You Might Not Have Known About Ree Drummond's Cowboy Luxury Hotel
For those who think "cowboy luxury" might be contradictory, think of the term this way: Without cowboys, we wouldn't have the famous Cowboy Ciao Salad or "Old Town Road" star and food fan Lil Nas X, and we'd surely be without celebrity chef and everyone's favorite redheaded ranch hand, Ree Drummond. Now known as the Pioneer Woman, Drummond was once a city girl on her way to the bright lights of Chicago (per The Daily Meal). But the best laid plans often go awry, and when Drummond met and fell in love with her now-husband Ladd, she traded in her designer stilettos for cowboy boots, and decided that farm living was the life for her.
And yet, as some saying probably goes, you can take the Pioneer Woman out of luxury, but you can't take the luxury out of the Pioneer Woman. So, it was only a matter of time before Drummond would eventually return to her fancy pants roots, marrying them to her newfound love of cattle, cowboys, and Carhartt. This union comes in the form of The Boarding House, an eight-room luxury hotel experience in Pawhuska, Oklahoma that brands itself as, yes, "cowboy luxury."
After a nine-month renovation, Drummond and her husband opened the hotel in April 2018 (according to The Daily Meal). And though launching the property not long before a global pandemic might have kept this destination under the radar for a time, The Boarding House is back and ready for business — and it looks quite charming if we do say so ourselves.
Guests are treated like ranch royalty at The Boarding House
As Today reported in 2018, The Boarding House was the brainchild of Drummond and her husband, who had already seen success with their restaurant Mercantile, just down the road. After all, if there's anything you're going to want after a huge meal at Mercantile, it's probably a nap (in one of the bespoke rooms of The Boarding House, of course). In fact, as Today pointed out, among the unique amenities the boutique hotel offers is that guests are always guaranteed a restaurant reservation, and that's an important benefit since it's probably one of the busier restaurants in the Pawhuska area, given the notoriety of its owner.
Each guest room suite in The Boarding House (a 1920s building that formerly housed a J.C. Penney's as well as a drug store) was lovingly and personally decorated by the Drummonds themselves. That probably explains the combination of cashmere and cow art featured in photographs in USA Today Travel. Among the options, there's the Tack Room, designed by Ladd, with a horse motif; the Photography Room, decorated with black-and-white photos; and even the Boudoir Room, perfect for those romantic getaways. This cowboy chic vibe is, no doubt, appealing to those who are looking for a hint of the great outdoors but more glamping style. According to The Boarding House's website, room rates begin at $239 per night and feature services such as turned down sheets, truffles on your pillow, "personalized morning coffee," and in-room dining, of course.