Venus, Jupiter and the Crescent Moon

Photo in Waynesville, NC taken with my phone.

Last night I looked up to the sky and wished that you were here
To share the beauty of the sky and moon that seemed so near
The brightness of the stars above never seemed so clear
I realized they're in your sky too. Did you see them dear?

I hope you get to see this sight
And see the moon and planets bright
And know that sharing this with you
Is just as special as the moon
And stars and planets up above
Can't compare to your sweet love!

Hi Snookie, Sweet Pea, Bent Slinky and Sugar Plum!

The moon and what I thought were 2 stars were amazingly bright in the sky the day before Opa's birthday.  I know it's hard to see it in this photo, but I went online to find out what was going on. 

Here's the link I found that has better photos than mine. What I thought were stars were Venus and Jupiter! Pretty amazing!

Love and miss you!  Oma

Cookies from Oma's Kitchen

For my birthday this year, I received a wonderful cookie jar that says "Enjoy cookies from Oma's Kitchen".  It conjured up wonderful memories of special moments shared with my grandmothers in their kitchens.  Whether I was helping with the dishes, helping them make something like cookies, or I was just sitting at the kitchen table while they were doing something, it always seemed to be the times we had our best talks.

Subjects would come up naturally in the process of whatever was going on, and they both always seemed interested in what I had to say.  Both of my grandmothers, although strict disciplinarians, were very tender and loving.  I can still feel now, how good I felt after talking with them.  It was like I was the most important person in the world to them.  They never made me feel like anything I said was silly or childish.  As a matter of fact, they seemed to be interested in anything I had to say!  (Of course I understand now, as a grandparent myself, it's a lot easier to be an attentive listener when you aren't the parent doing it 24/7!  I also understand after being a parent, that the time I spent with my grandparents gave my parents some well deserved time off!)

When spending time with my grandchildren, I try to remember those times with my grandmothers, and how they made me feel.  I want them to have the same sweet, warm memories of their Oma (German for grandmother) that I treasure to this day of my own grandmothers.  It seems harder to do these days though. Times are different.  (And now that I've made statements like that, it's obvious I'm old  enough to be a grandparent!)  But seriously, with modern conveniences and electronic entertainment, the numerous school activities and sports children can participate in, families spread out in different states, and a lot of grandparents still in the workforce, like this innkeeper, those "natural" times I had with my grandmothers are a lot harder to come by. 

But  it is doable, and I'm trying my best to make it happen whenever and however I can.  As a matter of fact, the cookie jar also sparked an idea - a new category to add to our blog . . .Cookies from Oma's Kitchen.  I'm going to try very hard to use the blog to share thoughts and feelings as they come up naturally that I want to share with my grandchildren.  They may not get to hear it naturally at that moment in time, but at least it will help me remember to tell them - another time. And who knows, maybe sharing some of the warm and sweet thoughts of them that come from Oma's kitchen, may spark some of our best talks ever!

Blue Ridge Parkway Winter Hikes - Part 2

In keeping with our mission to locate and hike as many (easy to moderate, thank you!) trails as possible again this winter, we hit the road last week and found another great trail, or should I say many great trails! Our theme here at the Windover Inn is "connections" and we have found that our lovely backyard of wonders here in Western North Carolina is also a place where trails flow into and out of each other creating unexpected and exciting connections of their own.

This year's first winter hike took us to Graveyard Fields, a popular destination which is accessible from the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP or 'burp'). Just a mile down the BRP an access road (Black Balsam) leads to a parking lot for trailheads to Sam Knob Summit, Flat Laurel Creek Trail, Graveyard Ridge Trail (which leads back to Graveyard Fields), Investor Gap, and the Art Loeb Trail (rated by Backpacker Magazine as the country's #2 trail in their "Ten Hikes to Big Alpine Views") which takes one to the pinnacle of destinations here, Cold Mountain, as well as to numerous feeder trails along the way. Meanwhile, the 530 mile Mountain-to-Sea Trail snakes along in the general direction of the BRP and connects with Graveyard Ridge Trail as well as many of the others mentioned above. So... here in the space of a few miles in what is know as the Middle Prong and Shining Rock areas of the Pisgah National Forest, we are able to access trails which can satisfy everything from a short bite-sized easy walk in the woods, through a major, hundreds of miles long march to the sea, or into neighboring states, with many, many others somewhere in between these two extremes. That's what I call hiking options! No wonder Haywood County boasts the second longest 'mileage' of trails east of the Mississippi!

Since the February weather continues to cooperate in keeping the BRP opened, we used the Black Balsam access road and chose the bite sized, but scenic, Flat Laurel Creek Trail which connects with the Sam Knob Summit Trail. Last winter we had accessed this trail from its opposite trailhead off Rt. 215 (yet another option!) and got as far as the Sam Knob Summit Trail, but we chickened out and didn't make the climb. This time we did! And what views! After a climb of about a half mile we reached the summit which is about a 500 foot climb. So, it is steep but features an accomodating mix of river rock, sandy soil, and some built in steps to soften the cardio. On the trip back to the parking lot the trail crossed a grassy field that offered scenic rear views of the pinnacle we had just descended. Pretty cool for a 3 mile walk in the woods of just over 2 hours!

Slow season's opportunity to explore and develop new day trips for our guests, always reinforces our "connection" philosophy as we take time to reconnect with nature and each other through this amazing landscape that first brought us to Waynesville and eventually The Windover Inn !

Graveyard Fields Along The Blue Ridge Parkway

It's that time of year again, and we're off to explore the beautiful vistas here in Western North Carolina. Winter hikes work out better for us since we're not as busy at this time of year. The timing might be involuntary, but this doesn't mean the views are any less spectacular than they are in other seasons. Each season reveals its own treasures, and winter is no different. Since there is no foliage to hide the views, the shapes of our mountain ranges are clearly defined in winter. This results in interesting images created by the mountain terrain. For instance we see the rumples of a large rug in some of the folds between the mountains.

We decided to visit Graveyard Fields near mile marker 419 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway is only open at the whims of the weather from November to April, but this year's warm winter has, fortunately, offered many days of trail access along the parkway. So, we decided to give Graveyard Trails a go! This is a popular trail that we often recommend to our guests but we hadn't hiked it, ourselves, since 2002 when we were still 'visitors' to the Asheville area. However, once we arrived and descended down the 'stairs' to the trail head, we instantly remembered why this is such a popular trail. It is a relatively easy hike made more accommodating by the numerous boardwalks and bridge upgrades over the muckier areas. It is relatively flat with only a 300 foot total rise over about a mile and a half. But be aware, this can be (and was!) a muddy hike at certain spots especially after the above average rains we had here in January. If we weren't careful, it could (and did!) become a 'slip and slide'! The trail basically takes you through a valley seam between two ridges with lots of interesting foliage and landmarks (even in winter) along the way. The namesake 'graveyard' mounds are evident and the sleeping vegetation is still pretty colorful even in February. The destination upper waterfalls announced itself well in advance as we approached, and upon our arrival the rushing waters marked this as a spiritual spot like so many others in this amazing part of the world. After enjoying the falls, we retraced our steps back the the parking lot resulting in a 3.2 mile leisurley hike that took us about 3 hours. What a wonderful way to spend a winter's day in Western North Carolina just about a half hour from the Windover Inn and Waynesville! 

Healthy and Wide Awake at The Windover Inn

People accuse me of being an optimist, and by definition, I guess I am.  But even the most positive Pollyanna can be pushed to the point of saying, "Enough is enough!" - and this Pollyanna has had enough of negativity in politics!  And although my business training taught me the topics of politics, sex and religion are taboo when it comes to your business, it's hard in this political climate to contain myself (and Glenn's ok with it). 

I think one of the most important lessons I've learned in my life is that although I can't always control what happens, I can always control how I respond to it.  And my experience has been, the more positively I respond to something, the better the outcome.  It hasn't mattered what my role in life has been at the time, or what the situation has been, it has worked.  And in this case, it doesn't matter what party affiliation I have!

Has it always been easy to take this positive outlook?  I can't honestly say that it has been, or that I've always been able to accomplish my goal.  And, yes, I do understand that it's harder for some, more than others, to take this approach to life.  In this case though, I see this negative approach by politicians as a conscious marketing design.  It seems like someone, somewhere, seems to have evaluated what works and what doesn't, and determined that making people feel worse about their life circumstances, making the other guy look like a murderer instead of just someone with a different policy, frightening people instead of comparing real facts, pitting people one against the other, is what is going to win votes!  And why not?  Isn't that what the public wants on their television sets?  Reality TV is flooded with groups of people pitted against each other, whether it's on an island somewhere, a group of housewives, or single women looking for the bachelor of their dreams! 

But wait a minute, this is our government, not entertainment.  Or is it?  With social media and constraints of 140 characters, you gotta go for the sensational - right?  Who's going to tweet a policy issue? An Apprentice episode with presidential candidates competing - maybe, but Donald Trump as a candidate?  I'm suddenly feeling as George's character in a Seinfeld episode did, when he realized his world with his friends (Independent George) and his world with his girlfriend were colliding - will this too cause an explosion? 

Well, I guess that depends on us.  I for one am going to take the positive approach (surprised?).  Two can play at this game.  Positive people can blog, tweet, and write reality shows too (ok, maybe that's stretching it a bit).  So, all you fellow Pollyannas out there - let's get busy and flood the lines of communication with a more positive world view, not because we're not sick and tired of it, but because we're healthy and wide awake!

OUR YEAR IN REVIEW

We began 2011 by giving the inn a ‘birthday party’ in January complete with a ribbon cutting by the Mayor, the local Chamber of Commerce, and many friends to commemorate the James Harden and Pearl Howell House as a local landmark as well as to toast a century of tourism that started here when Pearl opened the doors of Windover to guests in the spring of 1911. We were thrilled that Carey Howell-Duss, the granddaughter of James and Pearl, was able to visit us from Florida and participate in the ‘party’ and most importantly, act as a historian by recounting stories of her growing up next door in the 1940’s and 1950’s and actually helping out at Windover when it got busy, not to mention giving up her bedroom to ‘overflow’ guests from Windover during the ‘high season’! Also, Reimer and Judy Steffen, the second owners of this house from 1981 to 2004, were among the guests. They were the folks who ‘saved’ Windover from the wrecking ball by purchasing it from the son of James and Pearl literally days before it would have been demolished. Last but not least, Fay Clark, one of the employees who worked here for Pearl in the 1950’s was in attendance. She had been one of Carey’s babysitters, too. She is now in her 70’s and lives nearby. It was fun to see Carey and Fay reconnect (check out the picture!) as they hadn’t seen each other in many, many years!

The winter and early spring is typically a slower time here at the inn. But 2011 proved to be a lot busier than in the past. One reason was that the economy started to pick up a bit which was, hopefully, a good sign for all of us! We will continue to offer our 20% discounted pricing from January through March this coming year, too! And this will remain a tradition to welcome in future years as well.

It is still a well kept secret that some of the very best times to hike and sightsee in our area are during the winter and early spring. Without the heavy flora covering them, the vistas from local trails and roads are spectacular whereas these views are often hidden by thick growths of leaves and underbrush in the summer and early autumn. In early 2011 we had the opportunity to hike many nearby trails and were greeted by these stunning views found nowhere else in the country. There’s also skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing at Cataloochee Resort only 25 minutes away. And it’s nice just to kick back and relax here in the quiet (with perhaps the sight of a little snow dusting the mountains that ring our town) and then head into town for some shopping and a scrumptious meal at one of our fine restaurants. For a small town (less than 10,000) we think we have some of the best restaurants anywhere! In the past year alone, we have seen the addition of five excellent eateries in and around downtown Waynesville. It doesn’t get any better than that!

This spring saw some changes both outside and inside at the inn. We removed the old white lattice fence from around our private pool area, and had it replaced with a Victorian-style black metal fence. It looks much more attractive, and it’s easier to maintain! Also, inside we made changes to some of our rooms and suites to make them even more comfortable and inviting. We hope you agree!

During the summer months a project team from the NC Dept. of Transportation completed a pedestrian walkway on the portion of Old Hickory St. above us up to Brown Ave. This closed that portion of Old Hickory St. to vehicular traffic which had the effect of making us a cul de sac with the access road now being from Killian St. below the inn. This also caused us to get a new mailing address! So, we are now at 40 Old Hickory St. but we haven’t moved an inch! So, when you visit us, make sure you follow the directions on our website because many GPS systems have not yet been updated with this road closure.

Finally, in the interest of ‘continuous quality improvements’ we just recently made some changes to our dining room by introducing new tables and chairs. They are more comfortable for guests and easier to maneuver around for Jen to serve everyone at breakfast. With the new table and chair configuration, we were able to open the door between the dining room and hallway (most of you probably didn’t even know it was there!) to give this area a more spacious feel and to provide a better flow of guest ‘traffic’.

Most importantly, in 2011 we had the great pleasure of welcoming many folks for the first time (and many of you for the second, third and fourth times... and beyond!) through our doors. One of the great perks of our jobs is meeting and getting to know so many wonderful people and welcoming them into our ‘extended family’! We hope that you can visit us again (or for the first time!) in 2012. Until we meet again, Happy New Year!!

The Color of Beauty

Looking toward the gazebo in our backyard.

Our maple tree by our parking area.

It just doesn't get any better than this! The pundits predicted we would have a showcase of autumn color in western North Carolina and they were right. This October marks our sixth autumn in Waynesville, and the colors nature has produced are definitely the most vibrant and long lasting of any year since we arrived here in 2006. Even now, in late October, the trees in Waynesville are still showing off their stuff. Up in the hills around town the trees are starting to bare their leaves, and farther up in the mountains, the trees have shed most of their leaves. But, the contrast is still exciting to view. Since we live in a 'bowl' surrounded by mountain ranges, depending on your perspective, you can view a close-up of multi-colored flora against a backdrop of semi-bared trees, followed a bit further up the 'bowl' by mostly bare trees. All together, it looks fabulous! It's hard to drive or walk anywhere without losing yourself in the beauty that surrounds you here in Waynesville. Even in our own yard, the colors still sparkle. See for yourself!