My name is Bryan D. Smith and I founded Texas Tiny Homes in December of 2012. I do all of the web design work for the company including this website.
If you grew up in a very small town, you probably remember taking trips to the general store, where you could find pretty much whatever you needed all in one place! We’ve gathered up some photos of general stores throughout the state, both still in operation and closed for business, that will surely fire up the nostalgia within you. Check ’em out!.
See All: These 10 Charming General Stores In Texas Will Make You Feel Nostalgic
In the lush, rolling countryside near the picturesque village of Hay-on-Wye, England, sits a bus parked in a large garden. Contrary to what you might believe, it’s anything but an eyesore, because this is no ordinary bus. This is the Majestic Bus, a bus that was converted into a beautiful cabin able to accommodate up to eight people (four inside and four camping outside).
Set in the beautiful countryside, this converted bus is a perfect getaway for city dwellers, and its surrounding garden is an explosion of color. Visitors can relax on the patio outside the bus and take in the natural beauty. The gardens, which also grow vegetables, are managed by a local family, who sell what they grow at the Hay-on-Wye farmers market.
Inside, the bus has been completely remodeled.
Source: Have A Magical Stay In The Majestic Bus
With the shores of Lake O’Hara literally at your doorstep, these cozy one bedroom cabins are the definition of a mountain retreat. A queen bed hand crafted by a local artisan is complemented by a day bed to relax and read a book on. Its own bathroom with a hot shower completes the picture. 
After a days hike curl up under a Hudson bay blanket on your deck and watch the mountains change as the day comes to a close.
“The setting and hiking are of course spectacular, but it’s really the accommodations and joyful attitude that carries the magic. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and hope to be regulars.”
If you have never been to Colorado it’s a pretty great state, but Lake City, Colorado is absolutely amazing for several reasons, including the 14,000 feet high mountains surrounding the small, but really quaint historic mining town. I spent most of 2013 there and had such a great time getting to know some of the 350+ locals who live there full time.
Lake City is a tourist town from June through September and can swell up to around 4500, or so, who are primarily from Texas, and have summer homes there. I designed quite a few of our plans while I was there, as reflected in some of our renderings and exterior elevations. 
Engineers Pass, Alpine Loop is a 6 – hour trek from Lake City, but brings you back or takes you over to Montrose, or Ouray I believe. Along the drive you experience visual beauty that words can not adequately describe. And there are other times it can be pretty frightful, if you are afraid of heights, or experience Vertigo as I do. I had no idea what I was getting into when a couple of friends and I headed out for a mountain drive. 
Along the journey we came across several old mining camps that have been long abandoned, so we got out and explored a few of the old homes, buildings. It was easy for me to visualize what the people who once lived there must have encountered while building them, and while living there. Not for the faint of heart, or lightweight city slickers.
This particular camp is now undergoing a full restoration and I will become a lodge with shops and restaurants.
I will look forward to seeing the finished product someday, who knows, I may build a Texas Tiny Home there someday.
It was quite an experience to take this drive, see this history, and recommend it for those who like adventure in the great outdoors. Just make sure you don’t have vertigo, and you’re in a 4- wheel drive vehicle designed for the extreme you will experience.
Tiffany Soukup spent the summer 2013 working as an innkeeper and cook at Seyon Lodge State Park in Groton, Vermont. She shared some of her experiences harvesting and serving locally-sourced food to guests with us:
Living in the Pilbara, about 2000 kms north of Perth in Western Australia I worked as a barista and my husband Chris in the kitchen of an old train car called the Silver Star. Little did I know my choices over the past year to live remotely in the dusty mining town of Port Hedland, Australia would help prepare me for my role in Vermont State Parks this season as the Inn Keeper at Seyon Lodge State Park.
Now I live (perhaps not quite as remotely) at the end of a dirt road, nestled next to Noyes Pond in the 27,000 acres of Groton State Forest. Just as my head cook used to call out to me if I grabbed a plate too quickly to get back in the kitchen, our team members have stopped dead in their tracks hearing me yell, “Wait! Get back in here! That plate doesn’t have parsley or pepper on it!” I would quickly grab a sprig of parsley to strategically place next to the entree and crack fresh ground pepper around the edge of the plate. I didn’t think much about the cook fussing over the plates at the time, but now as managers, cooks and Inn Keepers at Seyon Lodge I am keenly aware of how each plate looks before we serve it to our guest.
In my role I’ve had a chance to learn more about organizations like Vermont Fresh Networks, Black RiverProduce, our own organic garden and shopping practices. Seyon has worked hard over the years to show case high quality Vermont products exemplifing healthy, local, organic foods as much as possible to our guests. People have come to know, appreciate, respect and seek out the menu choices we offer.
When it comes down to the food I try to both eat and serve there are really two questions: 1.) Do I know the farmer, and, 2.) Does it have fresh cracked pepper on it? 3.) Which farmer are you going to support for your next meal?
To learn more about Tiffany’s adventures, visit her blog, Vagabond Way.
Source: Vermont State Parks: Preparing Meals at Seyon Lodge State Park
