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As a result of Mr. HomeFree’s travel schedule for work, we needed to spend a few days in a little town called Morganton, North Carolina.  Maybe others are familiar with this place, but we weren’t.  Morganton is a town of 16,000 people about one hour east of Asheville.  It has a cute, historic downtown that we (sadly) did not get a chance to investigate.   I did some exploring, though, and we will get to that in future posts.

For now, I want to tell you about our cool hotel!  First, I want to share that Mrs. HomeFree is now an official Marriott affiliate!  Yay!  I can now say loud and proud that we stay almost exclusively at Marriotts!  This has been true for years (long before this blog was in existence). 

For you, that means that sometimes my posts will have Marriott links (or a banner ad on the side) and if you click through and book a stay, Mrs. HomeFree gets a tiny commission to help keep the blog running.  For me, it means I don’t have to be secretive about our hotel experiences. I can use the names of the properties that I am already writing about.  This will be more fun for everybody because now, if you see a place you like, you can stay there too.  As the world begins to open back up, kindly consider booking your future trips through one of my little links.  (It doesn’t cost you anything extra, after all.)

Since Morganton is small, there weren’t any large Marriott properties.  This did, however, allow us to try a new Fairfield Inn & Suites.  It was only a few months old and it was our first time staying in their newest design.  Wow!  It was cool!

Morganton, North Carolina

Our room had a fridge and a microwave, which was nice because there are some properties that only give you one or the other.  There were also 6 windows!  Yes, really.  When was the last time you stayed in a hotel room with that much natural light? 

Fairfield Inns offer what I call “mini-suites.”  We had a separate area for a sofa and a desk.  The relaxing/workspace being divided off from the bed came in super handy when I had to be on the computer at the crack of dawn.  My husband got to sleep in while I worked.

My favorite bonus feature, though, was the window shades.  I know, I know.  That sounds strange.  I’ve made a big deal in this blog about how I am not a fan of ultra-modern interior design.  This hotel was different, though.  They managed a sleek look without being sterile. The aesthetic of a Fairfield Inn & Suites is streamlined and pared down, therefore rather than have drapes with sheers over the windows (which is typical for most hotel rooms) there were these:

Morganton, North Carolina

These shades were sheer and let light in during the day but gave great privacy because of the cool tree canopy design.  I know nothing about interior decorating so maybe blinds printed with a design are nothing unusual, but I had never seen them before, and I thought they were beautiful.  I found them oddly relaxing too. At night, there were blackout drapes (windowsill-length, not floor length) we could pull across, so that the morning sun didn’t wake us.  (By that, I mean: “didn’t wake my husband” since I was on the computer before dawn anyway).

The international germs impacted some of the services they could provide.  Under normal circumstances, there would have been a little breakfast buffet downstairs and a coffee bar (which becomes a wine bar in the evening).  Someday, we will return and get to try out those services.   We have more Morganton exploring to do, after all.

Our Fairfield was a 15-minute drive from a historic cemetery and a park with some unusual features.  Yes, I will tell you all about those explorations in later posts, I promise.

Stay tuned!