Dan is also very active in the Bed and Breakfast Association of Virginia (StayVA), where he served several years as board member and spent time as President, Vice President, and Treasurer. His cooking role is generally limited to making the bacon or sausage for breakfast (‘cause it’s hard to screw that up). Really happy.ĭan spends most of his time behind the scenes on the business side of things and trying to maintain this old house, keeping the lawn and gardens looking good, and in the summer, making sure the pool is clean and clear. He was also an accountant for most of his corporate life and is really, really, really happy to be out of that now. Dan thinks she’s got an addiction to vacuuming, but she swears she doesn’t.ĭan (DANN) is originally from Western New York but moved to the mid-Atlantic to attend college (Georgetown University) and ultimately grad school (George Mason University). She actually enjoys cleaning (well, most of the time). She spends a lot of her time making sure that all of the rooms are perfect for the next folks checking in. Orquida plans and prepares those fantastic breakfasts each day and serves as caring hostess to all of our great guests. She worked long hours back then too, but now the commute is much shorter. She graduated from Marymount University and prior to becoming an innkeeper spent over a decade in various accounting positions, primarily with defense contractors. Orquida (or-KWEE-dah) hails from Northern Virginia, by way of Miami where she was born.
What makes it fun is the opportunity to meet so many kind and interesting people from across the country and around the world. Of course, there are always challenges and more things to learn, but that’s what makes it interesting. But after thirteen years and serving over 15,000 guests, they’re starting to get this innkeeping thing figured out. It certainly hasn’t always been smooth sailing, what with no experience and a 160-year-old house to deal with. Within four years, in the summer of 2002, they left their townhouse and jobs in Northern Virginia and bought this magnificent house in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains to become innkeepers. It was at that moment that they realized they had stumbled across their future careers and lifestyle. It was their first B&B experience and it ended up changing their lives.
While on their honeymoon in 1998, Orquida and Dan Ingraham had the pleasure of staying at a couple of very impressive bed & breakfast inns in Arizona and New Mexico.