A Room with a View

The view from our window at the Magnolia Inn

What a beautiful little Victorian town Jacksonville has turned out to be. When I first made plans to visit I wasn't sure what to expect other than what I had romanticized in my imagination. All I knew was that it was an old Gold Rush town that decked the halls for the Christmas season.

When we pulled into town we were both surprised to see every inch of the historic buildings covered with fresh garlands and twinkle lights. It was like rounding the corner to find yourself lost in an enchanted fairytale in some other-worldly realm.
We turned down 5th Street to find The Magnolia Inn where we would be staying for the next two nights and decided to see if they were ready for our arrival. The woman at the front desk said there had been a mix up in the rooms and the room I had requested was occupied so to make amends she let us pick the room of our choice with no extra charge. We chose room 9 with the black wrought iron bed and french motif...Tres jolie!
More on our wonderful Inn experience later. For now let's spend a bit of time in the town.

This beautiful Victorian towne is filled with small wooden churches of every shape and size....well, maybe not EVERY shape. They're all pretty rectangular, but darling in character.

The Main Street stores with thier pretty decorations and blooming planter boxes.

The town is nestled in the valley surrounded by mountains and many of the buildings roofs are covered in moss. Me being the silly person that I am thought is was magically charming while my hubby thought of the structural damage it would cause to the owner. I never cease to be amazed me at the differences between the male and female brains, but then I guess that's part of why God created them male and female. There's a certain balance between the two working together.
OK, I'm done with my rabbit trail.

The streets are filled with carolers singing acapella dressed in Victorian finery and wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas". If you are cold and need something to warm your tummie there's free apple cider being offered on a few of the street corners and instead of an expensive horse drawn carriage ride you can take a ride in an old wagon pulled by two Belgium Horses for a donation.
Poor hubby! We were waiting for the wagon to load up while I was teasing him about moving to a small town where we could dress up as Dickens characters and stroll the streets singing. He wasn't too fond of the idea and the next thing we knew the carolers were loading into the wagon. Much to his horror we rode all over town singing Christmas carols with the carolers.
I think it was the highlight of my day! Well, I did find some darling PINK glittered stars to buy, but I'll post about those later. Now there's a bit of a tale to tell.
Gotta run...the sun is lowering behind the mountains and there's a cute little coffe house I want to visit.