Meow Wolf Santa Fe Review!

If you've ever seen an ad for one of the Meow Wolf locations & have thought about going, I 100% suggest jumping on that urge and visiting if you have the chance. Each location has a completely different theme & different mysteries to find. In 2024 we were able to visit the Las Vegas location & just recently we had the chance to visit the Santa Fe, New Mexico location. In total there are five locations so far & two new locations in the works! It would be awesome to eventually visit every location. 

The Santa Fe location is called the House of Eternal Return, and it is their original location which started it all. I had a lot of fun at their Las Vegas location, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this location and so far, it is my favorite location we've been. When you first enter this location you'll find the normal welcome area, the gift shop and a cute little cafe along with a long hallway that leads back to the bathrooms. After getting inside you will be directed to the entrance of your adventure! 

Immediately upon entering into the House of Eternal Return, you really will feel like you are transported to another realm. You will enter into the alleyway in front of a large Victorian looking home that you can explore. The level of participation Meow Wolf requires is completely up to you! There is a ton of hidden messages and a whole mystery you can do along with a phone app with games and more, or you can just explore, find some neat things and enjoy your time. You'll find actual computers and phones you can really use to not only help with your mystery solving, but some of the phones connect to their other locations where you can talk with actual guests visiting at the same time as you. When I first walked into the living room area of the Victorian home there was a small group sitting on the sofa using the laptop that is on the living room table, and I am not going to lie, it 100% felt like I walked into a random families house unannounced while they were spending time in the living room. 

Not only in the house, but also the world beyond the house, you will want to look at everything and anything you can! There are things to look at everywhere, you can enter the kitchen and find cool pieces of artwork in cabinets, you can enter into the closet in the bedroom and end up in a cave or crawl into the washing machine and end up in another room. This is a spot for everyone who loves adventures and interesting things. The crew who puts everything together at the Meow Wolf locations & everything who plans how it will be laid out, do such a fantastic job. It is truly remarkable just how much is packed into this building. I feel like this is a spot you would want to either spend a long period of time at or come back again a second time, because you are sure to miss something on your first time through. 

My kids love Meow Wolf as well, they have a blast exploring the rooms at their own pace. My son in particular loves Meow Wolf! I had seen an ad or two for the Las Vegas location before we had visited, but my son was really the one who had told us a lot about that location and asked if we could visit while we were in Vegas. Our group was semi-split on which location is our favorite, I would say it was 50/50. Their locations are family friendly, however if you are looking for a chance to check it out without a bunch of kids running around look into one of their 21+ events!

Know before you go; There are three different ticket options. Your fist option is the general admission which is $38 per adult & $31 per child, they are timed tickets so you will need to select what time you'd like to enter Meow Wolf at and be sure to arrive 10 minutes before hand. The second option is the Anytime admissions for $48 per adult & $38 per child, as the name suggest you won't need to be on a tight schedule and can arrive anytime. The third option is the "Totally Worth It" bundle which is perfect for big fans of Meow Wolf & anyone looking to add something extra to their experience. It is $58 per adult & $48 per child. What makes the bundle worth it? The entrance will be an anytime pass, plus you will also receive a collectible lanyard, a souvenir pin, chromadepth glasses & five meow wolf tokens. The glasses help make lights brighter and makes things really POP while wearing them and the tokens can be used on arcade games inside of Meow Wolf & for certain collectible machines you can use while exploring. If you do not want to get the big package but want to buy some tokens to use they are $1 each. 

We spent about two hours here, but as mentioned if you get more in depth with the story line you can be here for twice as long, if not longer. I like that you are free to exit & grab a drink or something to snack on at the cafe and head back in for more exploring. With the amount of people that visit, everything is actually quite clean! I also like that their gift shop not only has their own merch, but they had an area where you can buy things from local artists. I actually ended up grabbing two pretty cool prints from the local artist area & our kids of course picked out some fun souvenirs to take home. We can't wait to visit one of their other locations next! We've been discussing which one we think we might be able to visit next. There is honestly so many cool things at this location, that I can't fit everything into one blog post, so I highly highly recommend stopping by and having a fun adventure of your own! If you'd like a look at some of the awesome things you can see at the House of Eternal Return, but sure to stop by either my Instagram page or my Tiktok Page to check out my reel showing highlights of some of my favorite spots here. 

🚗Looking for more fun travel destinations? I have posted about some wonderful places to visit in Arizona, California, Nevada & New Mexico! In the search bar of my blog you can type in "Things to do in ___" (add the state) and it will bring up all the posts I've done in those states. 

Disclaimer-  Meow Wolf provided this experience to us for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Sandstone Bluffs Overlook in Grants, New Mexico!

When traveling we not only like looking for new attractions to visit, but we also look for beautiful places in nature to visit along with national parks & popular tourist spots. I like to plan our trips ahead of time and we pack as much into our trips as well can to make the most out of our time. On our recent trip into New Mexico, I knew we would be arriving in the state would be on Christmas, so we didn't expect much to be open. I did manage to find a tourist type spot to visit on our way into New Mexico that would be open on Christmas & that spot was the Sandstone Bluffs Overlook. We were traveling along Interstate 40 into Albuquerque, and the bluffs is just a short twenty-five-minute drive down the 117 in Grants, New Mexico.

When you google this area, you will find two different areas, the first is the El Malpais National Monument & a little further down the road the Sandstone Bluffs Overlook. We visited the actual Sandstones Bluff overlook; the national monument was closed for the holidays. However, if you were to visit any other time there is a welcome center at the national monument. The bluffs overlook is down a dirt road just off of the highway, you will drive down about two miles of dirt road. The road itself isn't bad, pretty much every vehicle type will be able to make it to the destination without any issues. You'll find a small parking lot at the end along with a singular bathroom. 

After a long drive from Phoenix, this was a great spot to get out and stretch our legs while checking out some gorgeous views. This spot looks down onto the lava fields, which can be hard to see depending on the time of the year due to the vegetation that has grown over the lava rocks, however quite a bit of it is still visible. The sandstone bluff itself is also a sight to see, I loved walking along the top of the rocks seeing where pools of water have formed holes into the stones, seeing where the wind has carved out markings into the stones and watching birds fly by looking for tourists to drop a snack. 

The sand that comes from this area is so soft, if you visit be sure to feel the sand. Also helpful to know before you go; This area is free to visit! The bathroom lock didn't work very well, so I would have someone stand outside so no one walks in on you. There is very little shade, I would bring a hat to wear and don't forget your sunblock, water and hand sanitizer. We didn't stop at it, because I completely forgot I saw it on the map, but on the dirt road leading into this spot is an old stone cottage that is still partially intact that you can take photos at. The address for this on google maps is "Sandstone Bluff Overlook, Grants, NM 87020" 

🚗Looking for more fun travel destinations? I have posted about some wonderful places to visit in Arizona, California, Nevada & New Mexico! In the search bar of my blog you can type in "Things to do in ___" (add the state) and it will bring up all the posts I've done in those states. 

🟊 This is not a sponsored post, we paid for this ourselves. I just enjoy sharing awesome spots with my readers. 

Holiday Beauty & The Book Bundle Giveaway!

 Many of you may have noticed that giveaways aren't posted here all that often anymore. There has been a shift because the raffle company that I was using to host my giveaways has officially closed. I looked around at other raffler websites, but I didn't really like them or their fees were ridiculous. So I've shifted towards hosting my giveaways directly on Instagram & Tiktok with simplified methods of entry. 

I will still make announcement posts here on my blog when a new giveaway is posted, that way everyone who is subscribed and looks for my giveways, will still have a chance to enter. 

I recently posted a holiday themed mini giveaway! You can head over to either INSTAGRAM (click link) or TIKTOK (click link) to enter. 

Here is a preview of what you could win;

Pratt Brothers Christmas 2025! + Giveaway info!

 

It is that time of the year again! All of the holiday lights are up and holiday festivities have begun. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Pratt Brothers Christmas! We were able to attend last year and we loved it! We were invited back again this year, and we had just as much fun as last year. If you love holiday events this is a must and it is fun for all ages. They have everything set up at Rawhide, so not only will it be a Christmas experience, but it will feel like you are in the old West as well. You'll find a train ride through several different themed areas that are absolutely packed with lights, a fire pit area where you can make smores, a fabulous photo opportunity spot where fake snow falls, a Christmas parade, A big light show with pyrotechnics and more. 

When you arrive be sure to pick up a map & guide, it will show you where everything is and have times listed for the different events. If you time everything out right, you will be able to do a lot of the activities back-to-back without a long wait time in between. I highly recommend heading to the back as soon as they open and doing the train ride first as the line can get pretty long. Both sides of the train are decorated and have different lighting & decor, so I suggest going on the train ride more than once since unlimited rides are included with admission. That way you can swap sides and concentrate on each side individually. One of my favorite spots at the Pratt Brothers Christmas is the fake snow area, the "snow" is made from a bubble foam type liquid, but it does look very similar to an actual snow fall. It creates some fantastic winter photos! If you get there a little early for a time slot, you'll be able to snag a spot in front of the snow-covered Christmas trees for even better photo opportunities.  

If you have small children you'll be visiting with you can book a time slot to see Santa! They do allow walk-ups however it is on a first come first serve basis, so I would book a time when you get your tickets online. Your children will also be able to meet Mrs. Claus in another area of the event, plus there is a section to write letters to Santa. See a live show, make Smores, grab some food or participate in one of their two scavenger hunts, there is plenty to do at Pratt Brothers Christmas. 

They offer two different ticket options, you can get a general admission ticket for $38 or opt for a VIP ticket for $89. They also have some discounts available such as the family four pack of general admission for $133 which will save you about $20, or you can go on a weekday for lower pricing. Is the VIP ticket worth it? I know the VIP is quite a bit more than what the general admission tickets are, so let's go over everything that comes with the VIP tickets. 

When you purchase a VIP it comes with everything that is included in the general admission, plus you'll be given a goodie bag & a lanyard. The lanyard gives you access to the VIP lounge where you can grab drinks and sit down for a little bit to rest your feet while watching a holiday movie inside where it is a little warmer. Your goodie bag comes with a ticket for a free hot coco - if you are an adult you can get a spiked hot coco, a free boot shaped mug with your choice of drink - kids can choose from soda, and adults can choose from either a soda or a "Santas Helper" a specialty alcoholic drink. The boots light up which adds a little extra Christmas magic & they are yours to take home. Your gift bag also comes with a ticket for premium seating for the western show, a fast pass for the train, a smores kit, a cookie decorating kit, and a set of hand warmers. Plus in a kids bag they will get a button pin & a wrist band, and adults will get a button along with a holiday ornament. Without the VIP tickets hot cholates are $8, the boot cups are $3, sodas are $4, Santas Helper is $13 and spiked hot chocolate is $10 so in drinks it adds a $15 value to the kids ticket and $15-26 value to adult tickets. I unfortunately didn't see how much the cookie decorating kits & smores kits were if you were to buy them separately. However, given everything that is included in the bags and the front of the line pass/premium seating I would say it makes up for the $50ish difference in price. 

It was busy when we went, however all of the lines were pretty manageable, and we were able to find good spots to watch both the light show and the Christmas parade. It was also easy to find a seat to watch both of the live shows, which was surprising for a Saturday! If you've gone multiple years in a row, the train ride themes haven't changed from last year. Everything was pretty much the same as it was last year, but we still had a lot of fun, especially because my husband and our son didn't make it with to last years event. On a last note, I just wanted to include that since this event takes place in part of Rawhide, this is an outdoors event it will be chilly and the ground is mostly dirt. I would bring something warm to wear & make sure to wear proper shoes as it can be a little muddy out. 

Want to win a family four pack of general admission tickets to this event???? Stop by either my Instagram page or Tiktok and enter on my Pratt Brothers Christmas post. I am @Themoonlitnook on both Instagram and Tiktok. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

Disclaimer-  Pratt Brothers Christmas provided this experience to us for the review + giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

The Mighty Axe in North Phoenix!

 

If you are looking for a fun way to relieve some stress and learn a new skill, then heading to an axe throwing location may be right up your alley. There is a fun hangout spot located on High Street near Desert Ridge in North Phoenix called The Mighty Axe. They offer axe throwing, a small arcade, and a cozy bar area where you can get a drink or sit an play a board game. They offer walk-in's or you can make a reservation online prior to visiting. 

Depending on the size of your group & if the room is available, I would recommend booking the VIP room. The open lanes are $35 per person an hour and the VIP room is $45 a person, while you still only get an hour to throw the difference between the two is being in your own private area with the ability to select your own music & you'll have a personal waiter who will periodically stop by to see if you need anything. Online is shows that you need at least six people in your party to book a VIP room, we only had five, but I called ahead of time and asked if there was open space if we could book it anyway. The general manager on that day was awesome & let us book the VIP room since they had plenty of openings on the day we wanted to visit. 

Upon your arrival you'll enter into their bar & lounge area, where you'll find plenty of seating along with quite a few board games you can play with your family and friends. I found the space to be quite cozy & inviting, we had visited shortly after the holiday season so everything was still decorated for Christmas and added to the charm making it feel more like a winter getaway cabin. The VIP room felt very much the same, it had a nice seating area with three private throwing lanes. We loved being able to pick out our own music to listen to while throwing. If you get hungry they had a menu which offers a few in-house dishes, but also has options from several close businesses. We ordered some sliders & some brussels sprouts from a spot nearby that was featured on their menu. After a short amount of time, our waiter came by to let us know that the food spot was a bit busy & running behind on their order so he was going to extend our time so we could eat and throw some more which was very nice of him. Drink wise, you can order soda and alcohol from the bar. 

We loved that the lanes had a tablet that allowed you to choose from a number of games to be projected onto the throwing boards. One of my personal favorites was the tic-tac-toe and competing against my husband to see who would win. The kids had a fun time with the zombie target practice, and the darts style throwing. We were having so much fun that the hour along with the extra fifteen minutes we were given, completely flew by! 

The regular throwing lanes had quite a few people when we arrived, but still offered plenty of space to walk through without feeling like you were in the way of anyone. The arcade area offered mostly pinball machines, but we love them so we were exited to check it out after our timeslot was over.  I was actually kind of surprised that when our time slot was over & we came out of the VIP room that all of the regular throwing lanes were completely empty & we were the only party left, so we were able to have the whole arcade to ourselves. This is definitely a spot we would want to come back to! 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

🟊 This is not a sponsored post, we paid for this ourselves. I just enjoy sharing awesome spots with my readers. 

Osaka Japanese Steakhouse in Mesa, Arizona!

 

When celebrating a birthday, it is exciting to be able to find a fun spot for dinner that not only has delicious food, but fun entertainment as well. We recently had the pleasure of stopping by Osaka Japanese steakhouse in Mesa, Arizona to celebrate my husbands birthday. A few of our family members live over in the area, so they invited us out to dinner to celebrate and spend some time together. Osaka offers a regular service style section where you can order dishes like sushi, and appetizers or you can request a teppanyaki table & order a dish to be grilled right in front of you. Quite a few restaurants that have this style of seating will often sit smaller groups together at one large table, but lucky for us the table we were sat at fit seven people which was perfect for our party, so we didn't have any strangers at our table. 

Depending on the day & time you want to visit for a meal, I highly recommend calling ahead of time to make a reservation. The restaurant was absolutely packed when we arrived & if we hadn't called earlier in the week to make a reservation we would have been waiting around for quite a while for a table to open up. 

Every teppanyaki plate comes with rice, some veggies, two shrimp plus your choice of meats along with a small salad and soup. I am not a huge fan of the dressing they use, so I didn't eat the salad but the soup was good despite being just a broth with two small mushrooms floating in it.

My teppanyaki dish was delicious, the meat was cooked just right and I enjoy the sauce they serve with it. I do wish that the veggies had been cooked slightly more and they could use slightly bigger portions for the meats with how much each dish is. While I do understand that part of the cost of the meal is the entertainment from watching the chef cook, a bigger protein portion I think would help balance out the cost. Especially since most parties will typically type the chef as well before he leaves the table.

Our table also had some of their sushi, spicy edamame and dumpling. All three dishes were enjoyable and I didn't have any issue with them. A family member of ours treated us to a dinner here for my husbands birthday & had mentioned to the staff that it was his birthday. At the end of our meal they brought over some small cakes, a big candle & a fun mask for my husband to wear while they played some loud drums and a happy birthday song. You'll frequently hear this through out your dinner as almost every table there had someone celebrating either a birthday or another event. The chef who did our teppanyaki had also made my husband a balloon headband to wear because it was his birthday & the chef liked his hair style. This spot is a little pricey per person for a meal, but to visit for a celebration or a once in a while thing I think it is worth it for the experience! 

This specific location is located at 6730 E. Superstition Springs Blvd Mesa, Arizona 85206 and they have a secondary location in Gilbert.  

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

🟊 This is not a sponsored post, we paid for this ourselves. I just enjoy sharing awesome spots with my readers. 

Winchester Mystery House Review!

 

For quite some time I've wanted to visit the Winchester Mystery house in person, even way before the movie it was a spot on my list of places to visit. The history of the house is quite interesting & I've always loved things that are spooky/supernatural so of course it was on my list of places to see. We were finally able to stop by in December on a family trip to California, thus we were able to be there when it was decorated for Christmas. 

I thought it was interesting that they allowed guests to take photographs, but we were all told we couldn't film inside of any of the rooms. Our whole tour lasted about an hour, and it took us through about a dozen rooms in the house. The house is much larger than that, but a lot of the rooms are closed off to the public. 

The tour might not be for everyone, the ticket prices are a little high & none of the furniture in the house is original from when the home belonged to Sarah Winchester. However the furniture is from the same time period, after she had passed away her niece inherited all of her belongings so she kept what she wanted & sold off the rest. I didn't want to visit for the furniture though, I can to see the house itself. It's story and the way it was built is interesting and something we aren't likely to see again, so the tour kept us interested and we had a good time. 

If I ever happen to be blessed enough to build my own home, I would definitely want an indoor green house like the rooms she had built here. It would be nice to have a whole indoor space to take care of my plants and protect them from the elements. Speaking of plants, the property has a large garden which you can also tour. We weren't able to do that this time around because we were on a schedule but we did opt to buy a photography package. You were given some period friendly clothing to wear over your own & then the photographer takes you inside of the house to take some photos inside of the rooms. 

We 100% thought the photography package was worth it because not only did we get to take photos inside of some of the rooms you aren't allowed to enter on the tour, but the photographer told us quite a bit of extra information and history of the house. The gift shop was lovely as well, they had a ton of stuff to look at if you are waiting for your tour time to start. I picked up a few small souvenirs to bring home with me, but I was sad that all of the penny press machines and such were not working.  All in all, it was a lovely visit and I can cross this off of my to do list! If I had a chance to see more of the house and explore the gardens, I would come back again. 

If you are planning a trip to California & are looking for other activities to do feel free to type in "Things to do in California" in the search bar of my blog so you can find some other great activities in California. You can also click the "Things to do in California" link located on the right hand side of my blog/in this post.

🟊 This is not a sponsored post, we paid for this ourselves. I just enjoy sharing awesome spots with my readers.