Raising a glass of Guinness in Dublin, Ireland, at the Guinness Storehouse 

Note from Bill: Mary and I were fortunate to be able to visit Ireland on vacation earlier in the month of May. This posting will be the first of a 4 part series on our adventure.

In early April, as the ski season was winding down, Mary and I decided that for our May vacation that we would visit Ireland. We planned our Ireland trip totally on the internet, taking advantage of the many web sites that exist on the subject. We relied heavily on Tripadvisor.com to provide recommendations for lodging, and we were not dissapointed.

Our trip started in Dublin after an overnight flight from Boston on AerLingus. Comically, the plane arrived in Dublin at 5:30 AM. If you do the math, you will realize that this equates to 12:30 AM in Killington. Still about 2 hours before my normal time to go to bed at night in the winter.

O'Connell Monument Click to enlarge

We picked up a Hertz rental car at the Dublin airport. We declined the additional insurance, which would cost us later, as we thought that we had coverage through other means. By around 6:30 AM, we were clear of the Dublin airport taking in our first adventure down the Irish roads leading into the city.

Dublin is a very old city with low buildings and narrow, twisting streets. Based upon previous experiences staying in other cities, we selected an inn that was made from a converted brownstone, the Waterloo House, in a tony part of the city about a 5 minute walk from St Stephens Green. St Stephens Green is the Dublin equivalent of Central Park or the Boston Commons, although it is much smaller in size.

Half Penny Bridge Click to enlarge

We arrived at the inn at around 7:15 AM, knowing full well that a room would not be available due to the early hour. Never matter, we parked the rental car, a Toyota Yaris, in the parking lot of the Waterloo House and headed out for a walk about Dublin.

We started our walk at St. Stephen's Green. From there, we headed down towards the River Liffey and O'Connell Street past the monument of irish patriot Daniel O'Connell. This section of town was quite busy with a combination of commercial activity and students heading towards class at Trinity College.

We walked about a quarter of a mile up river from O'Connell Street to the Half Penny bridge. (Pedestrians used to be charged a half penny toll to use the bridge to cross the Liffey.) The bridge connects the city, linking to the Temple Bar area, know for it's restaurants and various pubs. We continued to wander around the city for a few more hours, before heading back towards a pub just up the street from the Waterloo House. That evening, we had dinner at a nice restaurant/wine bar beside St Stephen's Green named Peploe's.

Dublin Castle Click to enlarge

After starting with a nice breakfast at the inn on the second day, we resumed our walk around Dublin, this time with a purpose. Our first stop was the Dublin Castle, which for seven centuries was the seat of British rule in Ireland. The castle has mostly historic significance at this point, although many government offices are located nearby.

After leaving the castle, our next stop was Saint Patrick's Cathedral. We paid our 5 Euro's each to tour the cathedral, gift shop at the back of the church included. (Didn't Jesus drive the merchants out of the temple... it was a little wierd.) Saint Patrick's is steeped in tradition, said to have been founded near the site where Saint Patrick baptized converts to Christianity in the 5th century AD. The interior of Saint Patrick's also contains a memorial to Jonathan Swift, of Gulliver's Travels fame, who was one of the many deans at Saint Patrick's.

Saint Patrick's Cathedral Click to enlarge

Finally, no visit to Dublin would be complete with out a trip to the Guinness Factory at St James Gate and the Guinness Storehouse. The tour of the Guinness Storehouse cost 14 euro's, but for beer lovers it is the "E ticket" (to date myself) of Dublin. Without a question, the Guinness people take the story of their beloved beer very seriously. In addition to hearing about the history and process of making Guinness, the tour also includes a sampling room, plus a trip to Guinness's "Gravity Bar" 7 stories over Dublin for a full pint to end the tour. Mary and I laughed initially at the "7 Story" tag line, but in Dublin being up 7 floors is the equivalent of being on the top of a skyscraper.

Guinness Storehouse Click to enlarge

We ended our second, and last, day in Dublin in a cheeky little bistro in the embassy section called Roly's with a nice evening meal and a bottle of wine to balance the Guinness consumed during our day's walk about. By the time we returned to the inn, jet lag was rearing up, along with the realization the tomorrow would see the first real test of the tiny rental car on the little roads of the Irish countryside.

Approach to the 9th Green on Green Mountain National Golf Course 

Yesterday afternoon, Mary and I took our first swings of the nascent 2007 summer golf season at Green Mountain National Golf Course.

We casually walked the front nine late in the afternoon. The course is in beautiful shape this early in the season. As the weather in the Killington area has been relatively dry thus far this spring, the course has started the season in great shape with little evidence of winter damage, or damage from the spring thaw.

This was the first round for a new driver I had purchased on Sunday afternoon from the Golf and Ski Warehouse in Lebanon New Hampshire. (I got a great deal on one of last years Callaway Fusion FT-3 series drivers.) I can happily report that the new club performed well, helping me card my first birdie and several pars of the year along the way.

In news from around town, there has been no additional information made public concerning the sale of the Killington Resort by ASC last week, other than what had been previously published. Word is circulating about a letter sent by Allen Wilson to owners of lifetime passes at Killington which seems to be stirring some controversy. Other than that, no other news seems to be floating around town concerning the transition away from ASC.

Many town residents, especially those with out school age children, are starting to return from their early summer vacations. Golf course activity will be picking up sharply as we enter the spring tournament season. The first charity tournament to support ALS research in honor of former Green Mountain National Head Professional Jeff Hadley, will be played on Wednesday May 30th at both the Green Mountain National and Killington Resort courses.

Bill and Mary hoisting a glass
at the Jameson Irish Whiskey Factory
in Midleton Ireland. 

Updated at 4:00 PM EDT-----American Ski Company has announced that the sale of the Killington/Pico Ski Resorts to SP Land LLC has completed. Total price for the resort quoted on ASC's posting with the Securities and Exchange Commission was $85.2M with $3M being held in indemnity escrow until June 30, 2008. Complete details of the sale are listed on the Security and Exchange Commissions Edgar website.

In related news, Powdr Corp and SP Land have entered into an agreement to have Powdr Corp manage mountain operations. According to the Rutland Herald, Powdr Corp has named Chris Nyberg as the president of the Killington and Pico Resort, replacing Allen Wilson. Nyberg formerly was a VP at Prinoth, a company that manufactures Snow Groomers. More developments and commentary to follow in the coming days ------end of 4:00 PM Update

Back to work... so it goes!

First, I would like to thank the dozens of people who have sent us email over the last 2 weeks. As some of you know by now, Mary and I went on holiday to Ireland this year. We did not bring a lap top with us, and had limited access to the internet during our visit, so I did not make any postings while we were gone. Personally, I was surprised at how many people noticed we were gone. Thank you for keeping in touch in our absence.

On our trip to Ireland, as many who have been to the inn over the last several months are aware, we called our trip this year the "Irish Whiskey Tour". It turns out Mary is allergic to hops, so she could not partake of the fine selection of Irish Beers available in all the pubs. So she had to settle for sampling the various other brown nectars available in the Emerald Isle. We are busy getting the inn ready for a group celebrating the graduation of a student from Green Mountain College this weekend, so I can't give you all of the details of our trip. Next week, I will spend a few days writing about our trip, and I will go through the hundreds of photos we took to create a photo gallery. The long and short of it is...we had a great time, Guinness is good, Jameson is good, Irish roads are interesting at best..scary at worst, and I am already missing our nights spent in the lovely Irish pubs we visited each evening.

At Killington on our return, little has changed. Most of the ski related businesses have closed their doors for the season. The ski season ended at Killington as planned. Snow is still present on Superstar. Some people are still "earning their turns" by hiking up. The sale of Killington by ASC to SP Land has not yet closed. It appears that the State of Vermont has approved the transfers of all of the leases from Killington LTD to SP Land. It also is rumored that the closing process began yesterday in some law offices in Boston. However, there is no official word yet on the completion of the sale.

In other news at Killington, both the Killington Resort and Green Mountain National golf courses are open. I am sure that we will get the clubs out next week after we catch up on things at the inn...Think Spring!

Birch Ridge Inn Summer Web Site 

While we have seen the last run of skiing for the year, and our last guests of the season have departed, Mary and I still have been pretty busy all week.

The kitchen project that we have all been working wrapped up on Friday. The new floor is in place. All of the walls have been scrubbed. The stainless steel has been steam cleaned. The dining room floor was stripped and re-sealed. The carpet was cleaned. All in all, a surprising amount of work for an area which will look just about the same to guests as before we started.

At the inn, Mary and her assistant, Michalyn, have been going through each room, inspecting them to put together a work schedule for the summer. They have also started to work outside cleaning up some of the gardens which are not still snow covered. Mary has pots of top soil all over the inn starting her Dahlia's. They will not get transferred to the gardens until late May or early June.

I have been a little busy as well. Our main web site, birchridge.com has been updated for the summer. All of our room rates for the 2007/2008 season are now available. Golf packages with rounds of golf at the Killington Resort Course and Green Mountain National can now be priced for the 2007 summer season using our proprietary Golf Package Calculator. Ski packages for the 2007/2008 ski season can also be estimated using our Ski Package Calculator, although ski ticket prices are only estimated as it will be a few months before the Killington Resort releases ski ticket prices for next season.

In addition to skiing and golf packages, I have also put on the web site package information for the Killington Wine Festival to be held this year from July 12 through July 15th. Over the next couple of months, I will be posting updates on the Wine Festival, as the wine distributors to the Killington region finalize the list of vintners and winery's who will be participating in the event.

In the Killington area, skiing and riding is still going on. For the first week of May, the mountain will be down to one lift (Superstar). The planned closing date of the resort is Sunday May 6th, so if you have the urge to take a few last turns, act on them soon. We are all still waiting for the sale of the resort from the American Skiing Company to SP Land/Powdr Corp to take place. There are all kinds of rumors around town about when it will happen and why it has taken so long to execute. But we have it from several good sources that the sale will take place. The complexity of the deal, with the myriad combinations of private land and leased land from the State of Vermont, appears to be taking a little longer than planned to sort out. Of course, with most of the winter visitors gone, it is all great grist for the locals to talk about as we all congregate at local watering holes. So it goes....

I am also starting to think about golf for personal enjoyment. I have not gotten the clubs out yet, but the urge to take a few swings in increasing as the days grow warmer...It will be soon... Think Spring!

On Bittersweet.
Sunday, April 22, 2007 

With all of the work Mary and I have been doing around the inn last week to clean up from the season, we had not taken the opportunity to head out on the slopes for one last hurrah. Yesterday was the day.

Sunday was just a glorious day to ski at Killington. We got to the K1 base lodge at 7:30 AM to sunny skies and temperatures in the high 40's. It has been a long time since we have both skied together on a Sunday, but we had worked hard all week so we deserved some time on the hill. In the old days, before owning the inn, we used to try to ski "10 by 10"...10 runs before 10 o'clock in the morning. That was our goal.

The Killington resort cooperated, running 7 lifts. We started out with our first 3 runs down Superstar, followed by runs down Skye Burst, and Bear Trap, Skye Cruise, Bitter Sweet, North Ridge, East Falls, ending with a Great Northern and out. 10 by 10 on soft, creamy snow. A great way to end our personal ski seasons.

Today at Killington, temperatures have hit the low 80's. Most of the snow on the grounds of the inn, other than snow banks, is now finding it way to the Connecticut River. Winter may still have a gasp or 2 left for Killington, but today definitely feels like spring is upon us. I am not quite ready to get out my golf clubs...but from the number of tournament sign up sheets we have received the last week, we know golf season at Killington will be on us soon.

It has been a truly weird and wacky winter. Although the ski season got off to a very slow start, the last 16 weeks have been amazing. I had my powder ski's out at Killington at least 8 times this year...I have been joking to Mary that I am starting to "wear them out...time for a new pair". Sunday was probably our last hurrah on the slopes for this season...unless Killington has another powder day? (I don't think so.) Think Spring!

Sunny...blue skies....60 degrees....spring has come to Killington!

Work is continuing on our kitchen renovations at the inn. Today we completed the installation of the new sub-floor. Tomorrow is kitchen tile day! With any luck, we will have everything put back together by Wednesday/Thursday next week.

While all this is going on, I have not gone out of the inn much. Mainly trips to Goodro's Lumber and Home Depot. But while eating lunch yesterday, I read an article on Don Gray in the Mountain Times written by another Killington musical legend, Joey Leone. If you are in Killington this weekend, there will be a memorial gathering for Don at the Summit Lodge on Sunday evening. Also, instead of posting a picture today, I found this vintage clip on Youtube of Don performing "Satisfaction" with the Bobby Darling show. Enjoy...Think Spring!

What a lovely mess 

Oh..what a lovely mess it is...

With the power back on reliably in Killington, we began our kitchen renovation project today at Birch Ridge. The first task was to get everything out of the kitchen. The inn has a relatively small kitchen, but it still took most of the day to move it all out into the restaurant for temporary storage.

Every year at this time we take everything out of the kitchen to clean it thoroughly. This year, in addition to our normal cleaning, and painting, we are also installing a new floor. Over the last 9 years, the weight of some of the kitchen appliances has caused the kitchen flooring to bend in places. (To bake cakes, for instance, required constant turning as we could never keep the ovens level.) To fix the problem, we are removing all of the plywood sub-flooring, replacing/adding new sleepers, pouring concrete pads for the heavy appliances, then putting down new plywood and linoleum. Our chef, Frizzie, is also an accomplished carpenter. Between the two of us, we hope to have the job done and the kitchen put back together in a week or so, before heading off to the next project on the spring renovation list.

I am not sure, based upon our construction schedule, if I will be able to take any turns on the mountain the next couple of days. Maybe over the weekend? Think Spring!