My Musings: California Pink Tour: The Madonna Inn

And here she is, the whole reason we took this entire trip, the famed Madonna Inn! This part of our adventure was my favorite, I loved staying here. It is one of a kind hotel, it's cozy, magical, unexpected, whimsical, peaceful, elegant, imaginative, fairytale-esque, basically it is hard to describe, and I loved every little, funky detail.

The Madonna Inn is named after its creators, Alex and Phyllis Madonna. Alex was a successful construction magnate and entrepreneur and he first opened his inn on December 24, 1958 with only 12 rooms. The Madonnas were so excited to have their first guest, they refunded his $7 room rental.

"Anybody can build one room and a thousand like it. It's more economical. Most places try to give you as little as possible. I try to give people a decent place to stay where they receive more than they are entitled to for what they're paying. I want people to come in with a smile and leave with a smile. It's fun."

- Alex Madonna 1975

We arrived in the early evening after our drive from LA. We were all so excited, we couldn't wait to get exploring! We checked in and this was the first time I realized we booked our rooms based on their aesthetic, we didn't even think to check how close they were to each other. The 110 unique rooms of this hotel are spread out over several different buildings, we could have been on opposite ends of the property. Our guardian angels were looking out for us because our rooms ended up being RIGHT NEXT DOOR to each other! It was such a miracle and I was so grateful we wouldn't have to trek across the property to see each other.

Our rooms were in this adorable building, it reminded me of a wedding cake with elaborate icing.

Our rooms opened to this charming, shared balcony that had a gorgeous view.

I was in room 150 which was entitled Romance.

"This charming semi-suite is a heavenly realm of poetic beauty. Imprinted with blue flocked flowers set against a dreamy silver landscape, this room personifies love and romance. The serenity of the graceful sitting room is harmonious with the slightly elevated bedroom area inspiring a symphony of unspoken affection. The bath is dressed in blue with two pedestal sinks and adorned with a rock shower. "

I LOVED this room, I felt like a princess in an enchanted woodland castle. The split room, with steps up to the bed made it feel so fancy. The sitting area was huge, it felt more like an apartment than a hotel room.

I loved the mismatched, eclectic furniture.

And of course the pink details. We had hoped to book the super pink rooms at this hotel, but they are the most popular and were all booked up. All the rooms have pink accents though. Beth picked this room for me, she said it reminded her of me which I take as a huge compliment.

The flowers on the wallpaper were velvet, I love a textured wallpaper.

The flower chandeliers on either side of the bed were one of my favorite parts of the entire room. They were what made this feel like a princess room.

The bathroom was just as enchanting as the rest of the room.

The rock shower was.... interesting. It didn't really fit with the rest of the room, I think every room might have one of these showers, the Madisons had one too.

Large rocks were prevalent in a lot of the design choices throughout the hotel, some rooms are made entirely of rock and felt like you are in a cave (I told Beth that I refused to stay in one of those). I'm not sure if all the rock is a nod to the Madonna enterprise of construction or if it was just an available resource. The inn sits on over 1,000 acres and the large rocks used in the construction came from these surrounding acres. Some of the larger rocks weigh in excess of 200 tons each.

I was the happiest pink haired princess in all the land!

The room keys also felt very royal.

Beth and the kids were in room 148, Love Birds.

"Mother Nature welcomes her "love birds" into this cheerful garden setting embraced with affectionate birds and flowers. This charming realm of serenity is located off the sundeck patio with the mountain as its backyard. The bath is adorned in earth tones with a pedestal sink and natural stone shower. Love Birds is a delightful sanctuary for two."

I thought I had taken some pictures of their room but I guess I didn't. This is the photo from their website, in my opinion they have the worst photos of their rooms, they don't do the rooms justice and make them look dated. In short, the room looked much more magical than this.

There were bird details in the wallpaper and on the lights, thus the room name, Love Birds. It was a really cute room.

After checking out our rooms and unloading the car, we changed into our pink cozies and headed to the main inn for dinner.

We ate at the Copper Cafe which had a rustic, western feel to it. We would also eat breakfast here.

This was when we were first introduced to the signature Madonna Inn goblets. We didn't know about these little treasures before coming, but they are famous! They are all handmade by a family owned glass company in the United States and they come in a rainbow of colors, some are even iridescent! They are used throughout the hotel and are available for purchase in their gift shop.

While we waited for our meal, Monty drew this adorable airplane!

This is also when we learned the portion sizes at all their restaurants are ginormous! This is their monte cristco sandwich.

After dinner we went exploring!

The pink dining room of the Gold Rush Steakhouse was one of the major draws of us wanting to stay here.

The hand-carved marble balustrade in the Gold Rush dining room came from the Hearst Castle. . The 16'4" tall, 29'6" wide gold tree fixture was made from electrical conduit left over from building projects as well as from left over remnants of copper.

There are large, golden cherubs everywhere.

Then we found the boutique, it was a treasure trove of extremely expensive, quirky and fabulous merchandise.

So. Many. Sequins.

We all loved these exquisitely intricate beaded purses that came in all sorts of fun shapes.

More chubby cherubs.

The goblets!

They had so much fun Madonna Inn merch.

Then we wandered up some stairs and found ourselves in the magical kids shop.

We purchased some goodies and of course their bags are just as adorable as everything else. There were truly no ordinary details in this whole place.

Back downstairs, the kids warmed up by the ginormous stone fireplace while I took some pictures.

Alex and Phyllis Madonna

Several wood carvers were brought in for the specialty work of hand carving the doors, beams, railings and the many other carved adornments throughout the inn.

This was the Silver Bar Cocktail Lounge.

Then it was time to head back to our rooms, we were all pretty tired after our long travel day.

Walking from the main inn to our building was fun at night with all the colored lights.

I thought our building was magical during the day, it went to a whole other level at night when it was all lit up. Major *heart eyes*

That night I dyed my hair for the third and final time and FINALLY got the look I was going for!

I loved waking up to this view.

Before heading down to breakfast, we walked around our building and enjoyed the beautiful gardens and all the random stained glass.

All of the stained glass was made custom for the inn.

This is the Caveman room, #137. It is really named the Caveman room.

It's one of the rooms made entirely out of stone and it is decorated with faux animal skins and animal print everything.

Some of the doors had cute decorations that matched the theme of the room.

Then it was back to the main inn for breakfast.

We were seated in one of the big roomy booths, which all had western themed murals above them.

They had different flavored hot chocolates, all served with a yummy biscotti. My favorite flavor was cinnamon, I looked forward to it every day since the mornings were a little chilly, it hit the spot.