What an action-packed weekend we just had. The guests that stayed with us were here for all different reasons, which is always fun. Two rooms were booked with people here for the a wedding up the road, one couple was here to hike the Long Trail and another couple was here for the Street Rod Show at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds in Essex Junction. Each one of these guests was a pleasure to be with.

            Our first arrivals were hikers from Texas. Seems they saw an article written about us in a popular hiking magazine so they decided to try out the Long Trail, which basically runs right through our backyard. On their first morning here I drove them to the trail head of their choice, dropped them off and waited for their call when they were done for the day. This couple is extremely experienced hikers having hiked pretty much all over the world. I’m talking extreme sports people and very physically fit. What they didn’t figure on was how different hiking is in the north east. It was an education for us all.

            I haven’t done any real hiking for many years and back then most of my hiking was in New Hampshire. You see the trails here on in the east are very old and were formed using the natural contours of the land. So that means hiking up and down natural drainage ditches, no switchbacks and such. Apparently, only new trails have switchbacks cut into them, which of course makes the hiking, shall we say, a little more enjoyable. If you attempt the Long Trail here in Vermont you need to know what you will be hiking. Fortunately our guests brought us an amazing education about the trails that we can now pass on to other guests. They ended up hiking quite a bit of the Long Trail right around the Inn and they are determined to return next fall for more!

            We also had a wonderful couple who came up from Massachusetts to enter their 1939 Ford in the Vermont Street Rod car show at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds in Essex Junction, about 30 minutes from the Inn. I can’t tell you how much fun I had talking about antique cars, street rods, hotrods and, of course, my personal favorites, the muscle cars! This couple has seven amazing cars. Below is a picture of the one they brought to the show this year. We are hoping they come back next year with a different car, maybe a muscle car! This weekend was also the British Invasion car show in Stowe. In the past we have had several couples here with cars entered.

            And last but not least we had two women stay at the Inn who had never met but were going to the same wedding right up the road. Often people will reserve the whole Inn for family and friends when they are getting married locally. As much as we enjoy having a wedding right here, it’s really fun when just the wedding guests stay here. The Inn becomes the haven for party-goers to return to when they need a rest from all the celebrating. On the last morning of their stay they were able to sit together, and finally meet, at breakfast. We were able to sit with them after all other guests had checked out and hear all about the wedding and find out more about each of them.

            Between all the fun things our guests were doing I was able to get some Inn maintenance done with about five hours of mowing and weeding. It’s hard to complain about mowing this property when all I have to do is look up at the incredible view from my lawn tractor. The weather was so gorgeous I was able to clean up the remnants of our vegetable garden and in the process for a few errant zucchinis and cucumbers hidden under the over-growth. I was even able to find a few grapes on the vine!