In 2009, we constructed a seven-circuit walking labyrinth on the southern end of the property at the Inn on Mill Creek, near black walnut, tall tulip poplar and maple trees. The Inn’s labyrinth is a classical style labyrinth based on one in Visby, Sweden – a shout out to Innkeeper Brigette’s dad’s Swedish heritage. It has a 2-ft. wide grass walking path bordered by white granite pavers.
| View from Mt. Mitchell, highest peak in the eastern U.S. |
You really can’t beat summertime in the mountains of Western
North Carolina. The average highs are in the low-80s at the hottest point of
summer. And that’s just our elevation. Drive 20 minutes to the Blue Ridge
Parkway and hop on for a scenic drive up to elevations of 5,000+ feet and
you’ll often experience high temperatures in the 70s, and sometimes even the
60s, in July and August.
| Rosco E. Walters |
Our innpugs, Csaba and Bugsy, have a new little brother: Rosco! We were fortunate to have the opportunity to adopt this cutie-pie from Southeast Pug Rescue & Adoption (SEPRA), based in Suwanee, Georgia.
| Our favorite rose bush at the Inn in bloom |
Spring is always beautiful in the North Carolina mountains, but this year, we’ve seen the mountains gradually wake up to Spring, which is different from the past two years when Spring sprung right out of the gate in mid-March and quickly headed into summer by May. Since springtime has been more normal this year, guests of the Inn on Mill Creek Bed & Breakfast have been thoroughly enjoying the weeks of vibrant green leaves on the trees and gradual blooms as springtime makes its way from our neck of the woods around Asheville and Black Mountain to higher elevations along the Blue Ridge Parkway nearby, just in time for the Parkway’s official opening this weekend.
Every once in a while, we get in the zone with baking and make a lot of one kind of thing. Lately, we’ve been on a muffin kick, and now it’s cookies. We’ve landed on a pretty awesome chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe, which is a variation of one from Pillsbury. Not a bad idea to double this recipe, because these go fast!
If you look up in the trees near the Lake House at the Inn on Mill Creek in the spring or summertime and see a blue-colored bird perched at the very top, and he’s singing, and singing, and singing some more, and you go out for an afternoon of sightseeing and come back and there he is, still singing, then you’ve met the Indigo Bunting. [Photo below of two Indigo Buntings by our guest, Sharon Hurst]
The beautifully restored Southern Railway Steam 630 locomotive made a visit to our neck of the woods during the weekend of April 20-21, 2013. The excursion train, owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM), is part of Norfolk Southern 21st Century Steam Program. [Photo below of the 630 near the Inn on Mill Creek taken by Bob Elliott]
This Spring, we’re hoping to fund two or three more microloans to small business owners in developing nations through Kiva (www.kiva.org). It’s our way of combining efforts with others on a small scale in order to make a large impact, in this case, to help in the fight against global poverty.
This year at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, the tulips and azaleas are battling it out for everyone’s attention! We have never been to Biltmore — located 20 minutes from the Inn on Mill Creek — when the azaleas and tulips were in full bloom at the same time. Just, wow.
Its cheery song is smile-inducing, the return of its golden feathers in April adds to Spring’s color palette, and its frequency and acrobatic skills at the feeders make it a constant joy to watch. What’s not to love about the American Goldfinch? The second most-photographed bird at the Inn on Mill Creek (after our unofficial mascot, the ever-entertaining Tufted Titmouse), the American Goldfinch is also one of our most asked-about birds. So let’s give the goldfinch its due as the featured bird in the month of April in this year’s12 Months of Birding at the Inn series on our blog.
