Some folks run, some walk the Bolder Boulder 10K race. Photo © Laurel Kallenbach

Yes, the race attracts many elite athletes, and there are sure to be some Olympian hopefuls here in preparation for the 2012 Summer Games in London. But mostly the race is for everybody: kids, people in wheelchairs, grandmas, and Boulder’s fit and finest. (Boulder is one of the fittest towns in America.)

Onlooks cheer the runners and wave flags. Photo © Laurel Kallenbach

And while there’s a competitive spirit, the race’s motto is: “It’s not about the time you run, it’s about the time you have.”

A runner in a Big Bird costume stops to chat with fans. Photo © Laurel Kallenbach

And Boulderites—as well as visitors from all over the state and country—have a grand time. Some people wear funny costumes, some attach balloons to their hats so that they can be recognized in the crowd.

Belly-dancers are always popular sideline entertainment. Photo © Laurel Kallenbach

Along the race route are bands to provide entertainment. And each year, a troupe of belly-dancers add an air of exoticness. Crowds line the street and cheer; dogs bark their happiness. At mile markers, race officials with bullhorns announce the next water/Gatorade station.

Fun run: The annual Memorial Day Bolder Boulder race. Photo © Laurel Kallenbach

Some people run, some walk, some run with strollers. Along the way, onlookers this year had a cotton candy machine—popular with the younger runners. Midway along the route, someone always serves bacon?!?

Some young Bolder Boulder runners stop for free cotton candy along the race route. Photo © Laurel Kallenbach.

So far I’ve always been a happy spectator, watching my husband Ken whisk by on the part of the race course that’s only about half a mile from our house. But maybe some day that will be me with a numbered bib pinned to my chest, crossing the finish line as the crowds scream their approval at Folsom Stadium on the University of Colorado Campus.

—Laurel Kallenbach, freelance writer and editor

P.S. What’s your favorite way to celebrate Memorial Day?

Here are some of my other discoveries about doing yoga outdoors:

1. Turks & Caicos: Contemplate Infinity by the Ocean

While practicing Warrior pose and gazing over the ocean, I can’t help but gain some perspective. How tiny I feel compared to the endless sea and sky!

Regina Radisic teaches a sunrise yoga class overlooking Grace Bay at the Regent Palms Turks and Caicos. Photo copyright Laurel Kallenbach

The spa at the Regent Palms Turks & Caicos holds sunrise yoga classes at the beach. The morning I was there, a shower passed through right at the 6:00 a.m. starting time. We waited under an umbrella by the pool, then did yoga on the boardwalk overlooking the beach rather than putting our mats in the wet sand. We were rewarded partway through the class by a rainbow on the horizon.

2. Jamaica: Revel in Your Senses

Everything seems more alive when you do yoga outdoors: the color of the water and tropical flowers, the scent of flowers and salt in the air, the twitter of exotic birds, the feel of the breeze on my face.

Jacqueline Sheehan leads a class in the garden pavilion at Bromley Estate in Jamaica. Photo copyright Laurel Kallenbach

On Jamaica, at a guest house and retreat center called Bromley, yoga classes were held in a garden pavilion, surrounded by bougainvillea and other flowering trees and shrubs. During Savasana, I couldn’t help but open my eyes when a doctor bird—a hummingbird with long tail feathers—buzzed nearby. The same thing happened when the Bromley dogs, who were fascinated by our Fish Poses, stopped by to lick our faces.

3. Antigua: Move in Different Ways

Sunset yoga is held on the dock at Carlisle Bay resort in Antigua. Photo copyright Laurel Kallenbach

When the yoga environment changes, you adapt—which takes you out of your usual box. At Carlisle Bay resort on the Caribbean island of Antigua, I joined the sunset yoga class on the dock right over the water. Boat Pose took on a whole new meaning as I imagined myself buoyed by ocean water. (I think I even held this asana longer because I felt that water was holding me “afloat.”)

Because of the movement of the gently lapping waves around me, balancing poses such as Tree Pose or Dancer’s Pose were more challenging than usual. Even when I closed my eyes, the sound of waves created the sensation of motion.

As the sun dipped closer and closer to the horizon, our small class did gentle Sun Salutes to end the day. The sky turned a hundred shades of pink.

Now that’s the way to do yoga!

—Laurel Kallenbach, freelance writer and traveling yogi 

The massage pagodas at Ten Thousand Waves in Santa Fe. © Deborah Fleig

There’s almost nowhere more relaxing—and this beautiful, outdoorsy spa is perfect for slowing down and re-energizing.

Although Ten Thousand Waves is just 10 minutes from downtown Santa Fe, it feels worlds away from city life. I’ve visited three times, and on each, I’ve relished soaking in a hot tub while breathing in the scent of pine trees and listening to the cry of hawks and crows circling over the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

Who can help but relax at a place where nobody hurries and where warm water washes your worries away?

Baths on a Budget

This lovely retreat has created warm baths and cold plunges for all budgets. Soak in a communal Japanese bath for just $19 per person—there’s no time limit. In keeping with the natural setting, bathers are allowed to go au naturel. (Don’t worry: Everyone wanders through the Shangri-La-like spa in provided kimonos) There’s one coed communal bath and another for women only.

The private Ichiban tub © Deborah Fleig

You can also reserve a private bath (like the Ichiban pictured above) for $29–$35 per person for one hour. I’ve tried both public and private options—and they’re equally delightful and stress-banishing.

One other favorite of mine is the foot bath, a communal bench where you can sit and read a book or converse (quietly, of course) with a friend while your eyes drink in the beauty of the Zen Garden. The foot bath is open and free to all visitors—you might just have to wait a few minutes until another happy foot soaker leaves a space on the bench.

Hot Stone Massage from Heaven

For deep immersion, Ten Thousand Waves offers spa treatments. The therapists here specialize in classic treatments done expertly: Swedish or deep-tissue massage, Thai massage and wonderful facials that take beauty more than skin deep.

One of the spa’s most popular treatments is the Nose-to-Toes, an 80-minute sampler ($149) that lets you experience Japanese foot massage; gentle Thai stretches; Hawaiian lomi-lomi massage strokes; skin exfoliation; and Yasuragi (Japanese) head, neck, and shoulder massage. Yum!

My hot stone massage at Ten Thousand Waves truly rocked. Therapist Aurora used the warm stones on acupoints on my body. Surprisingly, she also used cool stones from time to the time. I was on Cloud Nine.

In fact, I was so blissed out that I completely lost track of everything. During the treatment, Aurora placed small river stones between the toes of my right foot, but I thought she’d forgotten my left. Just as I was about to remind her, I wiggled my toes and realized the stones were between my left toes too. I had just drifted off for a few minutes.

The beautiful outdoor koi pond. © Deborah Fleig

On my most recent trip to Ten Thousand Waves, I sampled the Japanese Organic Facial Massage—a divine experience that erased all my worry lines. Danyelle alternated stroking, kneading, and a percussive technique that felt like rain falling on my face. She told me this helped increase circulation, muscle tone, and lymphatic drainage for the neck and face. All I have to say is it made me radiant.

The Green Side

New Mexico has a dry landscape, and the folks at Ten Thousand Waves are very water conscious. All water from the tubs is recycled and used to keep the landscaping lush and green. The entire spa is chlorine free: Bathwater is purified with ultraviolet light, hydrogen peroxide, copper/silver ions, and ozone.

Natural building materials keep the location feeling natural and ecofriendly: cork and tile floors, stone, and plenty of sustainable bamboo are used throughout.

Last but not least, Ten Thousand Waves’ signature spa products are all natural and contain no mineral oil, alcohol, artificial colors or animal products. And they’ve been tested on bathing beauties, not animals.

 —Laurel Kallenbach, freelance writer and editor

Gwydir Castle in north Wales is a lovely bed and breakfast—and home to several ghosts.

(If you’re a castle lover, northern Wales is your dream destination.) Gwydir is a private home, a museum, and a bed-and-breakfast (with two rooms)—all historically decorated in antiques.

Yet, this charming Tudor “castle” has a ruined past. Built around 1500, it was the ancestral home of the powerful Wynn family, descended from the Kings and Princes of Gwynedd. It was rat-infested, crumbling and damp—and being used as a night club when Judy Corbett and her husband-to-be Peter Welford bought it in 1994.

There are 10 acres of gardens at the historic Gwydir Castle. Peacocks roam the grounds. At night, their haunting cries seem to call "help, help!"

(For a vividly written account of Judy and Peter’s process of bringing Gwydir Castle back to life, read Judy’s memoir, Castles in the Air.)

The couple had little money but a passion for history, so they spent years living in a construction zone doing much of the painstaking historical restoration themselves. In the process, they encountered a number of ghosts with hundreds of years worth of sitings.

Meet the Ghosts

There’s a female spirit who is reportedly a victim of her lover, one of the Wynn baronets, who stuffed her body behind the wall in a passageway—or possibly in a secret enclosure within the wall called a Priest’s Hole. (A Priest’s Hole was a hiding place for Roman Catholic priests during the turbulent Tudor years when Britain’s “official” religion vascillated between Protestantism and Catholicism, depending on the monarch.)

This behind-the-wall Priest's Hole was possibly the hiding place of a murdered mistress in the 1600s.

Many people report a foul smell in one of the house passageways—the centuries-old stench of the woman’s corpse. Ken and I smelled nothing, but the passageway certainly feels colder than the rest of the house.

There’s also a ghost of Sir John Wynn—possibly the murderer—who is often seen on the spiral staircase. Gwydir even has a ghost dog, a large one. Judy and Peter actually dug up the skeleton of a large dog years ago in the basement.

Ken and I didn’t do any actual “ghost hunting” at night. Instead, we slept cozily in our four-poster canopy bed in the Duke of Beaufort’s Chamber, a lovely large room furnished with antiques and a private bath in the hall.

Our castle room: The Duke of Beaufort's Chamber

Except for the bedrooms, the castle does not use electricity (to keep it authentic). And, at night, the alarm system is activated, so one doesn’t want to creep about and wake the whole house. Besides, why would ghosts appear only at night?

The closest I came to an apparition was when the castle’s two large lurchers (a British breed of dog I’d never heard of before) bounded through the breakfast room. A moment later, a third dog nosed through the breakfast room door and streaked across the room. But, there were only two dogs that I knew of! Could the third have been the ghost dog wanting to join the living pair in play?

Malevolent Lady Margaret

The wisteria-surrounded doorway into the B&B section of Gwydir Castle

There is (or at least was) one sinister spirit at Gwydir Castle, a woman who haunted Judy for months early during the renovation. Lady Margaret followed Judy everywhere and triggered a series of “accidents” apparently intended to harm Peter.

Fortunately, Lady Margaret Cave—whose good nature darkened radically after the birth of her son in the early 1600s—has not appeared since. She was married to the philanderer Sir John Wynn, so perhaps being married to him sent her into an eternal rage against the man of the house.

Dream Come True: Sleeping in a Castle

There’s nothing nightmarish about staying at Gwydir. In fact, spending two days among its archways, mullioned and wisteria-covered windows, and Tudor-style beams was a dream come true. It’s a little like sleeping in a museum—a fantasy of mine since I was 10 and read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

The dining room is lavishly restored with its original wood panels, which were spirited off to America by William Randolph Hearst in the 1920s.

The castle dining room has a story so long and fascinating I can’t even go into it here. Suffice it to say that its glorious Tudor panels were bought by William Randolph Hearst in the 1920s and stored at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for decades. Now they’re magnificently back in the castle.

Gwydir Castle is three miles from the resort town of Betws-y-Coed and 12 miles from the medieval walled town of Conwy, so it’s a great B&B to stay at while exploring the North Wales castles. It’s also within walking distance of the market town of Llanrwst, which has train and bus connections plus several good restaurants and pubs.

Gwydir Castle is open to the public (admission fee) March through October. Check for times.

P.S. I highly recommend Judy Corbett’s book, Castles in the Air: The Restoration Adventures of Two Young Optimists and a Crumbling Old Mansion (Random House, UK, 2004). I bought a copy while staying at the castle, and I read it on train rides across Wales and on the plane home.

—Laurel Kallenbach, freelance writer and editor

Spooky Postscript

In gathering photos for this blog entry, I noticed that a number of them have round, ghostly patches of light. At first I thought they were shiny flash spots or reflections, yet most of them are against backgrounds with no reflective surfaces. Then I thought they might be dust motes or raindrops on the camera lens.

But they appear in indoor photos and those taken on sunny days. Could they be blobs of ectoplasm? Were Gwydir’s spirits dancing around us?

You decide. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Here I am in the lovely breakfast room. Note the halo around the unlit candlestick behind me. For comparison, the candle on the table is lit—and has a simple glow. Methinks there's a spirit lurking.

Gwydir Gate, with some white, round lights. Are they ghost entities or merely raindrops on the camera lens?

Save room for Salt's Chocolate Caramel Tart, sprinkled with (what else?) salt.

Located on Boulder, Colorado ’s Pearl Street, Salt was created in the historic space that was formerly the home of Tom’s Tavern, a downtown landmark for more than 40 years. While renovating the restaurant for his new bistro, Heap and his wife, Carol Vilate, a designer, reused as many elements from the original building as possible—an effort that imbues Salt with a sense of the past—and that reduced the need for new materials. The tin ceiling was original from the 19th century.

In addition, the couple used recycled materials whenever possible. Look closely at the wooden tables: They’re made from old doors taken from Boulder’s Casey Junior High during its remodel. The chairs came from an auction. Wood flooring and many other finishes came from Resource Reclaimed Building Materials, a local business.

Salt, a bistro in Boulder, Colo., is located in the Pearl Street building that once housed Tom's Tavern.

Earth-Friendly Flavors

The handiwork of local artisans resulted in a restaurant that feels both modern and old-fashioned, European and American Western. And that’s borne out in the food: the bar “chefs” offer a selection of pre-Prohibition cocktails, and the entrees present old-world flavors suited for contemporary palates.

Sustainability isn’t just for the interior design of Salt—it’s a huge part of the restaurant’s food philosophy. The menus are built around seasonally available local food—much of it organic—in order to capture the freshest flavors.

Heap aims to raise awareness of where food comes from, and the menu lists the farm source of each menu item. In addition, the restaurant features sustainable seafood and humanely-raised meat.

As an added touch, Salt’s used cooking oil is used for biodiesel fuel.

Well-Seasoned Menu

But how does all this taste? Executive Chef Kevin Kidd pulls out the stops with fare that displays Italian and French influences with an American flair. An artisanal cheese plate spotlights local Haystack Mountain goat cheeses. The Wood-Roasted Autumn Vegetable Cassoulet features bounty from Munson Farm, while the Seven-Hour Braised Colorado Lamb with fennel risotto comes from Rosen Farm.

I personally wouldn’t miss getting a side order of Salt’s Crispy Polenta—by far the most divine I’ve ever tasted.

Salt’s menu rotates seasonally, but some things should never change. That’s why you can still get a Tom’s Tavern Burger, which Salt has gussied up with grass-fed beef, Grafton cheddar and house-made fries.

—Laurel Kallenbach, freelance writer and editor

The wood-burning oven at Salt produces innovative pizzas.

Obama waves to a crowd of 10,000 people at the Coors Event Center on the CU campus. Photo © Ken Aikin

Ken Aikin, my husband, was one of the brass quintet members who performed before the president’s speech—and they got front-row seats during the speech. Afterwards, as the president made the rounds through the crowd, Ken got to shake Obama’s hand!

Ken (in the dark suit with the toothy grin) is just reaching his hand around to shake with the president. The woman in the yellow dress sang the national anthem at the beginning. Photo © Glenn Asakawa. You can see this photo and others from the event on the CU website: http://www.colorado.edu/news/multimedia/president-barack-obama-visits-cu-boulder

Here are some other photos that Ken took on this exciting day.

Members of the Boulder Brass Quintet: Ken, Dawn, Bill, and Mike. Photo © Ken Aikin

Ken and the quintet were sitting just 20 feet from the podium where Obama spoke. He told the story of ordering pizza at The Sink restaurant on the Hill—and the very excited student who accidentally spilled yogurt on him. Photo © Ken Aikin

The Secret Service men in attendance were all business. Photo © Ken Aikin

After the speech, Obama shook a lot of hands—including Ken's. Photo © Ken Aikin

Students were very excited to shake the president's hand. Photo © Ken Aikin

Obama (in shirt sleeves) shakes more hands beneath the flag—and then left the Coors Events Center. Photo © Ken Aikin

The beach at Grace Bay in Turks & Caicos is magnificent. Photo© Laurel Kallenbach

Time for a break! Winter-weary travelers seeking a sunny, healthy recharge on a tropical island need look no farther than the luxurious Regent Palms Turks & Caicos on the Caribbean island of Providenciales. Here’s how it stacks up as a relaxing, revivifying destination—whether you’re traveling with your sweetie, BFFs, or kids.

Tip #1: Bliss Out on a Beautiful Beach

Nothing’s more restoring in winter than a sun-kissed beach. The Regent Palms is located on Turks & Caicos’ Grace Bay, consistently rated among the best beaches in the world. It’s got white sand—miles of it to walk or jog on—and a barrier reef a mile or so offshore that creates a naturally sheltered area with calm water. Oh, the color of that water! If you like water that changes from luminescent light-aqua into ultramarine blue the deeper you go, you’ve found paradise.

Tip #2: Chill by the Perfect Pool

Yes, resort waiters will deliver food and drinks to the beach, but sometimes nothing beats hanging by the pool. The Regent Palms’ serpentine infinity pool offers gorgeous ocean views; a hot tub; and Plunge, the pool bar/restaurant that offers in-water tables so you can sip and beat the heat!

Tip #3: Rejuvenate at a Holistic Spa

If you want to shed stress and nurture your skin with all-natural and organic treatments, get thee to a spa! The world-class Regent Palms Spa offers innovative treatments—including a conch-shell body polish and a bamboo massage—created from Asian and Caribbean healing traditions. Just reclining in the spa’s outdoor lounge and looking at the tranquil reflecting pool shaves 10 points off your blood pressure.

The outdoorsy spa at the Regent Palms is centered around a gorgeous reflecting pool lined by private treatment cabanas (the white buildings that flank the pool. Photo© Laurel Kallenbach

Tip #4: Lounge in a Luxurious Room

Vacations are all about catching up on your shut-eye. Everything about the rooms and suites at the Regent Palms Turks & Caicos says “relax”: from the spacious bathrooms with all the amenities to the fluffy beds to the daybeds on the balconies. Plus the bougainvillea-draped property is beautiful to wander through.

Tip #5: Eat Healthy, Delicious Food

The Regent Palms' courtyard is colorful with bougainvillea, which brightens the indoor/outdoor restaurant, Parallel 23. Photo ©Laurel Kallenbach

You need to eat right—even on vacation! Parallel 23 restaurant at the Regent Palms serves innovative fine cuisine, and the resort sources about 40 percent of its ingredients organically. The spa has a separate menu that includes light but flavorful fare. And here’s another idea: Sign up for a cooking class and take home some of the chef’s healthy cooking secrets.

Eco-Efforts

Island life always makes people aware of resources. The people at the Regent Palms take care to conserve where they can, including:

• Kitchen food-scrap composting
• An organically grown kitchen garden for herbs and tomatoes.
• Rainwater collection for use in watering the landscaping.
• The resort recently installed new air-conditioning controls that adjust automatically to minimize A/C use when guests leave their rooms.
• Switching to energy-saving bulbs as current ones burn out.
• Bottled water is widespread among guests, and recycling all that plastic is difficult on an island. However, the hotel management is investigating ways to recycle plastic bottles.
• The staff participates in island-wide clean-up crews that collect trash on land or that washes up on the beach.

—Laurel Kallenbach, freelance writer and editor

The serpentine pool at the Regent Palms Turks and Caicos Photo © Laurel Kallenbach

May the road rise to meet you…and carry you to Eire!

Trees along the Causeway Coast, County Antrim Photo courtesy Tourism Ireland

If you’d like to read some of my past posts about Ireland, click below.

An Irish Dolmen and a Magical Dog

Full Circle: Standing Stones & Driving in Ireland

Time Traveling to Ireland’s Temple House

Take a Celtic Seaweed Bath

On Downings Beach

Legendary Green Spa in Ireland

You can find information about travel in Ireland at Discover Ireland.

—Laurel Kallenbach, freelance writer and editor

Kateri Tekakwitha is the patron saint of Native Americans Photo ©Laurel Kallenbach

In front of St. Francis Cathedral in downtown Santa Fe is a luminous bronze statue of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American woman to be beatified (in 1980). If all goes as planned, Tekakwitha will be canonized on October 21, 2012.

She’s also the patron of nature and the environment, which makes her pretty important in my book!

The statue is colorful, gorgeous, and full of life. No ramrod-stiff saints here.  In fact, this Tekakwitha has flowing black hair; wears turquoise earrings, necklace, and a bracelet; and she carries eagle feathers in her hand. It’s hard not to feel peaceful and encouraged about the prospect of preserving the planet’s ecosystems while beholding the serene smile of this saint-to-be.

This portrayal of Tekakwitha in her Southwestern aspect was created by Estella Loretto, a Jemez Pueblo sculptor, in 2002.

Kateri Tekakwitha is the patron saint of Native Americans and First Nations people—as well as the patron of ecologists, environmentalists, and of nature. Also known as Catherine Tekakwitha and Lily of the Mohawks, she was born in 1656 of Algonquin and Mohawk (Turtle clan) parents in New York. She died in Quebec in 1680.

The miracle that surrounds Kateri Tekakwitha is that the disfiguring pox scars from her bout with smallpox as a small child disappeared from her face a few minutes after her death. The priests who attended said she was revealed as incredibly beautiful and unblemished in death.

I hope this miracle will extend to all the places on Earth that have been blighted and disfigured by drilling, mining, pesticides, trash dumping, and toxic waste. May they be purified and made beautiful again with her blessing.

St. Francis with a wolf in front of the namesake church in Santa Fe Photo ©Laurel Kallenbach

It’s fitting that Tekakwitha is honored at the Saint Francis Cathedral, as St. Francis of Assisi was known for his love and care of animals. In fact, there’s another lovely statue on the plaza in front of the church: one of a smiling bronze St. Francis accompanied by a wolf. This artwork definitely displays the wilder side of the saint.

For 500-plus years, Santa Fe has been a spiritual center of the Southwest. Here, vestiges of native spiritual beliefs coexist with Christianity. (Well, “coexist” is actually too soft a word, as the indigenous people were subjected to forceable conversion by the Spanish. And in the 19th and 20th centuries, the U.S. government seemed hell-bent on eradicating the language and culture of Native American tribes.)

Yes, there are many ugly things to remember about how we have extinguished indigenous cultures and ravaged the land. But I take heart that there are places in Santa Fe that honor both the Native Americans and nature. It’s refreshing to see the spiritual icons of several cultures converging here beneath the eternally blue sky.

Perhaps I’m too optimistic. On the other hand, miracles do happen.

—Laurel Kallenbach, freelance writer and editor 

St. Francis Cathedral was built in Santa Fe by Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy between 1869 and 1886. Photo ©Laurel Kallenbach

The living room in Casa Juniper has a lovely wood-burning fireplace. Photo courtesy Hacienda Nicholas

When you stroll the streets of Santa Fe, you absolutely know you’re in northern New Mexico. The sweet, piney smell of burning juniper fills the air; people dress in clothing influenced by Navajo and Pueblo tribal patterns. You encounter public art everywhere. And most unique to this part of the world: the buildings are adobe—an architectural style literally built from the land because adobe is a mixture of earth, clay and straw molded into bricks and dried in the desert sun.

Santa Fe has a number of fabulous hotels, but on our most recent stay, my husband and I discovered an outstanding option: a casita, or “little house.” Casa Juniper is part of the Alexander’s Inn Vacation Rentals—associated with two delightful eco-friendly B&Bs: the Madeleine Inn and Hacienda Nicholas.

Staying in a casita is such a great way to go in Santa Fe. We were about eight blocks from the central Plaza—a little farther than the pricey hotels—but we had a large, 100-year-old adobe home with a wood-burning horno fireplace and banks of panoramic windows all to ourselves. It was our home away from home.

The wood and windows at Casa Juniper increase its Santa Fe flavor.

We learned the benefits of having a spacious casita our very first day. An early November storm blew through the area, which made walking around town daunting. So, Ken and I bought some groceries at the Whole Foods and hunkered down at Casa Juniper. While the wind howled outside, we lit a fire and sipped fair-trade coffee and organic tea that was stocked in the casita’s fully equipped kitchen.

Sheltering from the storm, we felt so lucky we weren’t huddling in a generic hotel. Instead, we fully experienced Santa Fe’s aura without stepping into the frozen rain. Inside the sturdy adobe walls, we felt safe. And because our casita had a gorgeous living room, we invited friends to join us. Amid Southwestern rugs on the saltillo-tile floors, wood beamed ceiling, and art from native and New Mexican traditions, we sat out the storm in style and comfort. Best of all, we felt like locals.

Queen bedroom at eco-friendly Casa Juniper

Fortunately, the Southwestern sun came out the next day—and we had plenty of time to explore Canyon Road’s art treasures, the Georgia O’Keeffe museum, and the city’s world-famous restaurants. After days of exploring Santa Fe, Ken and I came home to our spacious bedroom—a split-level retreat with closable wooden doors and a queen-sized four-poster bed.

In addition to loving Casa Juniper, we felt good that our accommodations incorporated sustainable, earth-centered policies, such as:

• Eco-cleaners with no chlorine bleach, dyes or perfumed detergents
• Towel and linen program that reduces water consumption
• Energy- and water-efficient appliances
• Recycling program for glass, paper and plastic
• Xeriscape gardening (irrigated with graywater) grown with nontoxic fertilizers
• Stationary that’s printed on recycled paper with soy-based ink
• Energy-saving compact-fluorescent light bulbs
• Low-flow faucets, showers and toilets
  

  Casa Juniper's bathroom is decorated with Mexican tiles.

• Soap, shower gel, lotion, shampoo and conditioner dispensers to eliminate the waste of small plastic amenity bottles
• Filtered water rather than bottled
• Reusable glass or plastic cups instead of paper cups
• Rooms painted with no-VOC paints

In addition, the owner of the green Madeleine Inn and Hacienda Nicholas also runs the all-natural Absolute Nirvana spa. Its Indonesian décor is exquisite and relaxing.

—Laurel Kallenbach, freelance writer and editor