A pre-Halloween "Molly Moment" at the Elkhorn Inn!

We just had a (suitably) pre-Halloween "Molly Moment" at the Elkhorn Inn!
Elisse's marble "Eagle Moon" lamp- from Rivkin Sudios, her grandparent's 1912 photography studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma- just went On, after over six months of not working!

When it stopped working many months ago, Dan was convinced that it needed a new socket or rewiring, as it still has (as you can see) the orignial pre-1960s wiring Elisse's mom did, but we've been so busy that we kept putting it off... And then tonight, out of the blue, it was On!
We'd had a Halloween Weekend event scheduled at the Elkhorn Inn with Mark Painter, the professional paranormal investigator from Bluefield, West Virginia's "Signs of Ghosts": www.signsofghosts.com, but had to cancel it when we got a full-inn-booking (the Inn is fully booked thru Jan 22, 2011, and now taking reservations for the spring). Mark was set to teach our guests how to "ghost hunt" thru the night all Halloween weekend, using his state-of-the-art ghost-hunting equipment (that thrilled us no end when he spent a night at the inn a couple of months ago...),  and we were totally bummed at having to cancel the event. And then THIS happened tonight! Thank you, Molly! We'll get Mark back here soon! :-D

Homer Hickam at the Elkhorn Inn! "Rocket Boys" ROCK!

On Friday evening, Oct. 1st, the night before the "October Sky" Festival in Coalwood, West Virginia with Homer Hickam and the other "Rocket Boys" of book and movie fame, Homer & Linda Hickam, and Randy Stripling (the actor who played Leon Bolden in the movie "October Sky"), came by the Elkhorn Inn & Thrilled our guests! It is always a joy when they come by the Inn, and Homer was kind enough to sign his many books that we have in the Elkhorn Inn's Gift Shop: http://store.elkhorninnwv.com - including some rare First Editions!

 

Homer Hickam, Dan Clark, & Elkhorn Inn Guests




Dan Clark & Randy Stripling





Elisse & Dan Clark, Randy Stripling, Linda & Homer Hickam



Homer Hickam & Elkhorn Inn Guests



The Elkhorn Inn & Theatre has recently had some truly wonderful media coverage, including

Rail cuisine served up in Landgraff by Wilson Butt in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph,

a wonderful 2-page, full-color article in the October issue of WV Living Magazine: http://wvlivingmagazine.com/current.htm 

and a glorious, 5-page full-color feature by Bruce Ingram, in WV South Magazine:

 

Our other fun this week came with festooning the Inn for fall, with my giant table centerpiece of pumpkins, gourds, & cattails from our ATV trips, our little pumpkin plates & bowls and leaf place mats, and festive Halloween tinsel hanging from the dining room chandelier!

 The piesta de resistance, however, was "Decor Dan's"  Annual Inflating of Elisse's Fall Decorations, which enable me to refer to myself as THE "Appalachian Martha Stewart of Inflatable Decor"! Dan, with much gnashing of teeth and his trusty patch kit & drill by his side, managed to get them all blown up, screwed down, & lit up large, and so even when all the pretty leaves are gone, the Elkhorn Inn will still have glow-in-the-dark "curb appeal"!  

Part of the Autumn Decor at the Elkhorn Inn...

Yes, I may finally have gone a little over the top in the inflatable decor department, but eBay ever has a wealth of inflatables at my disposable, many from people downsizing their collections, and this season I was lured by a bevy of inflatables that were truly irresistible: Our new Hunting Snowman, stacks of pumpkins, & Jack O'Lantern Ghosts, to add to our tractor-riding scarecrow & ghoul archway! And just you wait 'til December! ;-)


I then took what I think is THE cutest pet photo, bar none:
"Pitty & Kitty, Asleep In Their Box":

Have a happy, festive, leaf-peeping fall!