Travel On

We attended a Bed and Breakfast Conference earlier this month.  One of our guest speakers encouraged us to start writing blog entries twice a week to help us market and be more relevant.  We also undertand, that Google and other search engines would find us more easily.  It sounded like a daunting  task when we heard it and is still does. 

Prior to this, we thought that keeping our blog posts short and sweet, with a picture was enough.  We thought blogging once a week or even once a month was enough.  We weren’t sure that we would have enough to say to keep the interest of the folks reading our blog and we weren’t sure we could come up with enough ideas to keep everything fresh.  We still think those are valid points.  However, something happened a week ago in our world that shook us up our  and we find that we do have something to say about it.

About a month ago, we spent 6 days/nights in Paris.  The weather was a bit cold and a little rainy, but we had a wonderful time.  We saw beautiful things and had wonderful meals.  We soaked up the atmosphere and enjoyed our interactions with the friendly people.  We left that place feeling refreshed and renewed and had lovely memories of Paris.

The apartment we were renting was a few blocks from where all the violence happened last week.  We were shocked, as we listened to the news and looked at the scenes flashing by on the screen.  These were places we had just been, maybe even  people we had passed on the street.  We felt an overwhelming sadness.

Soon afterward, we started hearing rumblings from people about not wanting to travel.  They were anxious and afraid.  Though we understood, it further saddened us.  We believe now as we did after the horrors that took place in our own country that we need to keep traveling.  We need to keep experiencing other people, places and cultures.  If we turn into ourselves and do not look outward, evil wins. Fear wins.

You may be thinking that it is easy for us to say this.  After all, we operate a lodging establishment, we need people to travel.  It is true, we do need people to travel.  However, we take the safety of our guests very seriously.  We are totally understanding when snow, ice and winds make travel dangerous.  We believe in using good sense and precaution.  But we also intend to keep going places, seeing new things and meeting new people.  It enriches our lives.

So, you will find us on the road again at the end of the year.  We will be heading to see family for Christmas and Bill’s University Football team is headed for a bowl game.  We intend to be at that game, wherever it is.  We are currently talking about when and where we intend to for vacation the rest of this year and are debating about if we will go to Europe again in two years or three.  In the meantime, we hope to see you in Forks.  We promise to take good care of you at the Miller Tree Inn.