Sherry hard at work

This is a picture of Sherry, the Assistant Innkeeper, who doubles as primary Innkeeper when Art is in California or just out and about. Notice her hard at work...or something. Sherry has been with the inn for about 6 years now is the most loyal employee. She treats the Inn like it was hers (except she does not make the Mortgage payment). Sherry trains all our housekeeping staff, she trains the Innkeeper and does not let me cheap out when I want to cut corners. About all Sherry Cuts are fresh flowers from our Garden or from the abandoned property next to us.

I could not run the inn without her !

4th of July at the Eastman Inn

4th of July is just around the corner and the Eastman Inn is getting ready in a big way ! Our many return guest will be arriving on Thursday and Friday night to celebrate our Nations Birthday at the Eastman Inn. North Conway puts on a traditional small town parade, a carnival down at Schouler Park (6 blocks from the Inn), Food and a great Arts and Craft Show for the 3 day weekend. Some of the Crafters stay at the Eastman Inn. On Saturday night we will move all the rockers and other chairs, some warm quilts and perhaps some snacks to the North side of the Porch. From there you get a pretty clear view of the Fireworks. You don't have to fight for a parking space in Town and when it's over, there are no crowded streets to manuever through. Last year we had great little time, when it got a bit cooler the quilts came in handy. We hope to see you all here this weekend, I still have several rooms available, but we should fill up by Thursday. The rains are tapering off now so we are hoping the weather will not be a problem. See you on the 4th !

Summer Touch ups and Moose

New Hampshire is being over run by moose. The local newspaper did an article this week on perhaps lowering the speed limit on the Kanc. Scenic byway because of the number of moose on the roads. Several of our guests are seeing more and more moose this week in broad daylight. Marta and I saw a moose just past the Mt. Washington Hotel 2 weeks ago at 11 am, this is his picture. Great for tourism, these big old beasts of the forest.

The guest list is starting to grow and many guests are taking advantane of some of our specials. The most popular so far is "Stay 2 nights Mid week and receive a FREE rental of a double Kayak" at Northern Extremes Kanoe and Cayak". The Saco river is just across the road a bit so we are at a great location. Go to our http://eastmaninn.com/lodgingpackages.html link to see all the specials we are running this summer. Drawing for free nights, Cookie Tour tickets, discounted Dinners...

Forecast Rain - Acutally Dry

The weatherman has struck out again. Rain was predicted all week, however, except for a few light showers, it has been relatively dry.

The sky is a bit overcast, but this picture taken from the Parlor towards the street shows some sunlight outside. We have been porch sitting and enjoying the relative quiet after Motorcycle week has concluded !









A lot of people ask about the 2 Head
Stone Rubbings up on the 2nd floor.
These are from the Year 1821 and 1823 and are of the original settlers Noah and Hannah Eastman for which the Eastman Inn is named. They lived in the house accross the parking lot. One of my guests did these rubbings last fall as a gift and we love them. Many guests comment on them and their orgins. We have a book on the History of North Conway and the Eastmans are mentioned quite often during the early years of the settlement. If you look closely, the reflection in the mirror is actually of the headstone on the bling wall that you can't see in the picture. It kinda looks like the picture is a reflection of the one on the right, but they are slightly different. Click on the picture above to see the detail !

Quiet has Returned to the Valley

The Motorcycle crowd has departed the Valley !!! We at the Eastman Inn are particularly grateful as quiet returns and we can sit on the porch and enjoy our evening wine or cocktails. We had a good weekend, ending today. Happy Fathers Day to all those fathers out there.

Motorcycle Week

We are back from Canada, Marta and I had a wonderful 8 day vacation to Canada. We toured Montreal, Quebec City and St Andrews on the New Brunswick Coast. We stayed at 3 B and B's and one Comfort Inn. All in all it was a good trip. We put on an astonishing 1345 miles on the car although it did not seem like we drove that much until we crossed New Brunswick...Except for all the green, it reminded me of driving through Texas.

This is the beginning of Motorcycle Week in New Hampshire and the roar of the engines can be heard throughout the valley. Marta is leaving back to California on Friday morning (boo hoo). Business is starting to pick up and the phones are ringing again.

Here are a few pictures of our trip to Canada

To Canada

We started our trip yesterday and headed north to Canada. Less then 30 minutes out of town we saw a crowd on the side of the road (moose I thought). Yup, just off the road was one of the largest Moose I have seen since I arrived in New Hampshire. No antlers, but nonetheless it was huge. Every time Marta is in town, I see a moose, pretty weird eh? My camera is bonkers, I tried to get a good picture, but the the telephoto part is NOT working...I may need to buy a camera up here in Canada. We are in Montreal today, arrived last evening to a lovely bed and breakfast in the Latin quarter. The Inn has a secret passage to the dining area...pretty cool, one has to place hand in a certain spot on the fireplace and a door swings open revealing an entrance to the other side of the inn and the dining room. On the opposite side you must do the same.

Off to Explore Montreal today. Cheers

Quilts and Marta

2 Things, first Marta (my wife) is here in town for 2 weeks Yea !

2nd I bought a half dozen quilt runners for the Inn. They are beautiful handmade runners of different sizes and colors I purchased from our guests John and Jane of Quilts by Jane.....We had a private showing here at the inn and left out about 50 quilts overnight to 'settle' in and to let the ghosts have a say so. In the end we chose 6, quilts, including a very large beautiful Flag. I will post pics of them all soon, but hey my wife is here and I have not seen her for 2 months, so we have more important things to attend to right now ! Tomorrow we are off to Quebec, Montreal, and Nova Scotia on our own vacation ! Enjoy a few pics of the quilts

Cathedral Ledge

People often ask, what is there to do around here if you only have 1 day to explore? Another issue are persons with disabilities who want to experience the outdoors, but have trouble with hiking in the forest. The answer is twofold - Cathedral Ledge and Rocky Gorge

Today I will discuss Cathedral Ledge. Cathedral Ledge sits on the west side of the Valley. You can drive there in less then 15 minutes and from the summit you can see the entire valley. I was able to spot my New Red Roof recently, although now that the trees are greening up, that might not be possible. I have been up on the ledge for Sunrise's and I was blessed with a fantastic sunrise one Spring morning last year. When you drive up there, you park at the end of the road and walk less then 100 yards to the fenced off ledge. You are right at the precipice so be careful. The fence will protect you, but I have seen children climb over the fence...it is a 400 foot drop straight down.

You may be lucky enough to see mountain climbers who are on the mountain every weekend during the summer. Don't throw any rocks as the sign indicates as you may hit someone.

I suggest sitting quietly and enjoy the great view. It is awesome to say the least. Don't forget to bring your camera.

The Day After

Yesterday evening was a 'weather adventure' to say the least. Around 6 pm the winds picked up with gusts up to 40MPH at times for about 1 hour. Our guests up in room 11 were out on their private deck and they said the wind blew and bent the tall pine trees near their window dangerously close to the Inn. But those trees have survived worse storms and are still strong and standing Tall. All the Quilts did blow off the deck and some rocking chairs rolled over. I just buttoned up the storm windows and went back to my book til it was over.

Well, I did some marketing research yesterday, specificall about Google Marketing. A professional wrote about how he experimented with Pay for Click markteing. For 1 item he created over 100 different PCP ads for the same item (a Vespa Scooter sales firm). Then he used Google Analytics and other analysis to see which ads produced the most Clicks and most sales. To make a long story short, I took my 1 Google Ad and made 5 variations and posted them. Then I put $$ into that specific account and I will watch it for 1 week and do the same type of statistical analysis. (Hey, what if that writer was a Google Hack just trying to get people like me to spend more money on PCP ?). Well anyway I can take that chance. It is fun to review my Google Analytics and see where all my traffic comes from, how they got to me, how long they stayed, which pages they looked at and and whether they just bounced away after a quick glance.

The Phone has started to ring....4 reservations in 24 hours...a record for a late spring day! See them all standing at attention ! Are they smiling ? A couple from Germany reserved for the 4th of July party I am having and 2 random 1 nighters, and another couple of girls coming to shop in Tax Free New Hampshire Outlets this weekend. I am getting happier now...I can cut back on the Valium (just kidding).

In between the phone I have tackled pruning the large mother of all gnarly evergreens out front. I whacked at it for 2 hours this morning and cropped it back to 1/2 of it's original size... I need to think about whether to take it all out or just leave it like it is. I can't wait until all my plantings start growing and blooming ! Enjoy the latest pictues. Art