I recently had the pleasure of spending two nights at this urban B&B when my teenage daughter and I were in Indianapolis for a swim meet.  Here are some of the things we loved about the Nestle Inn:

The home has the historic look and feel of an old dwelling, dating back to the mid-1800’s, but it has all the modern amenities tucked within its walls. Our room was furnished with a large, comfortable bed and an awesome mattress, a nice desk for working/surfing, fast, wireless Internet, modern bathroom fixtures and toiletries, and a beautiful antique wardrobe that housed a nice television and DVD player. Plus, despite the frigid temperatures outside, the house was WARM — unusual for an older structure.

The Inn is “nestled” into Mass Avenue in Indy, making it a great place to visit anytime of year because of its proximity to the theatre, arts, shopping, pubs, breweries and fabulous restaurants. It literally is in the heart of the theatre district, and although we didn’t get to enjoy any of the theatre venues because of our swim meet schedule, we loved the environment of the surrounding blocks. The area is busy with foot traffic and abuzz with people having fun, making it a fun place to be, even if you are going to be spending most of your time at IUPUI’s Natatorium. And speaking of IUPUI, it only took us minutes to drive from the B&B to the campus and the Natatorium, as well as all the other downtown hotspots. The Nestle Inn also sits on the Cultural Trail in Indy, which is a bike and pedestrian path that is nine miles long and connects all the “neighborhoods” of the city.

Innkeepers Leesa and Bob Smith strive to deliver individualized service to their guests. They helped us navigate the city (and even “talked me back” to the Inn one night when I managed to get hopelessly lost after leaving the pool); left movies in our room after I had inquired where to rent them because we just wanted to relax after a long day; and prepared a “breakfast care package to go” for my teen and left it hanging on our doorknob after learning that she had to be in the pool for warm-ups by 6 a.m. and would, therefore, miss breakfast at the Inn.

The library at the Inn is amazing. My first morning there, I woke before my daughter and carried my laptop into the library to answer emails and do some Internet research. The furniture was comfortable; the walls were lined with interesting books and periodicals; and the coffee, creamers and snacks set out on the table were a wonderful surprise, considering I was up before the sun the house sounded as though everyone was still sleeping.

Parking was easy, which was unexpected considering the urban setting. Most times, we were able to find a spot on the street right in front of the Inn. But, Leesa gave us a pass to a parking lot one block away in case we couldn’t find street parking or were unsuccessful achieving a solid parallel parking job.

The food was delicious and FUN. That’s because during the week, you are treated to breakfast next door at Henry’s Coffee Bistro, an eclectic coffee shop with lattes, hot breakfast sandwiches, sweets and waffles for breakfast and a host other tasty food for brunch and lunch. On Saturday and Sunday, breakfast is at the Inn and the one I enjoyed included delights such as “just right potato bites,” an Eggs Benedict-like entree, fresh fruit and homemade banana-bread muffins, among other treats.

Now that I’ve shared what I loved about the Nestle Inn, let me share some additional trivia about this wonderful B&B:

Bob and Leesa purchased the Inn in September 2011 from the previous innkeepers who wanted to retire. (They had operated the Inn since 2000). Bob is a psychotherapist and a 29-year career firefighter/paramedic. Leesa is an Innkeeper with more than 29 years experience in the hospitality industry and in business and marketing.

In the mid-1800s, Jonathon and Alice Stewart lived in a small, one-story dwelling on the site of the current Nestle Inn. In 1896, John built their residence as a two-family home, adjoining two structures together so that their families could live close to each other. They lived in the home until 1920 and then the entire house was rented to a long series of short-term tenants including Carl F. Mellian, a machinist and Grant Kelner, a cigarmaker. The house also served as a boarding house for young women who came to Indianapolis during the turn of the century to work at the Real Silk glove factory located nearby on Park Street.

In 2000, Steve and Barb Tegaren bought the home and restored it to a five-room Inn. They operated it for 10 years, welcoming visitors and friends and establishing the Inn as the No. 1 B&B in Indianapolis, according to Trip Advisor. (I’ll second that!)

The Nestle Inn has proven to be a great destination for a girls weekend getaway or a family gathering. In fact, Leesa recently rented the whole house to a family who was celebrating their mother’s birthday. Leesa was delighted to watch the kids hanging out in their jammies while parents relaxed drinking wine and the grandparents enjoyed having the whole clan gathered together under one cozy roof. She also hosted a women’s book club that found the Inn to be the perfect spot for their needs.

I honestly cannot wait to return to the Nestle Inn and am already trying to figure out what “occasion” I’m going to use as my excuse. So, the next time you want or need to visit Indy, whether for business, pleasure or kids’ sports, skip the chain hotels and give Leesa and Bob a call. You won’t regret it.

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Well guess what? You can get this kind of treatment, service and amenities at the Springhill Suites Oklahoma City Airport by Marriott. With rates around $129/night during the week and between $99 and $119 on the weekend, this hotel is a five-star STEAL!

I recently stayed at this hotel for the second time and my second stay was as fabulous as my first. There isn’t a concierge, but there are several front-desk employees who know EVERYTHING! Got a question: they’ve got an answer. If they don’t, they find it and deliver the information to your room. Need help with your laptop? Ryan (or one of the other staff members) gets you connected. Want advice on where to go jogging nearby? You get directions and advice on traffic patterns that might affect your run. You ask for it, they do their best to deliver it.

On top of the amazing service, which is a big differentiator in my opinion, this hotel offers:

• Spacious rooms with enough living area to keep a family of five from stepping on each other constantly.
• A huge, free breakfast that includes much more than eggs, bacon and cold cereal and is kept stocked throughout the entire breakfast hours.
• A comfortable lobby area with a couple of televisions
• Two computers in the lobby with large monitors and a printer
• Free wireless Internet access
• On-demand movies in your room
• A small “convenience store” in the lobby
• Washers and dryers

 I would suggest this hotel for anyone traveling to Oklahoma City to visit the memorial (see my review of that amazing destination here), or for a sporting event. In fact, I’m anxious to try other Springhill Suites locations in my future travels.

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I listened, and silently prayed, and then began to cry, as my husband — a television news reporter — received instructions from his news director for getting to the airport so that he could be on the ground in Oklahoma City and reporting live for his station, hopefully by noon.

I was postpartum and experiencing moods swings and weepiness. I was also recovering from a difficult birth that had resulted in several complications for me physically, and I was a brand new Mom who was absolutely terrified.

The remainder of the that day played out in slow motion for me, as I watched the news and cried upon seeing the grieving parents who had dropped their children off at that daycare just moments before the blast. The news kept showing images of the area where the daycare had once been, and it was NO MORE. And I waited for the phone to ring so my husband could tell me he was there safe and sound. And that there was no danger of additional attacks. And that he would be home soon. I held my baby girl really tight.

In contrast, the day moved at lightening speed for my husband. He boarded a plane in St. Louis and was the first member of the St. Louis media on the ground in Oklahoma City. He was filing live reports within a few hours of the blast. He was nominated for an Emmy for his work there that week.

So, while my family thankfully did not know anyone who was injured or killed in the blast, we experienced the event on a personal level. And that is why we felt so honored to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum this month.

We briefly visited the outside of the Memorial last year, and were amazed at its beauty and the sense of peace and tranquility that is conferred by the design, landscaping and architecture. But we didn’t have time to explore the museum on that trip. We had no idea what we were missing, which is why I want to try to put to words how impactful that experience really is. It is a MUST SEE and worth a trip to Oklahoma City just to visit this museum.

When you enter the memorial you can read information via wall displays on the background on terrorism, then some history of the area around the Murrah Building. As you move through the first area, you are hearing normal police, fire and ambulance radio traffic. At some point, the normal radio traffic changes and emergency responders are instructed to switch to a different channel — the sounds will make the hair on your neck stand up.

Then you enter a room that is designed after a room where an Oklahoma Water Resources Board meeting was taking place, starting a 9 a.m. the day of the blast. The meeting is significant because it was happening right across the street from the Murrah Building, and it was recorded. Just two minutes into the meeting, you hear the blast.

You leave that room to what are some of the most powerful parts of the memorial — you see helicopter news footage of the ravaged building taken less than 10 minutes after the bomb exploded, and you see emotional, heart-wrenching videos on large screens where survivors tell their own personal stories.

I watched a parent describe his experience of desperately trying to find his child amonga  group of kids gathered outside, only to discover that those kids were from the YMCA daycare across the street. One of the guides inside the memorial reminded me that 19 of the 23 children at the Murrah Building daycare died in the blast, and several children at the nearby YMCA childcare were injured.

I watched a paramedic describe her experience of standing by while a physician began the process of amputating a survivor’s leg who was pinned, only to be called away because of another bomb scare, and then return to complete the job (which had to be done with his pocket knife because his surgical instrument broke). In this area, interactive touch screens allow you to experience the event on a more personal level, and the photos, video and sound make the experience that much more real.

My emotions overcame me as I walked through the Funerals and and Mourning part of the memorial — particularly the gallery of honor. It is moving to walk through that gallery and see the photographs of those who died, especially the children. Each picture is accompanied by a personal affect of that person, and looking at a baby’s smiling face with her binky in a case in front of her photo is heart-wrenching. But it is truly a beautiful tribute to the victims.

From there, you experience the impact of the bombing on family members, survivors and rescue workers in the year following the bombing, and then you walk through an area that makes a CSI episode seem very boring compared to the amazing investigation that lead to the arrests and subsequent convictions of Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh.  You get to see the evidence used to piece together the case against the conspirators, see the parts of the rental truck used in th bomb and read the evidentiary boards from the trial.

Just beyond the investigation, you see a preserved area of the Journal Record Building which sustained enormous damage in the blast. This picture shows a bathroom that was adjacent to the office of one of the Record’s employees.

The final parts of the memorial are meant to inspire hope, and I think they do exactly that. You read about the various symbols of hope that arose from the event and you experience the rebuilding of the community through various milestones and anniversary events such as the Oklahoma City Marathon.

We left the memorial hugging our kids a little tighter and embracing life a little more exuberantly. We were in Oklahoma City for the purpose of me doing a travel review (read here about a great hotel) and for a swim meet for my teenage daughter. The previous night and that morning, her swims in the meet had not gone well at all. She was a little upset, and we were sad for her, considering the enormous number of hours she spends in the pool training. But when we returned to our hotel (Springhill Suites at Oklahoma City Airport) that night, we had a new perspective. Someone asked us how we were holding up since our daughter was having a bad meet, and my response?:

“She’s standing next me, all 5′7″ of her, strong and healthy. Bad swim? Whatever! She could place last in every meet from now until the end of her swimming career, and we’ll still feel very, very blessed, indeed.”

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As I was driving today, it occurred to me that it might be time to share my tips and tricks for inexpensive family travel as part of the new Frugal Living focus on Lipstick to Crayons.

Keeping Kids Entertained

Planning goes a long way toward keeping kids happy in the car. It helps to have movies and video games, but it helps even more to have movies they’ve never seen or games they don’t own.  Still,  it can get expensive to rent a bunch of movies and games — especially if your trip is long enough that you might incur a late fee. So we like to do a swap with friends and neighbors before taking a road trip. Both families in the swap get to enjoy some “new” movies and games, and no one has to spend any money. We also sometimes rent a few items from the local library — you can find a lot of good movies there that you may have missed at the theater, and you can almost always get your hands on a few classics that your kids may not have seen.

Speaking of the library: many of them have established a vast collection of online books that you can download directly to your home computer and transfer to your iPod or MP3 player.  As a distance runner, I LOVE this feature because I enjoy listening to books while I do my long training runs. But it can also be a way to help pass the time while driving across long stretches of barren highway, and sometimes older kids likes listening to books on the electronic devices, as well. Since downloadable books and books on CD can get very expensive, this is a huge cost savings.

And of course, the library certainly offers tons of books and magazines for those delightful children who are happy to sit quietly and read in the car. I only got one of those out three, so if you have a carload of them, count your blessings!

Another splendid trick I have used over the years is the “Present Bag.” Before going on a trip, I go to one of those dollar stores and buy a bunch of $1 items that are age-appropriate for my kids, along with a few fun snacks like candy necklaces, dot candy on paper and pixie sticks. Then I wrap each item individually in newspaper like a present. When the kids start to get restless in the car or I sense that they are about to begin bickering, I bride them with a gift from the Present Bag. (Make sure you mark the presents so you know what’s in each one — my son didn’t appreciate a book full of Strawberry Shortcake stickers one time).

Another great use for  Present Bag: eliminating the whine, beg and eventual cost of purchasing stuff at roadside convenience stores  and souvenir shops. Kids want and need to get out of the car and they love going into these stores, but if you can use the Present Bag to distract them from that overpriced toy that will be broken before the next exit.

Meals and Snacks

Of course, it’s cheaper to pack a cooler full of food and bring bags of snacks from home than it is to buy them on the road. (One convenience store owner told my husband his stuff costs 18 to 20 percent more than the grocery store). But again — kids want and need to get out of the car, and those exits tend to be at places selling food and snacks. I try this approach: I pack sandwiches, veggies and dip, trail mix and other snacks from home, and use the fast food restaurants and convenience stores to “compliment” what I bring. For example, I might tell the kids that we have drinks and sandwiches in the car, but they can each get an order of fries to go with their sandwich. Or, I tell them I have trail mix or popcorn in the car, but they can each have a pack of gum or mints.

Plus, eating from a cooler of food that you made yourself is tremendously more healthy than eating from the deep fryer at a fast food chain.  And during spring, summer and fall, a short picnic at a rest stop is more fun for the kids than having to sit still at a restaurant anyway.

Accommodations

There are all kinds of ways to get reduced rates on hotel rooms and lots of Web sites dedicated to doing that. I do think that showing up at the desk of a hotel and requesting a certain rate in person works best, but only when the hotel isn’t full. We save money by making one hotel room work for our family of five, and we choose hotels that offer free breakfast. That’s a decent savings, particularly if it means you can eat a later breakfast, skip lunch and do an early dinner. And if you have a room with a fridge and a microwave oven, make use of them by having at least one other meal each day in your hotel room.

How do you save money when you travel? I’d love to hear your tips and tricks.

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Challenge Dairy churns its butter daily from 100% pure pasteurized sweet cream, creating the highest quality butter available. They believe that using real butter makes a difference in everything you cook.

 These products are available in the Western United States (and I’m in the MidWest), but Challenge Dairy sent me a few of their products along with an assortment of spices from Spice Islands and encouraged me to use them in a recipe for the purpose of promoting the sweepstakes (which is open to everyone). I chose to make an entree, and it turned out fabulous, if I do say so myself. It’s similar to Cincinnati-style chili, so if you like that dish, you’ll like this one, too. Here’s the recipe:

Healthy-style Chili Cincinnati Style

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 TBS chili powder
• 1 TSP nutmeg
• 1 TSP cinnamon
• 1 TSP vanilla
• 1 TBS Challenge Dairy Butter
• 3 TBS chili powder
• 2 TBS red-wind vinegar
• 1 TBS paprika
• 1 LB whole-wheat spaghetti, cooked
• 1 cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Cook ground turkey and set aside. Saute onion in butter for five minutes and then add to beef, along with remaining ingredients (except spaghetti). Mix well and simmer on low  for 30 minutes or put in slow cooker on low for 1-2 hours.

Serve meat sauce over spaghetti noodles sprinkled with low-fat shredded cheddar cheese (optional).

Now for the really fun part (as if my chili recipe isn’t fun enough). Even if you can’t easily get your hands on Challenge Dairy products, you can enter this amazing sweepstakes for a vacation prize worth $17,000!!  They’re also giving away a great kitchen package from OXO and Spice Islands worth $850!!  So go sign up by Dec. 31, 2009 to win! (Airfare, food, accommodations and certain activities are all-included in this $17,000 luxury getaway).

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I haven’t been to Branson since I was about 10 years old, so I didn’t know what to expect, short of all the stories I’d heard about the traffic and the cheesy shows. The traffic was real, and there were plenty of “cheesy shows” from which to choose, but we a memorable family experience that I will always cherish.

We were fortunate enough to be the guests of the Chateau on the Lake, and I can’t say enough about the property. This was one of the finest hotels I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting, and it’s location– off the main strip in Branson, atop an Ozark hill, overlooking Table Rock Lake — was one of the pluses.

Here are just some of the things I loved about the Chateau:

Our check-in was seamless and was our first glimpse of the Chateau’s commitment to service. Everyone went out of their way to help our family get situated. Our luggage was delivered to our room within five minutes of our arrival, and the Bellhop who delivered it also gave us a rundown of the offerings on the property, as well as some tips and suggestions for enjoying Branson and avoiding the traffic. (That came in very handy when we realized we’d forgotten not one, but TWO pieces of luggage at home — our toddler’s suitcase and my vanity bag. Another story altogether.)

The inside of the hotel was even more impressive than the outside, decorated in beautiful holiday splendor. The exterior donned the expected Christmas lights, but also a full-size sleigh, which was perfect for posing my kids in for pictures. Inside, Santa hung from a rope in the middle of the hotel’s 11 stories of rooms overlooking the lobby. The middle of the atrium-inspired main floor included a life-sized nativity scene at the corner of the indoor waterway, three enormous, extravagant gingerbread houses, two bird cages, larger-than-life wooden soldiers, decked-out Christmas trees and lights galore. The photo opportunities were endless, much to my teenager’s dismay.

Our rooms overlooked  Table Rock Lake and had balconies that we were able to enjoy because of the 60-degree weather that blessed us on Saturday. The rooms also had all the touches that make you feel like you’re on vacation, plus a few extras. There were chocolates on the pillows, oversized, plush towels in the bathrooms, a large flatscreen television with in-room movies available for purchase, and not one, but TWO bags for dirty clothes in the closet. (Sounds like a small detail, but one I really appreciated). The welcome letter was a delight that helped set the tone for our weekend stay. I will include it in its entirety at the end of this post, but here is an excerpt: “We hope God will grant you peace and rest while you are under our roof.” What a nice touch!

As expected, the Chateau on the Lake offers lots of amenities, including:

• Award-winning fine dining and casual dining at two restaurants, a deli and a  sweet shop/coffee shop (we enjoyed a meal at the Atrium Cafe, and it was top-notch).
• Plenty of opportunity for physical activity– a well-equipped fitness center, a hotub and indoor and outdoor pools, a spa, a marina, tennis courts and walking trails.
• An in-house kid-friendly theatre, free wireless Internet, a full-service concierge desk, a lobby workstation with a printer, an on-site ATM and a pet-friendly policy.
• Special holiday offerings.

While we could’ve kept busy at the Chateau for most of our visit and it was hard to leave its santuary, we were commited to”experience” Branson. To our way of thinking, that included seeing the Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede and visiting Silver Dollar City.

The Dixie Stampede had flipped the switch to its holiday show, so we enjoyed a performance full of Christmas music and tributes to the true reason for the season. If you’re like I was and you are unfamiliar with the show, here are the basics: It’s a dinner show that includes an opening act in the Carriage Room, followed by a dinner in the main theater (served without utensils!) while you watch action-packed horse-riding and stunts designed to get the audience participating. My teen thought it was cheesy (no surprise there); my tween thought it was funny but didn’t like the lack of utensils at dinner; my toddler LOVED it; and my husband and I think it’s something everyone should do once (although we were surrounded by folks who had been there multiple times).

Silver Dollar City was worth the visit simply for its ability to get us into the holiday spirit. The lights and decorations were absolutely beautiful. You really feel as though you’ve walked back in time as you enter the park.  Everything — from the food and live demonstrations of traditional crafts such as blacksmithing, glass blowing and candle making to the shows and entertainment — make this destination a perfect place to bring your family. My older kids enjoyed the rides, although they wished there more of them, and my toddler enjoyed the few attractions that were geared for the younger set.

I’m very glad we made this trip for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was the time our family spent laughing together. Our teen resisted going because she had to miss several swim practices and had no desire to visit “hickville” (her words, not mine). I briefly considered allowing her to stay home with Aunts who offered to keep her. I’m grateful I didn’t do that. By traveling to such a family-oriented, Christian-rooted place as Branson, I was reminded of the importance of time together as a family. The traffic that slowed our progress through town slowed our “pace.”  We listened to our toddler sing and were touched when she named her doll after her big sister. We laughed at all the signs for Elvis impersonators. We ate fudge and shared ice cream. We re-enacted skits from Saturday Night Live and shared political humor. And, we had this photo made on the Branson strip! It was a hoot, and just look at how adorable my toddler is with her her hands folded in her lap and her fat little foot sticking out from under her saloon-girl dress.

———–

Note from Chateau on the Lake to Guests:

In ancient times there was a prayer for the Stranger within our gates.

Because this hotel is a human institution to serve people, and not soley a money making organization, we hope that God will grant you peace and rest while you are under the roof.

May this suite and hotel be your “second” home. May those you love be near you in thoughts and dreams. Even though we may not get to know you, we hope that you will be comfortable and happy as if you were in your own home.

The reasons that brought you our way may vary. May the tranquility and the simplicity of the Ozarks add to your joy. When you leave, may your journey be safe.

We are all travelers. From ‘birth till death’ we travel between eternities. May these days be pleasant for you, profitable for society, helpful for those you  meet , and a joy to those you know and love you best.

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Part of living area, and hallway leading to bedroom.

We had the pleasure of being guests at the Embassy Suites Downtown Lakefront for a Friday and Saturday night in September. If you’ve never stayed at an Embassy Suites, you should know that for a family with young children who need to go to bed before the rest of the gang is ready for lights out, it’s perfect. The spacious two-room suites are standard, which gave us some much-needed family relaxing time in the evenings. We were able to put our toddler to bed in a hotel-provided portable crib in the bedroom area, close the door and then choose from an extensive list of popular, new movies for rent via in-house pay-per-view. As you would expect, the living area couch also turns into a bed, so the suite comfortably accommodated our family of five without having to force the teen and tween to share a bed (whew!).

As if the big suites aren’t enough, the other fabulous family-friendly features of the hotel are:

•  the made-to-order complimentary breakfast (This was a serious spread of food options and saved us a bunch of money on breakfasts.)
• eager to please staff (While the drive from our home in St. Louis to Chicago is just under six hours normally, it’s a tad longer with an active toddler. When we arrived late Friday evening, they checked us in, parked our car, delivered our luggage and set-up our portable crib in less than 15 minutes!)
• daily manager’s reception with free snacks and cocktails. (Can you say happy husband?)
• on-site fitness center (My competitive swimmer was distraught over having to miss swim practice for our family getaway until she spotted the lap pool.) 

The hotel’s strategic  location in the heart of the city’s top shopping, business and entertainment districts means you can easily walk (even with a toddler in a stoller) to Navy Pier, Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park. It also means the hotel offers a mesmerizing view of the downtown area and of Lake Michigan.

During our visit, we visited Chicago’s Navy Pier, rode the 150-foot high Ferris Wheel, ate Ed Debevics, took a water taxi and shopped up and down Michigan Avenue.

I’d highly recommend a family “staycation” or “vacation” to Chicago, and I’d definitely direct you to the Embassy Suites Downtown Lakefront as your hotel destination. We had a great time and are anxious to do it again next fall.

—–

Our stay at the Embassy Suites was complimentary.

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We stayed at the brand-new Cambria Suites in Noblesville, Indiana. As is often the case, we were traveling for a swim meet and had the whole gang (minus the swimmer) along for the ride (my husband and I, our 11-year-old son and our toddler).  We don’t travel light, so we were delighted to discover that Cambria is an all-suites hotel and the suites are 25 percent larger than industry standard rooms.

Of course, I had to bring along some of my freelance writing work, so I was grateful for the free wifi, but that’s become fairly standard these days. What isn’t standard is the fact that Cambria has a separate living/work room area and a separate bedroom area. Plus, the living area has a flat panel LCD TV, as does the bedroom, so there was no fighting over who got to watch what. The living area also has a pullout sleeper sofa, and the hotel  provided a portable crib for my toddler. So my family had plenty of living and sleeping room in the King suite.

We also loved the bathroom, which had a shower and deep tub (great for bathing a toddler) with a bench seat and plenty of shelving so I could unload all my toiletries without having them clutter the area around the sink.

The reception areas of the Cambria Suites are  most impressive. They feature an open two-story lobby with club lounge seating and a media wall with a 50-inch plasma TV. Two high-speed computers put my older laptop to shame, and I really appreciated the the ability to print remotely via their wireless access printer.

One of the most attractive features of the hotel (besides the huge rooms) is the restaurant & full bar, called Reflect. The entrees are made fresh and the menu features:

• Gourmet salads (I enjoyed the Southwestern Tortilla Salad which was  served with warm chicken)
• Grilled Chicken Pizza (my son’s choice)
• Burgers, sandwiches , pasta, and crab cakes
• A handful of appetizers
• Desserts
• Wolfgang Puck coffee, espresso and lattes

Other things we loved about this hotel:

• Big towels
• Amazing exercise area with multiple NEW treadmills, ellipticals, exercise balls & free weights
• Super-friendly staff

Things to love that are  specific to this Cambria Suites in Noblesville:

• Walking distance to Hamilton Towne Center, an open air mall with all the necessary shops, including Old Navy, Chicos, Ann Taylor, Gymboree, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Coldwater Creek, etc.
• Walking distance (although the hotel will provide a shuttle TO concert events) to the Verizon Wireless Music Center
• Walking distance to an Olive Garden and a Houlihans
• Less than 30-minute drive to Indiana State Fair fairgrounds
• Less than 30-minute drive to Indianapolis, although there is also a Cambria Suites location in Indianapolis.
• Manager Souheir Salfity, who makes it a point to talk to guests and inquire about their experience (I saw her doing this repeatedly)

The only “downside” I discovered at the Cambria Suites is the lack of a “free” breakfast. However, the restaurant does offer a Breakfast Buffet for $9.50 with children under 10 at half price, and you can order breakfast off the menu for around $8. The rooms rates range from $129 to $159, with prices going up or down depending on local events.

Cambria Suites hotels were established in 2005, and have more than 50 locations  in the United states and two in Canada. The hotel offers a Choice Privileges rewards program and are part of the Choice Hotels International franchise.

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