White Oak Conservation Center is just a 45 minute drive from the Addison. Until recently they have been closed to the general public for tours but that is changing. Lee and I took one of their tours yesterday and had the most fun (educational fun) that we have had in ages.

White Oak specializes in the conservation of some of the world’s most endangered animals. White Oak is home to species such as cheetah, rhinos, okapi and many more.

We toured in an open van with Randy who knows so much about the animals, why they are endangered and what is being done to protect the species. We saw cheetah (cubs and full grown), three varieties of rhino, antelope, gazelle and, my favorite, the giraffes. We got to feed the giraffes and I had my arm muzzled by a baby rhino. This is a real up-close and personal tour.

One frequently asked FAQ question that we get is “Do you ever shut down the inn and go on vacation?”. We do occasionally shut the inn down during slow periods for maintenance purposes but once every few years family comes to visit and we close the inn to spend a little quality time with them. And paying guests here for a romantic weekend just might not find the charm of naked little grandchildren running in circles in the courtyard laughing their faces off.

Eldest son, Matt, and his family were here for most of last week. When they left their home in northern Alberta it was minus 39 so they were really enjoying the 70 degree January weather here on Amelia Island. The family got a little beach time and parents got a break from the kids while Grandma Shannon just loved looking after them.

Here we have a passive, green approach to mosquito control. Bats will eat 600 mosquitos an hour as they fly around at night. All they need is somewhere to live.

This bat house was just installed on the back of one of the Addison’s courtyard buildings where it is out of sight. It is a deluxe 2-hole house. Apparently if you put up a 1-hole house all you get is bachelor bats. A 2-holed house attracts breeding bat families. The local bats must be pretty small as the slot for them to climb up in and roost is only 1/2 inch wide.

We have a lot of guests at the Addison who are celebrating wedding anniversaries so you’d think we would be in tune with our own. Funny story about our recent anniversary….

Shannon and I were married 32 years ago on November 30th. On December 3rd, Shannon walked into the kitchen and asked “Guess what we forgot?” I was in the middle of breakfast prep so I’m thinking I forgot the potatoes or to squeeze juice but it turns out we both forgot our anniversary. I guess with all the excitement of Thanksgiving, the B&B Cookie Tour, Christmas decorating and preparing our list of grievances for Festivus we just got run over by the holidays and forgot.

Thank you all for your e-mail, posts and calls about our situation on Amelia Island. Truth be told…. we have no situation on Amelia Island, we are pretty much like we were last week before Hurricane Matthew. The island is in remarkably good shape considering we just had a Cat 3 hurricane off the coast. Some of the piers in the marina suffered some damage but the restaurants are open, the Addison is open and fully operational, the downtown looks great and I think there is more sand on Main Beach than there was before the storm.

We are on Day 8 of “No Adult Supervision” at the Addison. That is what I call it when Shannon goes to Canada to visit family and I stay behind to run the inn. No adult supervision. Don’t worry, Lee, our Operations Manager, is here keeping me from accidently burning the house down.

So, what do we do when Shannon is gone for three weeks? Lee takes over the creative side of the kitchen and I continue to do what I am told to do. No real change there, the inn runs as usual.