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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Merry Christmas!

Well the sleigh made it to The Craftsman B&B in Pacific City. The skies were clear last night so his flight should have been pretty smooth in the Northwest.

Hopefully our new chimney didn't slow him down. Today is a double day for the Salt & Pepper collection. We have the loaded sleigh,

and the unloaded sleigh.

Now that Santa is all done with his year long job, he's back at the North Pole with his lovely wife.

They are singing Christmas Carole's for the last time.

Next for Santa is some sunscreen, board shorts and a well deserved vacation to the tropics.

We hope you have had a great Christmas with your family and friends and as we look forward to the new year, we hope to see you in our still tiny beach town.

Enough cold stories, almost.

It's been cold here on the Oregon coast beaches. You are tired of hearing about it, I know, but it's rare for it to be this cold this long. Every year we've been running The Craftsman B&B, this winters have had unusual weather, colder for longer periods of time. I remember we used to get about 2 nights of below freezing. That was enough for the plants to die off to rejuvinate in the spring. The dahlias would stay green all year unless there was a frost. No time for them to build up energy to bloom in the Summer. The fuchia bushes hold flowers until a frost. I cut them to the ground every other year and they do great on the North side of our house.

We have has snow here every year, but until last year, it melted by Noon. Last year it stayed around a few days. We saw ice in the Nestucca river this year. The banks held ice all day and the surface would freeze at night. We had no rain during this cold snap so the water levels remained fairly even. When the tide came in is when the ice broke up. Thin layers of ice flowing down stream was interesting to see.

OK the story of the week is of the frozen squid that washed up onto the beaches this past week. I saw this story on Oregon Coast Beach Connection: Dozens of really large Humboldt Squid are stranding on the north coast – and they’re making a rather spectacular sight by freezing immediately on the beaches and staying intact.
What makes this incident unusual is the cold temperatures of the beaches are freezing these creatures where they land, and the rather spectacular size of many of them. The squid were 4 to 5 feet in length and weighed a little over 25 pounds. One was as tall as aquarium employee Tiffany Boothe, seen in the photo below.

Because they’ve frozen on the sand, each has been remarkably preserved. Usually, shore birds go after the eyes – but they’ve left them alone so far. They’ve also left interesting prints frozen in the sand, with icy sea water all around them.

“These squid typically reside in warmer waters off of California and Mexico, but every once in a while they will follow an offshore warm water current,” Boothe said. “When these currents dissipate, the squid get caught in water far too cold for them to handle and they get hypothermic and die."

This summer we had very warm water on the beaches here in Pacific City. Mid 60's, when the normal temps are in the low 40's.

Snowman Saftey, sort of!

We have had a few clear skied nights in Pacific City over the last few days. With the moon around it's full stage, the nights have been bright. One thing I learned growing up in Denver is that clear skies equal cold temperatures. Our first freeze was a few days ago and the dahlias are the first to show it. I cut the grass the other day and parts still had the morning frost.

As we are in for a cold snap around the Northwest, it's a warmer cold snap at the beach. I'm still only wearing a hoodie, last time I wore a "winter" coat was 1983, when I moved away from Denver.

Santa and the Snowman must have the same tailor, or stylist, as they are in similar outfits with this set of Salt & Peppers.

That's not the only good news for travelers wanting to visit Pacific City and stay at The Craftsman B&B. With the air temperature as low as it's been, it makes the water that much warmer. It's not often that the air temps are lower than the water temps. So all you surfers need to get out here, catch a wave and warm up in the water. The downside, as always, is putting on a wet wetsuit is still one of the worse experiences ever, so I'll dry your suits in our heated garage.

So come on out this weekend, surf or just watch the sunset, it's awesome when it's this clear. Watch the crab boats at night from the beach and attend our town's Christmas Tree lighting tonight at 6:30 PM.

Black Friday?

The day after. Another fantastic Thanksgiving dinner here at The Craftsman B&B. This year was no different, in that the food was fantastic. We brine'd the turkey for days, it was awesome. Laura baked many pies and tarts.



So yesterday, I posted turkey S&P's, today we can't forget the Native Americans that made Thanksgiving possible, so here they are.

We had a crew of Black Friday Shoppers leave early this morning. If you, like me, avoided it at all costs, great. It cost me cleaning up the roasting pan and getting the house back to normal. So now that the Christmas shopping season is upon us, we'd like to remind you of our gift certificates. You can purchase them from us for The Craftsman B&B, click here, and we also sell BedandBreakfast.com gift certificates you can use all over the country, great for giving to people who don't live near the Oregon Coast. Call me and I'll set you up, you family and friends will love them. They are also good for corporate gift giving.

B&B's, a guy thing?

Those of you who have stayed with us at The Craftsman B&B in Pacific City already know what I am about to write. Those of you that haven't my be in for a surprise, we think it a good surprise.

Our original plan to get out of the rat race was to buy an existing B&B business. We are so glad we didn't. There are many reasons, the main one was we could operate the kind of B&B we wanted to run. The down side to this is starting a business from scratch, read: no customers, versus buying an existing business that already has had many guests and return guests, read: steady business from the start.

Most B&B's in the United States are in Victorian style homes. Ornate machine made trim, large multi-profile crown moldings, gaudy floral wall papers, I think you got the picture. Our idea was to be a lace and doilie free zone. The restoration of our 1921 Craftsman style home spoke to us about the way things were, plain and simple. We wanted to have a B&B that guys wouldn't be embarrassed to tell their buddies about the weekend with the "better half."

Well five years later and the New York Times has caught onto our idea. So have a few B&B's around the country. The article is here. Now we don't have a pub on site like Forty Putney Road, but we do have an award winning brew pub a short walk up the beach. We do have a fish cleaning sink and can also arrange for guided fishing in the ocean or river. Do we offer scrap booking weekends? Yes, but we also offer chair building weekends. A great guy activity, power tools! I'll teach you how to use them safely and how hand tools are also important and a real time and money saver too. This is great for couples too. You end the weekend with two chairs for your deck or yard. I think they are nice enough to be in the house too.

So people out there not wanting to experience a stuffy, overly decorated, lacy, frilly B&B or a no frills no customer service motel now have a place to spend their vacation, The Craftsman B&B.

Music Video shot here in Pacific City

MIKESCHAIR officially released their first-ever music video, Let The Waters Rise. From Mike Curb records, who signed a young Lyle Lovett, MIKESCHAIR is climbing the Christian rock charts.

Their unique video was shot on the Pacific Ocean coast among the beautiful scenery of Cape Kiwanda, right here in Pacific City, Oregon. Shot on the North side of the Cape, rarely seen by folks that think the only beach in town is the one in front of the brew pub, MIKESCHAIR - Mike Grayson, Sam Tinnesz, Jesse Hale and Jon Haire - immensely enjoyed their first video experience. Although, during the one-day shoot the filming became more than expected due to the intensity of the blaring sun, long treks up and down the vertical sand dunes, as well as the sandstone cliffs and gusty winds of sand. The guys laugh about it now, even more so as they continue to find sand creviced in their clothes and bags, a few weeks after the video shoot.

There is no question that filming on the coast, with the dunes, a gorge, and the amazing sunset as the backdrop made the whole shoot worthwhile. The beach town of Pacific City has been known for over a hundred years as a quaint fishing village and vacation destination, a unique geographical and geological area located between Tillamook and Lincoln City, found on the south end of beautiful Three Capes Scenic Loop.




"The Oregon coast has some of the most breathtaking scenery and definitely displays some of God's most beautiful creations," commented MIKESCHAIR guitarist Sam Tinnesz. "We had a great time making the video...especially climbing up and down mountains to get to different locations you see in the video."

Lead vocalist, Mike Grayson agreed stating, "The location where we shot the video was so overwhelmingly beautiful."

If you too like the setting, come stay at The Craftsman B&B and we'll tell you how to access this sceret beach.

The video was helmed by Eric Welch, founder and director for Broken Poet Productions. Welch has also directed videos for Brandon Heath, MercyMe, Jars of Clay, Toby Mac, and many more. Aristo Media is set to head up the video's distribution.

"Let The Waters Rise" is quickly climbing the CHR, Christian (Overall), AC Monitored and AC Indicator charts, proving to be a powerful record touching both programmers and their listeners. This is the group's second single off their self-titled debut project, released on Curb Records July 14th.

MIKESCHAIR is managed by Creative Trust, Inc. and booked by Jeff Roberts & Associates, both located in the Nashville, TN area.

Fishing from a Kayak

One of the most popular activities here in Pacific City, Oregon is fishing. Here at The Craftsman B&B, we have an outdoor, stainless steel sink for cleaning you catch of the day. Most people fish out of a dory boat during the summer. Fall brings the Salmon up the river, so you can fish from the bank or drift boat.



I ran across this video of a guy fishing in the ocean from a Kayak. He looks pretty well set up and has mounted a video camera to his rigging. Watch him paddle out and land a Halibut. If you've ever been in a Kayak, you know trying to pull something that big up without tipping over can be a challenge. Oh, and a warning, if you get sea sick, watch this video with caution.



Thanks to pacifickayaking.com for posting and showing the world fishing in Pacific City.

Bird Feeder

Fall is here and time once again to fill the bird feeders. We are just a bit inland, so we don't get shorebirds at the house, nor do they eat seeds, but you see them flying all over. When we clean crabs at our fish cleaning sink, the gulls find out pretty quickly. They hang out on the roof next door and wait until we are done. Then its a mad dash and the crab parts are gone in a few minutes. Our fuchsia bushes attract many hummingbirds during the summer, Anna's are here year round but we get the Rufous here too. It also attracts the neighborhood cats, so I have put a fence around the fuchsia to slow them down.

So the tube feeders went out a few weeks ago. I wait until I see the first of the migrating birds, the Brown Pelican. I've already had some interesting visitors that I never see during the summer. Our range is quite unique as we are close to the ocean, riparian and woodlands. There are tons of birds here, but they are all specific to their natural habitats. Adding a feeder brings the marginal birds to our yard. I have a feeder less than 10 feet from my desk, so I get quite a show all day long.

The Steller's Jay has been here the most. Never see them until the feeders go out. Scores of Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees jump from the apple tree to the feeder, grab a seed, back to the tree to open it and eat it, then back to the feeder. This goes on until the Steller's Jay comes and scares them all off. Yesterday was the first appearance of the Red-winged Blackbird, a group of about 5 were feeding for a while. I also saw a Starling, I know, I hate them too, but this was the first time I saw one in it's Fall plumage. Golden-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows won't feed close to the house, they like the feeder out by the fence. A Northern Flicker will stop by too, sitting on the fence to see all the action.

The best bird activity I've seen so far has been the confused Oregon Junco. These birds are ground feeders. You see them hoping around under the feeder picking up the seed that drop from the feeder. So the chickadees were all over the feeder and apple tree. There is a lot of lichen on the apple tree, so a few chickadees were storing seeds in the lichen. The Junco hopped into the tree and was just watching the chickadees eating the seeds out of the lichen. It started to hop around the tree looking for seeds too, knowing genetically that this could not be. It did figure out that the seeds were stored and started eating them.

I have another feeder on the north side of the house, out the dining room window that has yet to be discovered. The birds will find it when the south blowing winter winds pick up as it's protected from the wind.

So get a feeder out at your house. Make sure you put it where you can see the birds when you're inside, isn't that why you feed the birds in the first place?

If you want to see the migrating sea and shore birds, now is the time in Pacific City. The Brown Pelicans are on the surf line all day and rest in the river at night. Lots of grebes in the river too. The sunsets are rush hour for the geese, very noisy as they fly from feeding to resting areas.

Come on down to Pacific City and visit all our birding areas. It will take a few days, so rest here at The Craftsman B&B and update your life list of all the birds you saw during the day.

Recipe Sharing

We serve really good breakfasts here at The Craftsman B&B. Well, our guests keep telling us that and they are writing great reviews about it on-line too. We get asked to share recipes, well we really don't do that. We are half a food business, so just like a restaurant, our business is food based. We prepare good food we have tested recipes, modified and tweaked them until we think it's good enough. Then we try it out on friends and returning guests to get their opinion before an item makes our menu.

I have done a lot of experimenting with various food allergies as well. We want to serve all our guests the same meal. If we have a guest with a dietary restriction at the table, we don't want to serve them something entirely different than the rest of the guests. We don't want to make them feel isolated. We make sure all the plates look pretty much the same. That means, we have to adapt "regular" recipes to not include ingredients that a person can't have while making it look and taste like the original version. Sometimes it's easy, a lot of times it's not. So why would I want to just give out all my hard work when that's half my business?

I know it can be a challenge for someone who has come upon an allergy later in life and has a complete change in their diet. Gluten and or wheat allergies ring a bell? Baking gluten free can be a huge challenge. We have figured out quite a few muffins and cookies that are gluten or wheat free. I know oats have gluten, but most people are allergic to wheat, and other long grains, like rice and barley, yes, no beer! Oat flour can be a good substitute, but not if they are gluten free.

I have shared some of our secret recipes for our diet restricted guests. But like any restaurant, we don't share every dish to the entire world. We want you coming back for more. That said, we also try not to serve a returning guest the same dish they have had before. We do get requests and we do accommodate them, just like the reason you return to your favorite restaurant.

So over time, we have shared a few recipes with the world. Our famous Bananas Foster French Toast is very popular and the talk around our still tiny town of Pacific City. Waiters, when finding out our guests are staying with us, have asked if they had the Bananas Foster French Toast, we call it BFFT.

So another guest has been asking for our coffee cake recipe. He has started a blog that is food based and I thought this would be a good post for him, us and his morning breakfast. We've been e-mailing back and forth because we have 3 coffee cakes we make on a regular basis and didn't know which one he wanted. So after a few questions, I know the one. We call it Craftsman Coffee Cake.

If you have had it, I'm sure you'll agree, it's pretty darn good. If you haven't, book a room and ask for it for breakfast.

Best of the West!

THE CRAFTSMAN BED & BREAKFAST CHOSEN AS Best in the West IN THE BEST OF BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM AWARDS

The Craftsman Bed & Breakfast of Pacific City, Oregon, was selected as Best in the West in the annual Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards, 2009-2010. The Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards are based upon a qualitative and quantitative review of the nearly 50,000 independent reviews submitted to BedandBreakfast.com, the leading online B&B directory and reservation network worldwide.

"BedandBreakfast.com surveys show that independent reviews are the most important factor when choosing a B&B. In fact, according to BedandBreakfast.com's most recent survey, 96% of consumers consider reviews to be somewhere between important and essential when selecting a place to stay, and 12% will not make a reservation at a property without them. We're delighted that inn goers concur that The Craftsman Bed & Breakfast is deserving of its accolades from travelers," explained BedandBreakfast.com's Sandy Soule, one of the most highly recognized authors and a spokeswoman for the B&B industry. "Clearly, The Craftsman Bed & Breakfast earned its stellar reviews from inn goers for its quality accommodations, breakfasts, amenities, and wonderful hospitality and service," commented Soule.

"It's an honor to be chosen for a Best of BedandBreakfast.com award, and we thank our guests for the positive reviews that resulted in this award,” stated Michael Rech, The Craftsman Bed & Breakfast’s innkeeper. "It is gratifying that our guests took the time to share their comments about our hospitality, accommodations, breakfasts and attention to the details which set The Craftsman Bed & Breakfast apart," commented Rech. Here's an excerpt from one of our reviews: The room was tasteful and the bed was so comfy. No frilly doilies or wallpaper! The private bath is great, and the service was great. Breakfast was really tasty and the coffee was FABULOUS!

For a complete list of all winners, including regional and international Best of BedandBreakfast.com Award winners, please visit www.BedandBreakfast.com and click Winners 2009-2010.

Founded in 1995, BedandBreakfast.com is highly recommended by The New York Times, Real Simple, Forbes, Travel & Leisure, USA TODAY and many others. To learn about more nearly 9,000 other perfect choices for your next B&B getaway, visit BedandBreakfast.com, the leading online bed and breakfast directory and reservation network worldwide. A variety of search functions and extensive maps enable inn goers to find the perfect B&B. Travelers can make reservations online, purchase The Getaway Gift Card from BedandBreakfast.com, welcomed at over 4,000 B&Bs in the U.S. and Canada, read up-to-date trip reports on The BedandBreakfast.com Blog, read and write independent reviews, and post questions on expert-hosted message boards.

We survived the Tsunami!

An 8.3 magnitude earthquake that caused a tsunami in Samoa has resulted in a tsunami advisory for the Oregon coast. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued the advisory, saying a mild tsunami – up to two feet – could arrive on the coast about 10 p.m. Tuesday night.

“A Tsunami Advisory means that a tsunami capable of producing strong currents or waves dangerous to persons in or very near the water is imminent or expected,” the NWS said in a bulletin. “Significant, widespread inundation is not expected for areas under an advisory. Currents may be hazardous to swimmers, boats, and coastal structures and may continue for several hours after the initial wave arrival.”

The tsunami does not pose a threat to homes or structures along the shoreline, and no evacuations are planned. Officials are stressing this will result in only larger than normal waves, many of which may not be noticeable.

Here in Pacific City, high tide was happening during the expected wave, it was also raining pretty hard, so lot of water. The wave would be a tsunami, but hardly noticeable as any storm surge produces much bigger waves. The following surge up the coastal rivers would hardly register.

The Tsunami might take the sand from some beaches and on some steeper beaches, there may be some erosion.

Here at The Craftsman B&B, Laura was reading her book and Mike was watching a movie. Not wanting to stand in the rain to watch a 3 foot wave, in the dark. I guess we lived at the beach long enough to know not to worry about a tsunami that was triggered on the other side of the world.

Take our Survey

We want to know what you think. Take our quick survey/ questionnaire. We want to know what you think of The Craftsman B&B and as we finish our 5th busy season, we want you thought on a few items that have come up.

We have 2 reviews on TripAdvisor that were not Excellent or Very Good. Both wanted a TV. Our goal was for our guests to open the door to 1921, so we decided not to have TV's. What's your thought?

The other big question is about a 2-night minimum. Currently we do not have one. We wanted to grow our business and get as many people in the door, having them spread the word. A lot if innkeepers require a 2-night stay to make sure the rooms are filled on the most popular nights, Friday and Saturday. We want to be able to have rooms for people touring the coast and only staying one night along their route. Do we charge more for single night stays? Tell us what you think.

If you are a past guest, we sent you an invitation for the survey. Friends on facebook also got a wall post. So if you haven't done it, please do, our business is providing you great service during your vacation and we want to hear your thoughts and ideas.

Take our quick survey/ questionnaire.

Oktoberfest, Year 2

Its Oktoberfest!

The Pacific City Association (PCA) would like to invite you to our 2^nd annual Oktoberfest: Root • Beer • Float. This is a Black Beer and Root Beer Festival, held Saturday, September19th in Pacific City, Oregon. The title is a play on words, as we will have root beer, black beer and the floats are for glass floats. The trophy for the people’s choice is a large glass float and we will raffle off traditional and modern art glass floats to voters at the Festival. This event promotes Pacific City. Money raised is used to buy advertising and marketing materials to promote the businesses of the PCA. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to local charity, Tillamook County Habitat for Humanity.

Our first year hosting this event, we kept it small, five root beers and nine black beers were available for tasting. This year we are able to expand the Black Beer Garden and our only rule: If it’s clear, it ain’t beer!

A souvenir mug, with tickets, is purchased and the tickets are used for 4 oz tastes and 12 oz pours of the Black Beer and Root Beer. We will also be selling event t-shirts.

The Root Beer Kindergarten is a kid friendly part of the celebration. Kids of all ages can test their taster at the Root Beer Tasting Contest, where they try to identify a national brand root beer. The prize for the winner of each heat is a handful of root beer barrel candy.

We will be having live German music and dancing with the High Fives Band from The Dalles, Oregon and Accordionist Lauri Neumann-Grable from Hillsboro, Oregon.

We will be serving German food. Bratwurst and Sauerkraut is the staple of any Oktoberfest.

It all takes place on Pacific Avenue, just West of the 4-way stop in downtown Pacific City, Oregon.

Please contact me at The Craftsman B&B. 503-965-4574 or at innkeeper@craftsmanbb.com

3 states

Here at The Craftsman B&B we get visitors form all over. They come to explore the beautiful Oregon Coast. Many other things bring them here as well; biking the coast, hiking, fishing, beer tasting, you name it. A lot of visitors choose our B&B because of our strict no lace, no doilies policy.

To show us and other guests where our guests come from, we have a map in the landing upstairs. We welcome our guests to put a pin in the map from where they currently live. If they visited Alaska, we're not interested in that. If they were born in Ohio, not important. We want to know where they live now.

So goes the challenge with any project, our map pins are always growing, but we are missing 3 states. We want to show the diversity of our country and we are missing: North Dakota, Mississippi and South Carolina.

If you know someone from these states, tell them to stay with us. If you are from one of these states, get yourself in here. This is a social media experiment, spread the word. To make things more interesting, we will make a deal. If you have a valid drivers license or ID from one of the 3 missing states and stay at The Craftsman B&B for 2 nights, we'll take 50% off your second night. But to make sure our experiment works, we need the help of our friends and past guests, so if you refer a guest from the missing states, we will take 25% off your second night the next time you come for a visit. Make sure you let your friends and family know when they make a reservation.

Good enough reason to get your family and friends to visit the Oregon Coast and our tiny town of Pacific City? I think so.

Parking

The Craftsman B&B is located in a neighborhood of Pacific City. One of the challenges of this setting is providing parking for our guests. Usually 4 cars, so no big deal. When our guests arrive in a giant SUV or 4 door truck, we have them park in front of the boxwood hedge, plenty of room.

Last week, we had several guests with giant trucks, so I parked at our neighbors house to accommodate a truck in our drive way. This is the first time we have had that happen.

So, much to my delight, our guests arrived in a Mini last night and parked where the big trucks park, sideways.