Whenever Rich and I travel we like to bring back something unique and unusual, something we would never find on Cape Cod, to remember our trip by. On many occasions that has been native art or a local craft item. We have Aboriginal art from Australia, batik from Bali, and Inuit art from our latest trip to British Columbia. In my former life working on board cruise ships, I collected tee shirts from all over the world. Unfortunately, tee shirts do not have lasting value, as I found out after multiple washings.

At any rate, guests of our Cape Cod bed...

When Rich and I owned an inn in North Conway, one of the major outlet shopping meccas in New England, it was not unusual for our inn guests to plan a whole weekend around shopping. They would arrive on Friday evening with maps of the outlets malls in hand and a glint of firm resolve in their eyes. On Saturday morning, fueled by a hearty breakfast cooked to order, off they went in search of bargains galore. We could measure their success by the number of discarded shopping bags, boxes, and price tags strewn across their guestrooms when they...

As the holidays approach and I contemplate decorating the Inn, I look for inspiration from nature. Sometimes nature fails me, so I have to look a little deeper to find unique and creative ideas for sprucing up the place in festive finery. Some of my favorite haunts are right along Route 6A, the Old King’s Highway, which stretches from Sandwich to Orleans hugging the coastline of Cape Cod Bay. Driving this sinuous route is always a delight, as the road is lined with towering trees, lovely old sea captains’ homes, quaint villages, and some truly unusual shops and boutiques. Here, in no...