B&B > Hotel

Andy & I decided to take a leap of faith and test the waters of the Bed & Breakfast world.  It paid off. We had been meaning to get away for the better part of a year, so when I had finally found myself with a bit of money, I didn't hesitate and booked a two night stay at the Frog & Hollow.  The small B&B was quaint and remote by North Eastern standards.  The hour and a half drive to it sweeps through Pennsylvania's rolling hills. The unmistakable deep red of country barns litter the landscape.
On our journey we buzzed passed squat hedge rows and clustered gray woods blazing through what felt like the setting of a Natalie Babbitt novel.

I felt oddly nervous as the the minutes spun away.  Making the last turn onto Frog Hollow Drive, I envisioned us cramped into an upper bedroom, furniture piled against the door, "Red Rum" splashed across the wall, waiting for our axe murderer of a host to commit the inevitable.

But I was wrong.  Thank God.  Upon arriving, we were genially welcomed by an older, kindhearted couple and given a tour of the house.  The building was old and as I ducked under the doorways and skirted up staircases I could tell it had been built in a different era.  Our room was simple but perfect in its own way.  We were comfortable and warm and happy to be away.

In the morning we met the other guests, and were quite presently surprised to find both other couples to be in their 20s.  We had been expecting, for some reason or another, to be greeted by an elderly couple! or at least I had...  As the latter half of our bed and breakfast experience was cooking, we all shared good, strong coffee around the fire and told some stories and our thoughts on bed and breakfasts.

It was then (perhaps an effect of the caffeinated ecstasy coursing through my veins) that I was sold on them (B&Bs).  There is something ancient to a bed and breakfast and although you do pay for the experience, while you are there you feel to embody the word guest more fully, more meaningfully.  Staying at a bed and breakfast is more akin to xenia then to the comfortable clientele vibe of a hotel.  And for that reason I plan to weather many more nights in bed and breakfasts.  Hopefully spending the evenings sharing stories with a bunch of equally odd strangers and the mornings drinking great coffee.  Even if that means I must occasionally be burdened with the thoughts of the Zodiac hammering at my door.