This is one of the most beautiful videos I have ever seen done on Yosemite National Park. I love how they have everyone part of the video from the kitchen staff and waiters, to the tram driver, to the hard core hikers, artists and families. The father and son climbing duo even brought tears to my eyes near the end. Also the woman in the video had it spot on about the Redwood trees.
This is definitely on my list of places to go in the future.
Happy Halloween from Parks & Pancakes! Just in time for Halloween is a list of spooky B&Bs that would give you the creeps if you stayed there. I stayed at the Heceta Head Lighthouse B&B supposedly haunted by the ghost, Rue. And let me tell you, it was a little hard to fall asleep that night. (I didn’t know it was haunted until AFTER we made the reservations.)
Ghosts are fascinating, I just don’t know if I could really stay in a haunted bed and breakfast. It would just give me the creeps. I want to be able to relax at night, not be up thinking I hear and see things!
Huffington Post lists their haunted bed and breakfasts.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch lists their haunted picks.
Both news sources were pulling their haunted spots from B&B Finder’s list of haunted B&Bs.
More B&Bs from Huffington Post. I’m sorry, but if a ghost kept taking the blankets and sheets off of me in the middle of the night, I would probably lose my mind.
Are you looking to take a little adventure this fall and travel out East, or anywhere for that matter, to experience the colors? Don’t go without checking out the following 10 bed and breakfasts that the Huffington Post labeled as places to leaf peep from the porch.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bnbfindercom/taking-the-laidback-appro_b_1909706.html#slide=more252493
I wouldn’t mind kicking back at the Wildberry Lodge in North Carolina right about now or the ECCE Bed and Breakfast in New York. Both look gorgeous.
Located in Roseburg, Oregon, C.H. Bailey sits in the quaint countryside of the state. The area is known for its wineries, similar to Newberg in the Willamette Valley. It is serene and quiet and you could spend hours in the backyard lounging in the Adirondack chairs and gazing off into the distant hills and the old Christmas tree farm that the property sits on.
Relaxing in the peaceful surroundings.
When you arrive at C.H. Bailey, a greeting committee of two meets you in the gravel driveway. Guinness, a black lab, and Murphy, a shaggy-looking dog straight out of a Disney movie. The gardens are lovely and vibrant with color. There is even a hot tub on the back deck.
The beautiful gardens
Sherry, the owner, greeted us at the front door with a smile and asked us to leave our shoes by the door. Growing up having to always take my shoes off at the door, I felt right at home. She gave us a tour of the sitting room and dining room where tea and coffee are always available because of the Keurig machine.
The stairs leading upstairs split off at one point to lead to Sherry and her family’s personal home. The other way leads to the guest quarters. In the hallway is a refrigerator available to guests, which includes wine and pop and there are baked treats on top in the afternoon.
Sherry gave us the choice of three rooms since only us and one other couple were staying there. While the other two rooms were gorgeous, we stayed in the room we had originally chosen – The Umpqua Room.
The Umpqua Room
The Umpqua Room consisted of a queen bed and a little work desk with local guides to the area. We also had a little sitting room that looked out over the front of the house. The bathroom was bright and clean and had a stand-up shower.
We spent a few hours on the front porch our first day talking with the two other guests and comparing travel stories before Blake and I ordered a pizza from Abby’s. Even the delivery guy was friendly and interested in our trip! We sat on the back deck eating our dinner with Guinness at our feet. To our surprise, Sherry came out with fresh baked brownies for us for dessert. It was such a sweet gesture!
After we finished our pizza, we were in for another special treat. Jay, Sherry’s husband, arrived home from work with a tray of chocolate covered strawberries. He popped open a bottle of red wine and we all sat out on the porch indulging in the wine and strawberries. Never have we had an experience at a B&B where we were able to get to know the other guests so well and the hosts. Sherry and Jay claimed this wasn’t technically the norm for them, but we thoroughly enjoyed the special treatment. Later in the night, Jay took us over to their barn to show us where they keep their pool table, foosball table, and a keg in the fridge with a built-in tap in the door.
The front porch
In the morning, Blake and I experienced our first breakfast at C.H. Bailey. We started with small bowls of organic strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries with a dollop of yogurt on top. This was followed by a course of poached eggs with our yolks cooked laid over polenta, spinach and a corn salsa. To finish with something sweet we had banana bran muffins.
Our first breakfast of poached eggs and corn salsa
The following morning breakfast consisted of a fruit medley with a little but of mint and then a Belgian waffle with peaches, strawberries and yogurt on top and a side of California bacon.
Our second breakfast of Belgian waffles
Our fun at C.H. Bailey was cut short by an unfortunate run-in with a skunk the night before we left. Our day at Crater Lake was a bummer as it was fogged over, and then we had a run-in with a skunk on the road, leaving our rental car a stinky mess for days and ruining Sherry and Jay’s dinner party in the barn when we arrived back from dinner in town with a God-awful smelling car. (We are still really sorry about that!)
I hope this never happens to you
However, if you’re looking for a nice Italian dinner in Old Town Roseburg, I would suggest going to Dino’s Ristorante. They wanted nothing but to please their guests while we were there. Because we were waiting for our food, Dino brought out his wife’s specialty of garlic soup for us to try. They also brought us an extra glass of pinot grigio to try and at the end of the meal, a sipping port that neither of us tried. By the end of the meal, we were stuffed and I think feeling the altitude a little bit. Blake tried the gnocchi with spicy sausage and I had the spaghetti Bolognese.
Blake and I will definitely be back here in the future. We have unfinished business with Crater Lake and must go back when we can actually see it. Plus, we’d love to see the waterfalls on the scenic byway that we missed. We look forward to seeing Sherry and Jay on our next trip.
Blake saying goodbye to the awesome view
It took 19 days and two photographers to capture this very stunning time lapse video of Yosemite. They captured all angles of the park including waterfalls (I really love the last scene of watching the fall move back and forth in the distance) and the people hiking up the side of the mountain with those rope trails (where is that?). The footage of the night sky and the shooting stars is just beautiful.
This is such an awesome picture! The Sierra Club designed this subway-style map for the national park system. Now only if there was an actual train system that could take you to all of them!
Men sometimes seem so down on B&Bs. “They’re so flowery.” “So girly girl.”And can you imagine two male friends staying together in a B&B? Forget it. They’d rather stay at the Motel 8 down the street then get caught staying together in one. But, if you ask me they’re missing out big time.
And at the Farmers Guest House in Galena, IL (my home state!) they cater to the man. Your man can even stay in the man cave , their comfortable living room, watch the big screen TV, crack open a cold one and enjoy sports while his lady is shopping away on Main St. If he rather not sit in front of a TV, he can choose from 12 different championship golf courses. And forget the fou fou packed lunch, the Farmers Guest House will pack him a manly lunch to go, complete with a double-stacked all meat sandwich, pickles, chips and beer. Better yet, they can be discreet on the bill so the lady will never know.
http://galenabedandbreakfast.com/2012/07/real-men-stay-at-bed-breakfasts/
For those of you who have kids, you can all breathe a sigh of relief because there really are bed and breakfasts out there that cater to the little ones. From scavenger hunts in the garden to free cooking classes in the kitchen. Does life get any better?
Check out this list that TODAY Travel put together.
And for those of you who stay at bed and breakfasts to get away from the kids, use this list as four places to avoid. I much prefer to stay in peace and quiet, although this is a list to keep in mind for the future when maybe I might have a few rugrats of my own.
USA Today had a really nice article by Ken Burns on his experience showing President Obama parts of his 2009 documentary on National Parks. He then talks about why National Parks are so uniquely American and such a treasure to have.
I may be jumping the gun a little bit, but I’d really like to see Utah’s national parks. This summer I’ll be going to Seattle and then out to Olympic National Park and I’m quite excited to see that.
But researching Utah today I found this from USA Today Travel. It lists the five national parks in Utah and the unique features of each. It also discusses traveling to that area of the state and how to get there.
It would be nice to knock off 5 national parks in one vacation. Anyone know the best time of year to go there?
