Vol 6, Issue 2

     We hope you have survived our crazy spring weather and

A Vieques Beach

are looking forward to summer. Back in May, Jodee and I took a little vacation to the "Spanish Virgin Islands", Vieques and Culebra, off the coast of Puerto Rico.  These two islands were used as practice bombing ranges by the U.S. navy for many years, which was highly effective at keeping the resort developments to a minimum.   Thankfully the Navy gave that practice up in 2003 and turned over most of their property to be designated as a National Wildlife Refuge.  The islands are still very undeveloped compared to the rest of the Caribbean. Our favorite pastime was taking our rented jeep down these unbelievably rugged roads to secluded pristine beaches where we often had them all to ourselves.  We also visited the brightest bioluminescent bay in the world there.  It was one of our most relaxing trips ever.  

     After getting back home it was right to work with Inn Keeping and continuing the maintenance and upgrades we started in the winter; sometimes on our schedule and sometimes on the Lodge's.  Do you know what mattresses and rustic rose arbors have in common?  ....they have about the same lifespan!  Actually we bought new mattresses for the upstairs rooms as we planned last week. This task wasn't physically hard since we spent a lot of time lying down on the job. There were dozens of options but we decided on a new line of hybrid that has a firm inner spring mattress combined with a cool gel, memory foam top pad.

The New Arbor in Progress

 We think they are more comfortable than any of our previous beds and hope all of you will love them.  

     However, we weren't planning on half of the rose arbor falling down this week.  I tried to save as much of the rose bush as possible and rebuild the arbor piece by piece but this was like fighting with an eight legged wild cat. Bloodied and tired I finally gave up, took Jodee's advice and cut the roses way back. I am building it back with solid black locust post and mountain laurel branches. Wonder what's next.    

     Andrew went back to school, Will followed a woman to Wyoming and Sidney is pursuing her dreams on some vineyard in California.  They were a great help to us and we miss them all but with that loss comes new faces, new personalities and another chapter in the history of the lodge.  Of course that being said, Lisa is our pillar of strength.  Heaven forbid that she gets the urge to move on.  

     Matthew Williamson is our new Assistant Innkeeper which is a new position for us.  We are excited about bringing him on especially since it means we have the possibility of regular days off!  Matthew brings some great experience with him.  He served in the same position at another major Bed and Breakfast in Asheville.  Prior to that he was a successful General Manager, Executive Chef and even a proprietor of restaurants in Texas.  He is great in the kitchen, confident with reservations and working with guests, can handle all aspects of the Lodge, and is even willing to help me with the outdoor jobs.  On top of that he adds a bit of wit

Matthew

Mom?

    Guests often ask if the river they saw as they turned into our drive is Bent Creek.  When we tell them "No, that's the French Broad"  there is usually a giggle as they asked how it got that name. I would love to tell them an heroic story of an exotic woman of questionable morals but I usually follow up with the truth that there were two "Broad Rivers" in North Carolina and the one that flowed into French territory became know as the "French Broad".  Despite the lack of a good story to go with its name, it offers a number of recreational opportunities from its start south of Rosman till it joins the Holton River in Knoxville to form the Tennessee River 213 miles later. It is also the third oldest river in the world following the Nile and the New River. The four forks that create the river are formed in the mountains south of Brevard with cold clean, water good for trout fishing and creek kayaking.  Through the valley from Brevard to Asheville the river slows and widens making it a great place for gentle canoeing, tubing or Muskee fishing.  It flows right pass the Biltmore Estate, picks up the Swannanoa River 

My Bass and My Fishing Bud Lani

and flows through  Asheville.  After that the current speeds up and the river fills with boulders and rapids making it ideal for whitewater rafting and smallmouth bass fishing all the way into Hot Springs. Which brings us to the picture of the 18" bass I caught last week on section 9 of the French Broad with a fly rod. That's my fishing buddy Lani doing his best to liven up another boring picture of a defeated fish.  I just had to get this picture in the newsletter somehow.         After Hot Springs the French Broad continues into Tennessee and is damned up to form Douglas Lake.

Sincerly,