My wife and I absolutely needed a place to decompress. The MW Bar Ranch totally filled the requirement. From the beautiful, extremely well equipped adobe cabin where we stayed to the great secluded property with pastures, horses and a running stream, to the main house, the hospitality of Mary Ann and Lawrence and the three wonderfully friendly dogs, this retreat is the vacation we wished for.
The ranch is a short distance from Valle Vidal, and about an hour from Taos, NM. The cabin is far enough from the main house so that we felt totally alone. We brought our own food, and were delighted to find a modern, fully equipped kitchen. It has everything from copper pans to complete small cooking utensils to plates that were so colorful and cheerful that we decided to eat on them, even though we brought paper plates so we didn't have to do any more dishes than necessary. The pictures on their website do not do the cabin justice; it is a very comfortable living space that is hard to capture on camera and we felt "at home" from the time we unpacked until the time we had to leave at vacation's end.
Valle Vidal is close, beautiful, accessible and, although there are no formal trails, we found places to park and hike every day we went to this portion of the Carson National Forest. Even if your not hiking, the views and vistas from the road, and parking areas are beautiful.
The hosts know both the history of the area and current things to do. They share their knowledge in interesting and entertaining ways. They were great to be around and an information resource that is not to be beat.
As mentioned earlier, we cooked our own food, but we did have one dinner prepared the night before we left. It was better than great. Pork tenderloin, cooked to perfection; ratatouille and salad prepared from vegetables grown in their garden, and potatoes. Every bite was to be savored, and the conversation during and after the meal was relaxed and entertaining.
Would we go back? We are planning on it.
Bill and Marie