So one of the advantages, for me, concerning Gary’s job is that occasionally I get to go with him when he travels. However, that usually means that I am spending the days by myself while Gary goes to business meetings.  When one of the places is at the beach, that’s not such a bad thing, right?
On this journey I am going to write about the experience we have enjoyed at The Dunes Manor Hotel in Ocean City Maryland.
We discovered this hotel in the 1990’s, when at the time Gary’s job took us to Ocean City. Then we had 5 children and took them all with us. We were very new to the hotel scene so for the first couple of years we experienced different hotels. We didn’t have a bad experience with other hotels. It was just that The Dunes was always one of our favorites. And after a few years of not going to Ocean City and now Gary’s current job has us going back we have chosen the Dunes as our go to place again.
So what is it that draws us to this hotel? Obviously it isn’t a new hotel. But it defines itself in it character and charm.  The wonderful Dunes Manor Hotel purposely reminds the guests of the turn of the century, the early 1900s. It’s a family owned hotel (definitely not a chain), so you get that personal touch.
One defining character of the hotel is that every afternoon at 3:00pm someone comes in to play old 1900s era tunes on their baby grand piano in the lobby, sometimes folks sing along.
The staff set up a table and serve tea,  warm scones and cookies for whomever is there to enjoy. There’s also a special table set up for the children that offers juice and another special treats for them.
And then there is the Iced lemon water that is always available in the main lobby for their guest. That is always refreshing after my morning exercise or after strolling the hot boardwalk.
One of the hotel’s features we are immediately drawn to is the large deck that faces the beach on the second level so you can see the crashing waves of the ocean. On the deck are several classic old fashion rockers that the guests are allowed to sit on and enjoy the day or late evening.
This particular visit I took more notice of some events that the hotel was offering. They had signs displayed for Yoga on the beach for twice a week and something about Mermaids for the children. I considered the Yoga, unfortunately, I didn’t get to that this time (but am definitely considering it for the future!).  I didn’t read much further on the Mermaid one because we didn’t have any young children with us this time. But thought it was a cleaver idea.
However, one afternoon I decided to go sit by the pool and read my book. As I was sitting there, out came the Mermaids. They were rolled out by a cart and brought to the pool. Now I am getting to understand why the pool was very crowded with little ones.  While the children were in the pool, the mermaids face painted the children’s faces. And then one of the Mermaids went into the middle of the pool and played games with them. To see so many happy faces was very rewarding.
There are a few other qualities that make the hotel a place that we enjoy. For one, it is only about one block from the boardwalk. This gives us the ease of getting to the boardwalk without the noise and busyness of it.  Also, ALL the rooms are ocean front. Which is wonderful! To open the curtains and see the sunrise or look out in the early morning and see the dolphins play or just to sit on the balcony in the afternoon and enjoy the ocean with a glass of wine or coffee.
The refrigerators are nice in that while they are not huge like a house one, but they are bigger then the small cube ones. We can fit a couple bottles of wine, a few beverage containers, and just basically the items we need refrigerated for the days we are there.  The toaster in the picture is one that I bring. However, there is a microwave provided by the hotel.
Parking is free and plentiful. The rooms face the ocean, so the view nicely captures the pounding waves.
Because it’s near the boardwalk, you can walk, jog, bicycle, or take the tram to the inlet at the other end. One of the benefits of not being on the boardwalk is that it tends to be quieter.
Within walking distance there’s a number of restaurants with walking distance, and even more if you don’t mind driving and looking for parking.
They have a restaurant that opens pretty early with a breakfast buffet, and they serve pretty good food there. The bar is open until 10am, so don’t forget to order early if you would like to drink something later than that.
The staff is really nice and they work hard to make your stay a great experience.
Depending on your timing, you may find it a little tough when leaving to get an elevator (they can get quite packed), but when it happened to us, we called a bellhop, they took us down the service elevator and it worked out perfectly!
Each hotel in the Ocean City area has their own little charm or unique quality that can draw you to them.  And we have enjoyed the ones that The Dunes Manor has to offer.