geoff Archives - Page 5 of 5 - Opossum Creek Retreat

Rental Cabins, Beer, and Me: A Love Story

The first beer I ever tasted sucked. I was 8 or 9 and it was a Michelob. I still don’t like Michelob.

Everything about brewing beer makes people happy

copper — Everything about brewing beer makes people happy

I didn’t give up, though. I tried other beers (especially if no one was looking), and eventually found some I liked.

Fast forward 40 years. I’m traveling in the Czech republic with my family. We land in Prauge and the first restaurant we go to has been serving food for over 500 years. They just happen to have my favorite beer in the world on tap. Pilsen Urqual. Brewed by monks, the pils uses the same yeast for over 300 years. And soon I am blessing The Rope Makers Wife. Amazing food. Wonderful setting. Great beer.

We soon set out for the countryside. We traveled by train all over for 3 week and tasted dozens of beers, the likes of which I only imagined during my long gone Michelob days. In the Czech Republic, every town has its own brewery. If there are 500 people within walking distance, there’s a brewery. It’s mind boggling. At the end of the trip we found ourselves back at the Rope Makers Wife. My son Cameron took a sip of the Pilsen and said “This is the worst beer we’ve had on the whole trip” I hate to admit it but the 8 year old was absolutely right.

In West Virginia, we don’t have a brewery in every town. But we have one in ours. There are vineyards’ in every direction and a distillery too. But today we’re talking about beer.

There’s a lot to be said for taking on a craft that has been worked for thousands of years. To think that you could bring something new to it, meaning full contribution to the evolution of the process, seems intimidating.

Well, I suppose you could go a little less philosophical and just make really good beer. Most of the eateries and convenience stores have the local suds, so give ‘em a try. Break your old Michelob habits- you’re on vacation. Live a little, and try some local West Virginia brew.

How To Accidently Get Into The Cabin Rental Business

15 years is a long time. I know, because I am old.

After the first 10 years of building the business and the cabins from the ground up, I started to notice I was not being as good a host as I once was. Go figure- I was burned out!

The Ruffed Grouse. He just laughs at us.

I’m not complaining. I just noticed it, and it was effecting my interactions with guests. I knew I had to make some changes. Either hire more people to clean and do maintenance, or hire a secretary, or hire a reservationist, or all of the above and go crazy. (Some say crazier, but that’s another story.)

“Now I’m not a highly metaphysical man but I know that you can bump into someone”… Lyrics by ??? I can’t remember the tune (post a comment if you know it), but it seems appropriate, because that’s how I met Keith.

Sometimes if you are paying attention and open to it, really good things will happen. I had been invited to go grouse hunting with a couple of regulars and a new guy (no grouse were harmed. Maybe scared, but not harmed). As the day wore on and we were riding out, I commented that I needed a “Mini Me”, someone who was a Jack of all trades…

And the new guy on the hunt said, “I’ll do it.” Just like that: “I’ll do it.”

Really?

Sure.

But you don’t know what it involves.

That’s okay I’ll learn.

Really?

Sure.

Really?

We met for lunch a few days later and Keith started shadowing me. Keith saved my sanity and maybe the business. Most of you who have called in the past five years have talked to him and know why I am so grateful. He pretty much runs the place know and I just sit in my office and get fatter.

So when you call and talk to Keith, know that he can help save your sanity too just by making your vacation planning easy and relaxing. Fun, if you want to know the truth.

It’s been a great five years. Thanks, Keith, for all you do.

How We Accidently Built The Best Cabins In The New River Gorge

Well, I never would have guessed I’d be living here in West Virginia.

Really. I was too cool (obviously!), and West Virginia is, well, ah, let’s see… how do I put this… it has some stigmas attached to it, and some of them are true.

Two decades ago, I wasn’t in the mountain cabin rental business. I was a guide. I was just stopping by West Virginia for Gauley Season, on my way to guide the Bio Bio in Chile. What happened was, see, I met this woman, and… well, that’s really another story.

But I’ll say this: after two years of showing her all the cool places someone might want to live like Chile, Costa Rica, Montana, Utah, and Arizona, she wanted to move back to the New River Gorge!

I was a carpenter/odd jobs guy to make ends meet in between raft guiding seasons. One day, there was an ad in the paper for a house and two acres for $12,000! It looked like we could fix it up and sell it, or rent it to raft guides. How can you go wrong for $12,000? Seriously!

My father-in-law, ever willing to see me work harder, gladly put up the money. Partway through the tear out (we took it down to the studs, pulled out the wiring, and gutted the plumbing too) we saw a brochure for Mill Creek Cabin rentals. I can remember thinking, if we furnish it and fix it up nice we could rent this old farm house to just about anyone!

After talking to the raft companies to see if there was any demand for those types of rentals, we decide to fix it up and rent it nightly to rafters visiting the New River. We knew right away we wanted to do more, and two years later, a house and 20 acres became available just around the corner. The land was laid out perfectly for my vision of providing a secluded little place for people to relax, surrounded by mother nature.

Now, I’m the first to admit that I was never a very good carpenter. But I was lucky to have some very good ones help me. The one who helped (?!) most was Whitey. Whitey is as close as I’ve ever seen to a “master” carpenter. He once said to another carpenter working on the job after seeing me up and down a ladder in the same spot for the better part of the day, “You know, I believe Geoff will keep %$#@ing it up until he gets it right”.

I was too much of a perfectionist, and nowhere near enough skill. Story of my life, right? Anyway, I was very happy to have Whitey, and Craig, and lots of lots of others make my ideas take shape. The first two cabins where designed on the proverbial bar napkin over a few beers, and went up with the help of great guys like them. They were ready to go at the beginning of our third year in the cabin rental biz.

That’s how things started. But I had no idea what was coming next.

(TO BE CONTINUED…)

The 10 Best Reasons To Go To The Mountains For Spring Break

1. Cold at the beach blows, but cold in the mountains is pretty awesome (skiing, hiking, snuggling, etc.)

2. You don’t want to be around a bunch of drunk college kids/be a bunch of drunk college kids.

"Look, I'm just saying you should try snowboarding. Just try!

3. Beaches are overpriced. Always. For everything.

4. The beach can get freezing cold this time of year.

5. The views in the mountains are big and amazing when you can see them without the summer foliage.

6. Sand crack. ‘Nuff said.

7. You dare to be different. Just like, say, a mountaineer.

8. You can have an entire national park pretty much all to yourselves (it’s our backyard).

9. Most of you pass the mountains on the way to the beach, or maybe it’s the same distance either way. Total no brainer.

10. No undertow.

The (Secret) Green Story Of Opossum Creek Retreat

Here in the New River Gorge, our rental cabins were green before green was cool.

Wouldn't it be cool to find out where this goes?

I’ve been called a tree huggin’ Hippy. I don’t know about the hippy part, but, yes, I’ve hugged a tree. Okay, many trees. I have also cut them down. It feels great to see it falling right where you had hoped, to hear the thunder as it hits the ground, the back ache from sawing it into lumber, the smell as it is drying in the kiln. The roar of the planer as the board begins to reveals its character and beauty, all the while hoping that our finished piece will do justice to that tree, and stand for as long as or longer than the tree would have if we had not interfered.

Let me explain. Back when we got started we didn’t know that we were building green or being eco-friendly or practicing the triple bottom line. We were just trying to be good neighbors, good stewards and good business people.

Giving back to your community, hiring locally, buying locally and using local materials all makes good sense. And for us, building the cabins to last and be efficient cost more up front. (Building a cabin with full grown trees just inches away from every side is much harder than using a bulldozer to clear a flat spot). If all it takes to make a difference is just a little extra effort, a little extra money, then we’ll continue to do that because it has served us very well so far.

I’ve wondered, though: can you be green while you are soaking in a hot tub, with the A/C on and the Game on the Satellite? Not totally. I’d like to put a pile of coal on our property to show how much coal it takes to make an average guest happy at Opossum Creek Retreat. It’s a big pile, I bet.

I guess the point is we’re trying to make a smaller foot print and maybe you’ll see that you can do it, to and still have all the comforts of home and then some. So, we’re glad to be a part of this “new movement” and will continue to be good neighbors, good stewards, and hope to make some good friends along the way.

Yes, I hug trees.