PAII Convention in Austin, Texas

Frank And Ralph are heading to Austin, Texas Sunday for the Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII) Conference. We went to our first conference 8 years ago in Providence RI. and have been hooked ever since. We haven't missed one in 8 years (Pheonix, Myrtle Beach, Anaheim, and Atlanta), and are already looking forward to Charleston, SC in 2011 and have picked out a room in our favorite Charleston Inn, the Two Meeting Street Inn, on the Battery. We can't wait to meet up with our old friends (innkeepers, vendors, and hospitality consultants) many whom we have gotten to know since Providence in 2002.

The conference schedule has an amazing list of speakers (Frank will be speaking again), and we often find it hard to choose. Many times Frank will attend one session while Ralph attends another. Frank will also be attending the annual meeting of Select Registry , an organization that we are very proud to be a member of over the last 4 years.

We are starting our 12th year in March as owners of the 1889 WhiteGate Inn in Asheville and we feel a large part of our ability to survive and thrive, even in this difficult economy, is due to what we have learned at the PAII Conferences.

We attended lectures on internet web design and marketing and heard Scott Crumpton (White Stone Marketing) talk. Scott and Allison have done our web site design and internet marketing services for almost 4 years now and are always on the cutting edge of what needs to be done to excel in a very competitive market (Asheville has over 35 B&Bs). We also met Mark and Matthew of (Jumping Rocks) who did all new photography of our Inn and who without a doubt are the best Inn photographers in the country. None of this would have happened had we not gone to PAII Conferences.

Now we are all talking about Social Media and what part this plays in our B&B. Facebook and Twitter are the new players on the block in our marketing program and Ralph is now a certified "Facebook Junky" and a relentless blogger. He should have "Become a fan of the WhiteGate" stamped on his forehead. We are looking for validation of our efforts at the conference as several presentaions revolve around Social Media.

All in all we have realized after 11 years in this business that there is always room for improvement and you can never stop learning. Our business is constantly changing and these PAII conferences will keep us at the cutting edge of our profession and our guests will continue to benefit as well.

We also look forward to enjoying the city of Austin, where Frank will be able to get his fill of Country Music and Ralph, BBQ snob that he is (having grown up in Salisbury, NC) looks forward to some serious Texas BBQ before returning to Asheville.

Frank & Ralph

Winter Outings in Asheville

Come enjoy winter in Asheville and you'll be amazed at what there is to do. Check out the Top 12 Winter Outings in Asheville. As always, the Biltmore Estate and Winery is a destination and a real value in the Winter Season.

New restaurants, bars, and breweries have opened in downtown Asheville. The Asheville Downtown Gallery Association has twenty-four downtown galleries for you to visit. There are numerous music venues including The Orange Peel that bring in popular musicians like Bob Dylan and groups such as The Smashing Pumpkins, and Tressa's noted for for it's jazz and blues. All of this is a just short walk from the 1889 WhiteGate Inn.

So come stay with us and experience all that is Asheville.

You can now follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Asheville Foodtopia

Another great addition to Asheville as a destination for "foodies" is the recent addition of the Asheville Food Tours. As described on their website, "Discover the unique flavor of Asheville on our guided walking tours of the city's culinary treasures in historic downtown Asheville, one of the nation's premier food destinations and home of the world's only Foodtopian Society".

Stay at the 1889 WhiteGate Inn , the closest bed and breakfast to downtown, when you visit Asheville, a city where food is the center piece of daily life with 17 farmers markets, nearly 250 independent restaurants, and a bevy of local microbreweries.

Stay with us 2 nights or more, Sunday through Thursday, and you"ll receive complimentary tickets to the Asheville Food Tour. Remember everyone, we are walking distance to downtown.

We look forward to you visiting with us.

Frank and Ralph

Bed and Brew Asheville

Beat the winter blahs with Asheville's Winter Warmer Beer Festival at the Haywood Park Hotel on January 23rd. The fun goes from 3-7 PM with 20 regional breweries, live Music by Woody Wood and Brushfire Stankgrass, and delectable treats provided by The Lobster Trap.

Stay at the 1889 WhiteGate Inn and you can walk to the festival.

For the serious beer connoisseur spend extra time in Asheville, recently named Beer City, USA. Visit our 9 micro-breweries, including the recently opened Gastropub, LAB (Lexington Avenue Brewery) also a short walk from The 1889 WhiteGate Inn & Cottage.

If you have one too many brews, we'll even arrange for a taxi to bring you back to the WhiteGate.

Hurricane IDA... Ida Claire?

OK … So we make the decision to take a vacation. It has been three years since we actually went somewhere just to get away and have fun and relax together. New Orleans has been a place that we have loved for many years and we set the date to go, November 8th.

The hardest part of going anywhere are the looks on our dogs Ida Claire and Stryker Roch’s faces as we bring down the suitcases to pack. There have been times where Ida Claire has actually turned her back to us, sat, and pouted. Stryker mopes around the house and gets listless. We always feel horrible leaving them and they sure know how to pour on the guilt, if you believe that they can do that. Now just a side note, they are never left in a kennel. They go to the Inn and stay there with the staff that spoils them rotten.

Now comes November 6th and there is a tropical storm heading for the Gulf of Mexico. November 7th the storm is upgraded to a category 1 Hurricane. The path of the storm seems to be directly tracked to hit, where else, New Orleans. The kicker of the whole thing is that the storm is called IDA. I call it poetic justice but I think that a good friend of ours said it best “What's this I hear...ah yes, it's hurricane IDA!! I-Da-Claire!!

Well we got lucky. The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit shore east of New Orleans. We did get some drizzle but the rain was far from the French Quarter where we were staying. We are home now and both Ida Claire and Stryker Roch are resting well knowing that we are home and they are back to life as normal. Oh..What a life….

***Ida Clair*** and ***Stryker Roch***

Fall in Western North Carolina

Since moving to Western North Carolina the one thing that has never ceased to amaze us is the beauty and grandeur of our surroundings.

Fall in the mountains is a magical display of color intermingled with the abundance of wildlife that are preparing to settle in for the winter.

Both the bears and elk are getting ready to for the winter months by foraging in the forests and meadows looking for berries, grasses, bark, acorns, and buds from shrubs and trees.

Fall is 'rut' season for elk. The bull elk are rounding up females and claiming their territory. Elk have been eradicated from Western North Carolina since the mid-1700's when the last one was killed.

In 2001, 25 elk from the land between the Lakes National Recreation Area along the Tennessee-Kentucky border, were imported into the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. In 2002 another 27 were imported to expand the herd.

We recently took a leisurely drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway into the Great Smokey Mountain National Park to the Cherokee reservation stopping in some of the towns along the way. Our final goal, camera in tow, was to drive into the Cataloochee Valley to view the herd of elk in the late afternoon when they are out grazing.

We counted over 30 elk in the valley. We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoyed the time we spent taking them. When visiting us in Asheville consider a day trip, only 1 1/2 hours away, and ride out to the park for a personal encounter with these majestic animals.

Orchids at the WhiteGate Inn

The peak season for orchid bloom is upon us and luckily my greenhouse is full of blooming orchids. This is important because our annual orchid show at the NC Arboretum will be held March 27-29. I should have about 30 orchids in the WNCOS exhibit this year.

My collection has grown dramatically since moving over 300 orchids from my house on Lake Norman to the WhiteGate Inn Greenhouse in 2000. The greenhouse was one of the first additions to the WhiteGate Inn and was designed for orchids and other tropical plants. I have over 1000 orchids now but always seem to have room for another one.

Initially I would acquire just about anything but over the past 3 years have been concentrating on species orchids. My favorite genus is Phragmepediums and I am devoting more and more bench space to this genus. I am excited to have a Phrag. kolvachii that I acquired from HP Norton at Orchidview in bud and about to bloom for the first time. This is a rare species that was only discovered in Peru about six years ago.

I have been growing orchids for almost 22 years. My brother-in-law gave me 3 plants, I joined the NCPOS in Charlotte, and within 2 years was on the board and became interested in putting in my own exhibit in the local orchid show, which for many years was part of the Southern Spring Show.

I feel like I have come full circle this year when in mid-January I again put in an exhibit at the NCPOS Show which held their show this year for the first time at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden near Belmont NC. This was a beautiful venue for an orchid show and I was able to visit the new orchidarium at Stowe for the first time. It is an amazing design, particularly the 40 foot waterfall wall that was covered in orchids. I look forward to many return visits to this incredible botanical garden and orchidarium.

The next orchid show of the season in which I participated was the SCOS show, held in early February at the Riverbanks Botanical Garden in Columbia, SC. Again,this is a great venue for an orchid show.

I am excited to be participating in our 8th AOS sanctioned show at the NC Arboretum at the end of March. Over 40 members of the WNCOS help put this together every year and as much work as it is we always come away feeling gratified at how it always comes together and how much the public appreciates our efforts. Please enjoy the photographs of orchids that have been grown in the WhiteGate greenhouse and entered in orchid shows over the past few years.