In August 2025, I made a multi-city trip to visit two Meow Wolf installations and other adventures along the way. Over due for a vacation, it was a year since I made a significant trip and the longest span of not working days since before lockdowns. A retreat for my emotional state and a check in with where I want to go artistically with the current and future climate of entertainment and arts.
This trip was me going solo, but as you’ll read there were a number of friends I know from various parts of my life I would spend time with. I had the flexibility to be alone or not to be alone. What follows is part review, part personal reflection, of the places I visited.
This first one focuses on the first Meow Wolf installation, but in this series I’ll cover the second installation, Omega Mart, in Las Vegas. I’ll also cover some other attractions I experienced in further posts.
Albuquerque + Santa Fe, NM
I started my trip with the first permeant Meow Wolf installation in Santa Fe, “The House of Eternal Return”. While Santa Fe has its own airport, the costs would add +$400 to get there one way. I landed in Albuquerque to rent a car. I looked for more things to add to my itinerary, but there really wasn’t anything that piqued enough interest to add an additional day to my time there.
With every effort to rent a Mustang Mach-E, the electric car I drive at home, the Budget/Avis was incapable of understanding how to fulfill an EV rental. They were understandably preoccupied with a very creepy customer, which I also had to state boundaries with for being too close to me while at the desk. But in the end, I was told my car was a EV Kia, but it was actually a combustion engine KIA Sportage. At that point I gave up and took the loss.
The drive was an hour from the car rental center to the Courtyard Santa Fe, located less than five minutes from Meow Wolf itself. I choose Marriott/Bonvoy in part to maintain my gold status with late checkout, but also taking advantage of a close friend’s discount for friends. Sometimes this discount is the same or worse than AAA, but this trip that discount was very significant. I don’t have much to say about the hotel, which is not a negative! It did the job and nothing special.
Downtown Santa Fe
After settling in, I decided to drive to downtown and find dinner. For a Friday at 7pm, there were a lot of places closed for the day with few choices to make. This is a sanctioned tourist theme park of Santa Fe with so few things to do.
The pueblo revival-style felt more of a prop to a tourist area than serving an area’s current culture. Even though it’s construction may originally be for the community, it certainly isn’t now. Made me feel more of an outsider as this place was built for me to be an outsider, rather than experiencing the local culture. Especially with the clean and expensive pick-up truck blaring country-pop music while driving around.
I did manage to find a decent place to eat: Plaza Cafe Downtown. They had patio seating looking out to the park that marks as the symbolic center of town. After completing my role as tourist and posting my food, an old Boston friend sends me a message — reminding me that she has moved to Santa Fe! I knew this, but totally forgot about the move. *facepalm*
After dinner I walked around a little to see some of the state capital buildings, including this remarkable state supreme court building. There were also a few more places for dinner I would have gone had I known they existed and were opened, but I still stand by that the downtown closes down after 5pm. Having walked back to the car, I drove hope to the hotel to turn in for the night.
The next morning I first drove to Dutch Bros, a drive-in only coffee shop chain. I was the only one in line so I chatted with the order taker about my trip, my love for Dutch Bros, and how rare the treat it is. She kindly waived my coffee and I only needed to pay for the muffin top.
I then drove the three minutes to Meow Wolf’s parking lot about 30 minutes before open. I sat under the Robot statue to drink and eat. During which it dawned on me that I forgot my headphones! I use them to filter out the crowds when I want to feel like I’m exploring alone. Thankfully the hotel was 4 minutes drive, so I left and came back quickly.
When I came back, my friend was walking across the parking lot from a different cafe! After my time at Meow Wolf and resting in my hotel room, we hung out for the evening to catch up, but I’m getting ahead of myself…
Meow Wolf: The House of Eternal Return
The House of Eternal Return opened in 2016, a year after my experience with The Latitude and the early days of The Rathskeller — the venue I helped run until 2021. Meow Wolf to me is the success story I wanted for The Rathskeller or the evolution there of. Not carbon copy of what the House is, but an experience that people would travel exclusively for. Needless to say, this visit for me has a lot of emotions.
To get the high level out of the way: This place is special in my heart now that I experienced the space. There are problems I have with the space that are both lessons that should have been learned before it’s creation and lessons we now learned because of this space. I highlight these as both warnings and encouragement for better spaces. When I cover Omega Mart, you’ll see how some of these were learned while others not.
Before the Threshold
While I entered soon after showing my pass, I’d like to get the lobby out of the way.
I bought “Portal Pass Supremium” online before travel. This is the top tier annual pass sold at a discount and valid for all Meow Wolf installations. The pricing being less than two visits between House and OmegaMart and includes discounted food, merch, and guest tickets. Very cost effective for me doing two locations in quick order. I still needed to place an order for a ticket with a timed entry, but with my login status the cost is zeroed.
Lining up had a crowd making entry a little slower, but less than 10 minutes. Entering the space was a lobby that was colorful, but not *the show*. The ticket counter, the store, cafe, and a long hallway to the only (but sizable) restrooms of the building. There’s also a separate meeting space for smaller events. During my visit was a cat adoption program, which ended early due to all cats getting adopted.
There is no re-entry to the space with your ticket, but that line is set to exiting the building. You can pop in and out of the installation and stay indoors. Which would be fine, except the cafe does not offer a meal for you to enjoy; only drinks and snacks. Which is frustrating with food truck(s) waiting outside.
Having the outside space but not voiding your access is greatly appreciated, especially as I spent a total of 6 hours. Not only for having restrooms elsewhere to uncomplicated the space, but taking a break and reenter with fresh eyes.
Act 1: The House
When approaching the entrance to the installation, a TV screen runs on loop positioning you with your role and the context of where you will start. For my visit, the audio was not loud enough to hear, relying only on the closed captions. Other guests passed me as I wanted to watch the full loop.
When the loop completed, I turned around to see “The Historian” character telling me to look in the mailbox for a message and to “Power On”. I know when the talent is clocking me as A Player. We will return to The Historian in a bit.
The House of Eternal Return is as close to a real-life Myst we have, for now. The House is not derivative of Myst, but rhymes with environmental storytelling through journals and set pieces. There is no stronger moment that I waited too long to visit this space than when I tool the above selfie. I felt welcomed as a guest in this space, as if the experience was a home for me. Not in the sense of living there or explicitly for myself; this is a space built for someone like me.
This is a different feeling than in a space I do artistic work in, like the Rathskeller was. Different than my connection to Disneyland Resort as both a guest and still aspiring to be one of the very many who place a mark. There are notes for Meow Wolf to make the installations welcoming to guests, but not a need to *contribute* directly to the Meow Wolf organization. My needs for Meow Wolf are to be something I visit to contrast to.
I do have aspirations for being part of a space like this. Even the structure of base plot and Act 1 space, providing the platform for other artists to expand. But my goals for a such an experience is too much contrast to Meow Wolf the organization. If my path were to make such an experience, the comparison would be “Meow Wolf but _____”. Expansive to something different and new, not derivative.
All of this [mostly] flashing in my brain, I finally checked the mailbox for intro storytelling for placemaking. Then entered the house.
A Puzzle, Almost
I won’t go too much into The Story™, but I’ll play it safe in say these are spoilers.
The house and a “shed” location amount to 10 distinct scenes comprising of what I call “Act 1”. The living space for a family in Mendocino County; about 4 hours drive north from where I live in SF. Between these rooms, you get the story of a family of four, plus grandpa and uncle. Around the space there are three looping video screens, an interactive computer, and a device that will reveal audio recordings. The rest of the storytelling is classic environmental reveals and reading materials.
I utilized the Meow Wolf app with all features active, allowing you to read or view key elements of video and reading materials for after you leave the space. Which is a good balance of not feeling FOMO with the materials. However, it’s not a complete record and there’s no other way to tell what is or isn’t included in the app without looking if unlocked.
That app gives push notifications when entering certain rooms. Little nudges of the context of the room and giving trailheads for certain puzzle lines. A connection of other reading material to literally unlock a safe. This is the kind of gameplay I live for and was hoping to have more of these little moment to reveal other aspects of the piece. But sadly I didn’t discover much else to be revealed. The Shed had a computer and an audio puzzle, but the queue waiting for these single devices made the experience off limits for most. They just seemed to be too much to go into for one entry point.
Between pouring over the materials both in the space, through the app, along with an in-universe book they sell at the gift shop, there’s a rich story about each member of the family of this house. This works on different levels of engagement. From the surface “family gets disappeared when device goes wrong” MacGuffin of the whole experience, to the more nuanced structure of events for anyone paying attention, to the deep interpersonal relationships between the characters and what lead to the demise. If you seek a story, there’s a story to be told.
But I wished for more time to play in the game. Making connections and physical revelations in the space. There is a search for the different iterations of a hamster named “Nimsesku”, but it is literally the easter egg hunt.
Act 2: The Vibes
Once you venture out into a portal to a dimension outside the house, The Game™ is effectively done and it’s all just vibes. There are nods to certain experiences in the house that reference the rest of the space. There’s some screens that fill in different backstory about what influences the family. Finding the details of the story elements effectively ends once outside the house. You can always reenter any of the spaces at your leisure, but playing The Game™ is confined within spaces of the House.
The spaces you do visit are special in their own ways with a beauty in their own unique way. To many to list out all at once, but each having their own unique spin and never felt repeated. To my knowledgable eye, I experienced these spaces as first steps in building their empire. Some more effective than others, but all making bold choices to try out something wonderful.
Which of these spaces will hit for you will be different from others, but when you let yourself sit in a space, some hit harder than most.
A Personal Reflection
At one point I turned a corner, saw the pictured hallway, and stopped dead in my tracks. I know that neither copied each other, but I hope you can see the similarities between the Rathskeller’s entrance room. That’s when my emotions hit hard. For all the years working in the San Francisco immersive art scene, Meow Wolf was this goal of success to aspire to. Not to carbon copy the corporation, but to have a space worth traveling just to experience.
I miss having an immersive venue to do experiences in.
From that point on and for the rest of the trip, there was a bit of melancholy in both enjoying this work I was experiencing, but not knowing how to position myself to make immersive works again.
Entertainment / “Streetmosphere” Performers
On my visit, there were a total of four performers roaming the installation. Of which only one I had significant interactions with: The Historian.
As alluded to earlier, I was introduced to him before walking into the space proper. As I was visiting alone that day, he was the occasional anchor and only personality I could connect with in an otherwise crowded but narratively solitary space. While I didn’t have much time with him as a character, I did get enough encouragement to direct my attain in the right places. I also had a 1:1 interaction that was so good, I broke 4th wall to compliment his work.
Show Issues
There is one aspect that I found a jarring: The incomplete preservation of show elements. This goes beyond the general ware and tare of a highly busy space, though maintenance must always be priority for a physically engaging experience; as with any themed experience.
The House was a great example of good show. The paper goods will always be in some form of disarray due to guests, and the use of laminated and other longer lasting materials do falter away the lived spaces, but none of these are deal breakers. Everything felt apart of the space, including the weirdness of transitioning between the different dimensions.
Once you venture to Act 2, the adherence of show starts to break at some of the seams. My major complaint: Video projectors in plain view; wrecking sightline in small spaces. When I’m see a solid white box in an otherwise dark room, you sacrificed good show to not make a better solution. That visual quality is the whole point of the experience, and there are points where you’re let down.
The accessibility issues…
The House of Eternal Return is inaccessible unless you’re able bodied.
Stairs are the least of your worries. Spaces that are short stepped stairs, physically tight to move around, and a host of other issues that make the space rather challenging. There were some spaces I didn’t bother to venture as I was afraid of running into small children, if not completely biffing down a flight of “stairs”.
While technically you can navigate some of the major beats in a wheelchair, there’s large vast sections that are just a no-go if you’re not able to take stairs on your own.
Yes, but did you like it?
Absolutely!
I was nine years late in experiencing The House of Eternal Return, but at least now I have made the longing to visit a reality. I had a bit of background walking into the space, including conversations with various folks in Meow Wolf through the years and their eventual separation from the company. But all of the aspects together, this space is important to the immersive art scene and delivers something special to all visitors who are able to make the journey.
Ultimately The House was the start of an era of immersive where themed experiences could be made by groups that aren’t Disney or Universal. A mix of technology being cheaper and more powerful and a broader understanding of narrative storytelling with environments. But as you’ll read in the next chapter, this piece broke ground and made new lessons to learn in this art form.
