Iowa City's Brown Street Inn

With two daughters at the University of Iowa, both involved in performing arts and affording multiple opportunities each semester for spectating, we decided we should find a place more inspiring than the Baymont Inn to stay when performances necessitated an overnight. Most luckily for us, we found The Brown Street Inn. www.brownstreetinn.com

A word about Iowa City accommodations: they are probably the most expensive and difficult to acquire in the entire state. Iowa City, being a rather small city hosting a huge university, has an extraordinary burden to provide places to stay for parents of students at such university events as orientation, parent weekends, performances and graduation. In addition, the population swells an additional 50,000 or so on Hawkeye football game weekends. Most hotels double their prices on game weekends, require at least a two night stay, and are booked months to a year in advance. That said, we have avoided such mega-weekends whenever possible. Since we live only two hours away, if we must be in town during one of those population booms, we usually just return home after the event.

When choir and dance concerts or opera performances are scheduled in the evening, and last several hours, and the weather is iffy, and we want to spend some time with our daughters, we try to stay overnight in town. Our go-to place now is the restored and beautifully appointed 1913 gambrel cottage style mansion in the Brown Street Historical District of Iowa City. There are 5 spotlessly clean queen or king bed rooms on the second floor and a two room suite on the third floor, all with private bathrooms, beautiful bedding and comfortable chairs, desks and lamps for reading. We have stayed in four of the six rooms, and have not been disappointed by a single one. The Red room accommodates a third person on a pull-out sofa, and the suite (which we have not stayed in) can hold a couple of roll-aways for a third and fourth person. The main floor is richly and elegantly decorated, with two separate dining rooms, a living room with fireplace, and a wide front porch that overlooks an expansive lawn to the cobbled street. Parking is in a free private lot, which is a big deal in congested Iowa City.

As appealing as the accommodations are, however, what keeps us coming back are the innkeepers, Mark and Bob. By now they know us, and have met all three of our kids and assorted friends. They are welcoming at check in, leave you to your devices for the evening, then serve the most delicious breakfast with interesting conversation and helpful information about the area. What we have most appreciated is their willingness to allow our student daughters to join us for breakfast at the Inn, for a small $10 fee per person, rather than us having to eat there first then go find a place to take the girls out later in the morning. It has allowed us a time to visit with them in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere before our return home.

And then there is the breakfast---what a feast! During the week, a lighter continental fare is available, probably consisting of baked goods and beverages. We have only stayed on a weekend, when full hot breakfasts are served, such as blueberry stuffed French toast with ham, vegetarian egg omelettes with sausage, fresh fruit, bagels, apple cake, artisan bread toast, juice and coffee. A breakfast there carries us well into the afternoon, and satisfies the dorm cafeteria-weary students in the crowd.

The Baymont Inn also serves breakfast, but you know what that is. So we have decided that whenever possible, we will pay the $15.00 more for a room at the Inn and feel pampered and welcomed by friends.