hotel – Page 2 – Deep Fried Kudzu

August 7, 2017August 8, 2017

Staying at the Kimpton Brice, Savannah

It seems as though there’s a plethora of great hotels in Savannah. I even made a little list of ones that looked interesting: the Mansion on Forsyth Park, the Bohemian, the Kimpton Brice, and four B&Bs — The Kehoe House, the Hamilton-Turner Inn, Eliza Thompson House, and The Gastonian.

Those B&Bs have their place, but although our boys are very well-behaved, I perceive them as places best suited for couples. Also, lately I just haven’t been in the mood to stay in that kind of setting.

We wanted fun.

So we chose the Kimpton Brice to be the first hotel we stayed with there. It’s right on E Bay Street, so we walked to everything. For whatever reason, the night we checked in, there was a ton of really close on-street parking available, so we did that rather than valet, even.

The lobby isn’t especially large but it’s interesting and cozy. Design is by Anna Busta.

I saw this print below and thought to myself: I know this. It’s by Methane Studios in Sharpsburg, Georgia.

And yessss to this Angel Olsen print screenprint they made.

Below is Pacci, the hotel’s restaurant with these magnificent floor tiles. We didn’t even eat here because we had resys elsewhere, but in *love* with these tiles. Walker Zanger maybe? Ann Sacks?

Courtyard

According to the hotel’s PR, the building was “originally built in the 1860s as a livery stable, cotton warehouse, foundry and machine shop, wholesale grocer and Coca-Cola bottling plant prior to becoming The Mulberry Inn in 1982.”

The room itself was fine. They carried the same mod look into the guestrooms

Bath amenities are from Atelier Bloem, with the mandarin & citrus body wash, oolong tea shampoo, and geranium conditioner. Atelier Bloem is exclusive to Kimpton hotels, but it’s made by Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz, so if you know Malin + Goetz from the 21c hotels or elsewhere, that’s the idea. And yes it all smells amazing.

The armoire opens to reveal umbrella, yoga mat, and ::ohyessss:: seersucker bathrobes ($95).

A tray of goodies. The Patron = $32, JD = $20, San Pelligrino = $4. Snacks include gummy pandas, jerky, nuts, bars, and the like. If you join the Kimpton Karma loyalty program (free), you get $10 credit for the mini bar. I chose the $5 Savannah Bee Company mint julep lip balm and without checking the label, a $5 Kate’s Grizzly Bar which has 360 cals and…wait for it…51g of carbs. Whut.

The Kimpton Karma membership also means you can get a weekly email of their last-minute deals. We managed to get a great price on this room, but the weekly email shows what’s going on where as far as specials.

Happy with this stay and looking forward to checking out other Kimptons.

Wrapping myself in seersucker. Ta-ta, friends.

From the screenprint by Methane mentioned above, Angel Olsen’s ‘Shut Up Kiss Me’

NYT review of the Brice. Telegraph review.

July 23, 2017July 23, 2017

Hotel Finial, Neon, And Pawn Shop Murals

Earlier this year, we went to services in Anniston with plans to go on the next day to Atlanta, so we made reservations to stay at the Hotel Finial. It was recently renovated and had previously been known as The Victoria.

Only suites are inside the main home, and all the other Expedia et al-bookable rooms are in a motel-like arrangement with exterior corridors. That’s what we wound up with.

Parking was in a gated lot. The room was okay — not luxurious (e.g. two pillows on each bed whereas most hotels offer at least three or four) but not uncomfortably minimalist, either. It was fine.

We stayed out until almost bedtime anyway, and when we got up, it was time to walk over to the Victorian home for breakfast, which is included in the cost of a stay. The food was a step up from, say, a Hampton/economy hotel breakfast, and the best part was definitely the setting.

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That first night, though, for something different, we decided to drive up to Jacksonville, Alabama where a there’s a family pizza place on the square with a fab neon sign — so we figured we’d have supper and walk around…

The boys liked their pizza

We drove back to Anniston for services. The congregation there is so, so kind and they have a great building. The rabbi here drives in from Atlanta and he’s in his mid-80s…he and his wife are just super sweet.

Before we left Anniston, we stopped to take a picture of this great mural at a pawn shop there.

June 2, 2017June 1, 2017

Staying With Dolly, And Trying To See Bioluminescent Bugs In Parks

When in Rome…well, never mind. That won’t really work here.

But when in Sevierville, Tennessee with the intention of taking the kids to ride roller coasters at Dollywood…

Get a lodge if you’re feeling all mountain-ish, or stay at Dollywood (because generally otherwise, the options are Fairfield and lower).

We pick the Dollywood Dreammore Resort, and just as how it’s a plus to stay on-site at Disney (the last three times, we’ve stayed at WDW’s Coronado Springs Resort, and although I’ve dreamed about the Grand Floridian, the fact remains we are only at the hotel for a swim or sleep, so CS is really a great choice) for extended park hours, transportation, and other convenience factors, and the same is true here for the Dollywood amusement park. There’s the ‘TimeSaver’ which works as a scheduled line pass, a shuttle that has its own entry/exit point at the park, early park entrance on Saturdays, and package delivery.

And there’s a lot of Ms Parton here (which, especially after knowing about her Imagination Library which sends new books monthly to kids for free, I’m okay with an abundance of Dolly actually). Photographs, an encased bedazzled guitar…um, a whole hallway of backlit album covers…

There are other touches, like little Dolly messages in the elevators. Otherwise, though, it’s a (as Expedia classified it) 4*, 307-room hotel with valet, free self-parking, and free wifi.

There are activities the hotel puts on for children each day, but we mostly take advantage of the pools. There is a restaurant, a lounge, and a counter with things like sandwiches — but we mostly eat off-property. This area doesn’t have a great deal of non-chain, interesting restaurants, so while we’ve tried local pizza and local Thai and local whatever, we best like the little Chinatown Restaurant with weird parking and off-menu specials written in what I think is Mandarin (the chongqing chicken and war bar = excellent).

In the past, we’ve had rooms here wherein the bunk beds are in the same room as the larger bed. This time, though, ‘our’ bedroom was in its own space, and…

The bunkbeds were in their own area, separated from the main space by a wall. And this thrilled the boys more than sleeping in bunkbeds: they had their own tv.

I didn’t see a way to program the television to only show certain channels (in hotels, we only let HGTV or Food Network be on, unless some sports game is playing), so the boys kept it on HG until it was bedtime.

Knoxville is only 35 or 40 minutes away from Sevierville, and many times we choose to stay there instead (often at the downtown Marriott or Hilton), which is great because there is *so* much to do right in the middle of the city within walking distance.

Some time soon, I’d like us to think about going up in a hot air balloon ride over the GRSM. We did not get a spot in this year’s park lottery to be able to get access to the viewing area for the synchronous fireflies (going on right now), but we’re going to try again next year. We also want to try to get over to see the dismalites at Dismals Canyon in NW Alabama.