Mary planting dahlia's in the Great Room to start them for summer.

Mary planting dahlia's in the Great Room to start them for summer.

Our last inn guests for the 2017/2018 Birch Ridge Inn season checked out on Sunday morning. While there is plenty of snow on Killington for hardcore skiers and riders to enjoy, the casual snow sports enthusiast has packed their gear and started to change their outlook to summer activities. And so have we.

It takes a little bit of work to move the inn from a winter to a summer footing (and the converse is also true). When the restaurant went on hiatus 2 weeks ago, we tore apart the kitchen and did a very deep cleaning. With the last inn guests checking out, we have started to do the same with all of our guest rooms to ready them for summer visitors. Deep cleaning rooms is as it sounds. Mary and her housekeepers, with some heavy lifting on my part, move all of the furniture, remove the mattress and box spring, and clean every nook and cranny in the room.

As a change of pace, we also go outside of the inn and clean up the grounds from winter. Fall leaves still hide in various places. Tree branches from the numerous winter storms need to be collected for disposal. Gardens need to be prepped for flowers. Of course this all happens when the weather is a little more agreeable. This morning, for instance, we woke up to more than a coating of fresh snow on the ground.

While waiting for the weather to work outside this time of year, Mary takes over the Great Room and converts the front half of it into a green house. With some strategically placed plastic tarps, and numerous plastic boxes, Mary distributes about 200lbs (I know, I carried it in from the back of her car!) of planting soil to get her summer dahlia's "started". While it is way too cold outside right now to do this, the solar radiation coming into the Great Room from the front windows is just right. By the end of the month, most of the bulbs will have started to send off shoots and they will be ready to be moved to their proper summer garden spots.

All of the work is not done in the "physical" world. This week the web site for the inn was updated for the summer season. Gone are the pictures of snow covered mountains. In their place are green hillsides, golf courses, and flower gardens. Instead of ski packages we have golf packages. We also have programs for the Long Trail Century Ride, AJGA, and the Killington Wine festival loaded if your plans have you coming to Killington for any of these events.

Thank you to all of the guests who stayed with us at the inn this last season. We hope that you have enjoyed your stay with us and we look forward to seeing you again during the 2018/2019 season.

Wherever you may be, keep the ball in play.... Think Spring.... and don't forget your sunscreen.