Thanks for Another Great Year

The end of 2016 is just around the corner and this means our 100 year anniversary is also drawing to a close. We have just drawn the last name for our quarterly drawing and informed the winner. 12 different local charitable organizations have benefited from our year long celebration and our guests have been incredibly supportive. Thank you to all who have participated! We also wish to thank all of the wonderful guests we have hosted this past year. You are what makes innkeeping so rewarding. Merry Christmas from all of us at the Miller Tree Inn. We hope your 2017 is your best year, yet.

Merry Christmas from the Miller Tree Inn

The stockings are hung, the Christmas tree is in place and the rooms are ready.  It must be time for a visit to Forks and a stay at the Miller Tree Inn.

Moira is waiting impatiently behind the tree, and pulling at the ornaments.  We need some guests to distract her and keep her from getting into trouble.

If you haven't been with us over the winter holidays before, please make some time to come on over.  It is quiet and stress free and the ocean waves at the beach and the moss laden trees at the rainforest await you.

All of us at the Miller Tree Inn wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2017.  If we don't see you in 2016, we hope to see you in 2017!

Thanksgiving is Just Around the Corner

The innkeepers are back from their travels.  Jill, Cheryl and Anastasia took wonderful care of our guests and the Miller Tree Inn while we were gone.  We are grateful for their continued loyal assistance to us and count them among our Thanksgiving blessings.

We also welcomed  Evan J. Marshall back to perform 2 mandolin house concerts at the Miller Tree Inn.  The concerts were well attended and the music was outstanding.  We will look forward to the next time Evan can come back to Forks.

The Miller Tree Inn is all ready for Thanksgiving and we have some room openings over the Thanksgiving weekend.  The Hoh road has re-opened and the surf was spectacular the other day when we were down at the beach, so come on over and rest and relax for all or part of your holiday weekend.

The first weekend of December is always a busy one in Forks.  The annual Cherish the Children dinner and auction will be held in LaPush again this year on Friday, December 2, 2016.  This is a fund raiser where the proceeds go to helping Christmas be a little merrier for the children of LaPush and Forks.  Cherish the Children is also our Charity of the month at the Miller Tree Inn.  We are collecting monetary donations for this event, which we will turn over along with a matching check from the inn for any money we collect up to $100.  We hope to be able to give well over $100 to this worthy cause.

On Saturday and Sunday, December 3 & 4 will be the annual Festival of Trees coordinated by our local Soroptimist organization.  This is their big fund raiser of the year and the Miller Tree Inn sponsors a tree each year and puts in our bid for one of the beautifully decorated trees during the  auction portion of the program.  This is a beautiful, worthwhile and fun event.

We have much to be thankful for this year, including getting to make friends with many new people from all over the world.  Happy Thanksgiving!

It is Fall at the Miller Tree Inn

It was a busy summer, but I can hardly believe it has been so long since we have written on our blog.

We had a great 4th of July celebration and the other surrounding communities had wonderful summer celebrations throughout July and August, including Lavender Festival and Quielute Days.  The Forever Twilight in Forks weekend was outstanding in September.  Always good to see so many old friends come back and join us in celebrating all things Twilight.  Last weekend Port Angeles Celebrated Crab Fest and Forks celebrated Heritage Days with their annual Fish and Brew, Art Show and a Dance at The Rainforest Arts Center.

We are all decked out for fall and looking forward to Halloween and Thanksgiving.  We are also excited to welcome back Evan Marshall on November 11 for a solo Mandolin Concert.  Evan always puts on a fabulous show and this year it will be a smaller house concert at the Miller Tree Inn.  We are excited to be hosting this very talented performer.

Fall can be a great time on the peninsula. Today is bright and sunny tomorrow could be a little stormy.  Both are beautiful celebrations of nature.  We would love to have you come over and join us.

Egg and Cheese Casserole

What do you feed 21 hungry guests for breakfast on a sunny Sunday?  At the Miller Tree Inn, we fed them Egg and Cheese Casserole, of course!

This is one of our favorite dishes for a busy morning.  We mix it up the night before and then pop it in the oven in the morning.  Today we served it with sides of cornbread and bacon and a garnish of avocado and tomato.  It looks beautiful and tastes great.

If you would like to try it out, you will need:

1 dozen eggs, 2 cups shredded jack cheese, 1 pint cottage cheese, a pinch of salt, 2 four ounce cans of mild diced green chilis, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 cup flour (we omit the flour if we have gluten free guests and it holds together just fine.)

Beat the eggs and mix all ingredients together.  Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 - 45 minutes until the eggs are set and the top is lightly browned.  Today we added a dollop of sour cream on top, a pinch of chili powder and some sliced green onions.  We put salsa on the side, for those that like to spice it up a bit.  Enjoy!

Friends of Forks Animals

Moira our cat says to help support our June charitable organization of the month, the Friends of Forks Animals. This group helps place homeless animals in good homes or no-kill shelters. They also help with spay and neuter programs. Moira was born in a shelter and has brought much joy to our life. If you wish to help with this months fund raiser, please write your checks out to: Friends of Forks Animals and send them to Miller Tree Inn, P. O. Box 1565, Forks, WA 98331. ...We will enter your name in our quarterly drawing that will next be held on July 1. The prize is a $100 gift certificate toward a stay at the Miller Tree Inn or breakfast for 4 at the Inn. Winners choice! At the end of June we will tally up the donations and match them up to $100 with a check of our own. Thanks in advance for supporting this cause. Moira says, "meow."

Memorial Day 2016

All of us at the Miller Tree Inn are ready for the Memorial Day Weekend. We have a house full of guests and some special treats in store, including Red, White, and Blueberry French Toast on Memorial Day Monday. There will be a Memorial Day program on Monday at 11AM next door to the Miller Tree Inn at Forks City Hall. This program will honor all those that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Please join us in paying tribute.

Armed Forces Day!

Yesterday was Armed Forces Day and we would like to take this opportunity to give a belated "Thank you!" to all retired and active duty military. We recognize that our lives are forever changed for the better by your service and sacrifice. Our red rhododendrons are blooming fantastically in the yard as a salute to you!

There is also still time to send donations for Sarge's Place our selected worthy cause of the month. Sarge's Place provides housing and other services for homeless veterans. Please make checks out to: Sarge's Place and send them to us at the Miller Tree Inn, P. O. Box 1565, Forks, WA 98331. We will then pass them on to Sarge's Place at the end of the month along with our matching donation check. We will enter your name in our quarterly drawing as a reward to you.

It is May!

Hope everyone enjoyed their May Day and Mother's Day celebrations.  We have had some beautiful days in May, so far and have really been enjoying the sunshine.

We don't know if this is good luck or not, but our shamrock plants are blooming. The shamrocks themselves are edible and make great plate garnish on our morning breakfast dishes. We think the leaves taste a bit like anise.

It could be good luck for you, if you send us a donation to Sarge's Place, which provides housing and other services for homeless vetereans. Every donation sent to use, made out to Sarge's place will earn you a ticket into our quarterly drawing for a $100 gift certificate toward a stay at the Miller Tree Inn OR breakfast for 4 at the Inn!

Spring Flowers

Now is the best time of year to see the spring flowers.  The bluebells are especially pretty along the fence line.  Lilies of the Valley are blooming in the front flower beds and the rhododendrons are starting to bloom.  It even smells like spring, outside!

We are still collecting for Habitat for Humanity until them end of April.  If you would like to donate to this worthy cause, please send your check made out to Clallam County Habitat for Humanity and mail it to us here at the Miller Tree Inn, P.O. Box 1565, Forks, WA 98331.  We will then mail your check along with our matching check of up to $100 to Habitat for Humanity and will enter your name in our next quarterly drawing for a $100 gift certificate towards a stay at the Miller Tree Inn or a gift certificate for a Breakfast for 4 at the Miller Tree Inn.  The next drawing will happen on July 1, 2016.

Thank you to all of you have donated so far.  We appreciate your support in making 2016 a very wonderful 100th anniversary for the Miller Tree Inn!

We will be announcing our May charitable organization on May 1.

Fishing in Forks

We had some guests from France that have been visiting us the last few years to go fly fishing in our area.  This year they put a video together of their experiences fishing in Oregon and Washington and shared it with us.  Hope you enjoy it, too.

https://youtu.be/FGBzV6r8ynA 

Hello April!

We had a beautiful week here in Forks. On Wednesday evening, we went down to LaPush and saw the whales spouting and playing around a crab boat coming in. We watched while they unloaded the crab pots and crab from the boat and bought a couple of fresh crab to take home for a feast..
Today we held our first quarterly drawing and we have notified the winner! Don't worry, we will have other drawings in July, October and January 1. So if your name is in our bucket, you might b...e a winner, too!

We will be sending over $150 to the Quillayute Valley Scholarship Auction to add to their $70,000+ that they made a couple of weekends ago. This is from kind donations from our friends, and guests that gave us money for our March charity.

We have chosen Habitat for Humanity as our April Charity of the month. Habitat is currently building a home for a family here in Forks. It will be house #3 in our community. If you would like to donate to our cause this month, please make your checks out to Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County and mail them to us at the Miller Tree Inn, P. O. Box 1565, Forks, WA 98331. We will in turn match any donations up to $100 and turn all monies over to Habitat for Humanity at the end of April AND enter your name in our quarterly drawing. The prize again this quarter is Breakfast for 4 at the Miller Tree Inn OR $100 gift certificate to be used toward a stay at the Miller Tree Inn. Or better yet, come stay with us and get your name entered in the drawing for staying with us!

Happy Easter 2016!

We have had a great and busy week at the Miller Tree Inn.  Lots of folks from around the world and the United States taking advantage of spring break travel.  It has been wonderful meeting so many friendly and happy travelers.

We are all set for Easter tomorrow.  The tables are decorated for Easter and spring and devilled Easter chicks will be the plate garnish for tomorrow's breakfast.

We are still collecting money this month for the Quillayute Valley Scholarship Auction.  Any donations can be sent to the Miller Tree Inn, P. O. Box 1565, Forks, WA 98331.  We would like to have those donations in by Thursday, March 31, so that we can make a deposit at the bank.  The Auction raised more than $70,000 for scholarships last weekend.  Anything else we can add to the total will make it that much better.  Please make checks out to:  Quillayute Valley Scholarship Auction.

On Friday, April 1, we will have our first quarterly drawing.  Can't wait to see who the lucky winner is!

2016 Quillayute Valley Scholarship Auction

It is Scholarship Auction weekend! Here at the Miller Tree Inn, we have been preparing Danish Puff Pastry and a gift certificate to take to the auction tomorrow. The auction starts at 9AM in the Forks High School Commons. The scholarship auction committee has given out more than 1 million dollars in scholarship money to gradutes of Forks High School since the committee was formed in the 1960s. Auction items will be accepted March 19 and 20 at Forks High School. Monetary donations made be made at any time. The Senior Parents will also be serving food throughout the auction. All proceeds from the sale of food will go toward the 2016 Senior Safe Night. Come on out and support Forks High School students!

March 2016

Though we have had lots of rain and wind since March began, the camellias don't seem to mind. We have a very healthy bush blooming off of our side porch giving us hope that spring might just be on its way! Speaking of hope, thanks to all who donated to our February charity of the month, the Forks Caring Place. Because of your kind donations, some of the people who walk through their doors will experience some love and hope. With our matching gift, we were able to send more than $100 to this worthy cause. Thank you!
 Don't forget the Quillayute Scholarship Auction coming up on March 19 and 20. They are our worthy cause for the month of March.  Donations of auction items may be sent our way, but we need them by March 18 to make sure your donation actually gets into the auction.  Monetary donations may come to use through the end of the month.  Checks should be made out to the Quillayute Valley Scholarship Auction.  We will pass them on to the auction committee AND make sure that your name is entered in our quarterly drawing.  Our first drawing will be held on April 1, 2016.  That is no April Fool's joke!

Happy March!

Happy March 1! It is stormy and blowing over here in Forks. We can truly say that March is coming in like a lion! We will have to wait and see about the lamb part.

With a new month comes a new charity in celebration of our house's 100th year. This month we are featuring the Quillayute Valley Scholarship Auction. For more than 50 years this annual auction has raised thousands of dollars in scholarship money to give to any Forks High School graduate who is going on to some... form of higher education. Each graduate can apply and receive this scholarship for two years. The money is raised during a live auction conducted over a Saturday and Sunday in March. This year the auction will be March 19 and 20.

How can our facebook friends participate? If you would like to make a monetary donation, you may mail us a check made out to the Quillayute Valley Scholarship Auction and send it to: Miller Tree Inn, P. O. Box 1565, Forks, WA 98331. We will enter your name in our quarterly drawing for your choice of a $100 gift certificate to go toward a night of lodging at the Miller Tree Inn OR breakfast for 4 at the Miller Tree Inn. We will collect cash and checks for this worthy cause the entire month of March and will pass on our collection at the end of the month. As with the other charities, the Miller Tree Inn will match monetary donations up to $100.

If you have an item or gift certificate that you would like to donate to the auction; you can mail or ship it to the Miller Tree Inn at the above address. Auction items MUST be received no later than March 18. If you donate an auction item, we will enter your name into the quarterly drawing and will deliver your donation to the the auction. Or better yet, come on over to Forks that weekend and attend the auction! We still have rooms available at the Miller Tree Inn.

Out with the Red and In with the Green!

We changed over from Valentine's Day to St. Patrick's Day this morning.  It took a couple of hours, but we are all set for the next holiday!

St. Patrick's Day is special around here since one of the innkeepers is of Irish decent.  We will have Celtic music on our CD player at breakfast time and of course, the tableware will have a decidedly green look.

Though we have changed over to St. Patrick's Day.  We are still collecting for the Caring Place, our charity of the month for the month of February.  We will be collecting for them until next Monday, February 29.  Please make your checks out to:  The Caring Place and mail them to the Miller Tree Inn, P. O. Box 1565, Forks, WA 98331.  We will tally the amount, forward the checks and match funds up to $100.  Anyone who donates to this worthy cause, through us, will have their name entered in our quarterly drawing.

Next month our charity will be the Quillayute Valley Scholarship Auction.  We will have more details on that next week.

It Feels Like Spring

We have been enjoying the spring like weather here the last couple of days.  It helps to make up for the rain coming down sideways last week!  We took advantage of the nice day and planted 24 colorful primroses around the house and happened to catch some snow drops and crocus in bloom also.  We hear that the rain is coming back the end of the week, but we don't mind.  We will be warm and cozy inside.

Don't forget to send the Miller Tree Inn a valentine and/or donation to the Caring Place so that you will be entered in our quarterly drawing.

February and Valentines

February marks our second month of celebrating our building's 100th birthday, here at the Miller Tree Inn.  Our featured "Charity of the Month" is the Caring Place.  The Caring Place is a faith based organization that provides, food, clothing, counseling, etc, to families.  Most of their clients are women and children.  They specifically try to help pregnant women in crisis due to finances, abuse or social and/emotional circumstances.  This month we are accepting donations from guests and friends for this very worthwhile cause.  As with last month, the Miller Tree Inn will match any donations received up to $100.  Last month we were able to give the Forks Food Bank more than $300 in donations!

If you would like to donate to this charity, please make your check out to the Caring Place and mail it to us at the Miller Tree Inn, P. O. Box 1565, Forks, WA 98331.  For every donation made, we will enter your name in our quarterly drawing.  The drawing will be held on April 1, 2016 and the prize is your choice of $100 gift certificate to the Miller Tree Inn or Breakfast for 4 at the Miller Tree Inn.

There are 2 other ways to get your name in this drawing during the month of February.

1.  Send the Miller Tree Inn a Valentine with your full name and either your email address or phone number (so we can let you know if you win.)  One Valentine per household, please.

2.  Stay with us a night in February and we will have you fill out a ticket for the drawing.

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and we still have rooms available for that weekend.  We would love to see you!

Red Velvet Pancakes

We made these for Forever Twilight in Forks weekend and also for Valentine's Day 2015, so we thought we had better get the recipe up for Valentine's Day 2016, so all can enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons red liquid food coloring

Soft together the first 6 ingredients into a large bowl.  Whisk together the buttermilk and next 3 ingredients in another bowl.  Gradually stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture, just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto a hot buttered griddle or large non-stick skillet.  Cook 3-4 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look dry and cooked.  Turn and cook 3-4 minutes or until done.  Place in a single layer on a baking sheet, and keep warm in a 200 degree oven up to 30 minutes.  Serve with Sweet Cream Cheese Butter.  No syrup necessary!  Though I do garnish with both white and dark chocolate syrup and powdered sugar.

Sweet Cream-Cheese Butter - mix the following ingredients together
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 cup softened butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To serve put one pancake on the plate and a generous dollop of the Sweet Cream Cheese Butter, then top with another pancake and garnish.  I use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut a heart in the top pancake, just for visual interest.

The 100th Birthday Party of the Miller Tree Inn

On Wednesday, January 13, we had an open house at the Miller Tree Inn to celebrate the building's 100th birthday.  Friends, neighbors and members of the Forks business community came to tour the house, socialize and have a variety of food.  It was a great night, and the rain even held off, so that people were not getting wet, coming and going from the Inn.

We had a drawing for prizes for those in attendance and we were honored by the presence of Oscar and Wilma Peterson.  Oscar is the grandson of the original homesteaders and builders of the house.  Oscar and Wilma are our wonderful neighbors and were able to share stories of the house and the family with our guests.

In addition to the food and fellowship, we were able to raise funds for our local Food Bank.  We know that the holidays can stress the resources of food banks, so we collected food and cash during our open house.  We are happy to say that a box of food and more than $200 was donated on Wednesday night.  We are always humbled by the generosity of our small community.  We will continue to collect cash/checks for the food bank until the end of the month.  Since we have decided to match the money raised up to $100, we will be able to give Forks Food Bank more than $300 at the end of January!  That should help fill up those shelves a little bit.

We plan on continuing the 100th celebration all the way through 2016.  Our charity for the month of February will be the Caring Place.  Stay tuned for what we have in mind for that!

Happy 2016!

2016 is going to be a special year at the Miller Tree Inn.  Our building is 100 years old this year and we are going to have a year long celebration.

The Miller Tree Inn started out as the Peterson family homestead.  It then became the home to first the Liebold family and then the Chamberlin family.  In 1984, Ted and Prue Miller purchased the home and turned it into the Miller Tree Inn Bed and Breakfast.  The current innkeepers, Bill and Susan Brager, purchased the inn in 1998.

We will kick off

 the 100th birthday celebration with a birthday Open House on January 13, 2016 from 5PM - 7PM.

We are also going to have quarterly drawings.  This quarter, the drawing will be for a $100 Miller Tree Inn gift certificate or Breakfast for 4 at the Inn.  You will receive a drawing ticket for each night that you stay at the Miller Tree Inn.  On April 1, 2016, we will draw the winning entry and award the prize.

We also have special mugs for our 2016 celebration.  Come on over and stay with us!