The Jackson Hole Guide from Jackson, Wyoming • 54

D6 Jackson Hole Guide, Wednesday, December 16, 1998 ri J. i- I 1 4 1 Ate: 7wf vC '1 Barry WiujamsGuide MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY: Guests Colleen and Alan Metzer of Springfield, enjoy a breakfast of banana cinammon pancakes, mocha pecan muffins and fresh fruit at the Bentwood Guests regularly exchange notes on daily activities in the social breakfast atmosphere provide. Knock- Who's There? continued from, D1 The ins of inns Not every innkeeper had the lifelong dream to open a they may have come to it through circumstance, family or fate. It may be their first or 15th career, but they all share one trait; friendliness and a desire to make people happy. Teton Tree House owner Denny Becker is in his 14th year of business.

i 'J 1 ft iv i A valley resident for 37 years, Becker was one of the first white-water rafting guides in the area and was the original contractor on the Mangy Moose. "I've guided everything through the years," he said. "And been on long trips with guests, so I've been in training for this for years." For some, the thing is in the genes Franz Kessler was raised in an Austrian lodge in the Northern Alps. He and wife Carol ran it for a year before buying and remodeling the Teton View. Susan and Mark Nowlin built the Nowlin Creek Inn in 1993 to have something they could retire into.

They have made it into a haven of family art and historical artifacts. Several valley operators have made the storybook transition from the corporate, urban world to the rural innkeeping business. Craig Kelley bailed out of a high-profile, high-stress job with Bridgestone Tires to buy the Sassy Moose Inn which his mother runs. "It was a good way to have a home and a business out here," said the Tennessee native. Bill and Nell Fay, of the Bentwood, also came from the corporate world he operated a lumber business outside Chicago and she was a community resource counselor at a high school.

They sought a business they could work in together. "Look who's innkeeping now," said Nell. "It's not the old ma and pa couples like some people would expect." And for yet another group of owners, opening a was merely a formalization of what they already did in their private life. Pat Martin moved to Jackson from the Bay Area and built Twin Trees Bed and Breakfast adjacent to the Snow King Resort six years ago. "I always had visitors in San Francisco," she said.

"I took in people who were between husbands, nouses and jobs." A room of one's own Just as each has a unique origin, they have identities as unique as the proprietors. "The reflect the personality of the people who run them," said Pat Martin. "They all have something to qualify them." Depending on where you stay, you are likely to get different recommendations on where to go, what to eat and what to see, and each suggestion will be equally passionate Becker's Teton Tree House is run with the magnanimity and sage advice accumulated in almost 40 years of valley living and guiding. "I find a great deal of pleasure when breakfast goes on the table," he said. "The guests and I have an incredibly wonderful time communing.

They tell wonderful tales of themselves and I tell tales of the valley." Becker gives advice on everything from personal growth to minimalist backpacking and the usefulness of Gatorade. "Here they are part of my family, not just part of an ordinary family, but one you nurture in every way, helping them find the very best things," he said. "I can never treat anyone as stranger." Martha MacEachern also thrives on relaying wide-open hospitality and recommendations from the Painted Porch. "We are always telling guests where to get the best prime rib or where the best hikes are," she said. "It's telling people all the things you tell friends who come visit." MacEachern said guests have reciprocated with kindness she never expected.

"Guests have brought presents to our baby," she said. "People are so nice and they pay you back two-fold." Like Becker, Wildflower Inn own-continued on next page Ft '1 St. CSf i 7a iS Barry WiujamsGuide HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: The living room at the Bentwood is decked out for the holidays. Nell and Bill Fay own the five-room which was named one of the country's top 10 inns by Country Inns magazine this year..