Red Chair Travels

Remember the story of the red chair?  You know, the image I put on Facebook that inspired a visit from a Californian photographer who then sent me the most amazing photograph she had taken of the chair?  I wrote all about this last spring, and told everyone I ever met all about it, and you can catch up with the story here.

Well, now the red chair is headed on a very unique trip.  I have reached out to innkeepers all over Cape Cod.  This chair is going to have the most amazing spring visiting the very best places to stay on the Cape and Islands.

Having checked in on the phone with these fabulous hoteliers, I can genuinely say I am jealous of the chair’s journey.  I too want to spend five weeks crisscrossing the Cape, exploring every nook and cranny from the dunes of Race Point to the shops of Nantucket, from the farms of Martha’s Vineyard to the sand flats of Barnstable Harbor.  I too want to try a growler of Cape Cod beer in Hyannis, or see the whales and dolphins off Provincetown, or chow on steamers in Truro, or skip the boardwalk in Sandwich.

Why send a chair on a journey like this?  Because, like the surrealists used to say, this chair is not just a chair.  It is a metaphor, an invitation to come explore yourself in a quiet and beautiful place.  It is an open seat at the table of relaxation.  It is the beckoning hand of civilization, marking the edge of the wildness of nature where you can lose and find yourself at the same time.  It is the dialogue between artists and innkeepers, dreamers and shop-girls, lost travelers and those that welcome them into warm beds.

And that, my friends, is why the chair needs to travel!

Today I prepared my  heart, then drove the chair to thirty minutes up the road to the lovely village of Sandwich where the chair will be hosted by the Belfry Inn and Bistro for a few days.  This is a really cool place — a converted church with all the stained glass still intact.  I must admit, I felt a bit like a mother taking their child to overnight camp for the first time!  I mean, all the preparation I have put into this trip, and when it came down to it I really did not want to let that chair out of my hot little hands.  I was feeling anxious and worried, wrote a long note to my fellow innkeepers about it’s care and safekeeping, even fretted a little about leaving it on side deck rather than handing it directly to the next innkeeper.

But I have to remember, the soul of this chair was meant to be shared.  I found it at the swap shop, and so much joy has come already from sharing it.   I have to believe more joy, laughs, curiosity will come as others are touched by it too.

Some nostalgic images of the chair at the Woods Hole Inn before it headed out:

Oooh, that Cape light.

On a foggy day:

Then getting ready to head out today, with a little note that says “Read Me!” filled with instructions and well-wishes.

Here we are all loaded up in the car:

Arriving at the Belfry Inn in Sandwich MA, a lovely 30 minute drive on a windy bright day:

And finally the hiding spot:

Isn’t everything better when shared?

More to come on this story, plus read about it directly in a new blog called RedChairTravels.com.

Brangelina come to the Woods Hole Inn

Are you ready for your close up?

Just like producing a movie, at the Woods Hole Inn we are crafting great vacations, one customer at a time.  Every movie begins with a great script and the Woods Hole Inn is no different — our script calls for us to make you feel pampered and welcome the minute you walk in the door.

I started my career in Hollywood, managing a group of actors and producing a few movies.  I don’t want to make my career sound too glamorous because it wasn’t — thousands of people like me toil behind the scenes as part of the grist that turns the Hollywood mill.  But I did learn a thing or two about star treatment that I use everyday in running the Woods Hole Inn.

I like to welcome guests the way I would welcome the star of my film onto set the first day — smiles, warmth and plenty of free bottled water.  I like to clean the rooms imagining that Oprah and her entourage might walk in later tonight.   I like to train staff to show off their knowledge of the local scene as if they were job interviewing for locations manager on “Jaws.”   I hope breakfast comes out feeling “Like Water for Chocolate”  and your pillow top reminds you of James Bond.

These are hard things to achieve and we don’t always get there.  Has there been a bad day when the electrician made a mess right before check-in, the phone rang too many times to answer and a guest waited at the front desk feeling more like Rita Wilson than Tom Hanks?  Yes.  Now you know why Bruce Willis throws temper tantrums in his trailer when the coffee is cold — even on a movie set with a staff of hundreds, mistakes happen.  So we apologize and try again.  Most of our customers are much, much more amenable than Bruce (visit the inn and I’ll share a few hair curlers for you).

In any case, nothing makes us happier than getting it right and I want to quote an email we received last night, because I think we succeeded in making this couple feel like Brangelina:

“My wife and I just finished a three day stay at the Inn and I can’t stop talking about it to anyone who will listen. From the second we walked through the door at 28 Water Street the warmth we were greeted by, yourself and the Inn, captured our hearts forever. I cannot say enough about the cleanliness of the room and the efficiency of the staff.

We have stayed in Woods Hole before, but by far the location of the Inn is far more noteworthy than any other places we have stayed. We found it a complete luxury to drop our car off with the valet and not have to think about getting around for the rest of our stay. The area restaurants and attractions all within walking distances on the scenic main strip of Woods Hole, as well as Quicks Hole located in the same building.  Talk about convenience.  Not to mention the activities you planned and executed for us (ferry tickets waiting for us, wine chilled in our room, walking tour of Woods Hole, massages at Bellezza Day Spa) all completely flawless in their delivery. The things you said were going to be done, were done.

How can I write our happiness with the Inn with out mentioning Sara the Breakfast Queen. I can’t express to you enough what a pleasure it was to wake up at our leisure, walk down the hall, open the breakfast room door to find the smell of freshly brewed coffee, homemade breakfast treats, and Sara’s smiling face. To say the breakfast she prepared for us each morning was delicious would be an insult. The word just doesn’t do enough credit to her skill. We especially liked the Linguiça and Asparagus bread pudding. I can still taste its’ warm flavorful goodness.

We have spent the last few days figuring out excuses for us to return to the Inn and believe us it’s not hard, if we could come every weekend we would!  Again, Thank You for all of the wonderful memories we were able to take with us in celebrating our 5th year of marriage. We hope to see you soon!”  — guest from Worcester, Mass.

I feel like Sally Field’s did in her famous Oscar speech  — “You like me, you really like me!”  We live for this kind of feedback, and I am grateful to my tremendous staff for another star turn.

And when Brad and Angelina actually arrive?  We are ready for you.

The Big House

Cover art for George Colt's memorable memoir about 100 years in the life of a Cape Cod summer house.

Author George Colt (“The Big House”) will be speaking in Falmouth on March 1st.  He is staying at the Woods Hole Inn that night and has offered to breakfast with guests and sign copies of his wonderful Cape Cod memoir over our gourmet coffee and chef Sara’s sweet delights.

George is my first cousin and the characters who inhabit his book are my family.  The now-famous “big house” out on Wings Neck belonged to my grandmother Mary Forbes Atkinson.  And it is my father who (along with George’s father) once dominated the tennis scene there, my Aunt Mary who taught the young Colt boys to fish, my Aunt Sandy who died so young of cancer that she left a baby boy who grew up as my defacto brother.  See, it’s close stuff.

Having a memoir-ist in the family is a scary proposition — will we like how we are described? — but George supplies such insight, affection and humor that I found his book touching, revealing and a wonderful page-turner (and I know the ending!).   I look forward to my boys being old enough to read it.  They will laugh and cry along with the countless others who have enjoyed the book, all the while learning more about than I can possibly remember to tell them about our eccentric family.

So consider coming by  the Woods Hole Inn on a cold day in March.  I like to think of the Inn as a new kind of “Big House” where book lovers can wake from a restful sleep and then congregate over the kind of gourmet breakfast that my grandfather used to make (without his habit of using every pot and pan in the kitchen).  We keep spares of George’s book around so if you can’t come in March, feel free to come later and extend your stay to finish it.  It really is a great read.

George Colt lecture and reading at 7 pm March 1, 2010 at Falmouth Academy.  Breakfast with George on Tuesday March 2nd at the Inn approx 8  – 9 am.  Interested locals also welcome for coffee and a bite, just call us so we will have enough pound cake for you:)

Sippewissett Pound Cake with blackberries served at the Woods Hole Inn.

POST SCRIPT – This post is so popular!   Many people have asked me what the Big House looks like now.  I visit it regularly to pay respects to my Aunts Ellen and Mary who are often there.  So here is a glimpse of the renovated house, saved from the wrecking ball by my lovely first cousin and her husband.  Still the steep roof and the commanding views of the Bay, with all the charm of my grandparents and less eel grass insulation and mice:)

The Big House on Wings Neck as she is now.

Simpsons writers flock to Woods Hole

Somehow in the course of my life, I have been privileged to come to know many of the genius writers that bring the hit FOX series “The Simpsons” to life week after week.

And if you like “The Simpsons” then you know that the show is filled with erudite, cutting edge references to people, places and things all over the planet. The writers of such a show must be very very smart indeed. Smart enough to know that Woods Hole makes a great vacation!

So it is with some pride that I name-drop two of the very best writers from the show who came to visit us in Woods Hole this summer — Ian Maxtone-Graham and Mike Reiss. Ian came in early August and held a cool seminar in Quicks Hole as part of the Woods Hole Film Festival. The Boston Globe wrote a very funny article about it which you can read here:

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2009/07/22/animated_conversation_with_simpsons_writer/

Mike and his lovely wife Denise came late in the summer and stayed for lobster salads at Quicks Hole. They live in NYC now and commute to LA for Mike to bring his unique genius to the show one day a week. Mike is also known for his great kids books, and a wonderful lecture he gives about writing on the longest running TV comedy.

We are honored to host writing luminaries at the Woods Hole Inn. Any other Simpsons writers who would like to come check it out are welcome to call for a reservation — I’ll give you the Mike Reiss discount (everyone knows he and Denise are all about value:)

Ian Maxtone Graham as a Simpsons character: 

Why Celebs Love Woods Hole

Woods Hole is filled with marine biologists, wooden boat builders and fisherman. If you ask a Woods Hole local, most will tell you that they do not own a TV. The movie theater is at least a half hour from here and dvd rentals are slow at the “Coffee O.” Woods Hole is a place where pop culture is not much of a priority.

So when Steve Carell and his family drop in for a lobster taco at Quicks Hole restaurant, NOBODY RECOGNIZES HIM! That’s right, it’s seems most Woods Holies have never seen “The Office” or “The 40 Year Old Virgin” or “Little Miss Sunshine.” So, Steve just wanders around, orders what he likes, sits and enjoys a cold brew — whateva. No paparazzi, no autograph seekers, no lookie-loos.

Little known fact about most celebrities — they like being ignored. It’s a break from their public lives. Add to that the chance to nosh great local fare and boat in some of the world’s best waters and you have catnip for the fabulous and famous. Steve and entourage wandered across Vineyard Sound from their family compound near Tashmoo, swam on a sandbar, toured Woods Hole Harbor and ate at Quicks Hole.

It was a fabulous and famous Woods Hole day.