Tuesday, February 02, 2010

The Vacation Chronicles: Trip and Hotel

I admit that I did not take many pics on the trip down, I do not think I got started until we were on the really long bridge that crossed the river over into Apalachicola. This first post will have those pics and the pics of the hotel we stayed at, which is the quaint and magical Apalachicola River Inn. ( Click for link and their awesome pics )

First I have to explain why this place is so special to me, and why it was such a big deal to be going back. (Other than the fact vacations of any type are pretty much unheard of in my broke life lol.)

Last January, Jack and I were going through a really rough patch, and we almost split up. As you all have been reading for the last several months, we are stronger than we have ever been, and truly happy. It took a LOT of work to get there however, and a lot of the work fell on my shoulders because it was my actions, or rather, inactions, that caused a good portion of the issues. We spent the better part of a week apart last year, and when the nightmare was over, Jack decided to take us on a little trip as we had just got income taxes back, and the original plan was just to get out of the house and away from everything and hole up in a hotel for the night, but somehow no where was good enough and we ended up 2 hours from home in the town of Apalachicola and we found a hotel right on the bay. We had Alex last year, and we got a double queen bed room, on an upstairs level, which to my delight had a private balcony overlooking the bay. It was beautiful. The hotel is old, decorated in rich wood, white and purple hues, and the magic of the water all around.

As most know, I am drawn to the ocean like a moth to a flame, and nothing recharges me like being near the ocean. Last year, we only got to stay one night, and I actually cried when we left, the evening we spent there was pivotal to our relationship, and I felt the time there was to short. As we left, we vowed to return this year, and hopefully every year after that when we got our taxes in. All year long I have been in a high state of anticipation over it, and while it looked like we might have had to take Alex with us, everything fell into place at the last minute and Jack and I got to return to the hotel for a truly adult vacation.

The hotel offers a complimentary cocktail and a continental breakfast for each nights stay. I did not take any pics of the inside of the restaurant on site because there was a lot of people in there and I felt awkward about snapping pics of people eating...but Jack did get some with his cell phone, so when those are in I will post those.

So, here we go with the pics, and I will point out what everything is. Some of the pics, especially the night ones, I had to take with no flash because it drowned out the fairy lights, so those are blurry, but you will get the idea lol...also, you should be able to click the pics to get a larger view...

The first few will be of the river as we crossed and as we headed into town, and then pics of the hotel itself!

These first couple are of the river on the right and the long bridge we drove across...












 These next few are of the hotel itself, the room, and the hotel grounds..some during the day, some at night. It was overcast and rainy all weekend, raining at night mostly, and I got some awesome pics of the storm over the bridge we crossed over from the hotel room....


Above is the signs you see as you pull into the hotel.



Above is the center of the front of the hotel, our room was the one on the right of the sign.



Above is the courtyard entrance to the main office and oyster bar.



Above is hotel walkway ( at night ) leading to room



Above is our room door lol..the cottage we wanted was rented so we got a regular room.



Above is the king bed with down pillows, great pillows to prop on, crappy to sleep on lol.



Above is Jack's side of the bed, with wicker couch.



Above is my side of the bed, with wicker chair. I loved those lamps.



Above is wicker table and two chairs, one folded up behind one of the French doors to the balcony.



Above is the best part, the balcony overlooking the bay. We spent hours out there.



Above is the bathroom mirror, but I wanted to show the wall color, it was gorgeous!



Above is the towel closet, and it had a pedestal sink!



Above is the entrance to Caroline's Restaurant from the parking lot. The food was excellent!



Above is my wonderful Jack, looking at the water from the balcony.



Above is close up of water and Jack on the balcony.



Above is entrance to Caroline's with Jack in the middle.



Above is farther up the walkway to Caroline's.



Above is the Grouper Therapy sign, Caroline's is famous for their grouper and I can vouch for that lol.



Above is the front of the hotel lit up at night. It was so windy and cold that night, it was Saturday night. That is not the moon by the way, it was cloudy and overcast...orb maybe? Wait till you see the spirit pics in a later post *winks*. The town is several hundred years old.



Above is the gazebo in front of the hotel at night. Blurry, no flash, sorry lol. I think it adds to it though!



Above is the courtyard lit up at night, again, no flash used.



Above is a swing on a tree overlooking the water. I used the flash so you can not really see, but the whole tree was covered in fairy lights.


I think I will close this post out now. I have more pics of the signs of the place lit by fairy lights, but those will be in a special post later!

I know there are a LOT of pics, and this is only a fraction of them lol. I hope you enjoyed the first glimpse of my wonderful vacation and will stay tuned for the others to come!

3 comments:

Ryan Sutton said...

Lovely pictures Bella! Sorry for the delayed responses, I had taken a bit of a break from blog reading there for a little *hangs head*

Bridgett said...

Wow...looks like a wonderful place!
I'm so excited to see more.

Anonymous said...

What a magickal place for vacation! I know last year was rough for you two and I am so glad that you have a special yearly place to go now.

I love the purple and white against the wood for decor. It looks fancy yet weathered and mystical at the same time.

I think it's awesome you got to stay in room 18. Nine is a very spiritual number linked to expression of energy, compassion, awareness, courage, and selflessness. Pretty fitting considering all the selfless acts you are making for your relationship.

*Pets king size bed

The room looks so light and airy! I can feel the energy of the place and it's phenomenal!

I don't know what it is about wicker furniture and the beach but man, they go together so well. It gives off that "OMG I'm on vacation" energy. :)

I want a balcony overlooking the bay. I would have spent hours out there too!

Ooooo I LOVE the shelves in the bathroom!

The fairy lights all over make it look so elegant! Love them!

Nice orb you have there! ;)

I hope Kaz and I can find a special place like this with no fish so we can vacation there together.

Love you xoxo

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