I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, blessed with family, friends and good food.
Spoiler alert: Long Blog
We spent a lovely Thanksgiving in Philly with my
daughter and son-in-law.
On the way up we stayed at Nora Robert’s Boonsboro Inn. Let me just say, it surpassed all expectations.
The Inn had plenty of spots for relaxing including balconies, a courtyard and a television niche with a loaded refrigerator nearby. My favorite place to hang out was, of course, the library. Beside plenty of books to read--yes, lots of Norah and J.D. Robb--there was a fireplace; Keurig with pods that included coffee, cider, hot chocolate or tea; and a decanter of whiskey. This is the room we had our wine and cheese in. Very cozy and relaxing.
On the way up we stayed at Nora Robert’s Boonsboro Inn. Let me just say, it surpassed all expectations.
The Inn had plenty of spots for relaxing including balconies, a courtyard and a television niche with a loaded refrigerator nearby. My favorite place to hang out was, of course, the library. Beside plenty of books to read--yes, lots of Norah and J.D. Robb--there was a fireplace; Keurig with pods that included coffee, cider, hot chocolate or tea; and a decanter of whiskey. This is the room we had our wine and cheese in. Very cozy and relaxing.
Breakfast was amazing. A choice of juice and coffee was served in
carafes. The meal began with a baked apple with toppings. After that the main course was
served: pancakes with candied pecans, scrambled eggs cooked to perfection and a
meat/nonmeat entree. When I registered
online, I listed vegetarian under special requests. When my plate arrived and I saw the sausage I
started to pass it off to the HH before I was assured it was vegetarian
sausage. To the meat eaters out there
this may not seem like a big deal but for a vegetarian it was awesome. Often, the meat item is just
left off with no faux substitutions.
The food was delicious.
The food was delicious.
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The dining room where scones and cookies were available twenty-four seven
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There are eight guest rooms at the Inn.
All named for famous romantic couples. We chose the Eve and Roarke
room.
The bedroom was nice but the
bathroom was astounding. The J.D. Robb fans
out there will truly appreciate this room since the futuristic shower is
frequently mentioned in the series. The shower in our
room had a huge shower head, six or eight inches square, that came straight
down…plus a handheld shower head…plus jets that came straight out of the
wall. You could choose one or all. I was
playing with the nozzles trying to figure out which was which when I turned the
knob for the water that came straight out instead of down. I let out a screech and hastily moved to the
next nozzle.
The coup de gras was the bidet toilet.
The seat went up automatically when you walked anywhere near it. It had the cleaning applications. But best of all…the seat was
heated. If I ever make even a tenth of Nora's earning power I want a heated toilet.
The bathroom also had a heated towel rack and heated
floor, but I never figured out how to heat the floor.
It was obvious that much time and thought went into the furnishings and the comfort of its guests. All in all the experience was a delight. If you are ever near Boonsboro, Maryland I highly recommend it.
*While there I did find out the answer to the age old question, which came first the Inn or the Inn at Boonsboro Trilogy. Do you know?
The answer: The inn.
51 comments:
What a fun post today. Glad you enjoyed Thanksgiving, and that you had a nice stay with your family. That inn sounds magical, they sure looked after you well there. And it's great to have you back with us again! Hugs, Valerie
Wow. I am surprised she has time for Inn management as well as writing, writing, writing.
And am very glad you had such a good time. It is nice not to be treated as second class as a vegetarian isn't it?
Such an interesting post Sandra and what a lovely time you had. I didn’t know anything about the Boonsboro Inn, but I’ve just been reading more about its history online. So interesting, thank you for sharing all your photographs and for introducing me to something I knew nothing about. If I’m ever in that part of the world I will be making my way straight to the Boonsboro Inn.
Wow, I also came across the heated toilet seats on my recent travel to Seoul. It was simply amazing.
SO awesome that you had a great Thanksgiving!
An excellent post to start this new week Sandra, well written and awesome pics also. Thanks for sharing.
Yvonne.
What a great place to stay. I had to google Boonsboro to see where it is. We Australians don't generally know the abbreviations for US states unless they are really obvious. So it was Maryland. We came across such toilets in Japan. They were fun to play with. I have no idea who Eve and Roarke are, and my google is overheating. Terrific that you had a good Thanksgiving with family, and you didn't once complain about the traffic.
What a fantastic place to stay! And that bathroom....can you say, expensive?!
I’ll remember this Inn in our travels!
Hughugs
Looks like you had great time.
I'd be spoiled rotten after that visit and not want to go home.
Glad you had such a great Thanksgiving.
The inn looks lovely and so pretty all decorated for Christmas. At first I thought you meant the toilet was self-cleaning, and I was screaming WANT! :-D We have radiant floor heating in the bathroom. A small luxury during cold months. It can be manually set or run on a timer. A heated toilet seat sounds nice. The only way the toilet seat is heated is if I use the bathroom immediately after Himself (-;
does look like a nice stay
A enjoyable place to visit.
Wow, I'd want to stay there and not want to leave. I'd have loads of fun playing with the shower settings. Never knew there was such a thing as a heated toilet lol
Thanks, Val:)
It's good to be back.
Hugs,
I imagine she relies heavily on her very competent staff. Though, she does have to be one busy lady.
Yes, it was nice not to be treated like a second class vegetarian. Well said:)
Hi Barbara,
To me the Inn is an enigma. It's not something you hear a lot about, yet people come to stay there from all over the world. I guess it's more well known by Nora Roberts' fans, of which there are many.
YOU, have a lovely day.
The heated seats are amazing aren't they, Nas?
It was a great Thanksgiving. Thank you:)
Thank you so much for your kind words, Yvonne. Much appreciated.
Hi Andrew,
Eve and Roark are from the J.D. Robb murder series.
We didn't have too many traffic issues on the way down. Coming back we got smacked.
I was told they have lots of folks from Australia visit the inn.
Have a good Monday, Andrew.
Super Sandra, first, welcome back, and second, here's a long response to a not really long post, which has been totally informative and fun(lol) You've proven yet again that one can live in a state for years and miss tons of treasures right under your nose. I'm from Baltimore, which is only about and hour and 15 minutes away from Boonsboro. As a book reader of Nora Roberts from back in the day, I sure hate that I missed this amazing treat. I'm one of those nutty picky people about bathrooms, so I may have hung out in that one for hours(lol) What a wonderful place for a reader to go and relax. The food, books and fireplace sound like heaven. I know you're vegetarian, and what sterling service to insure the needs of the guests and what they eat. That attention to detail is fantastic. Inquiring minds are now wondering if they provide cheeseburgers on request.*heh* I love, love, love looking at Christmas decorations so it's great to see what they did for the holidays. You've given me a fantastic place to add to my bucket list, and I'm so glad that you and your family had such a wonderful time. Thanks for the pics too! Hugs...RO
They gave you an actual veggie alternative? That is amazing.
The place looks gorgeous.
Oh yes, Donna, that bathroom definitely had all the amenities:) I wish I would have that to ask what the other bathrooms were like.
I did, Jamie:)
Hope your Thanksgiving was a good one.
We were and I didn't:)
Thanks, Alex, hope yours was great also.
It seems you had a fabulous T'day and in such a beautiful inn. I didn't know the answer to your question, so thanks for supplying it.
If it was self-cleaning I'd have to get one whether I could afford it or not;)
Heated floors in your bathroom....sounds wondrous.
Have a pleasant day, CJ:)
I didn't know Nora had an inn. I went to the bookstore she had in Boonsboro when I lived nearby. I don't know if it's still open. She was a famous "complainer" in letters to the editor at the newspaper where I was a reporter.
Love,
Janie
Welcome home after what must have been a fun stay and Thanksgiving.
I was really impressed with the inn. It seems like every detail was accounted for. When I bought my first house, it had a bidet separate from the toilet. I have never seen another one since, but I really want one. I would have gone ape over that bath, but I would also have gone ape over the scones served 24/7.
One thing that made me so happy was, as a vegetarian, I can appreciate that the staff took care of your vegetarian needs and didn't pass on part of the meal. That would make it a place I certainly would want to stay, even if I didn't know who Nora Roberts or J.D. Robb was.
It was, Adam:)
It sure was, Steve.
Can you believe it?!
It is gorgeous.
We actually spent a night there on our way to Philly, but it was beautiful and we certainly had a great time.
Hope your Thanksgiving was fabulous as well.
Ha. That's funny about her being a famous complainer.
She opened the Inn in 2009, it's across the street from the bookstore.
Thanks, Elizabeth. It's great to be back.
Boonsboro was the best Inn/hotel I've ever stayed at. It had so many amenities. Little things like free soda, water, granola bars and coffee that added up to a big difference.
It was wonderful! It did kind of freak me out that the lid went up whenever I walked by:)
I bet you could get a burger at the restaurant her son runs across the street:)
There's not a lot of publicity about the Inn. It must spread word of mouth.
Thanks for the welcome. It's good to be back.
I wasn't familiar with Boonsboro Inn so I'm so very glad you shared this with us. I'm going to have to look up the location just in case I'm ever in the area! Everything looks top notch and the bathroom, as you mentioned, looks to die for. I love the details in the house and the Christmas and of course the books. I'm so glad this (as you said) long post (!) had so much detail and so many photos. It gives me a wonderful idea of what it would be like to be here.
Hi Sandra, looks like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Love the pictures :)
Hi Jeanie,
If you ever have an opportunity to stay, I think you'd really enjoy it.
We did. Glad you enjoyed the picture, Rachna.
That's after I moved away. Nora got really pissed off one year because she took her granddaughter to the mall in Hagerstown to see Santa. Santa was on animal detail because of a fundraiser for the humane society. Nora threw a fit because her granddaughter didn't get to sit on Santa's lap, and she wrote a letter to the editor about it. A number of people responded. They were not sympathetic and in general, told Nora that she had enough money to go anywhere she wanted and she shouldn't complain about a fundraiser.
I thought it might be (after your move).
Interesting.
Was Hagerstown where you lived?
What a simply lovely post.
So pleased that you enjoyed Thanksgiving, so nice to stay with your family.
I enjoyed your photographs ...
All the best Jan
It looks like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and what a shower! Very nice
Yes, we lived in Hagerstown for twelve years--the longest we stayed in one place. I loved it. I'm sorry I ever left. I should have stayed in our house that I designed and let X go off to his new job in Illinois. I'd be there still.
Wow, gorgeous Sandra! I want to go there! Truly beautiful!
I am so happy you had a very Happy Thanksgiving! Big Hugs!
I thought that was special about the sausage for you!!
Thank you, Jan! Glad you enjoyed it;)
The bathroom was amazing.
I was very impressed, Stacy.
It was lovely.
Hugs back,
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