Madonna Inn, San Luis Obispo

 Brian and I were able to get away for a quick trip to a place I've wanted to stay at for a long time! One of those places I wanted to stay at, but never thought I would get to. Above is the view of it from the highway. It's a sprawling property, it stretches from left to right, including all the buildings and property in this pic, even way off to the right.

 When we first arrived, we had lunch in the cafe, which was super neat. Everything on the property is super neat with many personal touches. The wall above that booth had a lot of info about the Madonna Family, including an article about Mr Madonna being cattleman of the year way back when.

 The Madonna Inn is known for its flamboyant decor, which this cow well represented.

 This was an entry to the cafe, gift shops, restaurant, bar, and ball room.

 And this...was our room!! There are just over 100 rooms, spread out in different buildings on the property.  Each room is themed and decorated completely different.  We had the Yahoo room.  Back in the day, when Mr. Madonna would stay on property, this was his personal room. It was decorated with many pictures of his family, and of course all things ranch-ish. That bed was amazing!! The lights even lit up!

 The property is completely open to guests to roam around. There are lots of little nooks and crannies to explore, or sit and relax.  This waterfall was by the pool.

 The pool is amazing. You just walk right in and it gradually gets deeper, like a lake or ocean. There are no steps. There's also a pool side bar, and spa.

 This is all Madonna family property.  At the far end is their home, as well as stables, and an exhibition center.  They do trail rides from the stables out into the hills.

 We walked through the garden, which was full of butterflies.

 I found out if you sit in the horse buggy bed seat and aim your head just right, you have horns.

 This statue and memorial for Mr. Madonna was really nice.

 Our room was in this building, on the bottom floor, on the far left. It's built into the hill, and our only neighbors were above us.  There are 3 other buildings like this one that have rooms, but they are spread out from each other.

 We had a special dinner in the Steak House one night.  It was fabulous and such a fun place. There's a ball room on the far side and a band was playing music, and some very "mature" couples were dancing. It was the sweetest thing to watch.

 Below, just another cozy spot to sit and enjoy the surroundings.

A very famous part of this Inn in the mens bathroom in the main lobby.  It's been featured on TV and many magazines, including Forbes.  Basically, there's a rock wall that has a waterfall flowing over it...and that's the urinal.  So we had permission for me to go in and see it, and it was pretty cool!

So this place isn't for everyone, but I found it to be the perfect mix of homey, comfy, and nice, elegant, cozy, fancy. The decor is totally over the top, and I loved it. We had the perfect room for who we are, it felt like home....but I'm sure to someone else it might not feel that way. For that person I would say you have 100 other choices in rooms, from ones made completely of rock, to jungle themed, to sailing themed....whatever you are into they have it. The room was super clean, like super. Even the window sills had no dust. The amenities are great - lotions, soaps, shampoos, robes,- everything was super nice. We had a rock shower with a waterfall in it! These rooms are not cheap, but are worth every penny! The property was amazing to wander around.  They offer trail rides, and have lots of nice, pink bikes to rent for use along the bike path that runs right from the hotel into downtown San Luis Obispo.

This is absolutely our new go to escape for a short weekend! And the location is great for getting to Pismo beach, Morrow Bay, and of course San Luis Obispo (which we loved!) More on those later.