Let's Have a Party!

We've always loved a good party.  Not the wild, crazy kind, but the warm, connected kind with good friends, delicious food and a feeling of heart-bursting gratitude.  We hosted many of these in Pennsylvania, but after moving to the Adirondacks, we ran into a few party glitches:

1 - our time and energy was needed to renovate the B&B and build our business

2 - when we did have free time, we were TIRED and usually didn't feel like being sociable! 

3 - we didn't have good friends yet

4 - our B&B didn't have parking for more than 3 additional vehicles ... thereby limiting our partying crowd

So although we've entertained a bit here and there, we were due for a PARTY! But first .... we needed a party place.
 

 Now this is some serious party space!  This is the dining room at the ADK Trail Inn (which we took over managing in September, in case you missed the memo).  Since this was the room that ALL of our guests would see, we decided to start here with our work.  The room was in great shape.  Just needed some refreshing.

 

We started with the bar area.  Our vision was a nice clean surface on which to set up our new breakfast buffet for guests.  

 We found some interesting things on, behind and under the bar.  This was one of my favorites!

 And here's the finished product ... all set for a yummy, hearty breakfast 

to fortify our guests before they hike, climb or ski.

  

 Next, we tackled the "Wall of Dolls" ... a special favorite of our friend, Josh, who kindly agreed to help us with the first weeks of our project. 

After packing up the doll collection ...

We found a beautiful pair of wooden skis hiding in a corner.  They needed a new home where they could be rightfully enjoyed.

 

 Next ... this wall was dedicated to Noah's Ark memorabilia because the inn used to have a Noah's Ark theme.  In fact, there was a large wooden ark in the front yard ... but that's another story!  We packed up the books and beer bottles ...

 And hung the two things hikers need most - a good trail map and a clock so they can tell that it's time to stop talking and get out on the trail!

Our room was now ready for guests.

In early December, the time was right!  We'd been blessed by so  many wonderful, supportive people here in the Keene Valley area.  We wanted to say thank you with a party.

 The girls helped by setting the tables ...

Is that an awesome collection of dishes or what?  The inn used to operate as a restaurant a few decades ago.  We may try that again ... but not today!

 Meanwhile ... in the kitchen, a pot of cranberries bubbled on the stove ...

 Onions were chopped on the long beautiful work table.  Hey, Rachel Ray, if you ever want to hold a cooking class .....

 The Tur-Duc-Hen began to bake and oh.... the smell!

I couldn't resist grabbing the camera to capture some of the decorations

  Sparkly!

 My favorite moment was when the room was all set and ready for the first guests to arrive.

Soon the room was full ....

 People who hadn't seen each other in awhile caught up ...

 Young friends gossiped and giggled and ate pie

 There was comfortable laughter

And the kinds of warm, connected moments that we cherish.

Several people who'd been invited couldn't make it.  We missed them.  In all the excitement, I completely forgot to take a picture of the gorgeous wonderful food that everyone brought.  But these were minor glitches.  After dinner, we enjoyed giving the grand "tour" and hearing stories of our friends' memories of the inn in days gone by.  

It was just about a perfect night.  I feel grateful that now, almost five years after moving to this magical place, we are still investing time and energy into building our business.  But we feel like being sociable more often, we have made really good friends and we now have parking for a gazillion cars!!

2013 Wishes

Tonight, millions of people will watch as a brilliantly lit ball drops in NYC's Times Square.  And as the ball drops, clouds of confetti will be released to float down upon the partying crowd below.  Although I've watched the ball drop dozens of times, I never knew that the confetti is not just ANY confetti!  It literally holds the wishes of thousands (maybe millions) of people.

When we visited New York City, we enjoyed visiting Times Square museum and found  .... the wall of Hopes and Dreams where visitors write their wishes on tiny pieces of confetti.

This was one of my favorites .... probably duplicated a few thousand times!

Of course, we had to write our own New Year's wishes ...

 Sodie took great care to make sure I couldn't see hers ... hmmmm!  

We dropped them in the box ...

and said hello to the 2000 Millennium Ball which is on display in the museum.

Tonight, when the clock strikes midnight ... our little wishes will float down over the streets of NYC and hopefully will come true!

Happy New Year to you!!  May all of your 2013 wishes come true!

Let the Christmasing Begin

Yesterday, we fed our guests and sent them off on a hike so we could enjoy one our favorite annual events ... choosing a Christmas tree.  From the year of the exploding tree to the year we traveled most of south-central Pennsylvania because we couldn't find the right tree, I could write a whole blog post just on our tree picking adventures. 

Over the years, we've learned two very important things about tree cutting ...

1 - Take a tape measure.  Trees always look ten times bigger once you get them inside (the case of the exploding tree)

2 - Perfection is no longer the objective ... speed is.  Teenage girls have about a 10 minute patience level when it comes to choosing trees with their parents.  Enough said ....

Living in Pennsylvania, it was always our dream to cut a tree in the snow.  In 14 years of cutting trees, I don't think we ever succeeded.   This year (and the year before and the year before and ...) it was a winter wonderland as we headed off into the tree farm.
 

 

Ten minutes later ... we found our tree!  

  

One thing about cutting a tree in the snow ... it's a cold and wet endeavor!  But Wayne never complains.  He's prayed for this his whole life.

 Sometimes the tree man needs a little help from a tree puller

Whoosh!  Good thing the tree watcher had moved back a little ... and the tree photographer!

 

On the way out of the forest.  Is it me or does that girl have a tree tail?

My girl HATES to have her picture taken so I have to sneak photos when she's unaware.  I love this one ... I love her!






 

 One of our traditions is for the girls to pet the horses while Dad gets the tree baled and loaded in the truck.

For me, the Christmas season begins when the tree is cut.  Now the decorating, card writing, baking and celebrating can begin....  Merry Christmas!

We Been a Wee Beet Beezy

 When I last sat at my computer to tell a Tale from the Snow Goose, it was JULY!  We were enjoying spectacularly beautiful weather and a steady stream (116 straight nights at one point) of guests.  We were sneaking in visits to the swimming hole, trips to the farmer's market, weeks away at summer camp, the beginnings of soccer practice ... all the while dreaming of quiet days that were on their way. 

Somewhere in the craziness, I was planning to blog a lot ... hmmmm.....

The quiet days are now here and I'm blogging, but between then and now....

We kinda ...

sorta ...

maybe ....

Well, I guess we actually DID....





TAKE OVER MANAGING A MOTEL!! (Huh?)
 







It seems like it came out of nowhere, but the idea had been brewing for awhile.  We looked at a few properties, tossed around a few ideas ... and then fell in love with a special place.


Throughout the summer, we negotiated, dreamed, crunched numbers, hoped, planned and then ... just when it seemed that we needed to "let go," things came together VERY quickly.

On September 7, 2012, we became the proud new managers (and one-day-to-be owners) of a 12- unit Inn!  (Yes, that's Noah's Ark over our heads!  We'll explain more about that in a later blog update.)

Located between Keene and Upper Jay, NY, the ADK Trail Inn is perfectly located to serve  Adirondack hikers, climbers, bikers and ...

Fishermen!!  The property features over 450 feet of river frontage  along the famed Ausable River.  Don't worry!  The river never came out of it's banks during Hurricane Irene, so I think we're safe!




And since we're only eight minutes from Whiteface Mountain, skiers are going to LOVE us this winter!

 

 The property also has a great barn and another cabin - as well as some old campsites that can be cleaned up and eventually rented.  And let's not forget the fire pit where guests can make S'Mores while listening to the babble of the river.

You know me and rivers ... you'll probably be seeing a lot of river pictures in the days to come

 As far as the rooms, all twelve are in good condition.  We have some upgrades planned, but here's a peek at one of our mid-range rooms.  Not bad, eh? 

So ... for all of you who have been wondering what's going on up here in the North Country, now you know.  We've been a wee bit busy!  Now we have even more rooms in which to host old and new friends.

Tom Hanks, NYC and Me ... Sort of!

I've noticed something interesting about vacations.   When given the gift of a few days of freedom, most of us choose to go somewhere "different" from the place where we live.  We are drawn to a different scenery, to a different energy .. to places where we can see things that we don't see in our normal daily lives. 

While living in Pennsylvania, we found ourselves seeking out places of peace, beauty, inspiration ... spending vacation time walking on beaches, camping in the woods and hiking in the mountains.  Now that we live IN the woods and mountains, we find ourselves drawn to experience different sights and sounds when we have time off. 

This spring, we spent 3 action-packed days in New York City - about as opposite of Keene Valley as one can find - truly a place where you can see things you don't see every day!

I shared a few photos from our NYC trip over Memorial Day.  If you missed them, you can read that post HERE)   Now that the trip is so far past, I won't do a whole NYC review, but I did want to share a few interesting  moments ... and one VERY special place!!

You have to start the day with coffee ... and since I can't normally walk to a coffee shop in the morning, I was looking forward to this more than you can imagine!!  Our first morning in NYC, we found this little treasure where I enjoyed the BEST Vanilla Latte I've ever had.  It had a luxuriously creamy texture and a special mysterious hint of flavor that I still remember!  I found out later, that Jack's has been voted #1 coffee shop in all of NYC .... I know how to pick 'em! 

 We did the full "immersion" version ... staying in a hotel that was only a half block from Times Square.  I wish I'd captured (on film) the moment when we stepped into the square and the girls' eyes grew huge!   I'm pretty sure that there are more people in this one photo than live in our entire town!

My mother was a "people watcher" and I've inherited her interest and curiosity.   I love to spot an individual in a crowd and think about them ... wondering about their story ...

  

 Like this gentleman who stood near the entrance to the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Ferry ... patiently playing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" for hours.  His simple tune hung in the air with such a slow, haunting reverence that the chattering crowds hushed as they filed past him ... it felt sacred.

And this man who sat sketching in Central Park ... completely focused on his work 

And this man who created awesome rhythms using only a box, bucket and piece of metal ... keeping time to some internal music that only he could hear

And the rollicking rhythm as a family of Hasidic children danced and hopped and giggled back and forth over the giant floor piano at FAO Schwartz ... something one does not see every day!

Another thing one does not see every day .... a $1500 jewel-encrusted Etch a Sketch ... really?

 

Being a sucker for these kinds of things, I was excited to see a "Free Hug" guy in Times Square!  Envisioning one of those beautiful "We are the World" You Tube, tear jerking moments, we ran over ... and got our hugs ... after which he politely informed us that he was raising money for his college education.  Hmmm......  maybe.... maybe not.... but either way, we felt a little odd having "taken" a hug without giving anything in return.  We dug out a few bucks, took a photo and were on our way feeling just a little disillusioned! 

I could go on ... but I'll leave you with one last MOMENT ... my Hollywood moment!

We had a few hours to kill on our last morning in NYC so we headed to the West Side to explore.  After a brisk walk, we arrived at a nice little bench overlooking the river ..

While munching my granola bar, I looked to the right ... and what did I see but a sweet little garden blooming over yonder.

Now you have to realize that in early April, NOTHING is blooming at my house, so I was quite excited to see flowers and colors and promptly dragged my protesting family off the bench and down the little hill.

Upon closer observation, the garden was just starting to bloom ... not as lovely as I'd hoped.  But then ... it happened!   I turned to my daughter and said, "This place looks familiar!"

She said,  "Yes it does."

I said,  "It looks like the place where Tom Hanks met Meg Ryan ..."

She said,  "In 'You've Got Mail ...!'"

We looked around ...

I said,  "He walked down over here ..."

She said,  "And she walked in from over there ....."

Then we both squealed a little and just in case we were right, I took another picture ... off-center because I think I was shaking a little.

A few days after we got home, I clicked on the TV and "You've Got Mail" was playing!   I just had to sit down and watch ... and as the final moments of the movie approached, I called in the whole family and we all watched with bated breath ...

And sure enough ... Tom Hanks walked down over here ... and Meg Ryan walked in from over there ...

And they KISSED RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE VERY SIGN WHERE I'D STOOD ... oh my!   I do love that movie ... and NYC ... and seeing things that one doesn't see every day!