My Life as a Maine Innkeeper: June 2012

Monday, June 4, 2012

A Busy May and an Upcoming Milestone

It appears that I have been lazy with my blogging duties but in reality I have been busy helping Amy and Mark with the spring gardening and with our guests. Yes, the busy season is upon us! The garden is now all in order - new plants planted, mulching done, some vegetables planted - and all is looking great. Although with this recent rain, I am sure we are going to have some weeding in the near future. We have had two full weekends with Bowdoin College graduation and a early June wedding. All the guests were fantastic and we enjoyed meeting guests new to our B&B and catching up with returning friends. Of course, everyone made a fuss over me.

And in less than one month it will be our 7th Anniversary. We opened on July 1, 2005 and time has certainly moved quickly. It is amazing to see all the changes we have made through the years and to look back on all the great people we have met. To celebrate we are offering guests 7% off their room rate in July when they wish us "Happy Anniversary" when making their reservation. The discount only applies to July bookings and rooms are filling quickly so make your plans today!

Our Journey to Bath

Before Amy and Mark ever even thought about making me a part of their family, they were thinking about being innkeepers. About a year and a half after they adopted me, they left me in Erie, PA and took a trip to explore possible towns in New England to open their new business. While I patiently waited at home with a dog sitter, they journeyed to Bath ME, their first stop on the trip. It was December of 2004 so it was cold and raining in Maine but they fell in love with the town and the people they met. Driving to the next town in New Hampshire in a snow storm, they knew in their hearts that Bath was going to be our new home. They went ahead and looked at the other places as planned, but Bath was it. In February of 2005, they left me once again to look at a house on the market in Bath. It had been a B&B but had gone to a private home for the past couple years. Well, lucky us, they loved the house and put in a bid. It was so exciting when the realtor called us in Erie to say the Benjamin F. Packard House was ours! Things started moving quickly then. Packing up the house in Erie, making long distance arrangements for licenses, sprinkler systems and all the things that go with opening a new business. On May 14th, they packed the car and this time took me along too. We closed on the house on May 16th and in six hectic weeks, opened the new Benjamin F. Packard House B&B! My life as a bed and breakfast dog had begun.