Was looking forward to this trip for my wife and my first anniversary. Saw it had so many great reviews but didn’t look like much from the photos but decided to give it a go anyway. Called and was assured we would have a king bed on the “second floor” with our pet which given the views sounded great. Unfortunately Showed up late due to traffic which i called ahead to inform them but when we got there they must have gave our room away to someone else and put us in a handicap 2 “double bed” room. Why on earth a hotel in this day and age would utilize double beds is beyond me but it was pretty awful experience with such a small bed for two adults (my wife being average size and myself being above average). The furniture consisted of cheap plastic tables from Walmart which was a bit odd for a “3 star” rated lodge. They put us in the main building to boot which couldn’t have dogs in it so we were supposed to use our back porch door which couldn’t unlock from the outside and it was so hard to even open or close my wife ended up hurting herself trying to do so. Woke up first thing and asked about changing our room because I saw several people check out but no concession was given with the response from the front desk essentially being that we were just SOL since they were sold out and already booked those rooms. I’m sorry but you screwed up our room. I obliged one of the two nights and the best you could say was I hope you continue to stay with us. Well if it wasn’t for the fact we drove over 5 hours to get there and thus wasn’t in the middle of no where we would have looked for other accommodations. Not how I wanted to spend our anniversary weekend.
With that said the beds are super hard and bathrooms are super cold with very weak heat lamps that were essentially useless. The handicap shower wand wouldn’t stay attached to the holder it was jerry rigged to fit in and the handicap bench left little room for me to actually fit in the shower. Whoever stayed there before us turned on the alarm for 6am and for whatever reason this was t checked by the staff or reset.
This weekend marked the start of their “astronomy event” where a gentlman with some kind of NASA education to talk about the cosmos was supposed to be there according to their website but we (as well as several other guests) came to find out they cancelled it with no warning to anyone and the front desk could have seemed to care less that some people actually picked this lodge for that experience (not us but another couple).
The restaurant was “ok” at best. Dinner was better than the breakfast buffet which was very lack luster and the same thing every day for $20 a person. Dry biscuits, watery gravy, bland grits, powdered eggs, powdered eggs with peppers, sausage links, bacon, hash browns, and a waffle maker you find at Holiday Inn Express (for free). The $2/glass OJ came in the tiniest glass I couldn’t fit my hand around it which was all but laughable when it was dropped off.
Dinner was a bit better as far as options. Wife ordered the special which was prime rib that ended up coming out cool to the touch. Came back with minimal improvement. I got a turkey breast which was pretty good with some decent mashed potatoes. Best thing about that night was the drinks that were coming from the bar. Rock solid prior Marine bar tender who knew how to make a mean Old Fashioned. Props to him! Especially being alone the whole night having to make drinks for the entire restaurant and the bar.
We enjoyed the location and the walking distance from hiking trails but for what we gave up I’m not sure it was worth it.
