Reba Farm Inn-September 12 & 13, 2009
In April this year I won an auction item at the Children’s Miracle Network “Heals for Healing” at Hotel Roanoke for an overnight stay at the Reba Farm Inn @ 1099 Reba Farm Lane, Bedford, VA, 24523 540-586-1906 www.rebafarminn.com It included a stay in the Rumble Seat Carriage House with an afternoon tea and a 3-course breakfast the next morning. I knew with our busyness we had better take advantage of this before hockey season got in full force and the daily routine of school for Caitlynn and along with me being busy growing the sleep lab. This was the weekend I had chosen for us in July when I made the reservations and I am looking forward to being in the country with my husband alongside nature mano y mano.
As usual this Saturday morning began with a bang and I was out of the house by 8:15AM in route to Panera at Valley View for an interview of a potential employee for Sleep EZ. Caitlynn was asleep as Reba had spent the night and I’m sure they stayed up late so I left them sleeping. Thomas left shortly after me to go do yard maintenance on the duplexes.
As I returned home shortly after 10:15AM, Caitlynn had been up and was marinating what she was planning on cooking for her friends today, Reba, Sam and Kati. She had several things going on in the kitchen (her favorite room in the house as she wants to go to culinary school). I had several things to do including packing so I too got busy around the house. Thomas and I had agreed to allow her to stay here at the house with Kati overnight while we were away. She is getting old enough now that we need to give her a little lead way and see how she does before she graduates and moves out in 2 years-she definitely knows the house rules by now I hope! We could not arrive before 2PM so we had time to get things done, but Caitlynn kept wondering if we “are going today or not” because she thought we would be leaving earlier than we did. When Thomas got home he then did our yard work around our house, showered and we left. Caitlynn was grilling, cooking fried potatoes (for Sam since he arrived a little earlier) and sautéed vegetables as we said our good-byes and my famous quote for her “make good choices” and we started our overnight retreat for ourselves……
Bedford is only 30 minutes from Roanoke and it is a very pretty drive as we drove down Rt. 460 and then turned left on 680 for 4 miles to Sheep Creek Rd. where we turned right and drove for 2 miles and then our destination was on our left. It was a little ways from Peaks of Winery, my husband’s least favorite winery as it is all made with fruit. Yes, I know wine is made from grapes-which is a fruit but the majority of their wines are made from apples, pears and such. We have been out there for 1 tasting but he did not like ANY they offered but the view of Peaks of Otter Mountain was worth the drive.
As we drove across a narrow bridge that directed us to Reba Farm Inn we looked around in total happiness as it is located near a mountain side and the view of Peaks of Otter Mountain is very prominent as the driveway winds around to welcome us to an old farm house that has been added on to and has a true carriage house detached along with several other buildings with sleeping quarters. We found the note Kathleen (the wife who owns the Inn) had left us as she would be returning soon to prepare our afternoon tea (typically @ 4PM here). Her husband had taken a group on a trail ride and she was seeing them off and then would be back. Her directions were to our location we would be staying for the night-down the sidewalk and follow it to a set of steps and our place would be the door to the right as we walked inside. The sign on the door read: Rumble Seat. Thomas and I were impressed with the in ground pool area as we walked to the sidewalk and a covered area they have with several benches and a patio set, wrapped around a stone walking area that leads you to a deck with a hot tub. Thomas was in delight as he felt the weed eating he had done this afternoon; he couldn’t wait to get his swimming trunks on!
Thomas and I took our luggage and things to our place and then returned to scout out the area, Kathleen greeted us around the pool and asked us if she could go ahead and start preparing our afternoon tea. We agreed no time like the present and she told us she would serve us in 30 minutes with tea and “things she was preparing”. She would set us up at a patio set on the back porch of her house with an umbrella covering the table. We are blessed to have another gorgeous pre-fall day with temperatures in the low 80’s here in the mountains and a slight breeze occasionally. The sun is shining and a few clouds are dancing around the skies above us. Thomas and I went to the hot tub and relished in the simple, quiet beauty that surrounded us. The landscape is natural and simple yet well maintained as the rolling hills have boundaries by a white fence line. There are crepe myrtles in many colors and the mums are also blooming in various places around the landscape. The website stated they also offer horse rides on trails and the land totaled 65 acres so they have no neighbors that we can see from here. The soft bluegrass music is playing outside with landscape speakers hidden throughout. Bluegrass is not my favorite but it was soft so it was fine. Thomas and I looked at each other and chuckled as we noticed it.
We made our way down and over to the back porch of the main house and Kathleen had set the table for the 2 of us and shortly returned with a tea tray-2 separate tea pots and a wide selection of teas. Thomas (bless his heart, he never complains but he’s not a hot tea fan though I am so he gracious participated) didn’t comment but I chose Earl Grey for him as it was the only one without green tea or berry flavors (he doesn’t like berries of any kind) and placed the tea bags in his pot. I chose Bavarian Wild Berry (I love any berries) and we waited for them to seep. She returned with a platter of mini sandwiches/spread, quiche, 3 kinds of grapes, strawberries (all mine since Thomas doesn’t like them) 2 different types of cheese chunks, chocolate chip cookies (just baked) and 4 lemon bars! Wow, what an afternoon tea-we enjoyed it so much we decided not to go into town for dinner. We were full from our tea and all the goodies by the time we were finished eating. Kathleen came out to chat with us as she got to know us. She told us they have a total of 300 acres here and 8 dogs that are all rescue animals. They moved here from up north and her mother is French Canadian as Denyse (Thomas’s mom) is but none of Kathleen’s siblings or herself learned French as they wanted to speak English when they came here so they all did. They have 3 sons and 1 daughter; now they have a 1 year old granddaughter that they take riding on the horses already she reports to us. They’ve lived here 13 years and love it-we know exactly why, peace and solitude.
“Travis” the chocolate lab made is way around our table several times until she called him away, he eventually returned so I snuck him a piece of cheese. Thomas and I thanked her for the wonderful food and tea then returned to the hot tub for a while. The sun is now getting closer to the mountain side as it is nearly 6PM. We went to our place we were spending the night and decided to take a late afternoon nap with all the windows open so we could here the trees move when the breeze came and the sounds of Mother Nature.
I got up around 7:15PM and left Thomas resting. He woke briefly as his back was aching so I gave him some ibuprofen and he went back to sleep. Naturally I don’t need as much sleep so I walked outside, down the steps and sat underneath the covered area at the patio set and started this story. The sun hasn’t set yet but it wouldn’t be long. A gentleman walked pasted me and asked if I was getting internet. I responded no but I was just typing my travel journal on Word so I didn’t need it, besides if I had internet I wouldn’t be relaxing probably-he laughed and agreed. He and his family have been here all weekend and are from Hershey, PA. They had just returned from the trail ride and spoke of the beauty they saw on the trail, prior to that they had hiked to the Peaks of Otter Mountain (1 ½ hr hike) and he said the view is “definitely worth the hike!”
I returned my laptop to the room where Thomas was resting soundly and decided to walk down the driveway as it is now dark. Two of the other dogs greeted me and immediately rolled on their backs for me to rub their tummies-they have adjusted to their surroundings well I’d say. The walk was awesome as there are just wide open spaces here and the sky is filled with stars-bright and brilliant surrounding me. Why is it that the sky and stars are just so brilliant when you’re out in the country like this? Is this God’s way of putting us back on his track and redirecting us from our own agenda-if it is, it works. Then I just sat outside and watched as I always look for a shooting star; that is my way of knowing Brandon’s looking down at me. It was about 20 minutes when I had text Caitlynn to be sure all was well; low and behold-there went my shooting star. All is well and the night is good.
There is something about waking up in the country that is just so refreshing. We slept with the windows open and I have the small window unit on low to help drown out noises that the couple next to us in our building might happen to cause. Thomas is a very light sleeper and we are here for a little rest, that we did as we woke around 7AM-refreshed. Thomas headed straight to the hot tub. We are unsure about breakfast time but the gentleman I met last night that was staying on the property in another building said it would be “unbelievable” to quote him. So I am looking forward to that.
The sun came up right outside our bedroom window and filtered above the tree tops to greet us along with all the fabulous sounds of nature and an occasion wood pecker hard at work. Thomas and I decided to get out and absorb the beauty around us as we went for a walk along the winding road from the Inn. He left our room before I did and as I walked out he was standing by the fence where 6 horses had come up in hopes to get a treat this morning I’m sure. There were 2 colts and they were enjoying the grazing as he petted a couple of them. I walked up and petted the darkest colt, colts are so cute and soft I love the feel of them. We began our walk and the temperature is a perfect fall morning at 62 degrees and the smell of fall is in the air. There was a house for sale right before we got to the end of the road so we walked up the driveway to look at it. It has 2.99 acres with it and the view from the front is beautiful as you can see Peaks of Otter Mountain it all its brilliance before you. It also has a graveyard on the property but we didn’t walk up to it, just walked around the fence line. Afterwards we made our way back up to the main house for breakfast.
We entered the walkway to the left of the house before you get to the swimming pool and it lead us to the main house’s back porch area that has 3 patio sets that have umbrellas on each. The 2 other families (1 couple from Lynchburg and the family from Hershey, Pennsylvania) that were staying here had already arrived and were starting on their breakfast drinks so we joined them. Kathleen was shortly behind us as she served coffee to drink for those interested in drinking it and each of us also had orange juice and ice water. Our first breakfast course was a poached pear with a light lemon sauce. Neither Thomas or I are fans or pears or lemons but it was quite good. As we ate at the table with the couple from Lynchburg we got to know them. They had gone on the trail ride yesterday then had dinner at the main house as Ron and Kathleen had prepared it afterwards. He is an engineer that graduated from VA Tech in 1992 and she did work part time but this year had decided to stay home fulltime with their 4 year old “Daniel”. The family here from Pennsylvania has their college student daughter here along with their 12 year old whom the mom is a respiratory therapist and home schools the youngest daughter.
The next course was a poppy seed loaf with a mild lemon sauce topping, hot out of the oven. She served 1 per family; it was mighty tasty as well. Next she brought out eggs benedict and it was all delicious! We enjoyed our food, the company and our surroundings. We all thanked her as she returned with containers for our leftover poppy seed loaf to take with us and made our way to pack up our things from our stay. As we returned to our room, there was a slight breeze coming through the open windows so Thomas and I lay on the bed cuddling and took a little siesta-with full bellies it was a natural thing to do for the next 30 minutes before checkout time.
Carrying our things to our car we made our way home. Thomas drove the back country roads for the majority of the time and as we drove my thoughts always return to the things I carry with me since I lost Brandon. I made the conscious choice that it’s okay to be angry at first when it happened. It’s a natural mourning process. But we can’t stay angry. We can and should mourn what is lost forever because of our love. But we can’t stay in mourning forever. We can be bitter or we can be better. It’s all in the letter I. And it’s all up to us. I choose love so I can have life, and life abundant. “Find something you love to do…learn to make your own music…give until it hurts”.
Everyone has a story different as night and day. And everyone has their own journey, some follow their path, some wander away. But everyone has a moment that changes their life, and then suddenly clear in that moment that nothing will ever be the same again. Careful the plans we make, careful the roads we take. Careful the hearts we break along the way. Careful the things embraced, careful the time we waste. Careful the dreams we taste and toss away. Everyone has a purpose different as day and night and everyone finds their own answer. Some blinded by fear, some guided by light. Yes, everyone has a story-a beginning, a middle, and end but if there’s a God in the heavens above and if there’s such a thing as a thing called love then there must be a way for anyone’s heart to mend. Careful the chance we take, careful the choices we make. Careful for heaven’s sake the road we take…..
