Tis the Season

During the holiday season we get many families who come to stay with us. Sharing in family reunions and gatherings can be fun for us. Often the family has relatives who live close by. We invite the locals to join us for a breakfast with their guests who are staying at the Inn. The family pictured here came to stay over Thanksgiving, sampled all our local eateries, and played games each evening in our dining room.

Brides

We spent the day assisting a bridal party prepare for their wedding day. The Inn refrigerator was full of bouquets and corsages and champagne. The bride, bridemaids and her family took photos both outside and inside before leaving for the ceremony. With everybody all smiles, it was a joyous morning and afternoon. Following the ceremony, the newly married couple honeymoons at the Captain's Inn.

The Silver Moon

By the light of the Silvery Moon. We have always highlighted that the inn can be a great place for sunset. However, we have not focused on the moon as much as we should have. The Fall Harvest Moonrise and moonset can be very wonderful. A full moon reflecting over the water as it sets creates an awe all of its own, be it in the evening or as you watch from bed just before dawn. Perfect for winter romance.

Fall Migration

The fall migration of birds is well underway with thousands of birds of many varieties using our wetlands. One of my favorites are the "peeps". These are the small tiny birds that madly feed on small worms and crusteans of our shore. They always seem to be in large groups and move in unison. Most are least sandpipers and western sandpipers but many others are mixed in. This season is a favorite time to take trips on Elkhorn Slough Safari boat tours, for the birds and for the seals, sea lions, and sea otters.

Captain Pumpkin

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We celebrated the fall season with a pumpkin carving contest for our employees. All jack-o-lanterns had to look like our Captain Yohn. We gave prizes for the "Most Like" the captain, and for the "Funniest" captain. Mostly we giggled alot. Quoted by a guest who viewed them -- "Well,... they all have a likeness to the Captain himself."

Fall Decorations

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins. The pumpkins and gourds really add lovely color to our Inn for the Fall. We go to the local GIANT pumpkin farm to get them. The farm is family run, and we will give all October guests coupons and directions for the farm. Our family dog, Tara, is also pictured. Many of our past guests have been asking after her, as she had a surgery tangle with cancerous tumors about this time last year. We are happy to report that with the addition of thyroid tabs, she is just fine and her tumors still have not returned!

Our Crew

After a busy summer, we took our crew out for a thank you for your service luncheon where we announced our "star" employee for 2008, our innkeeper Jessica. They all sure worked hard all year to make our guests have a welcoming and enjoyable time in clean, working rooms.We just love to hear guests tell us good things about staff. They and we strive for quality, we appreciate all they do!

Fall on the Marshlands

Our Fall colors are upon us in Moss Landing. Our Fall colors are no ordinary occurrence like changing leaves, oh no. Instead, our vast Pickleweed marsh goes from deep green to apple red and then yellow and brown. The succulent tidal Pickleweed is quite full of salt by the end of the summer. The salt goes to excess and the chlorophyll can not take it, the chlorophyll is the green and with its loss only red pigments remain. Later in the Fall, the entire succulent flesh will fall off to rid the plant of the extra salt altogether. Rain will bring quick new green growth. All this can be viewed from our waterfront rooms. Fall is also the start of the bird migrations, guests this weekend sighted over 30 species without leaving our yard. The mild sunny days of Fall are some of our favorites.

True Love

One of the joys of our work here, we get to share in the "good times" in peoples lives like anniversaries, vacations to the beach, engagements and the like. Just that happened this weekend. A couple came to stay and they told us a story about our bed and breakfast. They told us they had just gotten married and that this stay was their spontaneous honeymoon! We congradulated them. Then they continued their story, unknown to us, he had proposed to her during their first stay with us. This explained their bubbly, romantic chit chat over breakfast. We hope to see them for their first anniversary.

International Visitors

We have always had international visitors, but their numbers are much higher this year. They keep telling us what a great deal our U.S. dollar exchange is! Just this last week, I was cooking breakfast and discovered Italy, UK, Canada, Scotland, South Africa, Brazil, Japan, and Finland having breakfast in our dining room. I was quite surprized to learn I was the only American. We had a good laugh about seating the U.N. here at the B&B, and then exchanged world wide points of view on important topics like chocolate. The couple pictured here came from England and spent several days exploring our area. We had a week of sunsets, which I often alert guests to -- but this week I have had to translate and wave hands abit for our guests from afar to come out and see the pretty sky.

As we are located close to the coast highway, highway one, we often get travellers who arrive by bike. These two couples had come from the Santa Cruz area and were headed down to Monterey and Pebble Beach next. They spent the night with us in between the legs of their journey. There are quite a few designated bike trails in our area. Those that drive to the inn have the option of renting our bikes for a day pedal.

Clear Day

We have clear skies and a pretty day here in Moss Landing. There has been a alot of media "HYPE" about our situation in relation to fires. As you can see from this series of photos taken just minutes ago, we have clear air, we can see all the way to Santa Cruz, we have fresh soft breeze coming in from the ocean, and the sun has only clear rings around it. The guests pictured here (Jason & Victoria) are from Maryland have been enjoying hiking and whale watching for the last three days. Guests on Elkhorn Slough Safari saw sea otters, seals, sea lions and 40 different kinds of birds this morning. We certainly hope you come to visit and enjoy the coast.

Documentary

Our Inn's parlor became a filming studio for a few hours today. We have a film team from Germany Spiegel TV staying at the Inn all week. They are here preparing a documentary on the sinking of the airship USS Macon off the nearby coast of California. They needed to use the parlor for some interviews with local experts (from the local marine institute) who discovered and worked on the sea wreck. Yesterday they went to sea on the research vessel to learn how the wreck was located. Learn more by watching the program when it airs.

Honeymooners

It's June, and weddings are in the air. Honeymooners are always fun guests and we treat them with roses, fresh beverages,chocolates and spa soap sets. This couple came right from the wedding reception and were just bubbling with happiness and joy. it is one of my job benefits to be able to share in people's "happy times". Their good feelings and love lift up the entire household.
-- Captain's Wife
http://www.captainsinn.com

Sea Lion Party

We have the largest number of Calif. Sea Lions ever residing at Moss Landing in many, many years. It seems these mammals gather together before their summer move to the south, and this year they picked Moss Landing. Only a ten minute walk to the sea lion pull out, our guests have been entertained watching the sea lion behavior. The well over 1,000 animals include hundreds of cute young of the year who have their own spot on the South jetty.
-- Captain's Wife
http://www.captainsinn.com

Unbelievable Sunset in Moss Landing

This one is one where words can not surfice. This was our sky Wednesday night. It surrounded us with color. Seemed to go on forever. Guests were sitting on the decks, no one left for dinner. What a May treat!
http://www.captainsinn.com
-- Captain's Wife

Green Choices

We just returned from an industry tradeshow and our staff is very excited. At the Captain's Inn we are always trying to make good choices for the environment, like recycling and no phosphates and being well insulated and composting. At the trade show, our lead housekeeper discovered a series of cleaning agents made from botanicals. We have tried similar products but were very dissappointed with the cleanliness. The excitement came in when these new products actually get things as clean as more usual products!! These cost a bit more, but we will be stocking the green works from now on.
-- Captain's Wife
http://www.captainsinn.com

Humming Birds

One of the ways that we know it is spring here is our hummingbirds put on their aerial breeding display shows and start to nest. We captured this photo of Anna's Hummingbird chicks in their nest, right in the backyard. Other springtime treats, the yard is blooming with flowers and color! The beach has beach pea flowers and migrating birds abound.
-- Captain's Wife
http://www.captainsinn.com

February Romantics

Well the month of February with Valentine's Day brings out all the romantics to the Inn. We had anniversarys and couple getaways all around the Valentine holiday. One of the sweetest was a couple who got engaged right at the Captain's Inn. While this was not our first engagement, it was the first time the Captain himself was involved. At the "groom to be's" direction, he delivered the ring to their room on a platter while dressed in his finest regalia. She said yes!!!
-- Captain's Wife
http://www.captainsinn.com

The Scot by Bike

Our innkeeper opened the door in February to discover a clean cut young man on a bicycle. People on bikes are not unusual for us as many pedal the coast highway one. It was a drizzly day and his bike had a flat tire. With an accent he stated he was looking for an inexpensive place to stay and had pleasant but "please help me" face. We were not exactly in his shoestring budget. His plan before college was to pedal and camp the West coast of California.

The Inn grounds were in winter turmoil and in desperate need of care. We also had a few days with a vacant room. I asked if he knew how to work hard and if he minded weed pulling. He answered with a really big smile and assured me he could do the job. So we put the young Scotsman to task in our yard. He weeded, howed, pulled and cleaned for several days - he did a very fine job. All inn staff and other inn guests, got a bit attached to this nice fellow with a great smile. Many of our guests invited him to stop at their homes on his way (perhaps they had weeds too?). On a sunny day, he left the Captain's Inn rested, dry, fed, and with a repaired bike tire. We wished him well and hope to see him again someday. You may find him during his coastal travels.

Welcome

Hello
This is our very first posting to our own blog. We are pretty excited about this blogging communication tool for reaching those who want know about us and those who want to share with us. Our plans are to check in here at least once a week as best we can, (maybe more sometimes) - and to post fun stories from activities at our bed and breakfast inn. We hope you find this useful and enjoyable. -- Captain Yohn & Melanie