Blue Acorn Inn, Sunapee, NH

Originally published April 7, 2009

Built in 1847, the Blue Acorn Inn is about as comfortable an inn as you're going to get. The people are nice, the dogs are restrained, the mood is relaxing, and the ambiance is picture perfect. You are a tad off the beaten path in Sunapee, New Hampshire but the trip is well worth the time taken to get here. From wherever you are, the Blue Acorn Inn definitely should not be missed.

Many people unfamiliar with the busyness in the simple life may scoff and wonder, "What the heck do people do up there in New Hampshire anyway?!" Even myself, who as a boy grew up in Keene, Milford, and West Swanzey, New Hampshire and spent countless summer days tearing up my grandmothers garden and running amuck in the hills of the Granite State, found the angry New Yorker piping up in my mind. But when I got to the town of Sunapee, it was as though the rest of my concerns drifted away. This place is something of peace personified; the folks who live here (around 2500 permanent) and the folks who visit here successfully and blissfully comingle. The property of the Blue Acorn Inn and the area surrounding it has some of the most beautiful vistas imaginable; many of them right from the front steps of the Blue Acorn Inn. And the casual conversation my wife and I had with Kurt and Deb, the jovial innkeepers of the Blue Acorn Inn, was greatly underscored by the fact that these people are talking about things which happened 100 or more years ago intermingled with current events! Incredible! The perspective this area and these two kind innkeepers have is truly refreshing.

The rooms at the Blue Acorn Inn are all well fashioned and individual. The room that my wife and I stayed in, the Honeymoon Suite had a private bath, king sized bed, two matching dressers, two generous windows with sweeping views, and cavernous stucco walls and ceilings. The rooms were private enough but the other folks staying at the Blue Acorn Inn were nice enough to boot! Kristin, one that we met and spoke with, was quite helpful when we first arrived and when we had questions later on in the evening when Deb and Kurt weren't around. The overall impression of the mood at the Blue Acorn Inn evoked symmetry and balance and warmth.

Breakfast at the Blue Acorn Inn consisted of something that neither my wife nor I had ever seen. Innkeeper Deb said that this thing was something that "Everyone" knew of, but each had a different name for. They call theirs "Hole in the Bread." It's basically an over easy egg cooked into toast. While the phenomenon may sound a tad too pedestrian, the fact is that this thing was delicious! Made with potato bread (to keep its shape) Hole in the Bread is my new favorite bed and breakfast food for sure; perhaps my new favorite breakfast food period!

The Blue Acorn Inn was a place we stayed for just one night. However the openness and comfort I felt was akin to being a boy again and being on a weekend getaway, tearing through Grandmas garden as she just laughed and laughed.