HotelChatter

Room Reaction:
We must have been too tired from the long drive for it to adequately sink in, but as we drove around the lot and dragged our bags along the bike path, it hit us: We had our OWN cabin.

This was a state of the art, country chic meets cutting edge. Hardwood floors throughout. A gas fireplace you could turn on and off with a switch. A plasma TV over the fireplace, hidden by beveled wood folding shutters. A mini-fridge and small canisters of real coffee, not ancient measly grounds in little foil bags.

Excellent teas displayed in a wooden box. Heavy waffled cotton bathrobes, his and hers. The biggest damn bed you have ever seen, with enough pillows to start up a bedding store.

An enormous sprawling bathroom, with a massive open shower (uh, big enough for two). A bathtub where the water drops out of the ceiling. No kidding. You could sit in the tub, open up a door, and watch the plasma TV out in the living room.

Glass doors led to a tiny deck outfitted with Adirondack chairs, surrounded by wildflowers. A chess set was built into the center coffee table, with pieces in a black velvet bag, as well as a handy Rough Guide Book of Chess (my husband was hopping up and down at this point).

The Epitome of Hotel Heaven?
The Five Pine "campus" also features a health club and pool (free for guests), breakfast on the house (granola, healthy muffins, fruit, and that delicious coffee again), and bikes for rent.

This was heaven. Almost as good as having a second house, only we didn't have to clean it and make the bed. My husband, reclining in his leather chair, donning his waffle robe and drinking a Rogue Ale Porter while watching baseball on the 42-inch big screen, pretty much gave this place a five-star rating. (Ok, take off ¼ of a star for there not being enough rugs on the bathroom floor to warm our cold feet in the morning. Cue the tiny violins.)

Beyond the Private Cabin
There were two big bonuses. First is the Sisters Movie House, part of the hotel complex, a short stroll from the cabins. I had concerns that the film "Once," only showing on one screen in Manhattan when we left, would be gone upon our return. So I was pleasantly, delightfully, deliriously surprised to find it listed on their "Screenings" board, scribbled in chalk.

There were six of us at the 7:15pm showing, and though the theatre was small, it had state-of-the-art stadium seating. The projectionist came in, introduced himself, asked if the air temperature was comfortable, and told us to enjoy the show. Good lord, honey, we were so not in Kansas anymore.

The second big bonus is that while Sisters may be a major tourist attraction, it's still in the middle of the woods. Our first morning, a doe appeared just in front the glass doors of the deck, followed by two speckled fauns.  They were so close you could see their twitching snouts. After sniffing the chairs and nibbling the wildflowers, they wandered off, leaving hoof prints on the deck pavers.

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