Here are my friends Harry and Chatman discussing their bed and breakfast, which I think is the best place on earth.
It’s kind of funny because Harry comes across like he is (he’s the best vet in the world, btw), but Chatman looks like he has been sedated- he’s normally much more animated and louder. Guess the camera makes people calm down.
If you are every traveling cross country by car or just in the area, you should stay a night! It’s only about five miles from where I live.
Nicole
Is that a polite way of telling us we can’t stay with you?
A Ghost to Most
Would you put in a guest appearance?
TenguPhule
So look for the signs saying beware of mustard and guys stuck on rooftops?
satby
Looked at their website and it looks lovely. Plus great looking food! It’s on the list if I ever head east.
Mnemosyne
@Nicole:
Well, there are hotel families and house families. We’ve always been a hotel family — we don’t stay in people’s houses unless there’s a good reason or there’s only one of us.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
Wanting to sleep on a bed that gods only knows how many others have done unspeakable things on isn’t a good enough reason?
satby
@Mnemosyne: bed and breakfast are small boutique hotels. I stayed in them occasionally when I was a road warrior and they never felt much like someone’s home, though you knew the owners were there on the premises.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
When you stay with family, you know (or at least think you know) who has been doing unspeakable things on the bed. Is that really so much better?
Mnemosyne
@satby:
Oh, I’m fine with B&Bs and small inns. It’s the homes of friends and family I don’t want to stay in. For these purposes, Barn with Inn is a hotel.
@TenguPhule:
I’m fine sleeping on a bed that total strangers may have done unspeakable things on. I don’t want to sleep on a bed that my parents or other close relatives may have done unspeakable things on.
YMMV.
JPL
@TenguPhule: Bring a sleeping bag, and I’m sure that they will let you commune with nature.
SiubhanDuinne
In point of fact, there is a better than 50% chance I will be close enough in late September to spend a night there. It’s been on a wish list (I detest the term “bucket list” and will not use it, TYVM) since you first told us about the place.
Ohio Mom
@Mnemosyne: I think the good reason in this case is that there probably aren’t any hotels anywhere near Bethany or Wellsburg.
Yarrow
That looks heavenly.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: when did Cole get stuck on the roof?
JPL
The news story was lovely, and it’s tempting to load up the car and head to WV.
Mnemosyne
@Ohio Mom:
See above. Harry and Chatman are not my friends or relatives and they run a business, so I would have no trouble staying there. I would have trouble staying at Cole’s house.
Though, now that I think about it, I did once have a long and elaborate dream that we all had a long house party at Cole’s house. It was, like, a dozen of us commenters all staying over for about a week. That was a weird dream.
Ohio Mom
@Major Major Major Major: I don’t remember when but it was at the rental house. Didn’t Dad walk by at just the right time?
ETA: Seven years ago last April, and it was Mrs. Mitchell who walked by.
LAO
I feel like John’s inviting all of us to come visit him. That can’t be right, right?
schrodingers_cat
@LAO: We should all go. I have never been WV.
Mnemosyne
@LAO:
I think he’s inviting us to visit his hometown and patronize the businesses owned by his friends.
I’m pretty sure he would hide out and pretend not to be home if we knocked on his door.
Central Planning
“Honey, I’m going to WV to spend a few days with a guy I’ve never met.”
I’m sure that would go over real well :)
Yarrow
@Central Planning: “And I’m not staying with him. I’m staying five miles down the road in a barn.”
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
2010. I remember he had a hilarious accident right before the election.
Major Major Major Major
@Central Planning: ok, raise your hand if that made you think of the song from Deliverance. ✋?
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Well, it is about time for my wife and me to take our summer weekend trip…
MoxieM
That looks like heaven. All those critters? so great.
LAO
@schrodingers_cat: It’s gorgeous. I went to a wedding in Morgantown a few years ago, it was very “jesusy” which was uncomfortable but the scenery was beautiful.
@Mnemosyne: of course he would hide, or sic Steve on us. ?
Central Planning
@Major Major Major Major: I was thinking of Invisible Boy’s line from Mystery Men: “Hey, Dad — I’m going to my room with three strange men.”
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: It was this one: https://balloon-juice.com/2010/04/29/well-i-wont-be-doing-that-again/
ETA: @schrodingers_cat: Refer to here
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule: Give us the whole story.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
yeah, but I think I see an implied invitation for meals in there, too.
Mnemosyne
@MoxieM:
The place we stay at in Santa Barbara is called the Cheshire Cat Inn, and my one sadness about it is that there are no cats. ?
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat: I am aware of many BJ traditions.
Barbara
It looks really nice. My son would really like the animals, but I am not sure when we would be going in that direction.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
I hope the proprietors grin at you a lot to make up for the dearth of cats.
Mnemosyne
Is Alain tinkering under the hood? I just had a comment get eaten for no apparent reason.
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’s themed to Alice in Wonderland, so all of the rooms have names that reference that. We’ve stayed there enough times that we sometimes get a surprise upgrade at no extra cost, which is always nice.
TenguPhule
@Yarrow:
“With the sheep.”
Mnemosyne
Trying again:
Just putting it out to the universe: I hope there’s a writers’ open thread this weekend. I’m getting myself all wound up about a writing process issue, but I suspect I’m being silly and need a reality check.
Mnemosyne
Hm. Same attempted comment got eaten a second time. No moderation, just vanished into the ether.
Weird.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Not sure if I ever mentioned, but decades ago my sister had a female cat who looked exactly like Alice’s cat Dinah, so we named her Dinah.
Dinah’s first litter was just two kittens, named Jabberwocky and Jub-jub.
Dinah’s second litter was three kittens, named Mimsey, Momerath, and Bandersnatch.
Dinah’s third litter was four kittens: Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.
It was about then that I moved from Chicago to Atlanta.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SiubhanDuinne: You betcha, they grin cause they ATE THE CATS!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Sounds like standard FYWP behavior to me.
rikyrah
Thanks for the link Cole.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
Sent an email. Ship news.
SiubhanDuinne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Obligatory.
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule: Indeed, thanks for the story.
CaseyL
I really like the idea of all of us piling into vehicles and road tripping to Bethany/Wellsburg for a rendezvous. The Ultimate BJ Meetup!
Can’t imagine when I’d be able to do it, though.
Maybe next Spring?
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
Got your email and replied. I bet that was the unknown number I sent to my voicemail.
dmsilev
Been one of those days…
Walked into the lab this morning and found a grad student basically curled up in a fetal position because something happened during his last data run and the rather expensive crystal he was measuring was now roughly 1/3 its original size plus a bunch of powder and shards. Spent the next hour or so talking him down; we think we know what went wrong and it wasn’t his fault for not predicting it, but he was pretty scared about being blamed for it.
SectionH
Sigh. We used to drive from Lex to Baltimore-Wash several times a year. I So wish there’d been a place like B&I then. Admittedly, the normal route took us nowhere near the northern panhandle, but we used to take some pretty out of the way back roads because we were so sick of the usual drive.
A fall visit to WV when the leaf colors are at their peak – that’s an idea.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: I’ve driven through it a few times to get from Ohio into PA and points east. I also skied Showshoe once. It’s scenic.
SiubhanDuinne
@CaseyL:
I’m there.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: I have been to Philly a few times but never to Ohio or WV.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
open thread… ? The Mooch (remember him from three years ago or so, last week?) is preparing to appear on Colbert next Monday by not doing or saying anything stupid in public. Oh, wait…
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
It’s really a shame West by God you’d better smile when you say Virginia has become almost shorthand for the generic impoverished, hick, backwards, uneducated, toothless state … we all know from friends such as John G. Cole and JR in WV (other Juicers, too, I’m sure, and in my case, several personal friends) that there are some really great people from there. And it is one of the most gorgeous states I can think of. I always love driving through WV, which I have done in spring, summer, and autumn. The scenery is breathtaking.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh my.
//Takei
hovercraft
@TenguPhule:
Thanks for the link, I missed that one.
JC really is precious.
Mnemosyne
I hope there’s an open thread for writers this weekend. I’m making myself anxious about a process thing I probably shouldn’t.
/ strong hint
Gravenstone
@dmsilev: Not quite as egregious, but I spent all night working up a reaction that was near the end of a multistep sequence. Put my separatory funnel in the iron ring to let the layers resolve. Turned away briefly only to hear the support ring shifting in its clamp – dumping my efforts onto the benchtop. Never said a word to my lab partner other than acknowledging that I was uninjured by the broken glass. Cleaned up my mess then just changed out of my uniform and went home. Weeks of work, thwarted by gravity.
hovercraft
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
We were all treated to him blowing Twitler from the White House podium. So if the dress fits….
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: Could Alain automate it, like the morning travel thread, I wonder?
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
TaMara likes to be available to monitor it, which makes me think that it attracts ‘bots and trolls that we remain blessedly unaware of thanks to her moderating the thread.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: There’s a rose at the Huntington called “Oh My”.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Golly.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s a red rose.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think we now know who taught Trump about being delusional.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Lancastrian!
MomSense
Looks like an idyllic place. Oh and that’s some pig!
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
I just sent my draft out to my kids to read. Why the hell does this make me so anxious?
dmsilev
@Gravenstone: One of my lab notebooks from grad school had the following entries:
“Wired up sample 1: Sample broke
Wired up sample 2: Sample broke
(…)
Wired up sample n (8, I think): Sample broke fuck this I’m going home”
Matt Smith
I looked at the photos… just beautiful. But wait, two men with impeccable taste running an inn together? Scandalous!
Putting it on my bucket list.
Frank McCormick
Makes me wish that West Virginia was someplace I could just pass through from Texas
Omnes Omnibus
@Frank McCormick: You just need to pick the right destination.
jl
Wow! The barn has rooms? I thought you just went to barn and found a bunk and clambered in.
Rooms!? And floors, and electric lights. Pretty fancy for W By God VA.
Thanks, I’m impressed.
If I come through to visit my kin about 100 miles due east of there, I’ll check it out.
So close to Cole, do we have to give him warning so he can take measures not to come near us accidentally while we’re there? Let me know.
J.
That video made my morning. Thanks for sharing.
Shell
Especially liked the pig as the inn’s official greeter.