The night I checked into the Inn of the Five Graces felt like it should have been dark and stormy: It was difficult to come to terms with desperately wanting to be in a nice, warm bed on a night that was, in fact, starry and cool. I'd been stuck driving for no less than 14 hours, straight across the West Texas plains and eastern New Mexico to Santa Fe, and by the time I parked my car, I was exhausted, irritable, and starving. At this point, almost midnight, I was so happy to be done with the driving that I would have happily accepted a futon mattress and an empty pillowcase, which I could stuff with my jacket.

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Instead, I got a deliriously perfect room, with a plate of corn chips and salsa on a table in the entryway, cookies next to my bed, and an offer for a sandwich before bedtime from a friendly receptionist who...