-Hi. I'm Nicole from Refinery29.
I'm in Taos, New Mexico, on my way to stay
at an off-the-grid getaway known as Earthship.
This is "Weekend House,"
a show where we check out some of the most interesting
and unique vacation rentals from around the country,
because we could all use a little getaway.
Wow.
And this came out of nowhere.
There's nothing around here.
Look at this beauty.
All right. Now, where is the entrance?
Can't tell if this is the front or that's the front
or that's the front.
All right. Come in.
Oh, my God. It's so warm in here.
This is amazing.
We have now made it inside.
It's almost humid in here.
It feels kind of tropical.
The Phoenix Earthship is a state-of-the-art off-grid
eco-friendly building with modern amenities.
The home's jungle greenhouse creates its own microclimate
in the high mountain desert.
Let's go adventure.
Wow.
Look at this.
This is insane.
Look at this kitchen!
Look at these trees!
There are trees in the kitchen.
They made it very cute.
Look at this little oven mitt.
Look at this fountain.
This is absolutely gorgeous.
It's a fountain fireplace.
I've never seen anything like this before, with stained glass.
Check out all these details, and there's tile work on here.
There's little faces on the fireplace.
It's so interesting how they make the bottles
and then blend it so seamlessly into the design.
More forest.
Okay, here is the first room.
So you don't even really have a wall.
It's trees that close off this room.
Also, I want the best room in this earthship,
so I'm going to try out all the beds.
Let's see how this one does.
Pretty comfy. Oh, my God.
These are really comfy, actually.
I think we're going to have a great night here.
Let's check out some other rooms.
I love how all the painting really works
in to the architecture.
Bed test number three. Let's see.
Not as comfy as the other one.
I don't know if this is going to be a winner.
This feels like a treasure hunt.
We don't know what's through every door.
Wow! This bathroom is absolutely gorgeous.
I love how the bottles look like stained glass.
You can't see it right now, but I think in the morning,
it's going to be insane.
When we're going to shower,
the water that goes onto our bodies
is actually funneled underneath this building,
and it waters the plants within the building.
While I did my research on the sustainable elements
of the Phoenix,
I wanted to find out more about its design,
so I went to speak to Michael Reynolds,
who is the architect and creator of the earthship concept.
Bring us through the process of imaging a place like this
and building the first earthship.
-Graduating in '69 from architectural school,
I started seeing problems,
so I started gathering garbage and building houses out of it.
I kept adding various little tidbits of solutions
to the buildings I was building that addresses
the main six points of peoples' sustenance on this planet.
They need comfortable shelter.
They need electricity. They need water.
They need to do something with their sewage
and take responsibility for it themselves.
They need to have food,
and they need to do something with their garbage.
There's just not much maintenance.
There's actually less maintenance
than a conventional home.
-After having the honors of speaking with Michael,
I headed back to check out the kitchen.
This is not a cabinet, you guys.
This is a fridge.
Check this out. Wow.
It's a pretty huge fridge, actually,
and then this is your freezer right here.
I think we need some food, though,
because I'm starting to get a little hungry.
Maybe we'll check out the grocery store nearby.
Hopefully there is something nearby.
We'll see.
We headed to a local grocery store in Taos County
which was about 20 minutes away from the earthship.
I was craving tacos, so I got some tomatoes,
onions, peppers, taco shells, avocados,
and a few more items for our stay.
Woof! We made it back.
We did get a little bit lost,
especially since it's pitch-black outside.
Also, we don't have any cell reception, so a little sketchy,
but, you know, we're good.
We're here. We have food.
All right. Let's get started.
I think the most exciting part of being here
is actually being off the grid,
even though it is a little bit scary when you're driving here
and your GPS doesn't know where you are.
On my drive back, looking into the void of darkness,
I was contemplating some goals for this trip.
So I'm going to take a little trip outside later,
and then maybe, I don't know, we sit there for a while
and kind of contemplate life
and see if there's any UFOs or anything like that.
Chef's kiss. Dinner served.
Now that I have had some time to eat some dinner, it feels good.
It feels really nice.
It's really fun being able to watch the stars
and look at the moon.
I haven't seen any UFOs yet.
Maybe we'll see some later. But it's so quiet.
It's kind of the opposite of Los Angeles.
I don't know if you can see my breath right now,
but it's pretty cold out here,
so I'm not going to sit out and reflect for too long,
and I did hear some barking, which could be dogs or wolves.
Probably not going to hang around to find out,
but it's been a good night.
I am ready to tuck away for the night.
I chose this bed.
It's the comfiest, I think.
It's been a day, and I got a warm shower,
a solar-powered warm shower, and we cooked some dinner.
We did a lot. We had a busy day today.
And tomorrow is going to be another busy day,
so we better hit the hay.
Good morning.
So I just saw the sunrise, and it was beautiful.
I'm going to walk around later, but right now,
30 to 40 more minutes of sleep will do me just fine.
See you a little later.
It's day two.
We're going to explore the backyard.
I heard there's chickens out here.
Let's find out.
So this is where we watched the stars last night,
and then I think that this is the chicken coop
right over here.
I love how they built a little earthship for the chickens.
It's actually the cutest thing.
Oh, hey, guys. How's it going?
Oh, perfect timing. Well done.
Wow. They look glorious.
They have a pretty large spot for just three of them.
They have all this space here.
So this is where we do not want to be at night
because we heard coyotes.
This has been an amazing experience.
It doesn't feel real.
Honestly, it feels like a Disney ride or something like that.
I've never been in a house with a full-blown forest
inside of the kitchen and the bedroom.
I think some of the highs of this trip
have definitely been sitting next to the fire,
being able to relax and unwind.
There's also a waterfall in front of the fire
which I thought was probably one of the coolest things
I've ever seen.
So I think that this is the perfect place
for somebody that is adventurous,
someone that is not
trying to post on social media that you're here
because you might not be able to get service to be able to post.
I would definitely stay here again.