Last week I was able to treat my wife to a birthday vacation at the Hotel Donaldon in downtown Fargo. For those of you who are not aware of this place, it’s definitely a must-see!

The hotel was originally built in the late 1800s and served as the lodge for the International Order of Odd Fellows. It was purchased in 2000 by Karen Burgum and renovated with outstanding style. If the name Burgum is familiar to you, Karen was married to Doug Burgum, the Great Plains Software (and now Microsoft) guy.

The entire building is decorated with work from North Dakota artists. There’s a lounge and a fancy restaurant downstairs, and the hotel begins on the second floor. From the entry to the halls to each individual room are works of art ranging from sculpture to photography to paintings to pottery…well, you get the picture. When you check into your room there’s a metal picture frame that opens into a book describing all the artwork and artists featured in the building, their bios, and where their work may be found. There are CDs on the nightstand next to the bed and the Bose music system, and if you like any of the artists you hear, you may keep the CDs for a $15 charge. This could save some legwork, considering some of the artists aren’t exactly someone whose work you’ll find at Sam Goody.

This is the Oddfellows Reading Room, a commons area on the third floor, which has music piped in 24/7 and a small library of local-interest books featuring North Dakota and its people. It overlooks the street through the archway seen here. There’s a similar room on the second floor where the front desk is located and breakfast and wine/cheese are served.

Every room here is different. We chose room 17 because we had been told how cool it is…and we were not disappointed! This room consists of three levels. On the first level is the bar, the sofa, and the first flat screen TV. On the next level is the jacuzzi tub (more on that in a moment) and the bathroom with heated tile floor. On the third level is the king-size feather bed, closet, music system, and the second flat screen TV.

The tub is the hook for this room. Not only is it large and deep, but it fills from the ceiling! That’s not all that make it special. It’s like having one big square tub sitting in another big square tub. Once the tub overflows, the outer one fills up, and that’s where the jacuzzi jets are fed from. So once you get this thing full and up & running, you’re sitting in an overflowing fountain for the duration of your bath. Talk about cool! And the pad it’s on is like a pool deck surface, perfect for your wife to put romantic candles on.

We didn’t take their pictures, but the staff of the Hotel Donaldson are the greatest. We toured this hotel when seeking a honeymoon destination last year, and they were very kind, accomodating, and professional. Now that we’ve stayed here as actual paying guests, we can attest that their professionalism is an everyday part of staying at the Hotel Donaldson. I’m sure it must be cool to work in such a place, because all the staff we met seemed very happy to be there and were very conversational.

Our room was so cool we didn’t even have a chance to go out and spend time in the hot tub on the roof, the workout room, or the dining downstairs. Maybe next time!

We had a great time at the Hotel Donaldson. I’d recommend it to anyone. The prices are what you’d expect for such a fancy place but not out of line; our room cost about $220 per night once you figure in the taxes and stuff. But my wife is worth it, and it’s her birthday! If you’re looking for something special to do for your sweetie, you may consider taking her to Fargo for a day or two. I’d suggest Suite #17!

You can find out more about the Hotel Donaldson on their website or by paying them a visit the next time you’re in Fargo