Staying at Mary Lou’s was fantastic. The loft was decorated with some amazing pieces of art and its layout was perfect. After each day’s adventures, it was so relaxing to come back and catch our breath. And it wasn’t just the loft, it was the entire neighborhood. Downstairs from the loft, there was a cozy outdoor “room” with a firepit, were we could sit and have a drink and go through the pictures of the day. Art was everywhere, from paintings to statues to mobiles….it was so comfortable and welcoming. Even looking out the windows, everyone in the area had these beautiful gardens and landscapes to brighten everything up. We were surrounded by gardens full of everything from roses to wildflowers. Every night, after coming back from our adventures, we would take time to simply walk around the block. The entire neighborhood had lots of little corner gardens with mixes of full blooms or bushes of blueberries and blackberries, huge trees, hidden pathways…. the neighborhood itself was almost a huge public park, where a walk down the sidewalk was one picture perfect setting after another.
Mary Lou is a fantastic host. She made sure we had coffee, snacks, sundries, and every other little thing that made the experience so wonderful. And if that wasn’t enough, on our last day, as we were packing our car to head out, she came out to say goodbye and give us a bag full of chocolate chip cookies she had made the night before.
I highly recommend if you are visiting Salem, check out Mary Lou’s wonderful place. It was a perfect launchpad for our visit to Oregon (where we travelled from the Coast to Silver Falls State Park to the Downtown Salem Saturday Farmers Market) with truly gracious hosts.