My Night In The Castle...Not The Disney Castle!

     On our way home from Orlando, we decided to stay at the Renaissance Ross Bridge Resort in Hoover, Alabama. For the past 4 years, we have been traveling home from Florida on our wedding anniversary. We generally stay at nice, but nothing fancy type places. Last year because of losing hours on the road due to a traffic issue, we ended up spending the night at a Country Inn and Suites and having our dinner at a Waffle House. I wanted to try to do something a little better this year, so we made our first visit to Ross Bridge. The resort is a golf resort, sitting just outside of Birmingham. There is nothing within about 10 miles other than a beautiful residential area leading to the resort. I took pictures of a couple of the homes. They were all gorgeous and at night the Christmas decorations made them even prettier.

  

     After checking in, we pulled around to park the car and I could hear the sound of bagpipes playing. I grabbed the camera and ran to the back deck of the hotel.

     Every night at sunset, the bagpipes are played in various locations around the hotel. It was really interesting when we talked to this gentleman. His daughter was my daughter's manager at Disney until leaving recently to go to work elsewhere. Small world!

We took a stroll around the hotel lobby.

The decorations were beautiful.

     I loved this "tree". They had a storybook on a stand and there were holes in the tree at different levels. When you looked in the holes, you saw scenes from the story.

See how cute?

I loved this take on the traditional poinsettia tree.

 It is mixed with bromeliad plants.

Our room was very nice. The lighting for pictures wasn't!

The view from our balcony was stunning!

The early morning frost made it picture perfect.

     We can't wait to go back when we have more time to explore the area. The pool area is wonderful, so maybe next time a trip in warm weather would be nice. They also have a lovely spa. We didn't eat dinner at the hotel, but our breakfast buffet was outstanding. I give this resort 5 stars!

I am joining Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.