Milling About @ The Evergreen Inn Bed & Breakfast

Milling About visits The Evergreen Inn Bed & Breakfast in Spring Lake Heights, New Jersey. Dating back to 1873, it was once a stagecoach stop. Innkeeper Laurie runs the inn like she's hosting a dinner party or hanging with friends at the local Jersey Shore pub. A great storyteller, she entertains her guests at breakfast. If you're still sleeping or even slightly hung over she is the perfect wake-up call! Her juice glasses are on a slant to confuse you even more. She says, 'it's 140 years old so I don't know if I'm the one that's slanted in my 40s or the house is slanted but it works for me!'

One wonders if her five year-old daughter is an inspiration, joking she's a 'beard' for her goofiness. Leaving the corporate world she fell into hospitality having a Yureka moment finding a Christmas ornament that said 'Evergreen Inn.' Since 1997, she put her management skills to work with a homey renovation. The rooms are named for evergreens like The Redwood, a tribute to The Eagles' Hotel California and her 'thing' for Don Henley complete with mirrors on the ceiling and pink champagne on ice.

It's Halloween so everybody loves a good ghost story. Laurie was busy painting alone on the third floor at 2AM when she distinctly heard her name. She laughs, 'Turns out it was an ex-boyfriend calling from across the street at the 7-11 for a booty call at two in the morning!'

Breakfast is the main attraction with names like 50 Ways To Leave Your Lovah French Toast, Brie Rules The World Eggs; one with lobster because hey, it's the beach.  Laurie gleefully recites the ingredients as you enter the dining room insisting on seconds.