2010 in Review!

December 27, 2010: New Year’s Eve is approaching quickly. That means another year has gone! Where did it go? I got an e-mail cartoon a while back that I find is truer with every passing year. The picture was of a roll of toilet paper that was almost gone. The caption said: “Life is like a roll of toilet paper – the closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes!”  2010 absolutely flew by.The year started with us being snowed in. The son of a preacher lady came over with his son and dug us out. A week later they did it again. 2 weeks later they did it again. About a week later, they did it again! The weather fairy FINALLY took pity on us and Spring arrived! Briefly!We were able to hold the Independence Concert on schedule on July 4 – It did not rain this year!The rail-trail was fixed after 2 seasons of having a chasm instead of a dip. We had trail users, horse people, anniversaries, honeymoons. MountainFest came and went – with John’s paintings in the Vintage Motorcycle Show. This year we had the honor of hosting a 1952 Vincent Black Lightning in our display area and hosting a biking couple from Pennsylvania at the B & B as well as the parents of the groom who were in for a wedding.The World Equestrian Games were held in Lexington, Kentucky this year. We were thrilled that Elissa Dauberman, a 4 time National Grand Champion with her horse Craving Blue chose to stay here 3 times in 2010.The stable is quite popular with our horse guests. Nice sized, clean stalls for the comfort of discriminating horses.Since I am “name-dropping” (with permission by the way), have you heard of that little musical group the Trans-Siberian Orchestra? We had the honor of hosting Chris Caffrey, a guitarist who has been with them since the beginning. Just goes to show that little Shinnston is a place folks who could stay wherever they want to know is a Better Way to Stay, bed & breakfasts!We survived our annual week as an “island of isolation” during Frontier Days.   We even had guests all week! One could not get closer to the action than to be at Gillum House. The Midwaywas in front of our porch, the big carnival rides were across Walnut Street in the Fire Department lot, and the kiddie rides were across Davis Court in the Orioles parking lot. We thank City Hall for providing parking spots for us and our guests.September, October, and the first 10 days of November were a blur as we did data entry, answered phones, and did interviews for B & Bs For Vets. Almost 900 B & Bs showed our military there is a Better Way to Stay as they “put their money where their mouth is” thanking our Veterans with free rooms on November 10 for Veterans Day November 11. Thanksgiving brought us the lovely Alexandra, a lovely 8 month old who brought her parents here for Thanksgiving – a very delightful couple who said they needed to de-stress!

The City was beautifully lit up for the Christmas Parade and Community Band Concert. The lights will be lit for just a few more days – giving a special beauty to saying goodbye to 2010.

Well, that is the year in review. Hang on to your hats because 2011 is waiting in the wings and oh what we have planned for 2011! We plan to savor every day  and hope to give great relaxing hospitality to our guests in 2011. Come experience The Better Way to Stay!