Whenever we travel, we make it a point to stay at local bed and breakfast joints instead of hotels/motels. So when a close friend decided to host her wedding at the Salem Cross Inn, we were excited to hunt around for our next B&B adventure.
My fiancé is from California, and he is utterly enamored with the landscape of New England, namely trees. So I made it my mission this time to find a place with no shortage of trees and wilderness. For myself, I wanted to stay somewhere cozy with good food and good people.
The Laurel Ridge B&B seemed like the perfect fit for us - tucked away in the woods, close enough to the Salem Cross Inn to make the drive convenient, and oozing charm. Admittedly, I think my fiancé was anxious when we pulled off the main road at 11PM and began driving up dirt paths off the GPS. Laurel Ridge is off the road... *and* off the grid! They have their own wind power and solar panels. In addition to energy, the owners were kind enough to introduce their growing livestock collection: an assortment of sociable chickens and goats!
The house is a beautiful and unique log home that is partly built with lumber salvaged from the tornado in 2011. It truly felt like we were getting the best of both worlds - the beauty and calm of nature combined with modern comforts. My favorite part of the stay was hearing the history of the house from the owners and the efforts their family took to create such a unique space. The added bonus of course is how the entire house smells of lumber.
Did I mention the food?! Linda is an outstanding cook and used eggs from their own chickens to prepare some of the best breakfasts I've had in a long time! My fiancé is *still* reminiscing about the eggs benedict.
The nitty gritty: We stayed in the Indigo guest room, a loft bedroom that shares a bathroom space with the Cinnamon guest room. At the time of our stay there were no guests in the Cinnamon room, so we had the bathroom all to ourselves. The room had a lovely queen bed with the softest, snugly sheets I've encountered at a B&B. The decor was immaculate and full of curious oddities (several Egypt-themed pieces). We had our own door leading out to a balcony space as well. While there was no television in the room, we did have high-speed internet access.
I think what I loved most of all about the stay was how comforting and welcoming the experience was for us. Initially I was a little anxious that we'd feel like outsiders intruding on someone's private home, but instead it felt like we were warmly enveloped as if we were long-distant family. It really was a special experience for us both, and we're already dreaming about our hopeful future stay! read more