There is a little town nearby called Los Alamos, CA. It’s a bedroom community which got a major shot in the arm when Kurt Russel et al decided to purchase the saloon attached to the 1880 Union Hotel. Since then, the little town has been booming, relatively speaking. It’s still a tiny place with maybe 100 homes and about 10 businesses – most of which are antique stores.
Besides some rustic charm, there are two main features of the town which I fell in love in. (1) The Victorian Mansion Bed & Breakfast – The Vic – which is the subject of this post.
(2) The 1880 Union Hotel – which will be a future adventure. In case it’s not clear, that is a DATE not an address. This nerdy self is definitely looking forward to staying in a century plus hotel which looks completely period – as in not-revamped. Apparently though it was refurbished in 1915, so there is that. I’ve eaten at the restaurant there. SOOO looking forward to being able to see the whole place.
But I want to share with you guys the uber coolness that The Vic revealed to me. I stayed there in 2015 and I was expecting that the Victorian mansion would be just that – a VICTORIAN mansion complete with antiques everywhere, garish colors and creaky floorboards. And it is, from the outside, though the color scheme is rather subdued in comparison to what I imagine it was originally.
But on the insides, it’s so much cooler than I expected! See, they decided to have each of the available rooms done as a full-on theme. They have 6 rooms, and I really want to live in like 4 of them. For this first trip, my Latin loving self chose the Roman Suite to stay in. And that’s Latin as in the language of the Romans. A language I studied for 4 years and am attempting to renew right now. But anyway. The Roman suite…
First off, the painting that was done on the walls. Wow. Some amazing artwork here that I really want to give a shoutout too. I have no idea who the artist was, but I’m assuming it was one of the owners. There were two elaborately painted areas. The first was around the bed. Which was a chariot. I shit you not. A CHARIOT!
I slept in a chariot bed! *nerd points* I wish had better pictures but I stayed here before I got into doing wierd angle shots and so all the pictures are pretty straight-forward and boring. Anyway, you can see in the picture that the chariot bed includes stairs to get up into and has an alcove flanked by columns. Every bit of this sleeping alcove was gloriously painted. Truly stunning!
The second area that was marvelously painted was the jacuzzi corner. The deep spa tub was flanked by marble stairs and columns. Total decadence. And while you are soaking and relaxing, enjoy the lovely sight of Rome … burning. Interesting choice of motifs there… All it needs is a violin that I can play while lounging. *nerd points to you if you understand the historical reference* Even though it’s a burning city, it was still masterfully done. And the mountains there. Gorgeous. I wish I could paint even a fraction as well. My house would look very different, I tell you!!
Did I mention this trip was before I really understood more about photography? I see all the washed out images and bad lighting and graininess and I realize just how much that I’ve learned. It’s good to have a check-in like this every once in a while, but that doesn’t improve these images all that much. Maybe when I stay there again in a different room they’ll let me re-take some of these…
There was a lovely gas fireplace flanked by some beautifully painted statuary as well as a sitting bench next to the door. Other than the chariot bed, which really tickled my fancy, and the spa which was decadence on a plate, there was one other very clever feature of the room. See this below? A nice little bookcase, framed with columns and a cap featuring a bust. Cute.
But wait! There’s more! It’s a door!!! A door to the bathroom. Seriously. You opened the bookcase to get into the bathroom. So much fun! Compared to the height of the main room, which is typical Victorian tall ceilings, the bathroom was very low and felt very intimate in comparison. Beautifully appointed with warm stonework and mosaics, the style carried through the Roman theme very nicely. The terry cloth robes provided were super nice as well.
Speaking of doors, since I have a thing for them, the door into the room was rather fun. It was a bit tight getting into the room though, if you notice the bottom step of the spa build-up is pretty much right there within the path of the opening door.
When I do these adventures, I try to go all-in. Always go for the brass ring. They offered a wine and cheese board to be in the room upon check-in. Of course I said YES. I’m not really a wine person, so that was a waste on me but the cheese and bread were great. It would have amused me greatly if they had kept the Roman theme for the board offerings and given a standard wine, bread, fruit and dipping oil as the items on the board. While the fruit and the oil were absent, and the cheese was nummy. Alas, the picture I had of this was terrible so… No picture for you.
All in all, a tremendously fun place to stay the night. I will so be going back. I think I want to stay in the pirate room next! SQUEEEE! … or rather, AARRRR! More adventures await! If you decide to stay here, let ’em know that the Nerd Adventurer highly recommended them.
Until next time, I leave you with a close-up view of this LIFE SIZE stage-coach-with-rearing-horse metal sculpture that someone has in their front yard right around the corner from The Vic. It’s pretty cool.
Until next time, adventure on!
– Nerd Adventurer