The Joys of a Bed & Breakfast

We recently mentioned that we stayed at Charlie & Jane’s Bed and Breakfast in Mount Ayr, Iowa, on our three-day weekend road trip a couple weeks ago.  We just touched on this a bit, but made sure it was known what a good time we had, so here is more of an official review, if you will.

Some highlights include:  The owners were absolutely delightful.  We were greeted by the husband who showed us our room, but neglected to take payment for the weekend.  There are three rooms upstairs, but only one has a private bathroom.  We chose that one, obviously.  The stairs to the top were narrow, and we had to be careful going up or down, but it is over 130 years old, ya know.  The wife greeted us the next morning with a wonderful breakfast… after we came back from morning sunrise shooting, of course.  We never did watch any television in the evenings, it was that relaxing.  The breakfast the next morning was just as fantastic.  The conversation even more so.

This shot you see here is one that I took on Saturday.  The leaves were starting to fall a bit too much, so I felt the need to get some shots while I still could.  The contrast could be a bit more even, but really this isn’t intended to be an artistic masterpiece, so I’ll live with it.

Mount Ayr itself, seems a nice little town.  It is the county seat of Ringgold County, and something of a regional agricultural center, the “hub” of the county.  The county courthouse leaves something to be desired, but the downtown is nice, albeit somewhat sparse.  We found a nice craft shop, plus a really good BBQ restaurant that we ate at both nights, trying a different thing each night.

So what’s the ultimate test of a particular lodging?  Would we ever go back?  Yes.  Yes, we would go back to Charlie & Jane’s.  Now, because we’re adventurous and like to experience new places, I cannot say when, or even if, we will ever go back to Mount Ayr, but if we do we will stay there.  How’s that for an endorsement?