Madonna Inn alternatives on the East Coast?
May 27, 2013 9:14 PM   Subscribe

A friend and I will be taking a road trip between New York City and Ann Arbor via the Great Lakes this summer. We're mostly planning to camp, and do things on the cheap. But he's offered to splurge for a hotel for a night on one condition: the hotel be a garish Liberace-styled rococo nightmare.

The first thing I did was pull up the website for the Madonna Inn, to which he said YES, THAT, and then I spent fifteen minutes berating him for calling himself a Californian when he's never been there. And then I came here, because I knew MeFites would understand.

Anyone know of any horrendous kitsch-trap hotels on the route we're thinking of? (Other suggestions of weird/campy places to see along the way would also be appreciated; Bannerman's Folly and the longest-running colony of seance-holders are on our radar.)
posted by gusandrews to Travel & Transportation around Michigan (8 answers total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: The Roxbury, although it's only 3 hours from NYC, and really not very on the way.

The Quaker Square Inn, where you stay in a former Quaker Oats silo.

Really, though, all the great tacky hotels are in the South, or the West. See what I mean?
posted by blob at 9:32 PM on May 27, 2013


Best answer: You need to go somewhere in the Poconos. There are multiple places with the Champagne Tower whirlpools, including this one (also featuring the famous heart-shaped pool!).

If you want a tourist stop that you will never, ever stop talking about, I give you the Warther Museum in Dover, OH. This place sums up everything about my childhood: I never went anywhere Disney, but you can bet I saw a tree made out of 511 interlocking pairs of wooden pliers. Also, Lincoln's Burial Train carved out of a single piece of ivory -- hoo doggie. And let's not forget his wife's button collection. Suck it, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
posted by Madamina at 10:03 PM on May 27, 2013 [5 favorites]


Best answer: Kate's Lazy Meadow.
posted by mollymayhem at 11:09 PM on May 27, 2013 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: Ooh, bookmarked, mollymayhem, but remember I was saying NOT California....
posted by gusandrews at 7:56 AM on May 28, 2013


*cough* Lazy Meadow is in the Catskills near Woodstock *cough*
posted by Madamina at 9:26 AM on May 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


I was also coming in to say the Roxbury.
You might be interested in the rooms there like Fred's Lair or the Wizards Emeralds room or the room that looks like you are inside a pie
posted by rmless at 3:04 PM on May 28, 2013


Response by poster: I am a loser who reads too fast
posted by gusandrews at 3:24 PM on May 29, 2013


Response by poster: I've now been to both the Roxbury and Kate's Lazy Meadow. Stayed at the former, the latter was booked but looked fun. The Roxbury is awesome. It's everything the Madonna Inn wishes it was. The brunch spread is amazing, the room decor is insane, the grounds are lovely, the staff are sweet, and the owners' backstory is dear. Considering it as a venue for my hypothetical future wedding :)
posted by gusandrews at 11:02 AM on July 3, 2013


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