Finding My Happy Place

I spent my 30th birthday with my mom. As I was gearing up for the big 3-0 I debated doing a bash with friends or taking a trip somewhere; instead I decided to embrace who I am and booked a B&B with my mom. But not just any B&B, the Nora Roberts' B&B in Boonsboro, Maryland. 

For those of you that do not share my passion for trashy romances, Nora Roberts is a New York Times bestselling author with over 225 novels to her credit. Her husband owns a bookstore in Boonsboro and in 2007 they bought the Inn and remodeled it as a B&B. In 2011, Nora released a trilogy based on the Inn and by the time my birthday rolled around in 2014, I knew how I wanted to spend my big day. As I considered who to go with I realized that I wanted someone who would completely embrace this with me and who would indulge my total fandom...so I called my mom and asked her to be my plus one. 

As background and in case in case you aren't catching on, I am a huge Nora Roberts fan. It all started at 15 with the Three Sisters Island trilogy, picked up from the used bookstore around the corner from my house. I tore through the trilogy in a week and by the end of the summer I had bought all the Nora Roberts books in the store and was quickly working my way through Books-A-Million's supply. Before the year was out I had finished off her readily available backlog and was stuck waiting for the new releases. Fast forward 20 years, and I have an entire bookshelf in my room that only sports Nora Roberts books. I do a mix of hard and electronic copies these days as I fear going beyond one dedicated bookshelf may put me on some sort of watch list. 

With that in mind, you can imagine what sort of excitement and ridiculousness that needed to be embraced on the first visit and can probably see why mom was my only option as a guest. I chose Elizabeth and Darcy (each room is themed after a famous couple in literature) for our stay as it is haunted and plays a big role in the trilogy. I won't give you a play-by-play of the full two days, but I will tell you that it was everything I hoped for and more. They have a nightly happy hour with the guests and with only eight rooms it is a perfect size crowd to sit and debate favorite Nora books, compare rooms, and see who has the most stays under their belt. There is a library chock full of Nora's books as well as a diverse collection of favorites from her bookshelf and a decanter full of Jameson. There is also a solid movie collection that leans towards the romances and black and whites and is perfect for curling up in your robe and noshing on the homemade cookies that are waiting for the guests. Breakfast is a 2-course feast that inspired a cookbook last year (and that I will probably end up with this year). Those first two days at the Inn were the most relaxing vacation I had ever had and before we left we agreed that a tradition was born. 

As we gear up for visit number five, I can honestly say that each year is somehow better than the last. We've stayed in the penthouse (Mom's 60th), discovered a fabulous massage parlor, spent a small fortune in the shops, found the local winery that does the Inn Boonsboro wines, and stumbled into an art show with Nora's husband. Although we have yet to meet Nora, I'm convinced it will happen by the time we hit year eight and until then, I get to anticipate what new wonder we are going to find this year, because I swear this place has some sort of magic and I cannot wait to step into the honeysuckle entrance this Friday and embrace it.