Here at Mom and Pop Motels, it’s important to us that we keep our listings up to date!  We want our travelers to easily find all of our fun-interesting-lovely- great independent hotels, motels, and bed & breakfasts!!  We constantly comb through our listings, weeding through the listings to keep the ever-changing independent lodging list current.  We start with the letter “A” and work our way down.  Sooooo, do you have a motel that needs a nicer picture, or a link to their website, or the addition of a lovely new amenity?  Send us a note, drop us a line, give us a call, messenger us on Facebook, but let us know!  It’s all free (and hey, it’s not that hard!)  Summer is here (or at least it feels like it is) so get out there and enjoy it!

Happy travels,

The Mom and Pop Motels Management Team.

When was the last time you used a map?  A real, folding map.  Or atlas.  Using one of these old-fashioned things is a lot of fun.  It makes you a lot less destination-oriented, and shows you all the little roads that you could take.

When you use a mobile phone or some other mapping device, you go directly to your destination.  When you pull out the old paper map, you can see so many other places to go!  Maybe you can stop for dinner somewhere else, or maybe there’s a nice park where you can stretch your legs.  And it’s good to familiarize yourself with the communities along your route- you might want to visit sometime!!

Amazing!  That’s just how I’m going to start this post, because once a person gets off the interstate, life changes from “blah-blah-blah” to “WOWZA!”  So, I imagine most of you all have at least heard of the “Twin Cities”, those being Minneapolis, MN and St. Paul, WI, and nearly everybody has heard of Walnut Grove, where the famous little pioneer girl, Laura Ingalls Wilder, grew up, with all her tales of the banks of Plum Creek and the notoriously awful little Nellie Olson.  But have you ever heard of Pipestone?

Pipestone is a deliriously rich little town in Eastern Minnesota.  The buildings are all made of this completely enchanting “pipestone”, a brilliantly pinkish-mauve rock that makes the whole town full of a vibrant color- seriously, like no other!  And, smack-dab in the middle of Pipestone is (drum-roll please). . . The Historic Calumet Inn.  Folks, this inn is nearly worth the trip all in itself.  If you are completely going “off the beaten path” on Highway 30, Pipestone is 8 miles from the South Dakota border, about 36 miles north of I-90.  So much to say about this little place- not only is it historically significant and cool, but the food is knock-your-socks-off excellent- The ribs?  The dessert?  Delicious!  And it is EXACTLY the little locally-owned, mom-and-pop you will love.  http://www.calumetinn.com  (and it is amazingly affordable too).