Offbeat Overnights: A Guide to the Most Unusual Places to Stay in California [Paperback]

Lucy Poshek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 24, 2000

This guide reveals more than two-hundred unusual California lodgings that are all marked by character, spirit, and originality. Illustrated and indexed.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Only in California could you abscond for weekend retreat to a solitary monastery on a mountain, a satin-sheeted, candle-bedecked 1934 ketch, a luxury suite with two fireplaces, ornate four-poster bed, and shower with seven heads, or a Cadillac convertible bed with its own drive-in movie screen. You can stay in a geodetic-domed bed and breakfast in Bodega, a French chateau on a thoroughbred racing farm (complete with Rolls Royce chauffeur service, limestone fireplaces, and croquet lawns) in Carmel, or a clothing-optional retreat near Palm Springs. Lucy Poshek's Offbeat Overnights reviews close to 200 extremely unusual places to stay that range from budget hostels to off-the-scale luxury splurges.

The chapters are arranged by location, from the Far North to the San Diego Area, the Central Coast to the Desert Region, assuming that most folks are geared toward a certain locale and are looking for a cool place to stay in the area, but Poshek has also indexed the lodgings by name and by offbeat classification. The offbeat interest index is by far the most entertaining way to search. A quick scan shows hotels in categories like Bathrooms and Bathtubs, Bagpipers, Gnomes, and Cliff Hangers. There are Egyptian Themes, Organic Gardens, Chicken Feeding, and Remote As You Can Get. Where you stay should be more than just four walls and a roof. Poshek's guide provides a fun way to plan an unusual holiday stay. --Stephanie Gold

Review

No ordinary guide to lodgings is this title, which covers everything from secluded monasteries to exotic rooms in mansions. Rates are listed, along with descriptions of each accommodation and the elements which make it unique. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (December 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558533907
• ISBN-13: 978-1558533905
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,508,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eye-opener even to a native Californian, January 24, 2004

By 

A. Ryan "Merribelle" (Westminster, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Offbeat Overnights: A Guide to the Most Unusual Places to Stay in California (Paperback)

This cinches it: California is just the d**ned coolest state in the nation. Yeah, I know we have our urban crime, poor air quality and bottom-notch public school systems (don't get me started..), but Holy Cannoli, what a place to vacation!

Offbeat Overnights is a short guide to the quirkier spots to rest on your travels through the Golden State. Every non-institutionalized hotel, motel, B&B and Inn is reviewed briefly in this book with one condition: it must have a twist. Some charming, silly or just bizarre aspect of your overnight experience must make it noteworthy in a world gone amok with the generic. Both the famous and "secret" lodgings are covered here. For example, we've all heard of the barbie-pink Madonna Inn at San Luis Obispo with its themed rooms (reason enough to visit right there), but would you have known to stop by:
· The Chimney Sweep Inn in Solvang - themed after the Chronicles of Narnia both inside and out of its six cottages.
· St. Orres lodge in Mendocino with its Russian-inspired copper domes and handcrafted wooden filigree. You can feast at the acclaimed restaurant on locally-caught and -harvested gourmet creations.
· An Elegant Victorian Mansion in Eureka , lovingly restored and entirely run by the owners who love to dress up in period costumes to complete the authentic Victorian atmosphere. Unbelievable attention to historical detail!
· Shadow Mountain Ranch in Julian, which has eight wooded acres and themed cottages such as the Tree House (yes, it is), Enchanted Cottage and Gnome House. I just have to see this one to believe it.
· Coronado House in Coronado, which is for legal purposes a dance lesson package that features a free overnight stay in one of its guest rooms. The owner calls it "Dance and Doze" (D&D) and creates authentic Leganese-American breakfasts and picnic baskets.

The author has personally visited each of these over five hundred establishments and provides a short summary and basic info in the listings. If I had one beef with this guide it would be that there weren't enough pictures, but the descriptions entice nonetheless. There is an undercurrent of enthusiasm for the delightfully uncommon experiences to be had at these offbeat inns run by inventive owners. She does state in the introduction however that no matter how wonderful, any place that wasn't clean, friendly or unusual enough was simply eliminated.

There is ever so much more to be explored, and suddenly I feel that I never really knew my home state. This book was printed eight years ago to date, so much of the info may be outdated by now. No doubt several wacky Californians have added new fab getaways since then. Would an updated reprint be too much to hope for? Meanwhile, there's plenty here to occupy my vacation planning for the next decade.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE this book - even though it's kind of old, July 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Offbeat Overnights: A Guide to the Most Unusual Places to Stay in California (Paperback)

We've really enjoyed all the places recommended in this book and I keep looking for an update of it. It's a lot more fun to decide between these places than the ones described in most lodging books!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great help to find interesting lodging., July 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Offbeat Overnights: A Guide to the Most Unusual Places to Stay in California (Paperback)

I found this book quite interesting & helpful. I stayed in several of the places and liked all but one of them. If you like to stay in interesting places, it's a big help.