…the day when he would defend his dissertation…

…when he would face a figurative firing squad of top academicians and assure them that he knows more than a little about the role of water in the melting that created the volcanoes in a hotspot beneath Yellowstone National Park.

At the end of the session, the geology professors declared Chris Stefano to be one of academe’s victors valiant – and someone who can be forever known as Dr. Stefano.

But that’s not what persuaded us to call Chris Stefano the winner of Adventure Inn’s “rock hound contest.”

After all, quite a few well-qualified people entered the contest or were nominated by others. Even a husband-and-wife geology team put forth a rock-solid pitch for the two-night stay we were offering.

What gave Chris the edge were the complimentary words of the U-M graduate program coordinator who nominated him. “Chris is our resident ‘rock geek,’” she said. “The office staff always forward inquiries to him He is amazing in his ability to tell you all about whatever rock you have in your hand, and he’s great at answering questions about geologic history.”

Dr. Stefano will remain at U-M for post-doctoral studies in his specialty, igneous petrology – which basically means that he studies volcanic rocks. And he’ll continue  traveling to collect specimens for his mineral collection.

Meanwhile, he’ll bring his wife to Adventure Inn in June and tell Nicholas and me everything we don’t know about the rocks on our beach.

Thanks to all who entered the contest. We’ve sent you a coupon for half off the second of a two-night stay at Adventure Inn.

They get tossed like playthings and even cursed at, mostly by people in tender bare feet.

I’m talking about the stones and rocks on our otherwise sandy Lake Huron beach. Rocks get no respect — unless you slow down to admire them.

These photos were taken in December before the ice came in and on the very day that I resolved to own up to how little Nicholas and I know about geology — and to do something about it.

Of course, not every toe-tripper on the beach is a complete mystery….

Contest details are below. You can enter on behalf of yourself or nominate someone else. The winner might be a geologist or a paleobiogeographer — or your friendly neighborhood rock hound.

What might someone tell us about the rocks and fossils on our beach? What to call them, for starters.  How and when they were formed. What they can tell us about the time before man made footprints in this sand.

The beach along our stretch of Lake Huron about an hour from Detroit mostly has fine sand sprinkled with rocks.  But right at the water’s edge, the terrain changes, varying from little pebbles to larger rocks, sometimes overnight. Why is that?

Here’s a sample I toted from the beach. I recognize a Petoskey stone near the center and a fossil at lower right, but the rest? Lovely mysteries.

And what about these little guys? I pick up every one I see.

Between them and my fossil collection,  the basketful on my kitchen island is too heavy to pick up. More mysteries. Do you know someone who can help?

Our lovely rocks are not mere stepping stones on the way to a dip in the lake. They have names, and if they could speak, I’ll bet they would ask that we not take them all for granite.

Ba-da-boom. Here are the contest details:

Before March 8, send an email to Adventure Inn Bed and Breakfast, and in 100 words or less tell us how you or the person you’re nominating is qualified to educate us about our rocks and, if you wish to add it, a pitch telling us how this free three-day, two-night stay at Adventure Inn is richly deserved. Include full contact information for the nominee.

We will choose someone and invite him or her by March 15 for a stay for two people between then and June 13.

For everyone else who’s not a rock hound, check out the special winter and spring packages posted on the Adventure Inn website. Fun ways to spend time, attractively priced.

The Oct. 15 live and silent auction benefits the Howell Nature Center, 50 miles northwest of Detroit, which each year welcomes about 70,000 human visitors and 2,300 wild creatures.

Kili, the bald eagle

The wild birds and mammals are ones that have been found injured and transported to the center by Good Samaritans from all over Southeastern Michigan. Most are rehabilitated and returned to their habitats. Several dozen creatures that can no longer fly or hunt – among them, Kili, the bald eagle – are living out their days comfortably in the wildlife park on the center’s 270 wooded acres.

The humans come to learn about birds and animals that live among us and about how to be better stewards of the land we share.

Laura Western’s initial pitch to Adventure Inn came eight months prior to the event, a hallmark of a well-planned event. It arrived in the first-quarter of the year, a less-busy time for nearly everyone except tax accountants and snowplow operators. The email started “Dear Nicholas and Sandy,” mentioned Adventure Inn, asked politely but specifically for the donation of a two-night stay, and in 187 well-crafted, conversational and correctly spelled words described the mission of the Howell Nature Center and the Oct. 15 event, with a link to more information. I also thought the use of email instead of a letter indicated an organization being thrifty with its resources.

But for me the cherry on top of the request, the thing that made it stand out from any similar solicitation we’ve received, was this: “In return…we will give proper credit to you by promoting your bed & breakfast and your website to our auction guests, our members and our community.”

Since 99 percent of our guests find us on the Web, I had to find out what Laura Western meant. Usually, the most credit we get is to be listed in a program book given only to event attendees and promptly forgotten.

The return email explained that howellnaturecenter.org would give auction donors credit, at least one photo, and a website link through the end of 2009. It was a promise Laura Western could keep, since she was serving as the center’s webmaster as well as the auction coordinator.

Adventure Inn signed up immediately. Then, Adam Buschbacher, owner of the Smackwater entertainment block in Lexington, came on board with the donation of a dining certificate and tickets to a performance of Barrage, an amazing group that combines choreography and violin playing. We called the package Blue Water and Fiddles, a Thumb Adventure.

Whatever their reasons, a hundred more donors than last year gave goods or services in support of the Wild Wonderful Night. Volunteers packaged the donations, gave them names like Spoil Your Wife, and set opening bids for the live and silent auctions.

Among the donors I noticed six other B&Bs belonging to the Michigan Lake to Lake Bed and Breakfast Association. Big Bay Point Lighthouse B&B near Marquette has participated for a few years. Barb Phillips of Dewey Lake Manor B&B in the Irish Hills was born and raised in Howell. Ruth Van Goor of Dapple-Gray B&B, a gorgeous log home overlooking Lake Superior, describes herself an animal-rights supporter. The other generous Lake to Lake members were Grand Victorian in Bellaire, Ludington House in Ludington and Saravilla in Alma.

Having served nonprofits for three decades, Laura Western isn’t someone who would be comfortable with a spotlight turned back toward her. Of course, I’ve never met her and we only once talked on the phone. But it struck me as commendable that she was doing for free what she used to do for a salary. That she was doing on a shoestring what she once, at another nonprofit, had a $300,000 budget and staff members to accomplish.

It’s all the more remarkable when you know that Laura Western, like Kili the eagle, is herself a wounded bird, making the best of not being able to fly.

One of these days, though – when her immune system is back to normal, when the bone-marrow transplant is a memory and leukemia’s return is less of a threat – Laura Western will be back in her native habitat, achieving even more than she does now. When that day comes, stand back. Watch her soar.

When it arrives unexpectedly in the mail from recent guests as a thank you for the great time their family had at Sandy Cottage.

Many of the rewards of operating a B&B and a rental cottage are intangible, notably the pleasure of meeting so many interesting people.

But occasionally the rewards come in the form of really good stuff.

Returning Adventure Inn guest Don and his wife Cathy brought us a beautiful clock when they arrived from Indiana on a Friday in September. Don had fashioned it out of a chunk of padauk, a reddish wood native to Africa and parts of Asia. How thoughtful was that, right down to the selection of a nautical motif on the face of the clock.

At the Lexington Fine Arts Fair the first weekend of August, two east suburban Detroit lawyers picked out a handmade birdhouse for us. It’s tall, red and so gorgeous that if the top opened I’d be tempted to carry it as a purse. Sorry, my feathered friends, no vacancy. Ever.

August was a bountiful month, come to think of it. Ed Rosser of Northampton, MA, gave us his new classical piano CD, which we play all the time. (It’s available on Amazon.)

And a big shout-out goes to the Seattle family whose Saturday night gathering somewhat fizzled, leaving them with lots of beer and wine they couldn’t take on the plane. Beneficiaries of that largesse included Rudy and Judy next door and Charles and Merry of Bloomfield Hills, the B&B guests to whom we served the Bogle Merlot, a wine that has become a favorite at both our houses.

Also in the left-behind category was the lush Christopher’s Flowers arrangement Todd presented to Kelly. But the London, Ontario, couple didn’t want any hassle in taking it across the border, so they got to enjoy it only two days. The flowers performed an encore in our kitchen for the next ten days. Thanks, Todd.

A B&B guest from Southfield came through the door with 12 little white boxes containing bold pieces of jewelry she had made. “Take your pick,” Rosemary said. Those earrings quickly became great favorites. A chemist from Rochester Hills brought a gift bag containing concoctions of hers; love the hand cream, Monica. I also made considerable use of the detailed suggestions on search engine optimization emailed by her friend Rita after they stayed here with their husbands.

Other guests have presented tokens such as holiday ornaments, dog toys, candleholders or homemade jams. More than a few have overpaid on purpose or surprised us with large tips.

At the cottage, someone saw the need for a better colander, and someone else added a “Welcome to the Cottage” sign. Frequent guests Karen and Denis from Flat Rock contributed a vase. Four girlfriends from suburban Detroit installed the guest book – “the only thing this cottage doesn’t have,” one of them wrote on the first page.

Some day perhaps I’ll understand why so many people run kitchen prep knives through the dishwasher – guaranteed to dull them. Hand-washing prep knives is Martha Stewart 101, isn’t it? But dull blades will no longer be a problem at Sandy Cottage, thanks to the sharpener donated by Chuck and Luanne of Lake City.

And that brings me to the Dove Bars. While giving Jim and Cathy of Lake Orion the Sandy Cottage tour prior to their stay last weekend, I simultaneously went down my mental checklist. Toilet paper, check. Trash bags, check. Dishwasher, empty. Fridge, empty. Freezer, making ice and empty.

“No one ever leaves Dove Bars,” I heard myself lament to total strangers.

Who evidently took note.

So thanks, Jim and Cathy, as much for your sense of humor as for the Dove Bars.

And then I told Jim why I was in his shop picking up a round piece of glass.

♥

Michigan’s Thumb is gaining in popularity as a tourist destination, no doubt about it. As just one measure of it, consider this: Among links from Michigan’s travel website, only Mackinac Island and Traverse City have received more hits in 2009 than the Blue Water Area. From michigan.org, the number of click-throughs to bluewater.org was 78,000 from April through July, compared to 4,520 hits for the same period in 2008 – a whopping 1,628 percent increase.

Our B&B and rental cottage in North Lakeport are strongly benefiting from the increased interest in the Thumb, and I attribute it to the Pure Michigan national marketing campaign and to the regional Discover the Blue advertising campaign that piggybacked on the momentum (and funding) of Pure Michigan.

A review of our bookings through mid-September shows an unprecedented 35 parties from 14 states and four foreign countries, in addition to 40 parties from Michigan.  We never had so many guests from outside of Michigan.

I got to thinking about impact of the tourist dollars that are coming into our area. Though I can’t give you the full picture of the “local multiplier effect” that economists like my husband can project, I can give you a slice of it, as follows.

Note that below I don’t mention our spending at the big-box stores, even thought they employ local folks. Nor do I include various sole proprietors who provide services to us from time to time. (Thanks, Mary. Thanks, Bill. Thanks, Loretta.)

As you skim the following lists, consider how increased tourism dollars in your town benefit local businesses, whether or not they perceive their connection to the dollars tourists spend.

Locally owned enterprises who got business in 2009 because we operate Adventure Inn Bed and Breakfast and launched MI Thumbprint:

• ABC Spiders, Wasps and Bees, Clay Township: No more cobwebs under the eaves.
• Christopher’s Flowers, Port Huron: For guests who say it with flowers.
• Company Soap, Algonac: The half-bars of naturally scented soaps that our guests love.
• Create-A-Cake, Kimball Township: Supplies for in-room num-nums.
• Creative Printing Solutions, Fort Gratiot: Business cards, rack cards and more.
• Custom Glass, Fort Gratiot: Protection for a round tabletop victimized by a guest’s carelessness. ♥
• Flags ‘N’ More, Fort Gratiot: Banner for MI Thumbprint.
• Gaye Skerratt-Guenette, State Farm agency, Fort Gratiot: Business insurance.
• Noble Locksmith, Fort Gratiot: Repair of front door lock.
• Port Huron Paint, Port Huron: Supplies for interior re-do of Sandy Cottage.
• Prompt Internet Solutions, Port Huron: Website updates.
• Standard Office Supply, Port Huron: Supplies for MI Thumbprint.
• Thumb Welding, Burtchville Township: Reinforcement of new fire pit.
• Wier Construction, Avoca: Assistance in maintaining what Jim Wier helped build.

Locally owned enterprises who got lots more of our business so far in 2009 because we have guests to impress:

• Bill May Appliance, Fort Gratiot: Fast repairs of over-burdened washing machine and under-performing icemaker.
• Country Style Marketplace, Fort Gratiot: Coffee, cheese, local produce and so much more.
• Croswell Greenhouse, Croswell: Instant flower garden.
• Greenlawn, North Street: The secret to a lovely lawn.
• Honeycomb Natural Foods, Kimball Township: Ingredients for guests with dietary restrictions.
• Marcotte Disposal, Port Huron Township: They take yard waste for $1 per bag.  (P.S. Wish the service was curbside.)
• Mary Maxim, Port Huron: Supplies for hand-made thank you cards.
• Earthly Arts at Northland Gardens, Lakeport: Great perennials, roses.
• Springfield Pet Resort & Spa: They keep our Pucci presentable.
• Yale Heating & Air, Port Huron: Installation of a more reliable and energy-efficient HVAC system.

Partial list of locally owned enterprises that — because of our recommendations — frequently get business from our B&B or rental cottage guests:

• Bunny’s Custard, Lexington Heights
• Black River Café, Port Huron
• Calming Effects Health Spa, Kimball Township
• Casey’s Pizza & Subs, Port Huron
• Country Style Marketplace, Fort Gratiot
• Daybreak Café, Fort Gratiot
• Duffy’s Restaurant, Lakeport
• Hulett’s Farm Market, Port Huron, popularly known as “the corn man.”
• Huron Lady, Port Huron
• Lakeport Market, Lakeport
• Lexington Music Theatre, Lexington
• Mobil Station, Lakeport, because of their Ashby’s ice cream
• Moeller’s Orchard, Lexington
• Pizzas ‘N Cream, Lakeport
• Quay Street Brewery, Port Huron
• Smackwater Jack’s, Smackwater Grille, Lexington
• Tally Ho Inn, Lakeport
• Van Camp House, Port Sanilac
• Vintage Tavern, Port Huron

When I went to my first annual conference of the Michigan Lake to Lake Bed and Breakfast Association, in 2005, an experienced and successful innkeeper advised me to increase our room rates $5 per year, to keep pace with rising costs. Well, in four years, we raised the Toy Box rate by $5 total, and the Aft Cabin not at all. I think we’ve offered good value for the dollar since we launched and even more so as we’ve added amenities.

But every year in January, when business is slower, I dutifully research room prices in the Thumb and elsewhere. This year, I concentrated on the west and northwest areas of Lower Michigan because the state seems to tilt that way when it comes to attracting tourists.

I found a tony B&B attached to a winery whose lowest-price, low-season room is $225 (70 bucks more in peak season). At 175 square feet, the view is vinicultural. By comparison, our art-filled Toy Box is nearly triple the size, only $165 per night, and has 10 feet of windows overlooking Lake Huron. And we let guests check in three hours earlier than they do.

At a boutique inn across a freeway and 3.5 miles outside of an artsy Lake Michigan town, the cheapest peak season room is $215, and you may find yourself under the eaves in a third-floor room. At a nearby inn that has great reviews and décor that I must say looks breathtaking, the rooms start at $165 a night and top out at $395.

Not every inn on the west side of Michigan charges an arm and a leg. Last week in the Leelanau Peninsula, north of Traverse City, we stayed at a well-kept inn in a room priced the same as our Aft Cabin, $140 per night. Both rooms are approximately the same size. Here’s how the two rooms compare:

Nice Inn in Waterfront Village

View: Sunset over a row of blooming forsythia in backyard

Interesting décor? Yes. Indigenous people theme

Bathroom: Two sinks, including one in the room and one in adjacent bath. Claw-footed tub outfitted with shower

In-room amenities: TV. Reading light next to one side of bed. Water and pop available downstairs. Shower gel from Costco. (We booked on the day of our stay. Other niceties may customarily be available.)

Breakfast: Overlooking a massive, beautiful tree. Early coffee service. Juices. Hot entrée, artfully presented. Homemade baked goods.

Adventure Inn’s Aft Cabin

View: Sunrise over a Great Lake from private balcony

Interesting décor? Yes. Nautical.

Bathroom: One sink with larger counter in skylighted bathroom. Larger stall shower with removable head.

In-room amenities: Beverage station in armoire. Reading chair and light. Hand-made chocolates or home-made cookies. Fresh flowers. Water and pop available downstairs. Aveda shampoo and conditioner, handmade soap, hairdryer and hair towel

Breakfast: Overlooking a Great Lake. Early coffee service. Artful fruit course. Juices. Hot entrée. Homemade baked goods. Fresh flowers.

I’ve stayed at and enjoyed some pretty swanky places, but in the scope of things you have to ask yourself: How much better can a night’s stay get at $250 and $400 a pop?

A Jan. 22 Wall Street Journal article described all the ways that hotel chains are cutting back.

The cookie strategy? Crumbled. The coffee? Now parceled out one cup at a time. Marriott properties started making hand lotion something you need to ask for. Wyndham is doing the same with sewing kits, mouthwash and shower caps – and also trimmed the towel allotment. Even the Ritz-Carlton is skimping, by cutting back on available spa and boutique hours and by substituting potted plants for the eye-popping floral displays that once graced their lobbies.

Meanwhile, hotels continue to charge dearly for things that are free at most B&Bs.

Bedandbreakfast.com recently reported results of a survey that drew responses from 1,400 B&Bs and calculated that the value of benefits during a two-night bed and breakfast stay could be as much as $180. Quoting from the website’s blog:

• Free breakfasts for two daily (offered by all B&Bs that responded): $50
• Free Wi-Fi access and/or guest computers (nearly 90% of B&Bs): $20
• Free afternoon refreshments, wine and cheese and/or evening dessert for two (94% of B&Bs): $40
• Tip-free help with luggage and concierge services (over 65% of B&Bs): $10
• Free local telephone calls (75% of B&Bs) plus free long distance calls: $10
• Free parking (over 95% of B&Bs): Up to $50

Some of those figures may be on the high side, but can we agree that these are the extras that can add up when one stays at most chain hotels?

Hotels might get away with cutbacks and compromises. But to the extent that people choose a bed and breakfast for the overall experience and not merely as a spot to lay their heads, we think that parsimony is a perilous approach for most B&Bs.  Our slogan, for example, is  “Luxury meets laid-back on a quiet Lake Huron beach.” How could we live up to the implied promise if we started substituting silk flowers for the real ones in your room or Mrs. Butterworth’s for Grade A Michigan maple syrup at the breakfast table?

Now playing: “Gone With the Wind.” Frankly, my dear, we love Turner Classic Movies’ 31 Days of Oscar.

It never crossed our minds until a September 2004 trip to the Muskoka Lakes area of Ontario. We had gone up to Georgian Bay to kick the keel of Nicholas’ latest boat fantasy. In exchange for joining him on the five-hour drive, I got to fulfill my travel dream of sampling the Muskoka resort region. The three larger Muskoka lakes plus hundreds of satellite lakes occupy 2,500 square miles (so say the tourism people) about two hours north of Toronto.

We rented a runabout, nothing like the fleet of classic wooden boats for which the lakes are famous, but it got us around. Motoring on long, skinny bays, we could peek through the trees at huge “cottages.”  Lake Charlevoix meets the Hamptons. Coffee table books have been published featuring the boathouses alone.

We stayed at two B&Bs on that trip, both of them contemporary homes like ours. The first was the Bay House. Three guest rooms on the lower level of a large low-slung house overlook Bracebridge Bay and Falls and lovely gardens.  Owners Jan and Peter Rickard had opted out of the workaholic life, just as we had, more or less. Peter’s major work had been to open up resort hotels around the world for a major chain. Later, they assembled a cluster of fascinating hotel properties all on the same street in Bracebridge. Then, they retired to their waterfront home at the end of the street but continued to keep their hand in. From the bedside sherry to the lemon ricotta pancakes, in every detail this B&B was perfect.

The next night we stayed at another B&B — clean, nice, but not as welcoming. In fact, we were specifically told not to come up to the kitchen and dining room until breakfast.  A for-sale sign hung at the road, and this couple clearly had mentally checked out of innkeeping, but the view from the roof of their boathouse made up for all shortcomings.

It was there, as the moon came up, that I first processed the B&B idea: Our big house and lack of family to fill it; the way the moon comes up over our lake, too, and how fun it would be to amp up the Toy Box decorating. Our love of a challenge trumped our complete lack of hotel know-how, I figured, and besides, we had now experienced B&B perfection and knew what to aim for. All in all, this was yet another fine reason to put off writing my novel.

I laid out the concept on the way home. Eyebrows were raised. But over the next few months, the idea took hold, and eight months later, we hung out our sign.

Now playing: “October Sky,” with Jake Gyllenhaal in his first lead role, playing Homer Hickam, future aerospace engineer.

A B&B package typically consists of lodging and breakfast plus a bundle of goodies, such as dining certificates, theater tickets, massage or other pampering, or mugs emblazoned with the inn’s logo. Some B&Bs, however, present packages as separately priced add-ons to the price of whatever room you choose.

Packages are a deal to the extent that prices of the components add up to less than what you’d pay on your own. If the package price sometimes is more than the sum of its parts – well, please consider the value of the time you’ve saved in not having to make all the arrangements. Might be worthwhile.

What if you don’t see quite the package that appeals to you and your darling? Just ask. The innkeeper’s response should be: “Let me customize a package for you.” In fact, if that’s not the response, what does it say about the quality of hospitality to expect at that B&B?

A “special” at a B&B is usually just a discount, such as 10-to-20 percent off if it’s your birthday or your names are Bob and Mary. To me, inventive discounts say that the innkeepers want to fill rooms but are still having fun as innkeepers. Mere dollars-off discounts are not only boring but also can sound a note of desperation. Makes me wonder if their somethin’ from the oven is gonna be somethin’ from Sara Lee.

Now playing: “Legs” by ZZ Top

You can have as much privacy as you want at a bed and breakfast, so long as the hosts are perspicacious and considerate and you, as guest, communicate your wishes.

When Nicholas and I first started going to B&Bs, we sometimes wondered where the line of polite civility was between treating our hosts like long-lost friends and pretending they weren’t there. Today, as innkeepers, we assume some guests wonder the same thing.

On the one hand, you’re a guest in someone’s home, at least in the case of most small B&Bs like ours. On the other hand, you’re enjoying a getaway, probably one that is much needed and whose underlying principle is: GET AWAY.

What we discovered after a few bed and breakfast stays is that the more we kept to ourselves, the more space and privacy we were accorded. When we were chatty, so were the hosts.

People who operate bed and breakfasts are comfortable with meeting new people and sharing their living space. They know you didn’t come to see them. You have no social obligation beyond treating their home as you would want someone to treat yours.

Now playing: “I’ve Got To See You Again,” Norah Jones