Shining Star Bed and Breakfast

Beautiful grounds and a very friendly staff. I was there for a photoshoot and there were lots of great backgrounds for our photos.

great venue for photoshoots and a bit of R&R. wide field with a small lake for reflection shots. animal friendly and very accessible from downtown.

Attended a group photo shoot event at the shining star ranch and not only was it such a beautiful location and gorgeous horses but the owner and staff were so amazing and welcoming that I am definitely definitely going to you let everyone know they should attend any kind of event they can this is such a wonderful wonderful place and if you ever get the chance the rooms the service the staff everyone should at least stay here once

A dirty, neglected, mediocre dwelling hemmed in by the highway, train tracks, a few pathetic looking horses, mobile homes, working trucks, a couple of parked semis, a doggy daycare, debris and clutter. These people need to clean up their act and be honest about what they offer.
We found this place on a B&B site and the pictures online looked lovely. It advertised an amazing rate of about $ 95/​night so we called Lindsay Brooks the owner to make sure it wasn’t a dump. Lindsay assured us it was lovely and that it was a million dollar property. We should have suspected something…
First off, she sent us a rental agreement that did not specify the rental rate. Next, our credit card was charged almost $ 400 for 2 nights. We called and emailed her but we didn’t get a timely nor clear response. She appeared too busy so we gave her the benefit of the doubt. Since it was only a 45 min drive from Seattle, we drove over to the Ranch with our two children believing that it would all work out as expected. It did not even come close.
When we got there at 3 pm it turned out that we were actually being charged $ 149 a night for a cramped, bland room and sharing a bathroom with a group of 11 young exchange students who were staying there long term. Lindsay hadn’t mentioned that it would be 15 people to a bathroom.
When we balked, Lindsay’s ranch hand Lucas called her on the phone. She implied that we were confused but ‘generously’ offered to upgrade us to the master bedroom for the newly discovered rate of $ 149 a night. She claimed that it rents out for $ 359 (seriously!!!). Tired but not wanting to disappoint the kids who wanted to go horseback riding in the morning, we agreed to these new terms.
When our room was ‘ready’ it was late and we soon headed out to Monroe for dinner. When we returned in the pouring rain we had to hop out of the car, unhook a large orange plastic screen which served as a ‘gate,’ drive through, stop, and hook the orange plastic back on so that the sad, sad looking horses wouldn’t wander away in the dark.
In our room and attached bathroom we turned the lights on and found that the place hadn’t been vacuumed, only the sheets and towels were replaced and the toilet was disgusting. We looked for cleaning supplies and found none. There was no sign of Lucas.
We took a shower while running the bath. When we had scrubbed off in the shower, we immersed ourselves into the bathtub. Within moments we realized we were soaking in dirty water surrounded by floating dust, someone else’s hair and scraps of tissue paper !!!
The night was miserable. Our son couldn’t sleep because the futon was super hard and stinky. Our daughter did better on the air mattress.
My wife couldn’t sleep for a long time because the cheap queen mattress was so hard, the 11 exchange students were up chatting and using the microwave late into the night, a dog in the doggy daycare just outside our room was barking and a machine outside seemed to be running incessantly.
At around 5 am the exchange students were getting ready for an outing and they woke me up.
In the morning we opened the blinds to look around. Highway, train tracks, pathetic horses, a huge garage/​barn, some mobile homes, trailers, parked semis and work trucks, a doggy day care, and clutter surrounded us.
In the cold living area: dirt and debris underfoot, this place hadn’t been swept or vacuumed in ages.
Breakfast was minimal. Cereal, oatmeal and cold, wrinkled hardboiled eggs. The coffee was pretty decent however.
Lucas, the ranch hand who loaded and unloaded the dishwasher and laid out breakfast for us never appeared to wash his hands even though he was constantly in and out and dealing with dogs, the outdoors and a wife, who we soon found out, was sick. Nice, laid back guy though.
Lucas brought a dog into one of the bedrooms even though we had told them that we were allergic to dogs and were told the house itself was pet-​free.
Clearly Lucas was overwhelmed with looking after his sick wife and baby, both of whom popped in to eat breakfast when we were done.
Throughout this uncomfortable experience we’d tried to stay positive. We were looking forward to going horseback riding since that’s what this trip was all about. And, when we asked what time the 4 of us could go riding, first we were told there were only 3 horses and Lucas’s wife (who was sick) would need one so only 2 of us could go riding. When we said, okay we’ll do that, then we were told, sorry, the trails are too dangerous.
Lucas then disappeared while his wife and son ate breakfast in the perpetually messy kitchen.
We cleaned up ourselves and left. We asked the owner to refund our 2^nd night since we left early (and damage/​cleaning deposit). No response. It’s been a week.