Lodging

“It seemed like Greer was just kind of dying,” Nelson says. “There were a lot of properties for sale. We really wanted to bring more energy.”

The hotel got its start as a ski lodge in the 1970s. Back then, a ski run and a lift sat adjacent to the property. A renovation in the early 1990s added a rustic vibe and enclosed the lodge’s porch, which overlooks the vibrant green meadows of the Greer area.

Bill and Gretchen Shirley threw everything they had into creating this Sonoran Desert sanctuary. In 2010, they bought a 78-acre former cattle ranch bordering Saguaro National Park East and set to work on seven luxury casitas overlooking the park. They’ve since expanded their land to nearly 100 acres, to preserve the views and the quiet, and constructed a 1.3-mile nature trail that ambles through the property’s three habitats: desert, mesquite bosque and pasture.