Once, on a trip to Tajikistan, I asked our tour operator why everyone on the trip seemed like super…read morepeople and a great trip. His answer was that trips like that tended to be self selecting -- in that case, it attracted adventurers,
With that in mind, let me tell you about Humble Hill Farm.
If you want the Ritz, walk on by. Crave a great Day's Inn or Motel 6? Keep going. A spacious resort with tennis courts and a huge pool. Don't get out of the car.
Want to stay in a small, unassuming farm house in the middle of nowhere? If not, let me tell you exactly what you're missing.
Once you enter this tiny (3 bedrooms!!) farmstead, you enter an absolutely magical world. The proprietors, Skip and Patty, are not just world class hosts -- they're world class people!
Interested in everything, self-deprecating and witty, great fun, they fall all over themselves to make you welcome -- not as valued guests, but as valued friends.
Patty can cook up a storm (breakfasts included), and my 4 day, 3 night stay here included savory omelets with fresh fixin's from the farm, and to-die-for blueberry pancakes. Boy oh boy can that woman cook.
I arrived with a really bad back, and Skip came up with all sorts of fun and novel ideas to turn me back into a vertebrate.
The rooms were simple but lovely, but the biggest surprise of all was the chemistry. Between Patty and Skip, a retired police lieutenant. Between them and their guests. Between the guests themselves. Think Tajikistan!!
The other two sets of guests included a fun loving Indian from Calcutta who arrived by motorcycle with his mainland Chinese girlfriend (wife?) and a husband-wife team of Canadian scientists (the wife was a Vet specializing in wildlife, on a brief exchange program with nearby Cornell, and the husband a biologist, specializing in the study of Arctic mammals, filled with stories about wolverines, caribou and bears.).
In the morning, I'd wake-up early and sit around talking with Patty and/or Skip. Then the other guests would tumble out of their rooms, and it would be one big party.
At night, everyone would return from their day's adventures, laughter aplenty, and we'd sit around laughing and talking, until one by one we'd head to our rooms --with the luckiest guests heading back last, so that they'd have some additional face time with Skip and Patty.
Need suggestions of what to do, where to go, where to eat? Count S&P in! Need a Chiropractor? They won't rest until they've found one and gotten you in.
What a wonderful experience, which I hope to repeat in due course -- and hope that you will have the chance to share, too!