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This year with everything being so crazy in our life we decided we needed to get away a little earlier than our anniversary. So we decided a “mothersbirthanniversaryjustbecause” trip was in order. I love planning these little getaways with Mr. Air Force. We decided a long time ago that these were types of trips were a crucial piece to our military life puzzle. So even if it’s to the Holiday Inn down the street, or my amazing friend here taking the kids to her house for the weekend, we try to spend some time alone together. It is incredibly important to carve out that time, no matter how you do it. We decided to do something a little fancier this year in lieu of gifts for the above mentioned holidays.

I had heard about the Boonsboro Inn from my romance writer friends and a couple of girlfriends who are Nora fans. I have read exactly two Nora books, all a part of the Inn series. However, you do not need to be a Nora fan to love this place. And it was the vintage, literature feel of this place that made me want to go. You have a choice of eight rooms to stay in (seven named rooms and one penthouse): Elizabeth and Darcy (Pride and Prejudice), Marguerite and Percy (The Scarlett Pimpernel), Nick and Nora (The Thin Man), Jane and Rochester (Jane Eyre), Titania and Oberon (Midsummer’s Night Dream), Eve and Roarke (In Death novels) and Westley and Buttercup (The Princess Bride). It is truly an Inn feeling, with a sprinkling of a Bed and Breakfast. The staff is sweet and lovely, it is relaxed, the food is amazing, and if you can get your hands on the homemade chocolate chip cookies and cranberry scones you will have lived a complete life! Breakfast in the dining room is amazing!!!!!!!!

If you love how each of the rooms is so beautifully curated. LOOK AT THAT LAMP!!!! It really is the most beautiful and coolest thing that I have ever seen. What made it even better is that it was exactly like the lamp described in one of the Inn at Boonsboro books. It was like a reader’s dream guys! How many times have you read a book and wished you could live inside of it? Visiting the Boonsboro in is your actual chance to do that. u are a fan of Romance Novels (they are very reserved and not super risqué) or reading a good fiction novel, I would definitely recommend The Inn at Boonsboro series. The writing is lovely and the stories are as well. I long the small town part of it, with a little bit of mystery and drama. They are just a nice read. I picked up the second book in the library of the Inn and got about halfway through in our three days there. Do you know what else is really fun? Watching the movie named for the room you are in!!! I wish they had had some of the other Thin Man movies because I would have popped those in. Instead, we watched a Nora Roberts movie, called Midnight Bayou, which was really good.

The whole town is quiet and there’s not a lot to do right in the square. You can drive to some other cute small towns with antique stores and little shops. On the weekend we went to a neighboring town was having a strawberry festival. There are several local wineries that we never made it to, but will be on our list when we go again. Antietam is also really close, and that is a must see if you are in the area. We’ve been twice and I would go back again (you can find a post here).

The two main restaurants in the area (owned by Nora and/or her family) are the pizza place and Dan’s Tap House. The pizza I think is good, it’s not the greatest, but its fun place to go. If you do, check out the Warrior Pizza. It’s a local favorite and pretty darn good. Dan’s has some really good drinks from the bar, including Mule’s, which are my favorite. We ate dinner there once and then went back and sat outside and had drinks and dessert one night.

All in all Boonsboro is a nice place to go if you’re looking for some relaxation. It’s not busy and if you like to be busy and not drive anywhere this would not be the place to go. But if you are looking for a truly lovely, romantic and quaint place to be GO NOW!!! And if you are from the DC area, drive through Frederick and check out the Cuban food at Sabor de Cuba. You can thank me later.

First time eating Cuban food!!! It was amazing!!! Thanks, Frederick, Maryland!!!

Thank you Boonsboro, Rohersville and Frederick for such a great time!

A Day Trip With My Biggest Littles {Antietam Battle Field}

Spending time with the kids, going on an adventure, is one of my favorite parts of parenting. I love that I have little explorers in my family. Mr. Air Force and I have also believed that it was important to expose our children to as much life as possible even if they were too young to fully appreciate it. We’ve also taken them on day trips, camping, hikes, road trips and lots of other things from the time they were very young. So, on one of our free weekends we planned on taking a day trip out to Antietam Battle Field. However, our littlest little decided he was going to have a bit of tummy trouble that day. Hubby insisted I don’t postpone the trip, even though I really wanted to experience this with him. So we dropped off the hubs and the little and we set out on our adventure!

Antietam isn’t far from the DC area but its a good little drive none the less. I had packed up snacks, some of my favorite road-trip games from The Joys of Boys and Capturing Joys, and the kids also put together their backpacks full of items of their choice {usually books, a few toys, and car-friendly art supplies}. These are things I keep handy in the car all the time because we try to use technology only sparingly in the car. The Visitor Center and Battlefield were amazing! You could do so much there. We chose to do a partial walking tour and then we did the driving portion – stopping at different landmarks along the way and exploring.

We are currently going through a “Wearing our uniform every chance get” phase. They are only young once and I love that he is so proud of his daddy…even if it is the wrong branch. But seriously, finding the kid Air Force uniforms is hard!!

It was such a beautiful location, stretching out for miles. Trying to image the horrors that occurred here so very many years ago can be difficult at times. It is both humbling and an incredible honor to be able to walk these grounds.

One of the cool things that we didn’t really get to explore was Burnside Bridge. It is currently be restored, as are several things on the Battlefield property. Burnside Bridge is dedicated to Ambrose Burnside, whose name and crazy facial hair gave us the term ‘Sideburns’, and was also the first president of the National Rifle Association.

There is a monument to President McKinley, that was dedicated after he was assassinated. He had played such a large role in the Battle here that they wanted to pay particular homage to him.

On the way out we stopped at the National Cemetery at Antietam. There is a beautiful church on the property as well Civil War grave sites. It is almost exclusively for Civil War soldiers, with a few exceptions from WWII and the Korean War. The cemetery lies in the town of Sharpsburg which was where the Civil War era hospital was located. When an official plan for the cemetery was created and the place officially dedicated (on the fifth anniversary of the Battle of Antietam) President Andrew Johnson came out.

My sweet little milkid wanted to put as many flowers on as many graves as she possible could. Having been to Arlington so many times, she was deeply concerned about who comes to spend time at these graves and wanted to visit as many as she could.

If you are looking for a great starter Battle Field to go to I would absolutely recommend Antietam to you. Having been to several this was really one of the better ones as far as things to see and do. We went on a weekend and it wasn’t unbearably crowded. The kids had space to jog up ahead of us, and lots to see so they could keep their minds active. It is surrounded by several great towns, including Sharpsburg and Boonsboro. They are both great little towns with little shops, ice cream and places to eat. They each have their own history to check out.

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DC/NoVA Adventures ~ Boonsboro, MD

Thank you Boonsboro, Rohersville and Frederick for such a great time!

A Day Trip With My Biggest Littles {Antietam Battle Field}