It's Near the End of Leaf Season! Fireplace Season Begins!

The "leaf season", as so many like to call it, is almost over here in Ashe County. As the air turns colder and the climate begins its march towards winter, the leaves dry up and drop off the trees for another season. It's an annual event; aren't we lucky to have the chance to experience it!

Here at Buffalo Tavern we have started a new season, Fireplace Season. That's the time of year when the wind is cold and snow flurries blow down the meadows and over the mountains...all to make Ashe County a beautiful winter destination. We turn up the fireplaces (The ones in my guest rooms are all electric now.) and relax in the warmth of this old historic home that has seen so many seasons in its lifetime. It's a place to gather thoughts and just relax while listening to the windy winter outside.

Come join us at Buffalo Tavern. Come and be a part of our own season, Fireplace Season, where the rates drop but the hospitality doesn't change one bit.

See you soon.

Doc, Innkeeper

FACES OF FREEDOM/ARMED FORCES TRIBUTE

This last Saturday, August 23, 2008, was Ashe County's Armed Forces Tribute. Vicky Moody, a good friend and colleague here in Ashe County, along with the Rotary Club, organized the event. Vicky, even with multiple other activities and a full time job, still pulled it off for the third year in a row! There were military personnel in attendance from privates to generals, the Marine Corp Band, a big-screen live teleconference with soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, an airdrop from the 82nd Airborne.....it was quite a day and a day that Ashe County can be proud of.

I donated some of my room nights to help out with accommodating the people who came to speak and be part of the event. It was my way to give something back. On Thursday and Friday my guests were a Colonel and his wife from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And on Saturday night, I had the pleasure to welcome Rebecca Pepin and her husband, Derek, for the evening.

Rebecca is a news anchor for the NBC affiliate in Bristol, Virginia and....the editor of a touching and powerful book called Faces of Freedom. The book has stories about military men and women who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan--one for each state. Each one of those heroes represents all those others, more than 4000, who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country. I can only read a few pages at a time as I feel for the lives lost and the families and friends who cannot and will never be the same again.

All the proceeds from the book go to the Fisher House Foundation which donates "comfort homes" built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers where families can stay while their loved one is hospitalized for unexpected illness, disease, or injury. Additionally, the proceeds go to the Wounded Warrier Project which provides "tangible comfort and suport to severely injured service members as they transition back to civilian life." You can find out more about it by going to woundedwarriorproject.org. These are both good causes.

I never know what might happen next here at Buffalo Tavern. I feel good that I could give back.

Doc

GIFT CERTIFICATES ONLINE!

Doc's pleased to announce that Buffalo Tavern Gift Certificates can be ordered directly online now from his web site, http://www.buffalotavern.com/ . They are easy and convenient and can be ordered in amounts from $100 to $1000! Give a Buffalo Tavern get-a-way to a family member or friend; they'll be happy you did!

See you soon!

Doc, Innkeeper

Doc's Opened His Own Store Online!

Check out the Buffalo Tavern Gift Shop on my web site (first page). I am going to feature items that can be found at a quality bed and breakfast, the first being my luxurious TURKISH TOWEL BATHROBES that every guest enjoys. Watch for more items soon! Welcome to Buffalo Tavern's Gift Shop! Doc

GUESTS PAY; FRIENDS DON'T??!!

For the first few weeks as the innkeeper at Buffalo Tavern, I greeted my guests and took them through the parts of the house that they could visit, including, of course, my “new” Americana Dining Room. I'd tell them about coffee, tea, and morning treats in the living room at 7:45 each morning and show them the small refrigerator with the water and soft drinks that were available for them. We laughed about the iron that is in the closet No one, it seems, comes to a Bed and Breakfast to iron clothes! I had some crackers in a basket in the closet and games, cards, and even umbrellas to borrow for bad weather.

When we went into the dining room, I’d tell them about the pictures and we’d marvel at the old wooden floors that were so beautiful and had been covered up with carpet by the former owner. I told them that when the fireplace was lit in this room it really threw out the heat. We also saw an indentation in the stone around the fireplace on the floor where it had been worn away—we’d like to think by some of those folks in the late 1800s and early 1900s, who would sit there with their feet getting warm each evening and, over time, the stone was ground away. If it was or not, the story sounds plausible!

I had to pinch myself after the first few months to remind me that, after all, this WAS a business and business runs on money taken in. Ah…. I had to collect money??!!

During the first few months, I waited until Sunday after breakfast (for those here for the weekend) to ask my guests,“Did you want to keep this on your charge card?” All the while feeling guilty! Because, you see, after having known my guests for two days, serving them breakfasts and snacks, giving them directions and suggestions for dinner, and touring, cleaning their room, and attending to their needs, I now had “friends.”

It’s hard to ask your “friends” for money. So now, I ask them for their payment before I even show them the room. Let the “friendship” begin!

It's a good strategy! Doc

SNOW DREAMING

This is a little deversion from my regular blog, I know that. But I wanted to provide you with a copy of a little poem I wrote in 1997 and now include in my "Welcome" book at the Tavern for my guests. The last stanza is pretty important for all of us... Hope you enjoy! Doc, Innkeeper

Snow Dreaming

I’ve spent my life
Watching the snow
As it falls so gently,
To the earth below.

At times the wind
Blows it away;
But I know
It’s here to stay.

Sometimes it falls
So fast and sure.
And other times, it falls,
Light and pure.

I never know just how much
It will be.
I just keep watching
Soon to see.

Oh, I’ve spent my life
Looking to the sky,
Dreaming that life…unlike snow,
Won’t pass me by.

Brian “Doc” Adams
Babcock Lake, N.Y., November 1997

A Leap of Faith.

After attending the B and B (PAII) conference in Phoenix in March of 2006, I went back to Florida, which was my home for 32 years and where I worked in a career in education, previously as a teacher and now an administrator. After a two-year on and off search with many stops and starts, I found a Bed and Breakfast in North Carolina that I thought I could afford and looked like it had possibilities. Of course it was in an area of North Carolina that, to be honest, I had never heard of. That’s the compromise one takes to fulfill the dream, I suppose. Nevertheless, I bought it one month later with a down payment of $2500, and all of a sudden I was no longer an “aspiring” innkeeper. I was about to become one of them… if everything came together. That was Easter Sunday in April and a close in June. Phew. And the idea about actually owning and operating a B and B as the innkeeper...well…. Buffalo Tavern was soon to be mine!

Now, here’s the kick: I had less than three months from the moment I put the money down to 1) sell my home in Florida, which had been on the market for three months already with no serious buyers, 2) sell my vacation cabin in north Georgia, which had also been on the market for three months, 3) officially retire on June 30 after 30 years from my job, and 4) move to North Carolina, furniture and all! These tasks had to click because they all were contributing factors to my ability to purchase the B and B. I needed every penny I could get, plus some luck, to make the deal actually work AND close before the end of June, 2006.

I did close on June 23 with enough money to pay the 20% additional down payment. The sale of the cabin in Georgia helped and I used equity in my unsold Florida home to make up the difference. I was also able to purchase many of the furnishings using the money that I had “rearranged” over the few weeks I had available.

God must have been with me and wanted me to have this place. And my beautiful daughters, Rachel and Amanda, who were pulling for me throughout this event gave me the strength to keep on reaching.

I took a giant leap of faith that everything would work. It did.

Thanks for reading about this leap of faith! Doc, The Innkeeper

It Hit Me! Bam!

Just a few months before I opened my Bed and Breakfast I attended the Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII) conference in Phoenix. That was in March of 2006. I went as an “aspiring innkeeper”, knowing only bits and pieces about the Bed and Breakfast business from the other seminars I had attended and inns I had visited. I attended the day-long session for aspiring innkeepers and was impressed with the wealth of information. I also was a little overwhelmed with it all but still anxious to get going! It was a spur of the moment decision that made all the difference. Somehow I knew that if I had been thinking about opening and/or running a Bed and Breakfast, I had better take that leap. Spending the money to travel and stay there and taking the time to attend the conference in Phoenix was part of that leap.

One of PAII’s keynote speakers, Holly Steil, in her address at the conference and among many other great comments and suggestions, said, “It’s all about the dance.” BAM! It hit me like a rock and it stuck! In our service business, it is all about the dance (and the personality of the innkeeper). To me, that’s a pretty important statement and not only did it help develop my mission, but it also is reflected in how I make a reservation, how I greet my guests, how I listen to what they want and expect, how I ensure that they are happy, and how I let them know that they are my most important people at Buffalo Tavern. It’s about how I let my guests lead me in the dance to let me know what’s important to their satisfaction.

I have always believed that one can attend a conference or seminar and be totally satisfied if able to walk away with just one tidbit, one thought, one statement, one phrase, one anything that would make a difference in either their work or business or life. I believed that from those few words or from one significant idea that hit a” hot button,” something great could grow. That happened to me in Phoenix, and it shines quite brightly with my own Bed and Breakfast, Buffalo Tavern, in West Jefferson, North Carolina. I use a phrase of few words each and every day with my work at the inn and my relationship with my guests. Embedded in my mission statement is the essence of those few words: “The mission of Buffalo Tavern is to ensure that all those who arrive as guests leave as friends.” Simple. Direct. Clear. I can’t really tack down how those words came about for sure. I can just say that the statement entered my thoughts and I knew then that it would be the driving force to my daily actions at Buffalo Tavern.

Doc, Innkeeper

Welcome!

As the Innkeeper, I have to know within moments about my arriving guests. Are they wanting to be left alone? Are they interested in meeting others? Do they want to chat with me because they are fascinated with Innkeeping? Within the first few minutes, I have to make that decision and accommodate their wishes. Hence....."It's All About The Dance!" ...who leads and who follows when my guests arrive.

I have been wanting for quite some time to publish some of my thoughts on Innkeeping (and the Dance) and publish some of the fun and funny things that happen here. Plus I wanted to share about moving to this beautiful state, North Carolina, and gorgeous county, Ashe. It was sure an adjustment after having lived in Florida for almost 32 years. It was a good move.

So, "It's All About The Dance!" has been born!

Welcome to my blog. Welcome to "It's All About The Dance!".

Keep checking back for more interesting stories and fun occurances at my Inn.

Doc, The Innkeeper