Bed & Breakfast in Estes Park

This is a photo I shot in our meadow. We have a wonderful natural rock garden…which is doing much better than my domesticated flowers this year. Click this image for a beautiful Estes Park site.

Eric celebrating Kym’s success in making a small pallet of wool. Annually Kym and Susan (see Susan in next picture) bless our home and our lives with their woolly tales and woolly laughter after attended Estes Park’s yearly Wool Market. Have I said WOOL ENOUGH YET? I’m hoping to grab the search engines attention on this one. (where’s Waldo? That’s our Waldo-Maggie sneaking by in the back). Kym and Susan are laughers–we love a good laugh. Thank you Kym, Susan and Cheryl for laughing with us. Susan, Newbie-Cheryl and Kym with items they made at the wool market classes. Three ladies, three teachers, one a teacher of teachers. Our newest guest Cheryl (center) took on an entire mountain with her forehead and lived to tell her tale at breakfast. Thank you Kym for having your first aide equipment on hand. Cheryl is now known as, “she-who-walk-on-rock”. The woven basket resting on the white table was made by Susan. We love ya–see you all next year.

Bringing home outdoor plants from the nursery to prepare for our first wedding of the new season.

My first thoughts this morning should have been: what I will make for breakfast, and my to-do list for the wedding we’re having tomorrow. Rather, I struggled to remember what it was I felt sad about the night before. It was 5:30 AM and my mind was in an emotional fog and I couldn’t remember why.

Snap dragons do great in Estes Park. I have been planting them around this tree for seven years with success. One or two get pulled up by elk, but they survive and the elk get a sore tummy. I’m convinced planting the same plants in the same spot each year conditions the elk’s eating behavior.

My heart sunk when it came back to me that my little old lady Maggie was laying at the foot of my bed sick. She wont be pawing my bed posts to wake me. I went to her and prayed she was alive. She lifted her head to let me rub under her chin, and stretched out her back legs. It was all normal, she was behaving like she normally did when I beat her to the wake up call.

The tag is for the snap dragons near the rear of the photo. The flowers in the foreground are Verbena. I LOVE this family of flower. I plant them in my window boxes at he top of my porch. Wind, rain, cold temperatures. They are heat tolerant thriving summer and into early fall with full Southern exposure. The flowers last for weeks but when the flower expires dead head them for new growth.

Magg’s head gets tired at times.

I think for a few minutes Maggie too forgot she had lost her ability to jump up at will. Maggie is a sight-hound so making eye contact is Magg’s M.O. Her bright brown eyes turn people’s hearts to soft gel. It was while looking into her eyes that I saw a slight flash. She was fully awake now and she now remembered.

She can eat alone but it’s hard on her neck.

Over the years many of our guests have kissed Maggie’s head, rubbed her ears, sent her Christmas cards and even gifts. She has friends all over the United States and world. Including; Germany, Holland, and Thailand.

We had a guest that was terrified of dogs. She had not touched one since she had been bitten in the face as a little girl. Maggie’s soft knowing eyes opened that lady’s heart up–healing an old wound. Our guest, from Thailand, held Maggie crying when she told us her story and triumph over a fear that paralyzed her at times.

Thank you from Maggie, and Eric and I, for sending your thoughts and well wishes.

Click this photo to learn about what to pack when coming to Estes in the Spring and Summer.

Thank you Lissa for posing a great question which inspired this post. Lissa will be coming to see us the weekend.

We offer the above items to our guests. It’s a new service we are able to provide compliments of the brand companies. Men and women deodorant and razor’s, lotions from Dove, Oil of Olay, and Nivea, power powder drink mix. Advil, throat lozenges, women’s sanitary items. Not shown are breakfast bars and chewing gum. The rooms have soap and conditioning shampoo and robes.

We hope this helps you with your traveling plans and avoiding delays at airport security. We are located less than one mile from a Safeway Grocer and a pharmacy.

Bubbles of joy and three generations celebrate a new marriage. Steve and Pearl were married in the meadow here at Gilded Pine Meadows B&B. The grand kids were given the task of blowing bubbles for Grandma and her new husband. The children’s faces were precious to capture on film! Weddings are a great time to catch kids on film getting into mischief.

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.

I love living in Estes Park a small alpine-like resort town in the Rockies. I TRULY DO! The winters are cold- enough, windy-enough, long-enough, and snowy-enough to keep away the thin-blooded. Consequently, we locals get the town to ourselves–for the most part. To keep busy and, to keep change in our pocket Eric and I officiate and photograph weddings. He–officiate, I–take photos.

…and this is how we spent our day yesterday.

Click photo to go to the Floral Design of Erurope’s website

Mark and Lindy became friends of ours after staying at our inn summer 2007.

Eric the innkeeper and wedding officiator. By the way he loves officiating weddings and takes it all to heart. (Eric is the one in back, Armando is the grooms best-friend).

This is me.

Tea parties at Gilded Pine Meadows B&B are always an adventure for us. We spend about 2 hours setting up the room and setting the tables. I spend 4 or more hours prepping and cooking.

We hold about a dozen or so a year. As per request we’ve had birthday parties, employee parties and lady’s clubs. This however was the first time we accommodated a Grey hound…

BUS! The view from the front porch

The view outside our parlor window.

The parties last 2 or 3 hours.

Eric with ladies. The ladies invited Maggie in at end of party.

Ladies, scones, tea and…bus! Farewell tea ladies!

This party was for 21 ladies which is our max. After the party it takes us two or more hours to clean and reorganize the home. We first sit, eat scones and clotted cream, and guzzle iced water.

During our evening drive through the YMCA of the Rockies we made a few friends.

We had two couples with us this weekend. They were a fun, interesting and warm hearted people. We are blessed to be in a business where we get a chance to meet people who provoke thoughtfulness and reflection.

“YMCA”! Clicking this photo takes you to the artists web site.