Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Autumn leaves?




      It has been an incredible busy summer with absolute gorgeous weather at the McKenzie River Inn as well for Bert's Guide Service. This summer has been filled with new and familiar faces, events and classes and above all the wonderful world of hospitality. What a great way to meet so many people from all over the world and from so many backgrounds. Ellie was tremendous in hosting all of our Living Social guests last spring and cooking all those delicious breakfasts. Thanks to her we have great reviews from all of you!



      If there is a time to reminisce we wouldn't miss out of any of you visiting us time after time or meet those for the first time. There's not always the occasion to talk and thank anyone of you for coming to our spot on this magnificent river as well to those who did rafting and fishing with Bert and his guide service, so we like to take this opportunity to say thank you!



    This last weekend we did have our annual fruit fest. We haven't had apples and pears from our orchard to roll out the apple press to squeeze gallons of juice in the previous two years and had to grab apples from a local farm. But this year we had the fruit. Friends, family and neighbors came over to help out with putting apples in the hopper, to handle the press or to filter the coarse particles out of the cider or just to want a taste of the fresh pressed juice. 2012 gave us 67 gallons and Hubertina spent days in the kitchen canning pears that will find their way to the breakfast table in the winter time and next spring. The following day we did rafting with Bert's Guide Service on the upper McKenzie from Paradise to Bruckart boat landing and everyone had a blast soaking up the sun and get splashed on with the McKenzie's pristine water. 
    Currently we have two pair of King salmon spawning in front of our Inn and many guest are in awe watching these magnificent species. It's biology at it's best. All in all a great way to end a perfect September weekend.



    October is starting off with the same sunny conditions, now all we need to do is hope for an Indian summer.............are those autumn leaves falling?



Monday, July 30, 2012

August?

Wow, time flies, I can't believe July is coming to an end, yes, the one with the five weekends!
Of course we had our event and had a great time at the BBQ. We loved the Raptors presentation as well as the Mobil Museum on Mr. Donald MacKenzie's History. The information from the museum was comprehensive and very informative. In the spirit of Oregon with the rain we raised $200.00 for the Cascade Raptor Center.  Brian brought along a Saker Falcon normally from Eastern Europe and Asia captured by falconers until their numbers are now diminished. The wine from Rolling Bay Winery (featured in Seattle's Best) was delightful and full of flavor. Alphonse de Klerk, the Wine Maker produces such a variety of reds as an 09' Cuvee' Aldaro, Syrah and whites with crisp taste like Fusion and a Pinot Gris.  Oakshire Brewery had a wonderful selection of beers. These included Amber Ale, Expresso Stout, Watershed IPA to name a few. Of course the food was right out of a Martha Stewart magazine...tender pork ribs, fried chicken, baked fresh salmon with a savory sauce. The music from Outcry97 featuring young artist Isabelle was well worth coming for. She is studying music with her dad Bert and makes a lot of progress. We definitely hope to do another benefit in the future and looking forward to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the McKenzie River Inn next year (second week of July).





Bert has been steady going with fishing and rafting trips and as well with marketing and management consultancy (www.deklerkconsult.
com) and we sometimes wonder if he ever sleeps.










Mid July we had a photo shoot with Bill duff Photography (www.billduff.com) mainly to enhance our web site with pictures taken from a photographers insight and expertise. We also met with guests that are coming to our place from the get-go and were very please seeing Dick and Marie Akinson from Portland again. But also new friends made it to our neck of the woods like Peter McKinnon and Nadia and Isabelle's class mate Alex Hilt who stayed with us for six day and enjoyed rafting, fishing and a trip over the lava beds on highway 242 to Sisters.

Yeah, a Month with five weekends can bring a lot of activity with it, but what a great way of getting 
to a mid-summer and anticipating an even busier August.........where is the sun-screen?

Wednesday, May 30, 2012



Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Spring cleaning?

The Inn is filled up with guests and Ellie is working hard every day to meet everyone needs. The garden is coming alive with flowers and the hummingbird feeders are up.
Bert is getting supplies at River City fly shop in Beaverton for the fishing season kicks off this Saturday April 28th with fishing trips and scenic floats. Eighty degrees last weekend and it's still April!
Were's the badminton set?

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Living Social!

Wow, ..since February 27th we sold 217 vouchers through Living Social! What a great success and opportunity for all these people that probably never heard about our place or the McKenzie River for that reason. It's a great way to use the marketing tools of Livings Social and get introduced to a bigger audience. Can't say enough about this! The deal closed yesterday and vouchers need to be redeemed before May 31st. Ellie is taking phone calls and e-mails whole day and goes the extra mile of making it possible for everyone to fill in a spot on the reservations agenda. In this light I would like to publish a response of one of our guests when it was tough to get a room booked for them as well for us:



"Good morning,


 I just wanted to let both of you know that we really appreciate your help in resolving this issue. You could have easily said that you weren’t going to budge and that this was just an unfortunate situation, but you went above and beyond to make everything work. We really appreciate that you were willing to be flexible, and we will definitely remember this in the future.


Looking forward to coming down in April!


Thanks again".


Jason M.











Wednesday, February 22, 2012

There's something going on!

The day-lilly's are sticking out above the soil for more then 8 inches, fresh green leaves on the Indian Plum, birds are singing their songs around the bird feeders and guests are reserving rooms and cabins or inquire for a having a wedding end of summer. This day in February shows 55 degrees on the thermometer.
Thoughts creeping up in my mind about March last year, when we had waterlogged snowfall taking out trees and many branches. Are we awaiting a similar faith this year? Till so far this winter has been mild in appearance although the mountains are snow loaded caused by the tremendous rain showers in January. La Nina, was said last fall by experts, would cause a cold February and March. Well.., blame it on the girl, if people have a sense of spring and are planning ahead for a stay at our place on the McKenzie, I'll be perfectly fine with it!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

No snow, but still a winter wonderland. Temperatures are very reasonable and sun is out every day. Guests are booking for spring and summer and wedding couples have been exploring the grounds for their event. A very good beginning of 2012. What has the Mayan calendar to say about that?