Changing Dynamics

I see it's been over a year since I've written a blog for the Pines Motel.  It took me nearly 30 minutes just to figure out how to get into it again to write!  Everything changes so quickly in technology today, I have trouble keeping up.

The dynamics in our family have changed as well.  My mom and one aunt are the last remaining relatives of our parents' generation.  Now with Alzheimer's, my mom spends most of her days in a fog that swirls and clears, swirls and clears.  Her memories are slowly dying as she fades.

We're in our 27th year as owners.  My folks bought the motel in 1972 and ran it for 19 years.  I was a teenager here myself cleaning rooms for several years before I went off to college, determined to move on and leave Teton Valley behind me forever.

Now we don't really want to live anywhere else.  But we do have a yearning to travel before we're too old to enjoy it.  So we may take off for a month before summer, and again in the fall.  It could become our new modus operandi, so be forewarned!  I know many of you love to come year after year, and we managed to work around some of your schedules last fall when we took a month off for a much-needed rest.  We appreciate your understanding and will try to sneak out between busy seasons since our next generation is not currently set up to take over the business.
  
2017 was a very intense year at the motel.  Along with record-breaking business, waves of family came to stay and visit throughout the year.  The solar eclipse in August had the phone ringing off the hook for months on end!  The eclipse was amazing to watch, and to feel the temperature drop by 35 degrees was totally unexpected.  John and I spent the month of September putting a stone-work facade on some of the west-facing motel rooms, and we're very pleased with the result.  We may find a creative way to use the rest of the stone this spring.

We truly appreciate your business, and hope that the Pines Motel * Guest Haus will continue to meet your needs for many years to come.  Thank you, and may God bless you and your families in 2018.

Graduated at last!!

Nancy graduated May 7, 2016

At last!!!!! I (Nancy) graduated from Idaho State University after a 30-year break!  I returned to school as a college junior, when our youngest of six children was a senior in high school.  It took me nine more years and 26 more courses, but I finally earned a BBA in Finance with a Standard English Minor.  When I originally asked the registrar's office at Utah State University (USU) for an official transcript to transfer to ISU, they couldn't find my records.  I asked, "You wouldn't have thrown them away or lost them, would you?" No, but they weren't in the computer system.  About a week later they called to tell me they'd found them--in the vault!

My most intriguing course was an eight-week summer class taught online.  It was called, "Critical Analysis and Creative Problem Solving."  We were at the end of our vacation in southern Utah, planning on arriving home just in time for me to begin it, when the transmission died in our camper-van.  It took us an extra week to get home, so I had to "creatively" figure out how to get my first assignment done (worth 20% of my grade!) in three days' time.  It was an analysis of an amazing chapter called "Where Have All the Criminals Gone?" in a book called Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner.  The chapter was really long, on "reserve" online at the college library.  The trouble is, the password didn't work the first day, and we were in a borrowed car that week, extending our vacation from southern Utah up to Boise ID and back to the Grand Canyon, with spotty Wi-Fi for my computer.  I nearly dropped the class, but the assignment was so fascinating, I persevered. 

Potentially, my most helpful course was Real Estate Finance, in which each group had to design a complicated Excel spreadsheet for a company that was outgrowing its current, leased facility.  With all sorts of requirements and stipulations, we were to present numerous options, all interconnected to show whichever "bottom line" was requested, either by the lessee, the owners, or the bank.  There was also a page to show "our" commission based on all the above.  There's a very real possibility that when I again find time to "study," I can begin to put together a spreadsheet showing us options for leasing the motel to an interested party so we can take off for a year and regroup, deciding on whether to continue leasing, to return to the business ourselves, to sell out, etc.  After 25 years of running the motel, we'd certainly like some extended time off!  Interested?  Let us know!

Nancy and John

A Fleeting Summer and the Pleine Air Art Festival

Wow--it's already August.  I sneaked out for one little hike to the top of Devil's Staircase in June, and in July walked with my mom (age 85) to the first waterfall up Teton Canyon.  I will make time to go once more this month before school begins again. 

Thank you everyone for our frenetically busy summer season!  It's a good idea to make reservations ahead at least through Labor Day this year.  What with Teton Park and Yellowstone Park so close, with the hiking and biking and fishing and music festivals and artists' gatherings and various summer races and car shows and the Spud Drive-In, great little airport, and excellent restaurants, our little valley is filling up nearly every night.

It's been a very wet summer, so everything is still a beautiful green and the wildflowers are abundant.  We came home from the Pleine Air art show yesterday with a gorgeous painting of wildflowers in the aspens painted by Teton Valley's own Bob Harper.

I had always dreamed of having Thomas Kincade stay with us and paint us a romanticized version of our place.  Pipe dream, I know! So last week, Pleine-Air artist Stephen Henry of  Clinton, UT stepped up to paint it for us.  It's a lovely piece.  Thanks Stephen! 



We hope you can make a trip through Driggs this summer and spend a little time with us.  We've got an acre of lush green lawn out back, the firepit and gas grills with picnic area, a croquet set and horseshoe pit for the asking, as well as our over-sized, outdoor Jacuzzi.  Bring the family and enjoy Teton Valley this summer!

Nancy and John 



The Last Winter Storm

So it's the end of March already, and John has enjoyed many days this month skiing in the early afternoon and golfing towards evening!  It's been the mildest winter and earliest spring I can remember in my 35 years here in Teton Valley.  We're glad that our guests are still enjoying the skiing at Grand Targhee.

John and I did find time recently to sneak away and soak in a couple of hot springs:  one old favorite and one new one.  So take a peek at our photograph in "Where in the world are John and Nancy #4?" on our home page and see if you can be the first to figure out where we are for a free night for two at the motel.  We enjoy sharing one of our favorite pastimes with all of you!

Now the daffodils are beginning to bloom in the flowerbeds and the snow has disappeared from town.  The first robin showed up on February 10th this year!  I think I'll be able to hang the sheets on the line again this weekend, and to hike in my beloved mountains soon.

So here's a poem you might enjoy about winter's last snowfall:

The Last Winter Storm

     Birds like pepper sprinkled on a winter sky, dive and twist

                             as grey-brown branches stir,

                                         tearing the grey-white depths into jagged layers.

     The clouds regroup, piling one atop another,

     shoving and squeezing

     billowing into shades of angry grey.

     Dark and ominous in their hurry to stuff the narrow valley

     and overfill every meandering canyon,

     the blackening clouds expand,

                             drawing strength from strength,

                             inhaling with a growing wind,

                                         intensity and power.

     Then the silent blast begins,

                             as thickly, quickly,

                             the mute whiteness surrounds and reshapes

     the dirty brown remains of previous storms.

     Long, lovely minutes stretch into a magical hour until

                             suddenly still, the air, crystal clear,

                                         carries tinkling laughter,

                             and the whiteness blinds as shards of twinkling crystal

                                         burst in all directions.

 

     The sky flaunts her new blue robe

     with the golden orb about her neck.

     The heavy trees bow to her beauty,

                             then toss their limbs high toward her

                                         as they shake off the twinkling crystal dust

                                         and laugh their tinkling bell laughter.

     Robin Redbreast stands fluffed and perturbed

     in a sheltered spot,

     indignant at being caught yet again—

                             greedy to be the first red robin spotted

                                         on the greening grass.

Nancy Nielson

Solar!

We had a problem with the lighting for our Pines Motel Guest Haus sign in front of the motel this spring.  Somewhere under the parking lot, the wiring gave up the ghost.  It was the perfect opportunity to try our hand at something we'd long thought about:  solar panels.

 

A motel guest pointed us in the right direction by suggesting the set-up we'd need, and John got to work.  With a bit of ingenuity and prayer, and a lot of work, it wasn't long before our solar panels were soaking up the sun.  The first time we flipped the switches, we were like kids at a surprise party.  We cheered and jumped up and down and laughed when the lights came on.

 

A couple days later we fashioned "floodlights" by cutting the tops off some pop bottles and covering them with aluminum foil, then placing them on the bases before screwing in the bulbs.  Now our floodlights throw just enough light in the center of each side of the sign to let folks know where we are as night sneaks over the mountains.  We shut them off before bed and smile in the dark.

 

 

 

Where in the World are John and Nancy?

We love to travel, wandering the back roads in our little camper-van to see what we can discover, or visiting one of our children somewhere around the world.  I carry my camera along and we stop often for pictures.

We recently decided to do something that you might find enjoyable:  we plan to post a hot spring photo of us occasionally from one of our trips, and see if you can pinpoint exactly where we were.  The first person to reply with the correct name and location will win a free room for two at the Pines Motel!

Soaking in hot springs is one of our favorite pastimes while traveling:  in pools built near the edges of rivers or up canyons, in commercial pools, and in cattle troughs or bathtubs on BLM or private lands.  Our first travel picture is of the two of us in one of our favorite hot pools, a shot taken earlier this month.  You may reply by calling us (208-354-2774), emailing thepines@silverstar.com, or messaging 307-264-8210 with your response.

Happy Travels!
John and Nancy

Change is in the Air!

Change is in the air!  It’s spring, although it was only about 45° today.  The Farmer’s Market was open downtown, with crafts and bread, fruits and vegetables, and garden plants.  We’ve already frosted one pumpkin and killed a few tomatoes in our garden. But John, the eternal optimist, has been planting more.  Most everything is up: little beets and chard, more pumpkins and tomatoes, onions that overwintered, bush beans and carrots, the peas, and one potato!

Other changes are around the bend.  John turned sixty-five last week, and we’ve been thinking long and hard about what we’d like to do when we "grow up".  Retirement sounds like fun although John is concerned about how he’ll turn out without our guests to keep him anchored in adult reality!

The trouble is we’re not sure how to retire without selling the motel, and we’re really attached to this place.  The few times over the years that we’ve mentioned selling out, various family members and guests have reacted like Dr. Seuss’ characters in Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose.  When Thidwick tried to cross to the south side of Lake Winna-Bango, the guests in his horns raised a ruckus:  “He stepped in the water.  Then, oh!  What a fuss! ‘STOP!’ screamed his guests.  ‘You can’t do this to us!’”  But Thidwick eventually shed his guests along with his horns, and swam to the south shore. What should we do?

Our second daughter, Ruth, wants to manage the motel beginning in the fall of 2014.  When we bought it in 1991 from my parents (who’d owned it 19 years), it was an easy transition.  But the global, digital economy that we’re facing today is a far cry from the simple one we bought into.  Our daughter can’t afford to buy us out, or we’d gladly let her.  But if we can find a way for this to work, her children will be the 4^th generation in our family to make the beds and tend to our motel guests.

  

We do love the interactions with our guests.  We enjoy sharing our home with them.  It’s satisfying to see the weight of the world fall from their shoulders as they wander the grounds, taking pictures of the flowers and resting in the shade of hundred-year-old trees.  The flowering crab trees have just finished blooming, the flowerbeds are gorgeous with orange poppies and regal lupines, and the lilac scent lingers into the evening.  On this first day of summer, I found it refreshing to pause and enjoy the moment.

    

But 24/7/365 is tough.  When we want to go out together, we get a “baby-sitter” for the motel.  Going on vacation ourselves is a major event.  We’d like to wander around the country for a while, letting somebody else tend our “baby.”  We’d like to bask in the winter sun sometimes without bundling up.  We’d like to turn off the phones and check in with the kids only when we feel like it.

So we wanted to give you a “heads up,” but we’d appreciate your advice, too.  You’ve been incredibly supportive of our little business over the years, and we thank you.  Therefore we’re open to a bit of brainstorming here, if you have ideas you’d like to share with us about passing the baton.  What would you like to see Ruth do with the place?  What should we change?  What do you most want us to keep?

You can email us at thepines@silverstar.com if you have any ideas.  We’d love to hear from you.

Sincerely,
John and Nancy