Autumn at Clay Corner Inn

October 30, 2010 – The recent football winning streak of the Virginia Tech Hokies is enough to make autumn sensational, but it’s been an awesome fall around Blacksburg of blue sky, sunny days, cool mornings, fresh apples and Hokie colors in nature – the burgundy and orange mixed with golds, reds and earthy browns in the trees and crunching under foot.

Inside the inn, we’ve added curved shower rods for more elbow room, full mirrors where little medicine cabinets used to be and bright banks of lights in place of dinky, one-bulb fixtures. And those wall mounted soap dishes and dated toothbrush holders? Gone. In the smallest bathrooms, we’ve added side mirrors too. The photo above only has 3 lights, not 12. It’s real tricky to take a photo of mirrors in a small bathroom without being in it!

We are proud to have Virginia Green certification, but Liz is taking everything several steps farther. To reduce water bottle waste, she’s purchased water bottles with the Clay Corner Inn logo. They are full of ice cold, refreshing water in all the refrigerators. You may have as many as you like, and leave the bottles on the counters (or buy one for $5). They are washed, rinsed, sanitized [in our commercial dishwasher] and re-filled with more ice cold, refreshing water.

Not satisfied with any effort less than the best, Liz has a new, stainless steel, compost bin in the kitchen which will be mixed with green and brown organic matter outside and turned in her vegetable garden for next year. We have Aerogrow systems for growing our own herbs and flowers in winter.

It’s exciting to be part of this great conservation awareness mood that has swept the country, our state, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg and Clay Corner Inn. And while we are eco-friendly and prudent with utility usage, you, the guest, are the most important part of our business, and we guarantee your comfort. We work for you! Thank you for coming – again and again! Joanne

Oct. 17, 2010 - So what is it about Fall?? Pumpkins, hay, Hokies, leaves, Thanksgiving, Virginia Tech football, crispy morning air, zucchini bread, chrysanthemums, sweatshirt weather??? It's all of the above and more. Virginia Tech football generates electricity in the air on weekends, and orange and maroon are in the air in falling leaves as well as in the stadium where "Go Hokies" permeates our small town lives this season.

At Clay Corner Inn, we celebrate downtown Blacksburg every day. Apples from the farmer's market are out for guests all the time. Cookie bar starts every Friday at 2 p.m. We have a new, little compost "system" and new re-usable water bottles and new towels and a new ice machine. And those medicine cabinets in bathrooms that so "date" the place?? Almost gone. New wall mirrors and new lights ... yes, ladies and gentlemen, you'll have real light for makeup application and shaving!

It's exciting just putting pumpkins on the front steps. When I did this our first year in business, 1994, John said "they'll never last" ... those pumpkins were there when I put up the Christmas decorations. We love Virginia Tech -- it's conservative yet fun, and the students are respectful. Our pumpkins stay on our front steps one block from Virginia Tech's campus until December. (John went to the Univ of Wisconsin and we lived and were married in Boulder, Colorado -- so he was thinking of those party schools, not the well-grounded Virginia Tech on the next block!)

And we love our mid-week business travelers who find Clay Corner Inn so refreshing and not the cookie cutter, look-alike, hotel rooms. A special thanks to the Nissan men who come repeatedly to visit the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. We're not asking for a car, just keep coming, and we'll keep those crepes and eggs Benedict coming your way mornings!!

Y'all have a wonderful, thankful Fall --- Go Hokies!! Joanne.