‘No place like it’

Posted by Krista Allen | Aug 27, 2015 | Business |

The Sibley bell, a canvas camping tent, is the newest accommodation at Shash Diné Eco Retreat. The Sibley bell is known to be a class of its own, connecting guests to the purity of nature. (Times photo – Krista Allen)

Bed & Breakfast offers visitors slice of Navajo life

Baya Meehan, the head proprietor of Shash Diné Eco Retreat – a Bed & Breakfast in Coppermine, Ariz. – poses near a chaha’oh, set amid a vegetable garden, on her family’s ranch. Meehan and her husband, Paul, are working to establish a brand and grow their business to accommodate guests year-round. (Times photo – Krista Allen)

COPPERMINE, Ariz.

Directoire-style bedside tables, English armchairs, floral wallpaper, and scones might come to mind when one thinks of bed-and-breakfasts, but what might be the only B&B on the Navajo Nation is “glamping” with traditional Diné amenities, homegrown food, and outstanding, 24-hour security.

Shash Diné Eco Retreat – the glamping B&B – is located 12 miles south of Page, just off U.S. Highway 89 at Baya Meehan’s family homestead, a working ranch where Meehan and her husband Paul raise Anglo-Nubian goats, chickens, and Navajo-Churro sheep, among other animals and livestock such as Great Pyrenees, Maremma Sheepdogs, and horses.

The Meehans started their B&B here about three years ago after residing for a while in Bisbee, Ariz., where Baya was a receptionist at a naturopathic doctor’s office and Paul co-owned a café.

“We had the idea … when we first came back here,” said Baya, who Paul said is head proprietor of their B&B. “As we were researching it, it was filling a need that was obvious here.”
The Meehans’ B&B has been quite lucrative since creating their business idea.

“There is no place like this around here,” Baya said. “We want to provide a respectful interaction with the Navajo culture. We’re not putting on shows or anything, it’s just a slice of life in Navajo land that we’re offering here.”