Mount Victoria B&B in Eureka Springs
Have you ever reclined in a bubbling jacuzzi tub, slightly tipsy on your second (third?) glass of wine, and watched rubber duckies zoom around in the jets of water? If not, you’re missing out on a life experience. But more about that in a minute.
I’ve been sharing stories of my adventures in Eureka Springs with you guys lately, so I absolutely have to tell you about where I stayed the first night! If you haven’t already figured it out from the title of this post and the lovely way that I added words on top of my photo above, that would be Mount Victoria Bed and Breakfast Inn. This historic (1902) house has four suites and is located on the north side of the town, just a few blocks walk to a lot of shops and sights (and an easy trolley ride from all of the others, since it’s right on the trolley line!).
You guys probably know that I’m a bit of a hotel nerd, so I love staying in unique places, especially those with some history. The fact that this is a Bed and Breakfast means that not only do you get the homey feeling of staying in a beautiful historic house, but hosts Lisa and Chris also make sure that you’re well fed! (Yup, there will be food photos, and you will be jealous!) And since you’re not just one of hundreds of guests like at a larger establishment, there’s much more personal service, such a call to make sure that I didn’t have any food allergies or dietary restrictions when I made my reservation.
Due to the small size of Eureka Springs (the main part of town is about a mile long), parking can be hard to find unless you want to pay for it. Mount Victoria has an assigned parking spot for each suite marked by a painted potted plant, which is not only cute but also keeps random tourists looking for a spot from taking yours!
Hey, that is like, totally the image from the top of this post! It’s like when they say the name of a movie IN the movie! But here you can see the potted plants that mark each suite’s parking spot.
Mount Victoria has four suites, each a bit different when it comes to decorations and setup. I had a choice between a 3rd floor suite with a jacuzzi tub, or a 2nd floor suite with a veranda. I’ve always been a top floor person, so I spent the night in the Jackson Suite, named for Dr. Alvah Jackson, who first discovered the healing waters in Eureka Springs.
There are beverages available on the second floor, including coffee, tea, sodas and bottled water. The mini fridge you see here is stocked with bottled drinks, while the larger beverage area at the other end of the hall has the coffee, hot water for tea, and packaged drinks like tea bags and apple cider. During my stay, there was also a plate of Lisa’s Snickers cookies out.
You will also find bookshelves in the hallways filled with board games, magazines, dvds, and books in a huge range of topics.
Lisa called me around 11 on the morning of my check-in day to let me know that Chris was planning to grill burgers that night, and got all the details of what I’d like on my cheeseburger, as well as what kind of wine I like. They definitely don’t do things halfway here – this is what showed up at my room!
I know it doesn’t look ginormous on your screen, but trust me. Pretty sure there’s an entire cow in there. I really need to score Chris’s secret barbecue sauce recipe, because it was delicious!
Rather than going out to explore the town that night as I had originally planned, I instead opted to get some writing done, curl up in the big comfy bed to read for a while, and then hop in the jacuzzi tub to relax before bed.
Yup, you know what’s coming.
Jacuzzi pro tip: This thing is huge (100 gallons) and the water is a little slow (It’s an old house! Be kind to it.), so it takes a bit of time to get enough water in there for lazing about in the tub. Give it a good 5 minutes or so of a head start before hopping in, or you’ll end up awkwardly sitting in a couple of inches of water, staring at those ducks for a really long time.
I think that it’s a basic law of human nature that it’s nearly impossible to have a cute trio of bright yellow rubber duckies on the side of your tub and not put them in. However, it somehow never occured to me that when you combine floating ducks with a jetted tub, magic happens. And when you’re on your third? maybe? glass of wine, it is pretty much the most amusing thing you’ve ever seen. Obviously, the only thing to do is Instagram it immediately. (Yay for free wifi!)
Do I even need to tell you how well I slept after that? The fact that it started storming late that night and continued on into the morning didn’t hurt, either!
Since this is a Bed and Breakfast, we can’t end this post without talking about… breakfast! It’s served at 9 am and you have the option of dining in your room or out on one of the verandas if the weather is nice. As the absolute opposite of a morning person, I definitely went for the in-room option! My meal was served with a big carafe of orange juice, but there’s also freshly ground organic coffee or you can get tea, bottled water or other beverages from the station I talked about above.
The breakfast menu varies, but this morning the main event was Granny Smith apple pancakes topped with powdered sugar, maple syrup, and a cream-filled Belgian chocolate. The pancakes came with scrambled eggs with cheese and parsley in a homemade biscuit bowl, and pan grilled pork sausages. It was the perfect mix of sweet and savory flavors, and again totally huge! (I think I made it through a little more than half before admitting defeat!) You can choose to eat breakfast outside on one of the verandas if the weather is nice, but since it was still rainy I was quite happy to hang out in my room!
Fun bonus – big thick antique silverware!
After breakfast, I built myself a little nest of pillows next to the window and read for about half an hour while listening to the rain. I could have easily stayed there all day, but checkout time was sneaking up much too quickly, so I had to abandon my cozy little spot to pack up and head out to explore Eureka Springs. I was definitely wishing that I’d planned two nights here so that I could enjoy being lazy a bit longer!
