Introducing the Omni Charlottesville Hotel

Have you ever stayed at an Omni?

Omni-Directional

My introduction to the chain, which has 60 hotels and resorts throughout North America, was our stay at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel during our trip to Virginia. We were greeted with a bottle of local merlot in our room. Nice to meet you, indeed.

Each Omni location has its own style, informed by the area’s “local color.” The Charlottesville hotel has contemporary Southern decor and an atrium with tropical plants. Browsing around other destinations’ photo galleries, you can see that the one in Scottsdale has a Mediterranean theme. L.A.’s feels a bit Hollywood. Nashville’s has kind of an urban cowboy look.

The brand’s intention is to make its hotels “the focal points of their cities.” In the case of Charlottesville, it’s a community hub, located right off the Downtown Mall, serving as First Night Virginia volunteer check-in site and headquarters for the Virginia Festival of the Book.

Omni-Presents

Besides celebrating the uniqueness of each location, Omni also recognizes the individuality of their guests with a loyalty program that focuses on personalized amenities.

If you stay just two nights, for example, you’re eligible for complimentary morning beverages. Check off what you want the night before, and it shows up at your door in the morning. This is especially great if you’re not a morning person, or if you’ve ever watched Downton Abbey and thought “why doesn’t my day start with someone at my door with a tea tray?!”

Omni-Competent

There was really good service throughout our stay. When our safe wasn’t working, someone came the same day to fix it and even left a little note.

Many of the other guests of the wedding we were attending stayed there, too, since it also had shuttle service to area wineries and the wedding brunch was held right in the hotel’s restaurant, The Pointe. There are several meeting rooms on site, as well.

On New Year’s Eve, the Omni provided complimentary valet parking, extra security on site, and a reminder about quiet hours after 10pm. It’s definitely a good-night’s-rest place and not a party place (although Mr. Cheeseface managed to get a little crazy).

It didn’t really affect us, since we spent the evening at the wedding. But I think we might’ve got shushed for laughing too loudly on the way back to our room that night.

On New Year’s Day, our morning beverage tray also included a couple of apples and a note wishing that our resolutions would come to fruition.

It made me smile and was a nice touch to start the new year.

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We received media rates for our stay at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel.

March 3, 2016March 3, 2016

Exploring 3 Sides of Charlottesville, Virginia

Even though it was our first time in central Virginia, something felt familiar about the wooded hills we were driving through.

“Why does this landscape remind me of a painting in an American history book?”

Oh. Right. Because it’s exactly the kind of landscape that would have been a backdrop to the colonial-period events we learn about in school. The same kind of tree-lined ridges probably rolled right through the Jamestown Settlement, the Lost Colony of Roanoke, and other landmarks memorialized in art, legend, and the bold print in history texts.

Our destination was Charlottesville, a charming small town near the Blue Ridge mountains in the heart of Virginia’s wine country and just a couple hours south of Washington DC.

Here are some sights to check out while you’re there, as well as places to refuel.

1. Outside of Town: Presidents and Pinot

Three U.S. presidents made their homes in the region, and all three properties are open to the public with daily house tours.

Monticello – the impressive, innovative, and, in some ways, quirky house Thomas Jefferson designed for himself. We were able to visit and will be telling you more about it in a separate post.
Ash Lawn-Highland – James Monroe’s home, also in Charlottesville near Monticello.
Montpelier – James Madison’s home, which is about 25 minutes away in the town of Orange.

Eat + Drink

While there is a cafe at Monticello, we opted instead for lunch at the nearby Michie Tavern, a historic site itself with a museum, shops, servers in 18th century garb, and a killer buffet. (Seriously. You’ll be hearing more about that, as well.)

Intertwined with these sites is wine country. Thomas Jefferson was instrumental in bringing wine grape cultivation to the U.S., so the historic roots of the area’s vineyards run deep. You’ll probably pass several en route to visit the presidential residences.

My cousin’s wedding was at Trump Winery – yes, it’s owned by that Trump family. But considered on its own, it’s a gorgeous venue with good food and good wine. If you feel the product trumps politics, you can stop in for an afternoon tasting.

We enjoyed a bottle of wine from Prince Michel Vineyard & Winery, which is located in Leon, north of James Madison’s Montpelier. They have a barrel cave with a wine shop above it and offer events like Sunday brunch and paint nights.

The Jefferson Vineyards are located on the grounds where Thomas Jefferson had wanted to establish a commercial vineyard.

2. Pedestrian Perfect Downtown

The historic downtown street has been replaced by a brick walkway with trees, benches, restaurant seating, and sometimes vendor booths and buskers. On either side are lots of places to shop, eat and drink, an ice skating rink, a movie theater, and an outdoor concert venue.

The wide walkways allow plenty of room for community events, like First Night Virginia, a performing-arts-centered celebration on New Year’s Eve.

You can see a short film on Vimeo about the history of downtown Charlottesville and the pedestrian mall.

https://vimeo.com/42652821

Eat + Drink

We spent most of our time in the downtown area.

The Omni Charlottesville Hotel, where we stayed, basically opens right up to the downtown mall. It has a restaurant and a sporadically-open coffee shop in the lobby.

Mudhouse, on the other hand, seemed like it was open (and busy) every time we passed by (actual hours are 7a-10p most days). They have really good coffee. In fact, they were on USA Today’s Top 10 coffee shop list and a Roast Magazine micro roaster finalist.

Timberlakes – drug store/soda fountain/sandwich shop opened in 1890. I tried the staff’s highly-recommended pimento cheese sandwich, which turned out to be basically a cold cheese log and spread on toast. All that to say, I’d recommend going there for the drinks. The front of the store also has any drug store essentials you might need.

South Street Brewery – while they do have seriously good burgers, their offerings go beyond typical pub fare to include a really nice variety of salads and delicious desserts. The beer drinkers at the table seemed happy with that too.

3. University of Virginia

The UVA is just over a mile from downtown, so a little of that college town vibe still seeps over.

There’s a free trolley that runs between the Downtown Mall and UVA with stops at the Amtrak and Greyhound Bus Stations.

Thomas Jefferson himself founded the university and (probably) designed its famed rotunda, a UNESCO world heritage site – along with the rest of the Academical Village and Monticello. The rotunda is currently undergoing renovations and is due to reopen this summer.

Eat + Drink

Next to the campus is a series of craftsman-style former student resident buildings that have been converted into the Oakhurst Inn and cafe, where we got breakfast on the way out of town. We called about 10 minutes ahead, and they had my insanely good breakfast sandwich and coffee ready for us to pick up when we got there.

Monticello Artisan Trail

The Monticello Artisan Trail winds through this entire area. Formerly known as the Monticello Wine Trail, it includes wineries, breweries, farms, artisan studios, and galleries.

I’d love to go back and spend more time in the area.

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Revolutionary War painting by Henry Alexander Ogden (c. 1897). Public domain.

Thank you to Visit Charlottesville for assisting us with this trip. We were guests of Monticello and Michie Tavern when visiting each site. We received media rates for our stay at the Omni Hotel Charlottesville and a complimentary bottle of Prince Michel wine.

October 1, 2015October 1, 2015

Sleeping In in an Anderson, IN. Inn

There are lots of reasons you might be visiting Madison County, Indiana. For me, the biggest reason is family. However, if you don’t have family there (or maybe because you have family there), you can stay at the Best Western Plus in Anderson.

No one will wake you up in the morning by pounding on your door before your travel-weary, west-coast-time-zone bones are ready to stir and shouting “You’re not here for very long, you don’t want to sleep all day!” (You know, the Staying with Family Standard Room Rate.)

But there will be a hot breakfast waiting for you.

I’d get my eggs or yogurt or waffle from the buffet, refill my coffee (after making the first cup with the Keurig in our room), and have breakfast with the birds. They would be outside flapping around one of the feeders, looking for their favorite seeds while I sat inside at a table by a window.

My aunt, uncle, and cousin Allison were in town for the same reunion we were and had chosen the same hotel. Most mornings they’d join us at breakfast, with Allison and her mom teasing my uncle about his snoring. I offered her the foldout couch in the front room of our suite. Even though she didn’t take us up on it (instead opting to kick her dad out of the room entirely and send him to stay with a relative that lives in the area), the point is that an extra couch/bed in your room can come in handy.

So can a microwave and mini fridge. I tend to travel well-supplied with snacks, but you might also want to keep farmers’ market finds cool or heat up an Amish donut.

The hotel is conveniently located right off the freeway and Scatterfield Road, my reference route for getting around Anderson. It was an easy drive to Mounds State Park or downtown.

If you have relatives in the area, chances are, they’re close too. But not as close as Best Western’s indoor pool, twice weekly happy hour, and totally optional wake up calls.

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P.S. Did you spot Mr. Cheeseface?

Thank you to Anderson Madison County Visitor and Convention Bureau! We were their guests at the Best Western Plus Anderson.

September 14, 2015

Pancake-Making Machine

I read this story a few months ago about a fight breaking out over a breakfast buffet waffle that ended with 30 people getting kicked out of the hotel.

While I wasn’t able to verify the story, the point is that things can get messy around those self-serve hotel waffle makers. And I don’t just mean the dripping batter.

So I thought the Holiday Inn Express had an interesting solution to promote breakfast buffet peace: a patented machine that makes pancakes in a minute. I got to try one out and see the super secret inner workings. It’s pretty neat. You push a button and the batter inside the machine gets squished out and heated through, and in 60 seconds a pancake pops out on to your plate.

A video posted by stephanieliebold (@stephanieliebold) on Sep 12, 2015 at 4:22pm PDT

While the pancake machines (aka “Stack Stations”) are already in most Holiday Inn Express Hotels, they wanted more people to try them out. So they sent a blue truck out with a handful of pancake machines and something not available in hotels – a special laser etcher that puts your photo on a pancake.

So that is how I ended up, not with pancake on my face but with my face on a pancake.

If you would also like your face on a pancake, here’s the schedule:

Tempe Marketplace (today’s the last day!) – Sept. 14, 1-6pm
San Diego – Sept. 17-19
Long Beach – Sept. 21-22
Los Angeles – Sept. 24-27
San Francisco – Oct. 2-3
Oakland – Oct. 5-6
Sacramento – Oct. 9-11

Also, rumor has it that if you signup for IHG rewards at the pancake truck, they give you 500 extra points and enter you in a drawing for more points and/or shwag. I get nothing from this, but I’m generally a fan of hotel rewards programs (I signed up for IHG’s awhile ago) and a bigger fan of free points, so I thought you’d want to know.

Finally, here are Tammy and Jordyn. They were so excited about their pancake selfie, I just had to get a photo of them with it.

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Not really a disclosure: While I occasionally work with IHG, I didn’t get any special compensation for this post. The selfie pancakes are free for everyone. I just thought it was fun and that you might want to give it a try.

August 29, 2015August 29, 2015

7 Things You Didn’t Expect to Find in Madison County, Indiana

There’s a view that the middle of the U.S. is nothing but farm fields.

Drive an hour or so northeast of the of the Indianapolis Airport, and you’ll find yourself in Madison County (not the one with the bridges). It has its share of agriculture, for sure, but there are also cultural and historical sites, and people passionate about things they make.

I bet you didn’t know you could find all this in Madison County, Indiana:

1. A performing arts theater that makes you feel like you’re sitting in a Spanish courtyard under a starry sky. The Paramount Theatre Centre is one of only a handful of remaining atmospheric theaters by architect John Eberson.

2. Large, 2000-year-old heaps of earth built up by mysterious ancient people(s) to align with heavenly bodies at Mounds State Park.

3. Free public wifi throughout downtown Anderson (the county seat), thanks to dozens of hotspots. (PDF map)

4. The House of Glass, a family-run artisan glass studio, which still crafts each piece by hand in the tradition of their French ancestors.

5. A gospel music recording studio that also serves insanely good house-made cakes, Pure & Simple Restaurant at Gaither Family Resources. (Phillip wants me to add that the pot roast skillet was also delicious. So was the chicken bacon mac and cheese.)

6. The first historic district to be added to the National Register of Historic Places – West Eighth Street Historic District. (Walking tour map)

7. The world’s largest ball of paint, a baseball that’s been coated in more than 24,000 layers of paint over the last 37 years and now weighs over 4,000 pounds.

Where to Stay

Our homebase while we explored Madison County was a suite at the conveniently-located Best Western Plus in Anderson, which included breakfast every morning and coffee all day. (Yeah!)

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A big thank you to Anderson Madison County Visitor and Convention Bureau! We were their guests at the Best Western Plus and at Pure & Simple Restaurant. But I wasn’t kidding about that cake.