By Sara Bruestle
At this cozy mansion in Monroe, you may rent a room as a stranger but leave having befriended the boarders down the hall.
About 2 miles from downtown, The Grayson is a bed and breakfast with foothill views on both floors.
The 5,000-square-foot modern Craftsman home features six rooms for rent, a dining room, chef’s kitchen, breakfast nook, two living rooms, an entertainment deck, porch-swing fire pit and a pool. It’s pet-friendly and wheelchair-accessible.
Hosts Mariam and Mark Zinn have lived at this Skykomish Valley mansion since 2012. After purchasing the 1.25-acre lot on N. High Rock Road, they renovated the house to accommodate at-home businesses like rentals, retreats and private events.
A dozen years later, the estate now operates as The Grayson Bed & Breakfast + Extended Stay. You can rent a room for the weekend – or board there for months.
“We’ve had the blessing of people meeting a decade ago, and they take their annual vacations here to this day,” said Mariam Zinn, the keeper of the inn. “They’ve been married, they’ve had children. It’s just an honor watching these friendships blossom.”
The Grayson specializes in large parties and lengthy visits, from family reunions and snowbird lodging to employee relocations and corporate retreats.
The Zinns liken themselves to concierges without the lobby. They’ll steer you to a top watering hole, hiking trail, museum, theater, farm-to-table restaurant or ski slope.
“It helps a traveler feel at ease much faster; not everything is strange,” said Mariam Zinn, a Monroe High School grad. “They don’t have to try and Google that.”
Each of the rooms is named for Washington’s many mountains: The Pike, the Baker, the Olympic, the Cascade, the Shasta and the Cedar.
Before it was the Grayson Bed & Breakfast, the Zinn house was an adult family home. Over a 25-year career, Mariam Zinn worked as an emergency medical technician, medical assistant and social service worker. Although she still does consulting for geriatric care, she no longer owns and operates adult family homes.
“I have a lot of alphabet soup, but it doesn’t matter anymore,” Mariam joked about her medical certifications. “It was always about making people comfortable.”
From many of the home’s windows, you can catch sight of a 7,000-square-foot garden – surrounded by the driveway – with rows of fruits and vegetables.
If basking in the tranquility of the strawberry, zucchini, lettuce, onion, pepper, blueberry, snap pea, tomato, corn, eggplant and broccoli beds isn’t enough, you can take in the splendor of the Cascade foothills.
The Zinns’ gardens are grown to feed the house and neighbors in need. The husband and wife have donated their harvest to the Sky Valley Food Bank, The Rock Church and the Swedish Cherry Hill campus. A water tank was installed four years ago to improve their irrigation.
“I needed to find a good healthy hobby when I gave up riding motorcycles,” said Mark Zinn, a heavy equipment mechanic. “Everything we plant, we start from seed. I wanted to pass down to my grandkids, ‘Hey, you can grow your own food.’”
Non-boarders can take in a traditional brunch The Grayson serves at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
“I call it more of like a boarding house where you can sit down to breakfast with the whole family,” Mark Zinn said. “We try to make it a peaceful and joyful event. It’s really neat to be able to talk to people from different parts of the country or even different parts of the world.”
As well as innkeeper, Mariam is the in-house chef. If you have a sweet tooth, she likes to make stuffed French toast and strawberry pecan waffles for breakfast. More savory options include stuffed squash topped with a poached egg and cottage potatoes. The eggs are from the chicken coop in the backyard.
Another showpiece is the Zinns’ porch-swing fire pit, a hexagonal structure. With five swings, you can seat 10 comfortably around the fire pit. With no roof, it is also a perfect spot to see stars.
“Stargazing is really awesome,” Mariam Zinn said. “We don’t have the light pollution from the city, but we’re 2 miles from the city.”
You’re welcome to bring your pet to The Grayson — the Zinns have three cats and four dogs of their own.
You might find PeJo, short for Peter Joseph, a 9-year-old Great Dane; Itsy Bitsy, a miniature Maine Coon; Hank and Honey, brother and sister red Boston terriers; Jazz, a smooth-haired black tabby; a 160-pound English mastiff named Fiona; and Ollie, a gray tabby roaming the house. The Grayson’s amenities include pet gates for your room and an off-leash area, plus dog and cat boarding options.
“It’s comfort and convenience,” Mariam Zinn said. “If you show up with a suitcase, I literally take care of everything else.”
Contact writer Sara Bruestle at slbruestle@gmail.com
IF YOU GO
The Grayson Bed & Breakfast + Extended Stay, 20302 N. High Rock Road, Monroe.
Phone: 425-330-9491
Email: info@graysonlife.com
Web: graysonlife.com
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