The response to my first posting couldn't have been better, at least from friends kind enough to log on and read and resist being cheerleaders. I am encouraged. Today, I'm going to offer a veteran traveler's tip for a terrific getaway - a tremendous bed and breakfast I've found on my journey.
But first, this momentous aside. We have a new president of the United States, and though I would have sworn it couldn't have happened, this nation did indeed, on Tuesday, swear in an African American man as chief commanding officer, the president. A man not wealthy, whose roots are in Kenya and Hawaii and the working class communities of Chicago is now president of a nation that for so long was perfectly comfortable, and within its legal rights, in denying the most basic human rights to people with skin tones not white, and especially if black.
I can remember my mother pulling me, a tiny thing, away from a water fountain one hot August day in front of the courthouse in downtown Salisbury, Maryland. A child, to me it was hot outside and I wanted a cold drink, that's all. As my mother pulled me back I saw the sign that said, "whites only". Nothing takes these memories away. But, I celebrate President Barack Obama and I celebrate the Americans that turned away from those who mocked him and elected this man president. I'm giddy with gladness and profound hope.
And Secondly, a Joe Update: It is such a privilege to turn on a camera and in so doing, capture part of the soul of a remarkable, everyday man. What a gift my work is! After I resolve a technical question, I'll post Joe's story and let you know where to find this man you'll wish had a shop in your neighborhood.
TODAY'S FEATURE: THE KING'S COTTAGE
It's a bed and breakfast that would make Martha Stewart swoon. Let me tell you how I found it and why you should.
I am a traveler. Writers and producers have to be. Characters and stories don't always just show up on your path as you go about your daily routine. I'm also a parent, lucky enough, to have twice been through the college search routine. You traveling here and there and wait
for that gleam in your kid's eye that says this is the one. So, all in all, from Beijing, China, to Seattle, Washington, and from Canada, to the Florida panhandle, to former plantations in Mississippi, I've stayed at a lot of places.
A few years ago, my youngest son decided to attend Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and join their football team. It's a great college and football was to rule my life from late summer through winter once more. F&M was a few states away. This veteran traveler again needed a place to stay. This time, I longed for a comfy living room, a fireplace shared with other guests that would lessen the lonely part of being a single mom on a mission. I hoped for books to read, cordials at night, and a wonderful breakfast maybe with innkeepers who might become friends over the next four years. I wanted elegant comfort that was cozy enough to feel like home and not the proficient but icy splendor of the big hotels my assignments generally led me to.
From inside the F&M parents' guide, The King's Cottage jumped off the page at me. Staring at the ad's promise of a hot bath in a vintage tub, I booked a room. You must allow yourself this treat.
The King's Cottage is a vintage mansion standing at the corner of King and Cottage Avenues in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Just the exterior excited me. It is grand and welcoming - bearing a bit of an early 19th century white Spanish stucco, with its graceful bay windows and patio doors trimmed in a deep majestic green. In spring and summer, flowers encircle the house and its grounds. Amenities abound. There is a personal touch everywhere, even before you walk through its front door, located on the side of the house and away from traffic.
Once inside, the first floor of the inn embraces you. The living room fireplace roars when the temperature outside chills you. The innkeepers, Ann and Janis, greet you as if you were long lost friends. They were as excited about the prospect of my son coming to F&M as I was, and ready to make me feel at home and introduce me to Lancaster. Charming. Genuinely refreshing. Instantly, you are so much more than a guest.
The dining room tables sat set for the next day's gourmet breakfast. A grandfather clock chimed. They gave me a tour.
There are eight superbly decorated rooms, cleverly bearing the names of royalty : The King; The Queen; The Princess; The Duchess; The Contessa; The Duke; The Majestic and, separate from the mansion, The Carriage House. They've earned their titles.
I had entered another time and the stresses of life began to instantly dissipate. Each room was immaculate and with different color schemes, offering a twist of the modern and the past in the most elegant of fabrics, rugs, furnishings and appointments. Not a detail is missed. A writer, I was particularly taken by the choices of journals placed quietly in each room inviting your comments and greetings. Stunning Amish quilts hang here and there throughout the inn. There's even a gift shop.
Shortly it was time for High Tea - a tradition I adore. For tea, the innkeepers led me into The Florida Room, a sun room gracing the front end of the mansion. Here, each afternoon as the grandfather clock strikes four, guests gather for tea, dessert and conversation. Without fail, the travelers discover what they have in common. But unlike me, most visitors to The Kings Cottage are couples getting away for a romantic weekend. Many call ahead for flowers, gift baskets of candies and local treats, or rose petal baths. Progressive thinking corporations book the entire inn for business retreats.
I just needed the serenity the inn offers, to get to those football games, and have a charming place to embrace me when my son went off to either celebrate victory or recover from defeat with his friends. A relaxing drive just three hours south of New York City, The King's Cottage is a divine find. Amish buggies trot along the highways and roadways here. Everyone seems rather endlessly patient and courteous. It's a real change from my beloved Manhattan.
Gourmet breakfasts offering a variety of tasty fruit dishes as the first course, followed with swedish pancakes or mandarin orange french toast or belgian waffles or ham and cheese crepes or mushroom and red pepper frittatas served with apple glazed Lancaster sausages or bacon, and a variety of muffins or scones, start your day. Then the innkeepers help you set up your tours, offering suggestions of things to do and places to see across the bucolic county, if you're not headed to a football game.
They welcome you back at High Tea and help you find just the right location for dinner among an eclectic array of fine restaurants that might surprise an urban traveler escaping to the countryside.
For four years, whenever football or a parents' dance or whatever brought me to Lancaster, I chose to stay at The King's Cottage, to soak in my favorite vintage tub and to soak up all that royal treatment.
Treat yourself to one of the finest experiences this veteran traveler has found anywhere on the planet.
One day I will! Where is the next adventure going to take place? Can't wait to hear about it!
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