Michele and I had a visit scheduled in 2020, but we all know how that year turned out. That means we hadn’t seen each other in person since August 2018, when I traveled to Santa Fe (by way of Amarillo) to visit Michele for my 40th birthday.
Fortunately for me, I was able to tag along with Chuck on a work trip to Albuquerque and meet Michele and her husband, Jerry, in Santa Fe over a few days at the end of March. That time together was well worth it, but I tell you what — I also loved the slow mornings I had after Chuck went to work and before I made my way to Santa Fe. (It’s been 20 years since I’ve had this much autonomy over my own time. Praise be.)
While in Santa Fe, the four of us went to Meow Wolf, which was one of the most interesting experiences I’ve have in a long time. Meow Wolf is an immersive, interactive museum that begins in an actual house with “portals” to other “dimensions,” for lack of a better word. You can crawl through the fireplace, the refrigerator, a panel in the wall, etc., and each of those “portals” takes you to a maze of other rooms, each with a distinct set of characteristics.
Despite my 25+ years of writing professionally, I have no idea how else to describe Meow Wolf. Put simple, it’s a feast for the senses.
The two-story, enclosed museum took about two hours to walk through, and we definitely got turned around a number of times. There was lots of, “Did we already go in this room?” and “Have we missed anything?” and “What the heck is this?”
For example, we crawled through an ice chest into this tiny room of mirrors…
By far, my favorite room was the one covered in the things we throw away, whether it’s actual trash or discarded technology that no longer serves a purpose. If you scan these photos closely, you’ll see plenty of things you recognize (cell phones, remotes, vitamin bottles, bottle caps, empty birth control packs, coffee cans, etc…).
I don’t know the next time Michele and I will see each other, but after 14 years of friendship, the distance doesn’t seem to matter.
