
Within a couple mins there was smoke all over the room, everyone was choking, the fire alarm went off, they opened all the doors & windows to air out our room while I was standing there in my cowboy & Indian pajamas, as a crowd of hotel guests outside loomed.
The local pueblo maids were not happy with their local brethren that smoked us all out, they were snarling at him, saying something funny in their native language while he apologized profusely to them as well as to us, poor guy. We thought it was hilarious. We just stood there laughing at the "live" entertainment.
There is also "live" entertainment in the lobby most nights & that night we decided to hang out at the lobby bar, Doc Martins & par-take in the local festive mix as well as the legendary margarita mix :)'
The local free entertainment was hippy cool, the atmosphere was apri ski chic, the hand made margaritas were superbly stellar "legendary" like everyone says ;)
The food was unexpectedly gourmet, the rattlesnake sausage & the lentil salad was killer!
We had the most entertaining memorable Christmas Eve night mingling with the local artist & international skiers as well as other American tourists.
I had the most intellectual conversation with one very talented local artist, he was a unique breath of fresh air. We quickly made acquaintances & I now have a fine piece of his work.
There were lots of hugs at the end of the night, as we all closed the place down together.
Around midnight stumbling back to our room realizing it was Xmas,
we decided to open our gifts along with some champagne, cheese, crackers, pâté, etc.,
It was lightly snowing & so romantic by the kiev fireplace. Hubby was dancing round channeling Don Quixote till sugar plums danced round in our heads & we fell fast asleep in our super comfy bed :))
Around 4am we woke to scratching noises on the back window. There was something BIG trying to come in!!! Hubby was like go back to sleep, its just Rudolf & Santa.
Then it climbed up on the roof of our room and was walking around on the roof, it kept scratching trying to get in, then it growled!!!
We. freaked. out!!! Then hubby says "Thats def not Santa!" Yikes!!!
We looked over at the coffee table full of leftover pâté, stinky cheese's etc., & jumped up like the scene out of Home Alone running around the room in circles!!!
We thought we were surely going to get eaten!!!
Hubby grabbed the fire poker, I grabbed some scissors & hubby goes "what are you gona do with those, cut his hair??"
Right! Not a good plan. So I got the garbage bag, tossed all the food in it, tied it up & what seemed like an eternity, but was actually a few mins, became quiet again.
As we peeked out the window, the bear slowly disappeared into the falling snow, vanished into the dark winters night.
The most exhilarating Christmas we have ever had & won't soon forget!
We left the next day, on our way out, the staff thanked us, told us they enjoyed having us :)
Now we know what all the fuss is about! Voted:
"Top Ten Most Romantic Inns." By Travel America.
"My first choice in Taos & best value." Travel & Leisure.
"Old west atmosphere & perfect location." Zagat survey.
We 100% agree duh! We also want to add:
"Amazing Experience & Coolest Christmas Holiday Adventure Ever!"