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Village Inn, Annapolis, Maryland

We began our fall adventure with a road trip to Annapolis for our first sailing lesson on a big boat.  More on the sailing lesson later --- first I want to talk about the hotel we stayed at.

Village Inn is the cheapest hotel in the Annapolis area, so I chose it despite bad reviews all over the internet.  I'm glad I did.  Sure, the motel isn't fancy, the furnishings are a bit worn, the phone in our room didn't work (but we didn't try very hard.)  But the establishment just felt good.  It was run by an Indian family who clearly lived at the end of the row of rooms --- kids' bikes were parked out front.  Around the corner, I found a real, live vegetable garden!

This wasn't a rich American garden, either.  Clearly, the proprietors knew how to grow food, knew what they ate, and knew that you had to put in work to turn those seeds into supper.  There were no fancy raised beds, and the the whole thing fit into an area about the size of the hotel bathroom, but every plant was healthy and productive --- okra, peppers, tomatoes (unblighted!), an unknown herb, and a strange squash.

While checking out, I couldn't refrain from asking the guy behind the front desk about the squash.  It was fuzzy and intriguing --- I'd never seen anything like it.  You can read everything he told me about Indian Long Squash over on my homesteading blog, but his excitement and willingness to share sealed the deal for me.  I wished I could have stayed longer so that I could have tricked him into giving me a full-scale garden tour...and that's not something you usually hear from me when staying at a hotel.

Although the garden really sealed the deal, the Village Inn had a lot going for it in the more traditional arena of motel accommodations.  Village Inn is located beside a road and we had next-door neighbors, but the walls were very well sound-proofed and we didn't hear a thing from inside our room.  After pulling the curtain, the room was also very, very dark --- coming to city hotels from our farm, we usually find it tough to sleep with all that urban light pollution seeping in around the blinds.

So, if you're thinking of staying in Annapolis, give Village Inn a shot.  Booked in advance, the room was $72.50 ($81.93 with tax), which is far below the cost of the other options.  Be prepared for a bit of old furniture and you might find yourself learning a bit about Indian culture and having a real adventure.  (And sleeping like a baby.)