Bed & Breakfast in Estes Park, Colorado

Friends. You got to love them. Brooke and Melissa are the new owners of Riverspoint Spa.

I’ve had a cold for a week or so now. Gosh dang! How does one appear happy, springy, and thoughtful when ones throat feels like gravel mixed with shards of broken glass. Worse is a throat that seems to have enough fluid in it to sink a shabby-sheik bed post. What a crazy time I’m having this Spring springing into Spring… one of my favorite times of year. It leads into SUMMER. My ultimate favorite time of year. I’m thinking a –Universal message maybe in my dilemma. Got any ideas?

Lake Estes at sunset.

Caprissa and Eric. This is us standing near the lake and near the spot the first homestead was built in Estes Park.

Me laughing with guests. Note the phone near my lap…waiting for a call. We can never get too many calls–sorry if I missed your call. I need to figure out how to strap the thing to me. You can book one line anytime and all mistakes can be fixed.

Getting to know our newest guests Larry and Barbara during check-in time. We are chatters. We love to talk to our guests. When we first opened I told my husband we mustn’t talk politics and religion. Well, that lasted 2 minutes! We cover every topic under the sun at the breakfast table. We laugh, cry, yell, talk-over-each-other. We walk the line I guess you can say. If you’re an innkeeper I suggest walking that line only if it’s in your nature to begin with. Although it hasn’t happened in a year or so, we’ve had people try to convert us to their religion and we’ve had pyramid sales-people try sell us their goods. So, if one is willing to open those doors, one must also be willing to stand strong on their convictions. That’s where the fun comes in…

Maggie (far left) sneaks into tonight’s late night conversation, she tends to pick up on people’s emotions. At this point we are talking about France and Paris and the people that live there. Barbara and Larry have a daughter and son in-law that live in France.

Here we sit: I’m behind the flowers, Eric, Barbara, and Larry talking about politics and mental illness… not that the two have anything to do with one another. The front porch is my favorite place to nap during the day–if I’m so inclined. I’m not really, what you might call–a napper– but sometimes one just MUST.

This afternoon I changed my multi-seasonal wreathe by adding purple silk flowers. I’m not finished with it–it needs some bright yellow sprigs. I use the same wreathe year around by changing out the flowers to bright red berries during the holidays, and autumn leaves in October. The wreathe came with pin cones.

The first flowers on my front porch went out today. I’ll bring them in over night to protect them from late night frost. I love this basket! Each year it showcases my flowers and makes it easy for me to bring the flowers in doors if the weather changes.

Well good night. It’s after 11:00 PM and I have yet to check to see if I have the needed ingrediants for blender pancakes. I took a few days off blogging–I hope you stay with me during my journey in the rockies as an innkeeper.

Chuck Angerman, CEO of Majestic Sky came to our home to sip lemon aid and review my marketing budget with me. Can you see my red elbow in the mirror? We spend 10% of our income on marketing. This is a budget I set from day one. Click photo for info on Chuck’s services.

The paintings on the European furniture were done by the owners of this inn. By clicking this photo you will be taken to our association’s website.

This innkeeper has had insomnia for 3 days. Here sits I in my office. To the right is the bedroom door and my kitchen counter. While at my desk I am 3 feet from my bed and 10 feet from my kitchen stove. Click photo for more about an innkeeper’s life from the inside-out. Read the rest of this entry »

Please scroll down the blog to the date of April 30ths. I’ve updated the page with photos of that days tea party.

The morning of May 1st brings snow and frosted trees. Today (May 1st) I’ll meet with my new website host and marketing guy. He’s to arrive at 11:30. At 1:00 PM I’ll attend the Estes Park Bed and Breakfast Inns Association meeting.

I’m a day or two behind on my postings. Stay with me. I’m starting to get confused with real time and blog time.

Today we had a bed and breakfast association meeting at one of our new member’s inn. My schedule this week has been BUSY! So here I am again telling ya…I will bring you all up to date with pictures in the next few days.

I’ve much to share with you: Yesterday’s tea party, today’s B&B tour and meeting. Plus, an late meeting with our new website marketing guy. It’s been busy. BUT–I’ve been taking pictures. I even have a picture of our new marketing guy.

Meanwhile Eric stayed at the inn and shampooed the carpet. It’s a labor intensive all day task he does three or four times a year.

View from True Value parking lot. Serious. All you need to do is stand at the door and face west. I didn’t have to stand on the building’s roof, or the hood of my car, or crawl on my belly for this one.