Welcome to the Green Tree Inn Blog. Let me introduce myself and my husband. We are Connie and Gary Davis. We purchased Green Tree Inn in Elsah, IL on June 14, 2012. We are from Springfield, MO and owning a Bed and Breakfast has been a long time dream that we were able to finally realize. Gary is a union electrician who will continue to work in the trade until he can retire. I have always worked in the medical field with the last ten years being spent as a General Manager of a Third Party Administrator. Gary and I both enjoy meeting new people, gardening and enjoying nature. Gary loves antiques and I love cooking. So together we make a great team. My goal for this blog is to keep in touch with old friends and make new friends who can follow the happenings of Green Tree Inn as well as keep up with the activities in Elsah, Grafton and Alton IL.
Just in the short time we have been here, we have already had some extraordinary guests. It is such a pleasure to get to meet folks from all walks of life and know you played a part in helping them relax and enjoy themselves. It was a very pleasant surprise a few weeks ago when on a Saturday evening, a very nice couple from Rome, Italy showed up on our doorstep. They heard about Elsah from Lonely Planet. I had never heard of Lonely Planet. She was a translator so her English was good however, her husband, a dentist, had very limited English. Breakfast on Sunday morning was very lively with lots of questions from other guests about Rome. Periodically our Italian guest would hold up her hand and translate the stories to her husband in Italian. He would then laugh and smile about what was being said.
Just a few days later, a couple from France came knocking on the door asking if I had an open room and if I spoke French. I told them I had a room but did not speak French. We were able to make basic communication for the first day and Gary was able to invite his French speaking friend, Gabe for breakfast the second morning. It ended up being the women’s birthday. I put a candle in her blueberry muffin for breakfast. They asked Gabe to translate that we had treated them like a King and Queen. That definitely puts a smile on my face.
Some of our guests have already included a professional fly fisherman from the Smokey Mountains, couples from the St. Louis, St. Charles, and Edwardsville area just looking for a weekend getaway. A couple celebrating their 42nd anniversary, a lady celebrating her 40th birthday, corporate folks from Texas who were here to work at the refinery in Wood River and a couple spending some time together prior to his upcoming deployment.
This past Sunday morning at breakfast we were having a great discussion about traveling in Europe and were very pleased to look out the window and see four deer across the road. How many other Bed and Breakfast can you see deer while enjoying a great home cooked breakfast and lingering over coffer and great conversation.
Tonight the Inn is full of eight delightful ladies who are here for the weekend to play cards. One of the ladies is from Canada, one from New Mexico, others from the St. Louis area. They have been getting together for the last several years on a yearly basis to play cards, visit, eat and catch up. I am very happy that they choose Green Tree Inn as their place to make new memories this year. Since it is supposed to rain all weekend, they picked a perfect time to plan an indoor weekend.
