The Plan

With any business, you need to start with a plan. Now our plan for running a bed and breakfast didn't happen the way we thought it would. Here is a video of how my plan was told to Laura not long after we first met.

Big Travel Weekend

This weekend kicks off the travel season for America. So in classic travel form, today's salt and peppers are the classic travel companions, the family car and a trailer.
You don't see this combo very often anymore. The RV has taken over and the trailers are too huge to tow with a car. Now you need a $50k truck to pull your trailer.

A friend of ours decided to do the vintage travel trailer and purchased this.

We wish them a lot of luck getting this in tip top form. Having old VW's and "art cars" in the past, I'm sure this will be rockin'. I mean, really nice.

So hopefully you'll be out there with the rest of America and traveling this weekend. If you don't have reservations for your favorite B&B, it might be too late. Camping in Oregon, too late to. So plan ahead for your travels this summer. Who knows, you may drive by a field and find an old trailer that needs a new family.

Beer-cation

Beer-cation, that's right, a vacation trek in search of beer. Sound good? Pacific City is home to the Pelican Pub & Brewery as well as our bed and breakfast, The Craftsman B&B. They are an award winning brewery, we are and award winning B&B.

Darron Welch, the brew master at the Pelican entered 11 beers to the Australian International Beer Awards this year and won 11 medals. That's an awesome accomplishment, a master at his craft. See all the awards their beer has won here.

We have won BedandBreakfast.com's Best of the West and LanierBB.com's Best Historic Renovation.

We think it's time you visited Pacific City, our still tiny beach town and see how one of the nicest places in the North West will inspire you to greatness.

Don't be afraid of staying at a B&B. We are the "no lace, do doilies" B&B. Men love our place and women love it too. TripAdvisor.com rates us # 1 in Pacific City and #3 for the Oregon Coast.

Come to Pacific City for the beer, stay for the friendly people and great hospitality.

30 years ago today

I am not the only post you will see today regarding what happened 30 years ago today. I have seen quite a few over the past few days. But I do have the best Salt and Peppers to commemorate the event.

These come from a friend who visited Mount St. Helens after seeing our collection at The Craftsman B&B. She was inspired to add to our collection with this awesome, creative idea for a S&P. As you can see, it's before, above and after, below.

May 20th, 1980 Mount St. Helens blew its top. Ash all over, even where I was living in Denver, nearly 1,300 miles away. This wasn't a big deal to me at the time, but now that I am a "North Wester," it's a part of the history of the area.

Another thing that makes this set one of my favorites is that they are glazed in ash from the eruption.

Just a few minutes and the mountain top was gone. I have seen some good links floating around the web today, here are a few: National Geographic has posted some pictures of how the mountain has transformed after the 123 years of hibernation.

The person who gave me the S&P's linked to a blog post today about what people remember on this day, 30 years ago.

Our local news station has a good video and photos posted to this page.

This didn't happen without warning. Earthquakes started in March followed by phreatic, steam, and ash eruptions. Then the big eruption and pyroclastic flow, I like that word, pyroclastic, on May 20th. Wiki has a great article here.

Do you have a set of Salt & Pepper shakers that depict a natural disaster?

Summer time Sunsets

Cape Kiwanda, Pacific City, Oregon, originally uploaded by dibec.

How do we tell what time of year it is on the beach? Well, in our, still tiny beach town of Pacific City, we look to see where the sun sets. North of Haystack rock in the Summer, South in the Winter. If you want a shot like this in your portfolio, make your plans to visit us at The Craftsman B&B.

A horse, of course.

So you own a horse. That is a lot of responsibility. Feeding every day and cleaning stalls, it takes it's toll. We here at The Craftsman B&B think you need a vacation, and bring your horse with you. That's right, you and your human friends can stay at the B&B and your horses will be well taken care of at our local Horse Hotel.

Just a few minutes from Pacific City, our still tiny town, is the Horse Hotel. You can ride on the beach and many of the forested trails in the area, drop off your steed, check in, hit the town and do it all over again. Knowing your horse will be well taken care of and not stuck in it's trailer while you do your own thing.

Just let us know you plan on traveling with your horse and we can connect you with the Horse Hotel.

Bob Straub State Park is a great spot to horse around. They have a great parking/ staging area and a trail on the sand spit that separates Nestucca Bay from the Pacific Ocean. Ride down to the bar where the Nestucca enters the ocean and see the salmon swimming up and the seals and sea lions feasting and sun bathing.

We know you dream of riding on the beach. You haven't because it's too far for a day trip. Now, you don't have a reason not to, giddy up!

Biking to the Beach

As most Oregon bicyclists know, Pacific City is the destination of the Reach The Beach ride held every May. The rides vary in length by where you start, but they all end here, in our still tiny beach town. I'm in no way trying to promote that you stay here after riding in the Reach The Beach event. I have had the same group here since we opened, they have a standing reservation.

I am suggesting you ride over on an alternate route from the Reach the Beach ride. This route is one of the 10 best bike rides in the state. Nestucca River Road.

Get your bike and gear an hop on the, bike friendly, West Side MAX to the Hillsboro station. Head south through rolling farmland and vineyards to Carlton. Here is where you turn west along Meadow Lake Road into the Coast Range. After a good climb to the summit, it's all downhill to Highway 101 at Beaver. Head north just a bit to Sandlake Road, which you can follow all the way to Pacific City and The Craftsman B&B. Click here for a map. A few miles of Nestucca River Road are unpaved, though the gravel is generally well-packed and suitable for road bikes.

So you made it, now how are you going to get home? Well, last year some guests rode back, but if that's too much for you, you can take the bus. The Wave has bike racks on all bus's, pick it up in Pacific City, change in Tillamook and get off at the Hilsboro MAX, or downtown Portland.

What an awesome green way to travel! Stay 2 nights and we discount to room when you arrive on 2 wheels.

Tsunami? What Tsunami.

After the massive earthquake in Chili, the Oregon Coast was under a tsunami advisory. Not a warning, like they had in Hawaii. They were expecting the waves to peak around 2:30 PM yesterday here. So we were interested in seeing a wave 90 degrees to the normal waves we get on the beach. Laura and I went out to the beach to watch, and wait. Nothing noticeable to report.

We have met a quite a few people from Hawaii, or who are now living in Hawaii, so we were concerned to what the magnitude and effect the tsunami would have on the islands. Through the facebook postings, we found out all was well.

So that leads us to today's salt and peppers. Our friends know about our collection at The Craftsman B&B and when they travel, they look for ugly S&P's for us. This set is from Hawaii, but could be from anywhere in the tropics. You would have believed these came from Tahiti, or Greneada, or Bora Bora, but they didn't. They are genuine Hawaiian.

After being in the Bay area for the big quake in 1989, I know the damage it can cause first hand. This quake was much worse and I hope the Chilean people come out of this disaster and are able to rebuild their lives. So if you r are so inclined, give to the red cross to help these people out.

How hoppy is your beer?

Beer drinking isn't like is was 30 years ago, partly because beer making has evolved. Smokey and the Bandit was a movie about smuggling Coors Beer. Being a Colorado Native, a lot of people smuggled Coors Beer in the 70's. Due to the company policy that the beer always had to be cold, they limited it's distributorship to the West. Most house guests we had growing up took home Coors Beer. It was rare and different then what they could get at home. It's a light beer, great for a hot Summer day or to chug after a softball game, I don't know why I know this.

Not that this blog is about Coors, but it is about a beer that is limited in distribution and production. If you are a beer drinker with any merit in your exploration of the liquid arts, you know about Pliny the Elder. This double hopped beer from Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, California. This is one of the top beers in the world and I have blogged about it before. It's hoppy, real hoppy. That is not my taste in beer so I am in the minority.

Well, there is a limited time of the year when the Hoppiest beer I have ever tasted is released. Pliny the Younger! 11.0%ABV, 1.098 O.G, GOBS of BUs, that's beer talk. Pliny the Younger was Pliny the Elder's nephew, in the case of this beer, the "Younger" is a triple IPA, hopped three times more than Russian Rivers standard IPA, and is dry hopped four different times.

So where can I get this beer? In Pacific City, at Twist, tonight! Why is tonight in bold? Because people from all over will be there for this nectar and the keg will be empty before the night is out, trust me on that.

The best part about you coming to try this beer is The Craftsman B&B is walking distance to Twist. No drinking and driving in Pacific City, all the pubs and tasting rooms are walking distance. Don't forget to sample the wines from Basket Case, Shy Chenin, Reversal and Stumbling Block.

If your stuck in Portland and want to try some beers, check out Bailey's Taproom. But I got to warn you, beer and wine taste better at the beach.

Three Capes on Video

Here is another one of Grants Getaways.

Grant's Getaways - Three Capes Scenic Drive from Travel Oregon on Vimeo.

Grant stops at all the good spots and talks to Darron at The Pelican Pub & Brewery, just a mile and a quarter walk up the beach from The Craftsman B&B.

See why we love Pacific City?

Pruning Time

Mid Febuary and your reading a blog about gardening. Well, now is the time of year where you need to spend time in the garden to make sure your spring and summer gardens will look good.

Traditionally, you should prune your tea roses on Presidents Day. Because it's so close to Valentines Day, I wait until I get a nice day so I'm not pruning in a downpour. But the absolute limit is when pitchers and catchers show up for spring training.

Today's salt & peppers are rose buds. Kind of the theme of the blog, if you haven't noticed, that's the point.

We have had some awesome weather in Pacific City this week. I cut the grass yesterday and plan on tackling the roses today. I don't have as many as I had when we were in Lake Oswego. There I had about 20 tea roses and 3 climbers. Here at The Craftsman B&B, I have half a dozen and 2 climbers. All in the back yard as the deer love roses.

Do not compost your rose cuttings! You all know I like to be as green as possible, but roses are the first plants to get funky disease, mold and other nasty illnesses you don't want spread all over your yard via the compost. You may have seen a lot of vineyards with roses at the end of the rows. They do this as a gauge of the health of the vineyard. A rose will show the signs of black spot and other diseases first, so the problems can be addressed before the vines are attacked. Farmers are smart!

If I have time, I will also prune the fuchsia down to the ground, I do this every other year. The ornamental grasses get whacked to the ground and the apple trees get any branch growing vertical pruned.

Then it's chipping time. I grew up in Denver where nothing grows, now I live where you need a chipper to maintain a basic small garden. So get out there and prune your roses down to a few strong canes. Cut just above an outward facing bud and if your roses have already started like they have here on the Oregon coast, don't worry about cutting off some growth. Remove dead canes too, you want a nice vase shape when your done.

If you don't have roses, go get some. Bare root are the best, soak them in a bucket of water overnight and plant. Some come in a box and you plant the entire box. Check out Jackson & Perkins for ideas, and you can get J&P roses at Costco.

Presidents Day

Happy Presidents Day! Yeah, I know, it's not an exciting holiday. Unless your in school or work for a bank. But a lot of people have the day off so it's a holiday none the less. Being the day after Valentines Day was a help to a busy weekend at The Craftsman B&B.

Back to the Salt & Pepper collection and today's are new to the collection. A fellow Oregon Bed & Breakfast Guild innkeeper, Debbie Lusk of The Pfeiffer Cottage Inn in Albany wrote a blog about an antique store and posted a picture of these S&P's. I, of course had to comment on them and after a few days, they were in my mail box.

I rarely buy S&P's, they have to be real ugly for me to think about them. My collection has grown from nice people giving them to me. I like to challenge my friends and family to find the ugliest ones they can. I get my share of cute ones too.

What can you find?

In Box Surprise!

We have returned from our vacation only to find 256 e-mails waiting to be answered. Over the 2 weeks we were sailing in the Caribbean, I checked my e-mail at Internet cafes, just for reservations. I replied to those and added them to my calender, 20 bookings!

I have spent the last few days sorting all the e-mail and opening them by groups that send me e-mail, The Oregon Bed & Breakfast Guild and our local Chamber of Commerce got first attention as I am on the Board of Directors. Yesterday I was caught up and then today I got an e-mail from LanierBB.com titled "Congratulations on your LanierBB.com Award!"

A while back The Craftsman B&B won Best of the West from BedandBreakfast.com so another award sure was nice to hear about. The BedandBreakfast.com award was about our service and reviews. This award from Lanier is about the Best Period Restoration in their Guests’ Greatest Picks Award program out of 8,500 B&B’s world wide!

We spent 2 years restoring this house and it was a lot of work. We love our house and the Craftsman style. We spent so much time deciding how the B&B would look and researched endlessly to be accurate with our furnishings and fixtures. Our goal was for the guest to open the door to 1921. Everything you see in the house would have been in a house of this era.

It's gratifying to see that not only is our service award worthy, but also the work we did to make the Craftsman B&B a special place for our guests too.

Boat Drinks

What's better than sailing for two weeks? Boat drinks!

You know what I'm saying:
Umbrella, check.
Rum, check.
Fruit garnish, check.

Here is our salt & pepper shaker of a boat drink.

The umbrella gracefully sits atop the drink. Fortunately none of our guests at The Craftsman B&B have picked this up and had the umbrella fall off. This is the most dangerous S&P we have, not only is it balanced, but enough boat drinks in real life can strike without much warning. We know you've been there.

The ship we are sailing on has a drink of the day every afternoon, of course last year we had to try them all. I was fond of Planters Punch and the classic, Pina Colada, the more coconut, the better.

If Jimmy Buffett sings about boat drinks, you know it's an essential part of any warm location vacation.

I gotta go where it's warm!

Even Innkeepers need a vacation!

It's one of those funny things us humans do to ourselves. We like to travel and we are innkeepers. So that really limits us to being able to travel. As most of you know, Laura has her own business and with that, she travels a lot in support of that business. Sales calls all over the United States and she is in Hong Kong a couple of times a year. So while she is able to keep the travel urge under control, I'm here at The Craftsman B&B helping my guests with their travel plans.

So when do I get a vacation? Well, the last 2 seasons, May - September, each year I had only 2 days where I didn't have someone checking in. That doesn't give me a full day off as I do breakfast and clean the rooms, but it can be a nice break. I'm happy to be busy because I know the winter will slow down a bit. The first 2 years we were in business, we had no guests in January, so we decided to take the time for ourselves. Here is a Salt & Pepper to give you a hint of what we did.

That's right, sailing. I have always like to sail. I'm no expert, but pretty good a following directions. Show me what to do and tell me when to do it and I'm the best crew member there is.

Here are the S&P's apart. Each sail is a shaker and the boat is the holder.

Last year our vacation was spent sailing the windward islands of the Caribbean. We started off in Barbados, sailed north for 4 days, then back south for 3, a week on the water.

Here is a shot of Laura in the rigging.

We were on the 439 foot, 5 masted Royal Clipper. It was an awesome experience, so much so, we are headed back next week for a 2 week sail. Now if I can only find my pirate costume.

Which came first?

You all know the classic debate: Which came first, the chicken or egg? Well here at The Craftsman B&B, we think beyond those common ideas. We ask the question: Which came first, the chicken or egg racer?

The egg, an ovoid shape is one of the strongest. Ever try to break in egg in you hand by crushing it in your fist? Not even "The Governator" could do it. Race cars need to be strong too. Not only to survive a crash, but to hold up to the power and cornering loads. A famous work of architecture, the Pantheon in Rome, Italy is in common with the egg. This monument has survived for nearly 2,000 years because it's shaped like a three-dimensional arch, a domed, egg-like shape that's one of the strongest architectural designs in the world. When an object is placed on top of it, no single point in the dome supports the entire weight; instead, the object's heaviness is carried down along the curved walls to the dome's wide base.

So here is the driver, outside of the cockpit. The ratio isn't perfect for a Salt & Pepper Shaker, but this is built for speed, too many feathers would slow it down.

Not only is the egg strong, it's also very aerodynamic. The shape of the egg is very stable in the wind. It will want to point itself into the wind. Living in Pacific City, Oregon, the wind has taught us a few things. Like only open one car door at a time, otherwise all the contents of your car will blow out and be replaced with sand.

So come to The Craftsman B&B and over breakfast, you can debate the egg, chicken, racer issue.

Art, or is it?

We have all heard "beauty in in the eye of the beholder." That expression is used for a lot of things, including art. I have a friend that doesn't think any art he could create is art. For example a painting that looks like a bunch of paint splatters or paint that was whipped and smeared onto a canvas with a rag is not art. I have learned that the subject matter isn't the most important thing in fine art, I like great technique. We have a few oil paintings here at The Craftsman B&B that from a distance looks like a picture of a forest in the Spring. When you look close, it's just a bunch of tiny dabs of paint. I've seen the Dutch Masters in museum shows and the portraits, clouds, trees are photo-realistic from 10 feet away, up close they are paint splatters or paint that was whipped and smeared onto a canvas, sound familiar?

That leads us to today's Salt & Peppers. Is it art? Well I think these are the creation of someone who took an art class at the local community center. Where they learned to make jewelry.

First off we have the typical diner S&P's you can buy at the dollar store. Then we have the wire and "jewels." Hot glue the jewels and wrap wire around them. I think these are ugly, just like I look for. But wait, there is some fine technique. The twisting of the wire to hold the dangling jewels is very well done.

Is this the work of a master or just an average person using the skills learned in one class?

It's art, you be the judge.