January 17, 2025 • 32 mins
Have you ever dreamed of escaping the chaos of life and finding a place where peace and connection thrive? In this episode of Total Michigan, we take you to Glenn Meadow Bed & Breakfast in South Haven, a haven of tranquility where strangers become friends and lives are transformed.
Tracey Davis, co-owner of Glenn Meadow, shares her journey from California’s bustling culture to Michigan’s serene shores. Hear how her love for seasons and her passion for creating authentic connections inspired her and her husband Mark to turn their property into a retreat that is as much about the soul as it is about hospitality.
Glenn Meadow is more than a bed and breakfast—it’s a place of healing and community. Tracey recounts powerful stories of guests finding comfort, forging friendships, and rediscovering joy. Whether it’s a grieving widow finding peace or children reconnecting with nature, Glenn Meadow proves that even in our fast-paced world, the simple act of slowing down can create lasting change.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- The story behind Glenn Meadow: How Tracey and Mark turned a dream into a space that brings people together.
- The healing power of connection: Heartfelt stories of guests finding peace and forging lifelong bonds.
- Legacy and purpose: How Glenn Meadow is more than a business—it’s a testament to the impact of meaningful work in later life.
This episode will inspire you to slow down, connect, and create your own legacy. Don’t miss it!
Links:
Website: http://glennmeadowbb.com/
6846 114th Ave., South Haven, MI 49090
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Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@totalmichigan
Show Notes:
00:00 Introduction
01:55 Discovering Michigan: A Californian's Perspective
05:48 The Journey to Vocal Performance
08:05 Starting a Family in South Haven
10:32 Transitioning to a Bed & Breakfast
15:21 Creating a Legacy: Expanding the B&B
16:46 Heartwarming Guest Stories
22:14 The Serendipity of Glenn Meadow
25:40 What to Expect at Glenn Meadow
31:07 How to Book Your Stay
31:58 Conclusion and Farewell
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tracey Davis (00:00):
We saw the hunger and the need for people to be
able to come to a place wherethey could find peace and quiet.
We knew that one of the lost artsis conversing with each other.
Our vision was to have a gatheringplace, where persons could come from
different places with different issues,life happens, sit around a table and
(00:24):
get to know each other That is thelegacy work we really wanted to do.
Cliff Duvernois (00:28):
Hello everyone.
And welcome back to Total Michigan,where we interview ordinary Michiganders
doing some pretty extraordinary things.
I'm your host, Cliff Duvernois.
In going around the state and all thetravels that we do and the number of
Michiganders who actually travel in thestate of Michigan, it's always great
when we find these people that havetaken their homes and really opened them
(00:48):
up in the form of a bed and breakfast.
So that way we can really spendtime with the locals in the area
and get to know them, get the placesto eat and all of those stuff.
And it's just, it's a real treatwhen we find somebody that's
really doing something specialwith their bed and breakfast.
So today I am in South Haven and we'reactually talking with one of the owners
(01:14):
of Glenn Meadow, Bed & Breakfast.
Tracey Davis (01:17):
That's right.
Cliff Duvernois (01:17):
That's right.
And they're doing some pretty coolthings here and joining us today to walk
us through this story is Tracey Davis.
Tracey, how are you?
Tracey Davis (01:26):
I am good.
I'm excited to be with you.
Cliff Duvernois (01:29):
And we're excited to have you.
So if you would real quick, tell uswhat is Glenn Meadow Bed and Breakfast?
Tracey Davis (01:35):
Glenn Meadow Bed and Breakfast is a very small, we have
five rooms, bed and breakfast, and it'san old fashioned bed and breakfast.
That's people look at that.
We definitely have a large countrybreakfast every morning when a
person stays with us and we gatheraround the table and we talk
and share and have a good time.
Cliff Duvernois (01:55):
And if you would, tell us, where are you from?
Where did you grow up?
Tracey Davis (01:59):
Well, I grew up in California.
Cliff Duvernois (02:01):
Okay.
Tracey Davis (02:01):
Yep.
And my We won't hold
Cliff Duvernois (02:03):
that against you.
I lived in California, so.
Tracey Davis (02:06):
My ex hubby, grew up in South Haven, Michigan,
which is the connection there.
And I discovered many, many years agothat I needed to live by a body of
water I couldn't see the other side of.
Really important for me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I went, I was doing my, graduate work in,in the desert at Arizona State University
and was geographically miserable.
(02:29):
So I would, I knew I needed water.
So here I am.
Cliff Duvernois (02:33):
And now I got to, cause I got to ask the question here.
If you grew up in California and you'restudying in Arizona, what was your
thoughts when you came here to Michigan?
Tracey Davis (02:44):
I loved this place right out of the gate.
And I thought it was beautiful.
It seemed to haveeverything that I cherished.
I really love the change of seasons.
I have always been drawn to that.
Right.
And.
The ability, I came at a time, myfirst visit, when everything was
blossoming and everything is just.
Cliff Duvernois (03:07):
Michigan at its best.
Tracey Davis (03:08):
Oh man, just really good.
Fresh fruits, fresh, I mean there'sso much agriculture around here
and I just absolutely fell in love.
Cliff Duvernois (03:17):
So now when you talk about life in California, just, just to
give us all a little bit of perspective.
You lived in, I guess forlack of a better term, the L.
A.
basin.
Right.
Tracey Davis (03:28):
Right.
Cliff Duvernois (03:29):
So you didn't get a chance to see very many
seasons while you were there.
I mean, a change of season isone day you're wearing a t shirt.
The next day you might haveto put on a sweatshirt.
Tracey Davis (03:37):
Well, it gets foggy.
Cliff Duvernois (03:39):
Yeah.
Yes, it does.
Tracey Davis (03:40):
Um, We would, Travel to seek out snow, you know, we would travel to,
look at pretty color, that kind of thing.
But family, my extendedfamily was still in Montana.
I mean, as young, young children,we migrated to California.
I was well aware of seasons, andoften, more often than not, we
(04:03):
would vacation back in Montana.
and we would try to hit all theseasons, and so it wasn't foreign to us.
Cliff Duvernois (04:10):
Right.
Tracey Davis (04:10):
I was the, I believe, the one holdout sibling that, Realized it
was going to be important to me, to mywell being to be in the four seasons,
Cliff Duvernois (04:21):
right?
Tracey Davis (04:22):
Yeah,
Cliff Duvernois (04:23):
because you were sharing with you for the microphones went hot
that all of your siblings siblingsstill live in that area of California
don't you tell us a little bit becauseI'm kind of curious about this from
your perspective Wait, what reallyis kind of like the key differences
between California and Michigan thatmade you want to stay in Michigan?
Tracey Davis (04:40):
California.
Oh, forgive me, Californians.
If you're listening out there, Californiahas a, a tendency to superficiality.
There is everybody needs to be thinand beautiful and golden and drive the
right cars and live in the right areas.
And that was never compelling to me.
Cliff Duvernois (05:02):
Oh, interesting.
Tracey Davis (05:02):
Um, And when I came here, the Midwest, I was a little concerned.
I thought I might be going back 150 years.
I'm a bit of a women's limber.
And just wasn't so.
I mean, I'm sure there are pocketsof areas that would, would represent
that Midwest's kind of, uh, Right.
(05:23):
But when I moved to this area, there wasnever a passion of mine or an interest of
mine that I wasn't able to find someoneto mentor me or walk side by side with,
whether it was literature or, or musicor theater or all of those things that
I didn't expect to find here are here.
(05:45):
They're alive and well.
So that was important.
Cliff Duvernois (05:48):
Now, where did, because I know this is going to
really impact our story later on,where did this thirst for art and
literature, where did that come from?
Tracey Davis (05:58):
My undergrad was vocal performance, so,
um, that is, that's really it.
Theater and music and all ofthat is a huge piece of who I am.
so I would say that although we grewup in a wonderful community, my father
(06:20):
was an academic, he was a teacher.
And we.
didn't have a lot of money, so wejust would hang out at museums and,
really my parents were really goodabout taking us to all of the beautiful
things that were available in the LosAngeles area that inspired creativity.
I mean, that was, we didn'thave a lot of money, extra
(06:42):
money, but that's what we did.
Cliff Duvernois (06:44):
And
Tracey Davis (06:45):
that informs who you are and what you love, I think.
Cliff Duvernois (06:49):
Definitely.
What made you decideto get into vocal as a,
Tracey Davis (06:53):
I have some good pipes, you know, I have, I'm jealous.
Yeah.
I was a serious singer.
I sing, um, opera.
Cliff Duvernois (07:00):
Holy cow.
That's like a whole other level.
This isn't just, you know,like a little auto tune.
I mean, you gotta have goodpipes to sing opera, like magic
flute or anything like that.
Tracey Davis (07:11):
I, as I aged throughout time, I, even in this area, this
region I have done quite a bit ofperforming, mostly recital or for event
kinds of things, but, I was alwaysinterested in as we age, of course,
our vocal abilities are muscular.
I mean, they are, we have to exercisethem and use them and all of that.
(07:34):
And as we age, certain things happen.
But what also happensalong sidling up with that?
Is life experience.
So some of those songs that I singdifferently as a 20 30 40 year old
that I'm singing now as a 70 year old.
What can I bring more living to that?
Cliff Duvernois (07:56):
Right?
Tracey Davis (07:57):
So it might not be as technically strong, but it is.
It's other.
There's something else there, right?
You know, yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (08:05):
At some point you finished up with college and you met your
first husband who was from South Havenand you both decided to move back here.
Why?
Tracey Davis (08:15):
Because we were starting a family and I knew that that was
really important to I really knewthat a smaller community was the focus
that we wanted to do and I alreadywas crazy about South Haven anyway.
Cliff Duvernois (08:28):
Because you'd been here.
Yeah.
To visit.
Tracey Davis (08:30):
To visit.
Sure.
Cliff Duvernois (08:31):
Nice.
Yeah.
Now, what did you do at that time?
Were you pretty much primarilylike a stay at home mom?
Okay.
I was
Tracey Davis (08:37):
for eight years.
and that was a very, it was anincredible time really to be
able to spend with the boys.
I, I mean, we went, we were at thattime living in the teeming metropolis of
South Haven itself, right there in town.
And we would go to the beach, you Asany day that we possibly could hang out
and they were building the itinerantmarina and we would go down and watch
(08:58):
them build and it was just idyllic.
It really was
Cliff Duvernois (09:01):
right.
Tracey Davis (09:02):
Perfect.
Cliff Duvernois (09:02):
And then at some point now you've met your current husband.
Tracey Davis (09:05):
Uh, like 12 years ago.
Cliff Duvernois (09:07):
Now, the question I got is, and I'm leading up to this because.
As retirement approaches, you'restarting to think about what that
next chapter looks like, right?
So talk to us about that.
Okay.
Tracey Davis (09:22):
When you have a later in life relationship,
all of that gets looked at.
how are, because really you'rein a relationship that is
the last third of your life.
Cliff Duvernois (09:32):
Correct.
Tracey Davis (09:33):
And so the end game exit strategies kinds of
are always under, um, discussion.
And Mark is a fixer.
He is a, he, he repairs everythinghe, he does every, he loves to
do all of that kind of stuff.
Cliff Duvernois (09:51):
Right.
Tracey Davis (09:51):
And, he loves to garden, which all of the things
that we do here are a delight to us.
So it's not.
As if what is required is a burden.
So as long as our healthholds, we're good.
We're good.
but we, yeah, the gardening and wedo all of the work outside ourselves.
(10:13):
And, you know, we realize as we age,because I'm, we're 70 at this point.
we can, we can get help if we need it.
But it's fun to do it right now.
We can.
Cliff Duvernois (10:23):
So when you talk about, basically like a later
in life relationship, right?
What's, what's that exitstrategy looks like?
some point, you and Mark hada conversation about let's
open up a bed and breakfast.
Tracey Davis (10:40):
Well, when I.
met Mark, we were already, we had alreadyturned one of the rooms that the existing,
that extended stay room was already onthe, I was doing Airbnb with that room.
Cliff Duvernois (10:55):
Oh, okay.
Tracey Davis (10:57):
as he entered my life, that was already a happening.
Situation.
So we were just doingit on a smaller scale.
Cliff Duvernois (11:05):
Right.
Tracey Davis (11:06):
So we knew what we were getting into.
Cliff Duvernois (11:08):
So when you talk about putting out these rooms on Airbnb,
was this, was this like the rooms thatyour, that your kids would stay in?
Right,
Tracey Davis (11:16):
exactly.
They were the boys rooms that weconverted into that extended studio.
Cliff Duvernois (11:20):
So where did the idea come from?
Okay.
To take their bedroomsand put 'em on Airbnb.
Tracey Davis (11:24):
I always have a lot of company.
Usually this is a very quiet time Cliff.
Usually there it's a revolvingdoor around these parts.
Cliff Duvernois (11:32):
I bet.
Tracey Davis (11:33):
But people would come and visit and I'm a good cook.
I like to cook.
Right.
My, my sister said, you know what?
My neighbor in California hasa, a space in their backyard
that they have turned into.
And this new company was juston the horizon at that point.
Airbnb, it was just coming onto the scene.
And she said, you should do that, Tracey.
(11:55):
You're already entertaining all thetime and you're cooking all the time.
And why not be able to, tomonetize that a little bit.
And I said, Oh, okay.
And, So that's when itall started, really.
Now, we have, other platforms,we can talk about that later,
we aren't just doing Airbnb.
but that's where, fromwhence it grew, right?
Cliff Duvernois (12:16):
So then obviously you had a positive experience.
Absolutely.
With Airbnb and the gueststhat are staying here.
Tracey Davis (12:22):
And actually, from the beginning, for all the years
that we have done this and hadpeople sitting at our table and
have people sharing in our lives,because we live here on the property.
One time did I ever have tohave to ask anyone to leave.
Cliff Duvernois (12:36):
Wow.
Tracey Davis (12:37):
One.
That's hundreds of people by now.
Cliff Duvernois (12:40):
Great.
Tracey Davis (12:41):
Mostly, it has been just an absolute joy, really.
Cliff Duvernois (12:45):
Now, as you're going through this experience with, Airbnb,
and you've got these guests that arecoming, at what point did you say
to yourself, We need to go bigger.
We need to expand.
We need more rooms.
Tracey Davis (12:58):
I really think it was when we were considering retirement.
That is so odd, isn't it?
It really is.
It's it said, because then Icould full time focus on it.
And because I was working fulltime, Mark was working full
time, you know, we had careers.
This also was a working farm.
So we were, I mean, we were doing alot of work Knowing that we were not
(13:19):
going to have any more animals here, andknowing that I wasn't going to have to
be hanging a field or this, that, or theother thing, cleaning rooms, well, that's
small potatoes next to that kind of work.
Cliff Duvernois (13:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
For audience, we're going to take aquick break and thank our sponsors.
When we come back, we're goingto continue our conversation with
Tracey Davis of Glenn Meadow, Bedand Breakfast located in South Haven.
We will see you after the break.
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(13:51):
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back toTotal Michigan, where we interview
(14:12):
ordinary Michiganders doing somepretty extraordinary things.
I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois.
Today, we are at Glenn Meadow,bed and breakfast, talking with
one of the owners, Tracey Davis.
And Tracey, before the break, we weretalking about your approaching retirement.
Michiganders You decided to dosomething crazy and start a business
(14:34):
by going with a full Airbnb.
So my now my question to you is becauseyou'd already had some experience doing
this with Airbnb at some point in time.
You decided that basicallyyou're going to double.
The size of your house to add morerooms, add this beautiful room that
(14:55):
we're sitting in right now thatstill smells of fresh baked muffins.
So talk to us about, because the reasonwhy I asked this question was because
when most people get to retirement,they're thinking of downsizing there.
I want to play golf or maybe I'lldonate my time to some local, but you
and your husband, Mark, decided todo something completely different.
(15:17):
So what was that?
What was that idea?
What was that process behind it?
Tracey Davis (15:21):
I think for us, we were thinking about legacy work.
You know, what are wegoing to interesting?
What are we going to leave behind?
What?
What footprint?
And what impact are wegoing to have on the world?
this was really the impetus,I think, of getting bigger.
We knew, having done that little, thesingle room, that family suite down
(15:45):
there, We saw the hunger and the needfor people to be able to come to a place
where they could find peace and quiet.
And, we knew that one of the lostarts is conversing with each other.
Our vision was to have a gatheringplace, which is this room, where persons
(16:08):
could come from different places withdifferent issues, life happens, and sit
around a table and get to know each otherand hear each other and see each other.
We talked about being seen,that is really important.
That is the legacy workwe really wanted to do.
Cliff Duvernois (16:25):
That's actually beautiful.
And this is kind of lead nicely becauseyou, you came in here and you expand it
out and the space is absolutely great.
The rooms look supercomfortable and over the years.
You've had, like you saidbefore, like hundreds of people
that have come and stayed here.
(16:46):
If you would, when you, when you talkabout being seen or being heard, can
you share with us maybe some storiesabout some really great guests?
Interactions, total strangers thatsat down at a table and all of a
sudden something magical happened.
Tracey Davis (17:00):
Well, we have, I have a couple of them.
I will share with youour very first guest.
it was, it's a different story than I hadtold you earlier, which I will get to.
It was a couple thathad come some years ago.
This was our first guest when weopened the old portion of our home.
They brought, a friend with them.
They came to breakfast, and this, a femalefriend wasn't showing up, and I could tell
(17:22):
that they were quite anxious about it.
They were really quite anxious.
And I said, well, do you want meto go and check on this person?
And just about that time, thiswoman came into the room, and
she was Absolutely glowing.
And the friends looked at herand they said, how are you doing?
She said, I have slept throughthe night for the first time in
18 months and she said, I don'tknow why, but I feel refreshed.
Cliff Duvernois (17:51):
Beautiful.
Tracey Davis (17:51):
They stayed here for four days and she slept through the night.
18 months prior, she had lost herhusband, another lost husband.
Oh, yes.
She was not able to sleep.
She was, apparently just grief, youknow, had done its work and she.
Felt so comfortable herethat she could sleep.
Sleep is it sounds trivial, butit's huge when you you know Indeed.
(18:16):
Yeah, that was our first guestand it and we just went wow.
Okay, that's not about us That's aboutthis place, you know, that's about
this and we spoke to that, this feelingof safety and peace here on this Land
on this property and it has in itstarted from the very first moment.
Really?
we have So many stories to tell you aboutpersons who might not necessarily rub
(18:42):
shoulders with each other They you knowit these days we have hard and fixed
ideas about different kinds of people.
I think that with social media, sometimesit's easy to think harsh thoughts or to,
form an opinion when we aren't, skin toskin or eyes to eyes or hearts to hearts.
(19:04):
And one of the privilegesthat we have is we are.
directly between South Haven,Michigan and Douglas Saugatuck.
Douglas Saugatuck has been a safe harborsince I think the 1930s for persons
who recognize themselves to be LBGTQ.
So we have, often persons who chooseTo identify in that area, and they have
(19:32):
been so wonderful and glorious to haveas friends and people at our table, and
we have had so many beautiful experienceswhere people sit at the table and have
discussions with these people, and we hadan older woman here visiting with her.
Her daughter and husband and shegot up at the end of breakfast
(19:55):
and she threw her arms aroundthis couple, this lesbian couple.
And she said, I've nevermet anyone like you.
It was just a lovely kind ofexchange where she might be open
to kindness instead of judgment,
Cliff Duvernois (20:09):
right?
Tracey Davis (20:10):
So that happens a lot.
Boy, we often have people comehere that need each other.
I spoke to you about this summer.
We had a family who had broughtthe wife's mother along with them.
And at the same time, we had a motherand adult daughter here visiting.
(20:33):
And I.
Recognized right out of the gate thatthere was a sadness, coming from the
mother of, or the grandmother of thatfamily, she sat down to breakfast
and this other lovely older womanreached over and put her hand on this
woman's hand and said, I sense thatyou've suffered some sort of a loss.
(20:56):
And lovely woman just startedcrying and she said, well, six
weeks ago I lost my husband.
and both of these women, the, she said,about a year and a half ago I lost mine.
She said, how about we take a walk?
How about we, we share?
And it was such a lovely thing.
These women just bonded.
They had so much to share with each other.
(21:18):
And it just happens regularly,A personal story, we had our,
we have a blended family.
The youngest of our blended familywas going to be going away to school.
And as that date approached, She wasgetting more and more anxious about,
not necessarily a real social butterfly,The two weeks before she went away
(21:38):
to school, we had some guests here.
And one of the guests was the coordinatorof student services at the school
that our youngest was going to go to.
Oh, that's so cool.
And was able to, they made a relationship,but also able to discuss at length all
of the offerings on campus, all of the,just beautiful things happen, you know?
(22:02):
And so that young lady wentto school with a new friend in
high places and comfortable andreally looking forward to thrive.
And she did.
Cliff Duvernois (22:14):
I can't believe I'm going to use this word to describe a bed
breakfast, but for some reason there seemsto be a certain measure of serendipity.
Oh, yes.
That can happen because I know, Imean, you just shared maybe three
or four stories with us just now.
And before the microphones wenthot, it seemed like you have.
Hundreds of stories and I say thatbecause also you add the element to
(22:40):
like before I got here I probably hadabout 18 cups of coffee But when I
walked through that door, I was calm.
There is just a measure of peace Whenyou are here That I can't put my finger
on you know, and i'm not just sayingthat because I like your place I'm,
just saying because that's what Ifelt when I walked through the door,
(23:02):
I mean Any idea How that happens.
Or did you design this to be like this?
Tracey Davis (23:09):
I know that the property has some sort of, deeply rooted in it,
some sort of healing properties to it.
And I I'm not crazy about that.
I also am really committed tomeeting people when they arrive.
And one of the things That Ialways ask is, well, what are
you hoping to do this weekend?
(23:29):
some people will say, I'm hoping torest, or I'm hoping that we can, or
I'm looking forward to going to allof the local vin, vineyards, or, they
have these plans and I, and I reallylistened to those and I, I really want
to make sure that I know what they, whattheir hopes are, what their goals are.
I do think the property offerssome special kinds of energy.
(23:51):
I also think that Mark and I tryto pay attention to the needs
and the, the interests of thepeople that come here, right?
it's important to us that, that they feelmet, that they leave here having, Not only
achieved what they wanted to achieve, butare taking home something extra special
(24:11):
to I remember there was a young couplehere once and I could just tell that
maybe this was a weekend to try to figureout whether they could fix something,
you know, maybe make their relationshipheaded in a different direction, trying
to find a, that positive foot forward.
When I make food, I always think ofthe guests and I, you know, when I'm
(24:34):
stirring or whatever, it's like alittle meditation and I always think
about, the people and, and what myhopes and dreams are for them and what
theirs are, if they've shared them.
Anyway.
They spent so much time sitting outsidetalking under the pergola and by
the end of the weekend, I just feltlike they had resolved some stuff.
And that was so powerful.
(24:54):
It was like, that's beautiful.
Isn't that neat?
And a lot of times it'sjust about communication.
It's just, have we taken the time toquiet ourselves long enough to hear?
What our loved one is saying, or two,even if they don't have the words to
try to feel what they might be needing.
(25:15):
Yes, you can't do that in hustle bustle.
it doesn't happen easily in busy.
So we offer a slowing,you know, a tenderness.
I hope
Cliff Duvernois (25:26):
This is actually a good segue to my next question,
because If somebody's listening tothis and they're like, I have to go
to Glenn Meadow, I want some of thatpeace, tranquility, serendipity, I
want some of that quiet, whatever.
What can people expectwhen they come here?
Tracey Davis (25:42):
We do not, we purposefully chose not to put screens in the rooms.
I don't know if you noticed that or not.
We have two common areaswith large televisions, but.
Cliff Duvernois (25:51):
You're right.
You don't have televisions in the room.
It's very
Tracey Davis (25:54):
purposeful.
What we have tried to create here.
There's not a lot of intrusionhere so they can find quiet.
the property is, we have a lot of birds.
We and in the summer thegardens are quite beautiful.
We have a vegetable garden if we haveoften Have a lot of foodies that come
(26:15):
because they like that hyper fresh, youknow, what did I say garden to fork?
Farm to fork.
it's cool to go outside and pickwhat you want in your omelet,
you know, it's that's pretty cool
Cliff Duvernois (26:26):
Oh, that is cool.
Yeah
Tracey Davis (26:28):
It's pretty cool.
We have had young, men, the ripe ageof 7 and 8, that like to ride on the
tractor, that kind of thing, or findcritters, these city slickers, they
don't often have an opportunity tomuck around in the pond, you know.
Cliff Duvernois (26:45):
That's true.
Yeah.
Tracey Davis (26:46):
I will tell you is one of the most moving things that happens.
I always ask the kids, I love kids.
We are kid friendlyand we're pet friendly.
that's really important to methat, that families can come
here as well as individuals.
but we were at the breakfast table, Idon't know, maybe three or four years
ago, and I was asking this, this darling.
Little guy, what his favorite thingwas that they had done and they
(27:07):
were from the Chicago area and theirparents were really fast, crazy.
Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
And the kids actually seemedto settle into the quiet better
than the parents did for a while.
Cliff Duvernois (27:18):
Oh, interesting.
Isn't
Tracey Davis (27:19):
that interesting?
they just, but there's so much going on,
Cliff Duvernois (27:22):
Yeah.
Tracey Davis (27:23):
Anyway, I asked this young man, I said, what was your favorite
thing, and he said, and he got all,excited about it, and he said, he said,
well, Miss Tracey, he said, the bestthing that happened yesterday is I
went for a walk with my mom and my dad.
Cliff Duvernois (27:38):
Oh, that's cute.
Tracey Davis (27:40):
I really wanted his parents to hear that.
I really wanted, I wantedthem to deeply hear that.
You know, you can drop a lot of moneyon a lot of things, and do a lot of
stuff, and go, go, go, go, go, butreally, that baby just wanted to hold
each parent's hand and go for a walk.
that's powerful.
Cliff Duvernois (27:58):
That is beautiful.
Actually,
Tracey Davis (28:01):
we've also had, teenagers thrive on making vacations
as abhorrent as they possibly.
Cliff Duvernois (28:09):
Of
Tracey Davis (28:09):
course, nothing is working.
There's a lot of eye rolling going on, andespecially well, this is a great story.
There was a family.
who had come here, they had fourgirls, and they were cyclists, bicycle,
bicyclists, and they had broughttheir bikes, and this is a really
nice area to, to cycle along the lake.
(28:30):
And, the, their oldestwas 14, and she was not.
Terrible, terrible.
We've, I'll tell you another storyabout a fun thing that happened.
But this young woman justwasn't sharing with her parents.
She just wasn't sharing with her parents.
And so I um, asked her, youknow, what she was interested in.
She was interested in cooking.
I said, well, come on,let's cook a little bit.
(28:51):
Let's, let's just mess around the kitchen.
So we developed, a littlebit of a relationship.
And I was talking to heraround the breakfast table.
They were here for a week and Idon't know, second or third day.
And I said, so what is the mostimportant thing in your life right now?
what, what is speaking to you?
Right.
As a 14 year old, big year.
I mean, you're gonna, you'refreshmen, lots of new changes.
(29:13):
She said, I have a boyfriend.
And the parents didn'tknow she had a boyfriend.
And she was just talking about thiswonderful boy, and I said, it sounds
like you have made so many good choices.
Mom and dad are probably really proudof you that what you're talking about is
that he's kind to you, that he's smart inschool, you know, all of those choices.
(29:36):
And the parent's eyes are as bigas plates because they have not
heard this girl talk to a bit.
About anything really, you know,she's just kind of in her room doing
her thing and it was so wonderful.
And I think they left Havingbuilt bridges of communication,
and that was that's powerful,
Cliff Duvernois (29:55):
They should make a TV show here Like that
Tracey Davis (30:02):
I think one of the middle girls as I remembered we had just
had a litter of barn cats and She wasjust so In the barn, she just was with
the cats, so that's all she wanted.
She just wanted to be with the cats, yeah.
This past summer we had, two teenagegirls here with their parents,
and the parents were so much fun.
And they just totallygot the teenage thing.
(30:22):
You know, some of the thingswere gonna be a hit, some of
the things were gonna be a miss.
I mean, they were just on their game.
They had gone to the beach thefirst day, and they came back the
second day, and one of the girlswas so terribly burned on one side.
Ouch.
And the dad said, yep, she got angry atus and rolled over and wouldn't roll back.
Cliff Duvernois (30:42):
Oh my goodness.
Tracey Davis (30:46):
Yes.
And I tried not to laugh,and I said, I'm sorry.
how did that work for you?
And then everybody started, humorcan help, and she said, not really
that well, I said, I can see that.
Yeah.
So it just, it was, it's justfunny, you know, the whole thing.
Life at large, right?
Cliff Duvernois (31:05):
Yes.
All of it.
Definitely.
And Tracey, if somebody is listeningto this and they definitely want
to come and they want to stay here,they want to experience this, this
peace, tranquility, serendipity,be right next to Lake Michigan.
How can they find you?
Tracey Davis (31:20):
We have a really good website at glenmeadowbb.
com And you, a person can book directly.
We have five platforms through, adatabase called little hotelier, and so
we, work with Expedia so they can makereservations through Expedia, hotels.
(31:42):
com, Airbnb, booking.
com, and travel advisor, I think.
So if they are members to.
With any of those places, theyshould be able to find us.
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (31:56):
Perfect.
Tracey Davis (31:57):
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (31:58):
Tracey, thank you so much for taking time to chat with us today.
This has been a, it's been a treat
Tracey Davis (32:02):
for me too.
For me too.
I'm so glad that you're here
Cliff Duvernois (32:06):
for our audience.
You can always roll onover to total michigan.
com and click on Tracey's interview toget the links that she mentioned above
and book your room at this incrediblybeautiful breakfast bed and breakfast.
We'll see you next time while wetalk to another Michigander doing
some pretty extraordinary things.
We'll see you then.
Tracey Davis (32:21):
Bye bye.
We saw the hunger and the need for people to be
able to come to a place wherethey could find peace and quiet.
We knew that one of the lost artsis conversing with each other.
Our vision was to have a gatheringplace, where persons could come from
different places with different issues,life happens, sit around a table and
(00:24):
get to know each other That is thelegacy work we really wanted to do.
Cliff Duvernois (00:28):
Hello everyone.
And welcome back to Total Michigan,where we interview ordinary Michiganders
doing some pretty extraordinary things.
I'm your host, Cliff Duvernois.
In going around the state and all thetravels that we do and the number of
Michiganders who actually travel in thestate of Michigan, it's always great
when we find these people that havetaken their homes and really opened them
(00:48):
up in the form of a bed and breakfast.
So that way we can really spendtime with the locals in the area
and get to know them, get the placesto eat and all of those stuff.
And it's just, it's a real treatwhen we find somebody that's
really doing something specialwith their bed and breakfast.
So today I am in South Haven and we'reactually talking with one of the owners
(01:14):
of Glenn Meadow, Bed & Breakfast.
Tracey Davis (01:17):
That's right.
Cliff Duvernois (01:17):
That's right.
And they're doing some pretty coolthings here and joining us today to walk
us through this story is Tracey Davis.
Tracey, how are you?
Tracey Davis (01:26):
I am good.
I'm excited to be with you.
Cliff Duvernois (01:29):
And we're excited to have you.
So if you would real quick, tell uswhat is Glenn Meadow Bed and Breakfast?
Tracey Davis (01:35):
Glenn Meadow Bed and Breakfast is a very small, we have
five rooms, bed and breakfast, and it'san old fashioned bed and breakfast.
That's people look at that.
We definitely have a large countrybreakfast every morning when a
person stays with us and we gatheraround the table and we talk
and share and have a good time.
Cliff Duvernois (01:55):
And if you would, tell us, where are you from?
Where did you grow up?
Tracey Davis (01:59):
Well, I grew up in California.
Cliff Duvernois (02:01):
Okay.
Tracey Davis (02:01):
Yep.
And my We won't hold
Cliff Duvernois (02:03):
that against you.
I lived in California, so.
Tracey Davis (02:06):
My ex hubby, grew up in South Haven, Michigan,
which is the connection there.
And I discovered many, many years agothat I needed to live by a body of
water I couldn't see the other side of.
Really important for me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I went, I was doing my, graduate work in,in the desert at Arizona State University
and was geographically miserable.
(02:29):
So I would, I knew I needed water.
So here I am.
Cliff Duvernois (02:33):
And now I got to, cause I got to ask the question here.
If you grew up in California and you'restudying in Arizona, what was your
thoughts when you came here to Michigan?
Tracey Davis (02:44):
I loved this place right out of the gate.
And I thought it was beautiful.
It seemed to haveeverything that I cherished.
I really love the change of seasons.
I have always been drawn to that.
Right.
And.
The ability, I came at a time, myfirst visit, when everything was
blossoming and everything is just.
Cliff Duvernois (03:07):
Michigan at its best.
Tracey Davis (03:08):
Oh man, just really good.
Fresh fruits, fresh, I mean there'sso much agriculture around here
and I just absolutely fell in love.
Cliff Duvernois (03:17):
So now when you talk about life in California, just, just to
give us all a little bit of perspective.
You lived in, I guess forlack of a better term, the L.
A.
basin.
Right.
Tracey Davis (03:28):
Right.
Cliff Duvernois (03:29):
So you didn't get a chance to see very many
seasons while you were there.
I mean, a change of season isone day you're wearing a t shirt.
The next day you might haveto put on a sweatshirt.
Tracey Davis (03:37):
Well, it gets foggy.
Cliff Duvernois (03:39):
Yeah.
Yes, it does.
Tracey Davis (03:40):
Um, We would, Travel to seek out snow, you know, we would travel to,
look at pretty color, that kind of thing.
But family, my extendedfamily was still in Montana.
I mean, as young, young children,we migrated to California.
I was well aware of seasons, andoften, more often than not, we
(04:03):
would vacation back in Montana.
and we would try to hit all theseasons, and so it wasn't foreign to us.
Cliff Duvernois (04:10):
Right.
Tracey Davis (04:10):
I was the, I believe, the one holdout sibling that, Realized it
was going to be important to me, to mywell being to be in the four seasons,
Cliff Duvernois (04:21):
right?
Tracey Davis (04:22):
Yeah,
Cliff Duvernois (04:23):
because you were sharing with you for the microphones went hot
that all of your siblings siblingsstill live in that area of California
don't you tell us a little bit becauseI'm kind of curious about this from
your perspective Wait, what reallyis kind of like the key differences
between California and Michigan thatmade you want to stay in Michigan?
Tracey Davis (04:40):
California.
Oh, forgive me, Californians.
If you're listening out there, Californiahas a, a tendency to superficiality.
There is everybody needs to be thinand beautiful and golden and drive the
right cars and live in the right areas.
And that was never compelling to me.
Cliff Duvernois (05:02):
Oh, interesting.
Tracey Davis (05:02):
Um, And when I came here, the Midwest, I was a little concerned.
I thought I might be going back 150 years.
I'm a bit of a women's limber.
And just wasn't so.
I mean, I'm sure there are pocketsof areas that would, would represent
that Midwest's kind of, uh, Right.
(05:23):
But when I moved to this area, there wasnever a passion of mine or an interest of
mine that I wasn't able to find someoneto mentor me or walk side by side with,
whether it was literature or, or musicor theater or all of those things that
I didn't expect to find here are here.
(05:45):
They're alive and well.
So that was important.
Cliff Duvernois (05:48):
Now, where did, because I know this is going to
really impact our story later on,where did this thirst for art and
literature, where did that come from?
Tracey Davis (05:58):
My undergrad was vocal performance, so,
um, that is, that's really it.
Theater and music and all ofthat is a huge piece of who I am.
so I would say that although we grewup in a wonderful community, my father
(06:20):
was an academic, he was a teacher.
And we.
didn't have a lot of money, so wejust would hang out at museums and,
really my parents were really goodabout taking us to all of the beautiful
things that were available in the LosAngeles area that inspired creativity.
I mean, that was, we didn'thave a lot of money, extra
(06:42):
money, but that's what we did.
Cliff Duvernois (06:44):
And
Tracey Davis (06:45):
that informs who you are and what you love, I think.
Cliff Duvernois (06:49):
Definitely.
What made you decideto get into vocal as a,
Tracey Davis (06:53):
I have some good pipes, you know, I have, I'm jealous.
Yeah.
I was a serious singer.
I sing, um, opera.
Cliff Duvernois (07:00):
Holy cow.
That's like a whole other level.
This isn't just, you know,like a little auto tune.
I mean, you gotta have goodpipes to sing opera, like magic
flute or anything like that.
Tracey Davis (07:11):
I, as I aged throughout time, I, even in this area, this
region I have done quite a bit ofperforming, mostly recital or for event
kinds of things, but, I was alwaysinterested in as we age, of course,
our vocal abilities are muscular.
I mean, they are, we have to exercisethem and use them and all of that.
(07:34):
And as we age, certain things happen.
But what also happensalong sidling up with that?
Is life experience.
So some of those songs that I singdifferently as a 20 30 40 year old
that I'm singing now as a 70 year old.
What can I bring more living to that?
Cliff Duvernois (07:56):
Right?
Tracey Davis (07:57):
So it might not be as technically strong, but it is.
It's other.
There's something else there, right?
You know, yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (08:05):
At some point you finished up with college and you met your
first husband who was from South Havenand you both decided to move back here.
Why?
Tracey Davis (08:15):
Because we were starting a family and I knew that that was
really important to I really knewthat a smaller community was the focus
that we wanted to do and I alreadywas crazy about South Haven anyway.
Cliff Duvernois (08:28):
Because you'd been here.
Yeah.
To visit.
Tracey Davis (08:30):
To visit.
Sure.
Cliff Duvernois (08:31):
Nice.
Yeah.
Now, what did you do at that time?
Were you pretty much primarilylike a stay at home mom?
Okay.
I was
Tracey Davis (08:37):
for eight years.
and that was a very, it was anincredible time really to be
able to spend with the boys.
I, I mean, we went, we were at thattime living in the teeming metropolis of
South Haven itself, right there in town.
And we would go to the beach, you Asany day that we possibly could hang out
and they were building the itinerantmarina and we would go down and watch
(08:58):
them build and it was just idyllic.
It really was
Cliff Duvernois (09:01):
right.
Tracey Davis (09:02):
Perfect.
Cliff Duvernois (09:02):
And then at some point now you've met your current husband.
Tracey Davis (09:05):
Uh, like 12 years ago.
Cliff Duvernois (09:07):
Now, the question I got is, and I'm leading up to this because.
As retirement approaches, you'restarting to think about what that
next chapter looks like, right?
So talk to us about that.
Okay.
Tracey Davis (09:22):
When you have a later in life relationship,
all of that gets looked at.
how are, because really you'rein a relationship that is
the last third of your life.
Cliff Duvernois (09:32):
Correct.
Tracey Davis (09:33):
And so the end game exit strategies kinds of
are always under, um, discussion.
And Mark is a fixer.
He is a, he, he repairs everythinghe, he does every, he loves to
do all of that kind of stuff.
Cliff Duvernois (09:51):
Right.
Tracey Davis (09:51):
And, he loves to garden, which all of the things
that we do here are a delight to us.
So it's not.
As if what is required is a burden.
So as long as our healthholds, we're good.
We're good.
but we, yeah, the gardening and wedo all of the work outside ourselves.
(10:13):
And, you know, we realize as we age,because I'm, we're 70 at this point.
we can, we can get help if we need it.
But it's fun to do it right now.
We can.
Cliff Duvernois (10:23):
So when you talk about, basically like a later
in life relationship, right?
What's, what's that exitstrategy looks like?
some point, you and Mark hada conversation about let's
open up a bed and breakfast.
Tracey Davis (10:40):
Well, when I.
met Mark, we were already, we had alreadyturned one of the rooms that the existing,
that extended stay room was already onthe, I was doing Airbnb with that room.
Cliff Duvernois (10:55):
Oh, okay.
Tracey Davis (10:57):
as he entered my life, that was already a happening.
Situation.
So we were just doingit on a smaller scale.
Cliff Duvernois (11:05):
Right.
Tracey Davis (11:06):
So we knew what we were getting into.
Cliff Duvernois (11:08):
So when you talk about putting out these rooms on Airbnb,
was this, was this like the rooms thatyour, that your kids would stay in?
Right,
Tracey Davis (11:16):
exactly.
They were the boys rooms that weconverted into that extended studio.
Cliff Duvernois (11:20):
So where did the idea come from?
Okay.
To take their bedroomsand put 'em on Airbnb.
Tracey Davis (11:24):
I always have a lot of company.
Usually this is a very quiet time Cliff.
Usually there it's a revolvingdoor around these parts.
Cliff Duvernois (11:32):
I bet.
Tracey Davis (11:33):
But people would come and visit and I'm a good cook.
I like to cook.
Right.
My, my sister said, you know what?
My neighbor in California hasa, a space in their backyard
that they have turned into.
And this new company was juston the horizon at that point.
Airbnb, it was just coming onto the scene.
And she said, you should do that, Tracey.
(11:55):
You're already entertaining all thetime and you're cooking all the time.
And why not be able to, tomonetize that a little bit.
And I said, Oh, okay.
And, So that's when itall started, really.
Now, we have, other platforms,we can talk about that later,
we aren't just doing Airbnb.
but that's where, fromwhence it grew, right?
Cliff Duvernois (12:16):
So then obviously you had a positive experience.
Absolutely.
With Airbnb and the gueststhat are staying here.
Tracey Davis (12:22):
And actually, from the beginning, for all the years
that we have done this and hadpeople sitting at our table and
have people sharing in our lives,because we live here on the property.
One time did I ever have tohave to ask anyone to leave.
Cliff Duvernois (12:36):
Wow.
Tracey Davis (12:37):
One.
That's hundreds of people by now.
Cliff Duvernois (12:40):
Great.
Tracey Davis (12:41):
Mostly, it has been just an absolute joy, really.
Cliff Duvernois (12:45):
Now, as you're going through this experience with, Airbnb,
and you've got these guests that arecoming, at what point did you say
to yourself, We need to go bigger.
We need to expand.
We need more rooms.
Tracey Davis (12:58):
I really think it was when we were considering retirement.
That is so odd, isn't it?
It really is.
It's it said, because then Icould full time focus on it.
And because I was working fulltime, Mark was working full
time, you know, we had careers.
This also was a working farm.
So we were, I mean, we were doing alot of work Knowing that we were not
(13:19):
going to have any more animals here, andknowing that I wasn't going to have to
be hanging a field or this, that, or theother thing, cleaning rooms, well, that's
small potatoes next to that kind of work.
Cliff Duvernois (13:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
For audience, we're going to take aquick break and thank our sponsors.
When we come back, we're goingto continue our conversation with
Tracey Davis of Glenn Meadow, Bedand Breakfast located in South Haven.
We will see you after the break.
Are you enjoying this episode?
Well, I can tell youthere's a lot more to come.
Jump over to TotalMichigan.
(13:51):
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com, enter your email address today.
Hello, everyone, and welcome back toTotal Michigan, where we interview
(14:12):
ordinary Michiganders doing somepretty extraordinary things.
I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois.
Today, we are at Glenn Meadow,bed and breakfast, talking with
one of the owners, Tracey Davis.
And Tracey, before the break, we weretalking about your approaching retirement.
Michiganders You decided to dosomething crazy and start a business
(14:34):
by going with a full Airbnb.
So my now my question to you is becauseyou'd already had some experience doing
this with Airbnb at some point in time.
You decided that basicallyyou're going to double.
The size of your house to add morerooms, add this beautiful room that
(14:55):
we're sitting in right now thatstill smells of fresh baked muffins.
So talk to us about, because the reasonwhy I asked this question was because
when most people get to retirement,they're thinking of downsizing there.
I want to play golf or maybe I'lldonate my time to some local, but you
and your husband, Mark, decided todo something completely different.
(15:17):
So what was that?
What was that idea?
What was that process behind it?
Tracey Davis (15:21):
I think for us, we were thinking about legacy work.
You know, what are wegoing to interesting?
What are we going to leave behind?
What?
What footprint?
And what impact are wegoing to have on the world?
this was really the impetus,I think, of getting bigger.
We knew, having done that little, thesingle room, that family suite down
(15:45):
there, We saw the hunger and the needfor people to be able to come to a place
where they could find peace and quiet.
And, we knew that one of the lostarts is conversing with each other.
Our vision was to have a gatheringplace, which is this room, where persons
(16:08):
could come from different places withdifferent issues, life happens, and sit
around a table and get to know each otherand hear each other and see each other.
We talked about being seen,that is really important.
That is the legacy workwe really wanted to do.
Cliff Duvernois (16:25):
That's actually beautiful.
And this is kind of lead nicely becauseyou, you came in here and you expand it
out and the space is absolutely great.
The rooms look supercomfortable and over the years.
You've had, like you saidbefore, like hundreds of people
that have come and stayed here.
(16:46):
If you would, when you, when you talkabout being seen or being heard, can
you share with us maybe some storiesabout some really great guests?
Interactions, total strangers thatsat down at a table and all of a
sudden something magical happened.
Tracey Davis (17:00):
Well, we have, I have a couple of them.
I will share with youour very first guest.
it was, it's a different story than I hadtold you earlier, which I will get to.
It was a couple thathad come some years ago.
This was our first guest when weopened the old portion of our home.
They brought, a friend with them.
They came to breakfast, and this, a femalefriend wasn't showing up, and I could tell
(17:22):
that they were quite anxious about it.
They were really quite anxious.
And I said, well, do you want meto go and check on this person?
And just about that time, thiswoman came into the room, and
she was Absolutely glowing.
And the friends looked at herand they said, how are you doing?
She said, I have slept throughthe night for the first time in
18 months and she said, I don'tknow why, but I feel refreshed.
Cliff Duvernois (17:51):
Beautiful.
Tracey Davis (17:51):
They stayed here for four days and she slept through the night.
18 months prior, she had lost herhusband, another lost husband.
Oh, yes.
She was not able to sleep.
She was, apparently just grief, youknow, had done its work and she.
Felt so comfortable herethat she could sleep.
Sleep is it sounds trivial, butit's huge when you you know Indeed.
(18:16):
Yeah, that was our first guestand it and we just went wow.
Okay, that's not about us That's aboutthis place, you know, that's about
this and we spoke to that, this feelingof safety and peace here on this Land
on this property and it has in itstarted from the very first moment.
Really?
we have So many stories to tell you aboutpersons who might not necessarily rub
(18:42):
shoulders with each other They you knowit these days we have hard and fixed
ideas about different kinds of people.
I think that with social media, sometimesit's easy to think harsh thoughts or to,
form an opinion when we aren't, skin toskin or eyes to eyes or hearts to hearts.
(19:04):
And one of the privilegesthat we have is we are.
directly between South Haven,Michigan and Douglas Saugatuck.
Douglas Saugatuck has been a safe harborsince I think the 1930s for persons
who recognize themselves to be LBGTQ.
So we have, often persons who chooseTo identify in that area, and they have
(19:32):
been so wonderful and glorious to haveas friends and people at our table, and
we have had so many beautiful experienceswhere people sit at the table and have
discussions with these people, and we hadan older woman here visiting with her.
Her daughter and husband and shegot up at the end of breakfast
(19:55):
and she threw her arms aroundthis couple, this lesbian couple.
And she said, I've nevermet anyone like you.
It was just a lovely kind ofexchange where she might be open
to kindness instead of judgment,
Cliff Duvernois (20:09):
right?
Tracey Davis (20:10):
So that happens a lot.
Boy, we often have people comehere that need each other.
I spoke to you about this summer.
We had a family who had broughtthe wife's mother along with them.
And at the same time, we had a motherand adult daughter here visiting.
(20:33):
And I.
Recognized right out of the gate thatthere was a sadness, coming from the
mother of, or the grandmother of thatfamily, she sat down to breakfast
and this other lovely older womanreached over and put her hand on this
woman's hand and said, I sense thatyou've suffered some sort of a loss.
(20:56):
And lovely woman just startedcrying and she said, well, six
weeks ago I lost my husband.
and both of these women, the, she said,about a year and a half ago I lost mine.
She said, how about we take a walk?
How about we, we share?
And it was such a lovely thing.
These women just bonded.
They had so much to share with each other.
(21:18):
And it just happens regularly,A personal story, we had our,
we have a blended family.
The youngest of our blended familywas going to be going away to school.
And as that date approached, She wasgetting more and more anxious about,
not necessarily a real social butterfly,The two weeks before she went away
(21:38):
to school, we had some guests here.
And one of the guests was the coordinatorof student services at the school
that our youngest was going to go to.
Oh, that's so cool.
And was able to, they made a relationship,but also able to discuss at length all
of the offerings on campus, all of the,just beautiful things happen, you know?
(22:02):
And so that young lady wentto school with a new friend in
high places and comfortable andreally looking forward to thrive.
And she did.
Cliff Duvernois (22:14):
I can't believe I'm going to use this word to describe a bed
breakfast, but for some reason there seemsto be a certain measure of serendipity.
Oh, yes.
That can happen because I know, Imean, you just shared maybe three
or four stories with us just now.
And before the microphones wenthot, it seemed like you have.
Hundreds of stories and I say thatbecause also you add the element to
(22:40):
like before I got here I probably hadabout 18 cups of coffee But when I
walked through that door, I was calm.
There is just a measure of peace Whenyou are here That I can't put my finger
on you know, and i'm not just sayingthat because I like your place I'm,
just saying because that's what Ifelt when I walked through the door,
(23:02):
I mean Any idea How that happens.
Or did you design this to be like this?
Tracey Davis (23:09):
I know that the property has some sort of, deeply rooted in it,
some sort of healing properties to it.
And I I'm not crazy about that.
I also am really committed tomeeting people when they arrive.
And one of the things That Ialways ask is, well, what are
you hoping to do this weekend?
(23:29):
some people will say, I'm hoping torest, or I'm hoping that we can, or
I'm looking forward to going to allof the local vin, vineyards, or, they
have these plans and I, and I reallylistened to those and I, I really want
to make sure that I know what they, whattheir hopes are, what their goals are.
I do think the property offerssome special kinds of energy.
(23:51):
I also think that Mark and I tryto pay attention to the needs
and the, the interests of thepeople that come here, right?
it's important to us that, that they feelmet, that they leave here having, Not only
achieved what they wanted to achieve, butare taking home something extra special
(24:11):
to I remember there was a young couplehere once and I could just tell that
maybe this was a weekend to try to figureout whether they could fix something,
you know, maybe make their relationshipheaded in a different direction, trying
to find a, that positive foot forward.
When I make food, I always think ofthe guests and I, you know, when I'm
(24:34):
stirring or whatever, it's like alittle meditation and I always think
about, the people and, and what myhopes and dreams are for them and what
theirs are, if they've shared them.
Anyway.
They spent so much time sitting outsidetalking under the pergola and by
the end of the weekend, I just feltlike they had resolved some stuff.
And that was so powerful.
(24:54):
It was like, that's beautiful.
Isn't that neat?
And a lot of times it'sjust about communication.
It's just, have we taken the time toquiet ourselves long enough to hear?
What our loved one is saying, or two,even if they don't have the words to
try to feel what they might be needing.
(25:15):
Yes, you can't do that in hustle bustle.
it doesn't happen easily in busy.
So we offer a slowing,you know, a tenderness.
I hope
Cliff Duvernois (25:26):
This is actually a good segue to my next question,
because If somebody's listening tothis and they're like, I have to go
to Glenn Meadow, I want some of thatpeace, tranquility, serendipity, I
want some of that quiet, whatever.
What can people expectwhen they come here?
Tracey Davis (25:42):
We do not, we purposefully chose not to put screens in the rooms.
I don't know if you noticed that or not.
We have two common areaswith large televisions, but.
Cliff Duvernois (25:51):
You're right.
You don't have televisions in the room.
It's very
Tracey Davis (25:54):
purposeful.
What we have tried to create here.
There's not a lot of intrusionhere so they can find quiet.
the property is, we have a lot of birds.
We and in the summer thegardens are quite beautiful.
We have a vegetable garden if we haveoften Have a lot of foodies that come
(26:15):
because they like that hyper fresh, youknow, what did I say garden to fork?
Farm to fork.
it's cool to go outside and pickwhat you want in your omelet,
you know, it's that's pretty cool
Cliff Duvernois (26:26):
Oh, that is cool.
Yeah
Tracey Davis (26:28):
It's pretty cool.
We have had young, men, the ripe ageof 7 and 8, that like to ride on the
tractor, that kind of thing, or findcritters, these city slickers, they
don't often have an opportunity tomuck around in the pond, you know.
Cliff Duvernois (26:45):
That's true.
Yeah.
Tracey Davis (26:46):
I will tell you is one of the most moving things that happens.
I always ask the kids, I love kids.
We are kid friendlyand we're pet friendly.
that's really important to methat, that families can come
here as well as individuals.
but we were at the breakfast table, Idon't know, maybe three or four years
ago, and I was asking this, this darling.
Little guy, what his favorite thingwas that they had done and they
(27:07):
were from the Chicago area and theirparents were really fast, crazy.
Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
And the kids actually seemedto settle into the quiet better
than the parents did for a while.
Cliff Duvernois (27:18):
Oh, interesting.
Isn't
Tracey Davis (27:19):
that interesting?
they just, but there's so much going on,
Cliff Duvernois (27:22):
Yeah.
Tracey Davis (27:23):
Anyway, I asked this young man, I said, what was your favorite
thing, and he said, and he got all,excited about it, and he said, he said,
well, Miss Tracey, he said, the bestthing that happened yesterday is I
went for a walk with my mom and my dad.
Cliff Duvernois (27:38):
Oh, that's cute.
Tracey Davis (27:40):
I really wanted his parents to hear that.
I really wanted, I wantedthem to deeply hear that.
You know, you can drop a lot of moneyon a lot of things, and do a lot of
stuff, and go, go, go, go, go, butreally, that baby just wanted to hold
each parent's hand and go for a walk.
that's powerful.
Cliff Duvernois (27:58):
That is beautiful.
Actually,
Tracey Davis (28:01):
we've also had, teenagers thrive on making vacations
as abhorrent as they possibly.
Cliff Duvernois (28:09):
Of
Tracey Davis (28:09):
course, nothing is working.
There's a lot of eye rolling going on, andespecially well, this is a great story.
There was a family.
who had come here, they had fourgirls, and they were cyclists, bicycle,
bicyclists, and they had broughttheir bikes, and this is a really
nice area to, to cycle along the lake.
(28:30):
And, the, their oldestwas 14, and she was not.
Terrible, terrible.
We've, I'll tell you another storyabout a fun thing that happened.
But this young woman justwasn't sharing with her parents.
She just wasn't sharing with her parents.
And so I um, asked her, youknow, what she was interested in.
She was interested in cooking.
I said, well, come on,let's cook a little bit.
(28:51):
Let's, let's just mess around the kitchen.
So we developed, a littlebit of a relationship.
And I was talking to heraround the breakfast table.
They were here for a week and Idon't know, second or third day.
And I said, so what is the mostimportant thing in your life right now?
what, what is speaking to you?
Right.
As a 14 year old, big year.
I mean, you're gonna, you'refreshmen, lots of new changes.
(29:13):
She said, I have a boyfriend.
And the parents didn'tknow she had a boyfriend.
And she was just talking about thiswonderful boy, and I said, it sounds
like you have made so many good choices.
Mom and dad are probably really proudof you that what you're talking about is
that he's kind to you, that he's smart inschool, you know, all of those choices.
(29:36):
And the parent's eyes are as bigas plates because they have not
heard this girl talk to a bit.
About anything really, you know,she's just kind of in her room doing
her thing and it was so wonderful.
And I think they left Havingbuilt bridges of communication,
and that was that's powerful,
Cliff Duvernois (29:55):
They should make a TV show here Like that
Tracey Davis (30:02):
I think one of the middle girls as I remembered we had just
had a litter of barn cats and She wasjust so In the barn, she just was with
the cats, so that's all she wanted.
She just wanted to be with the cats, yeah.
This past summer we had, two teenagegirls here with their parents,
and the parents were so much fun.
And they just totallygot the teenage thing.
(30:22):
You know, some of the thingswere gonna be a hit, some of
the things were gonna be a miss.
I mean, they were just on their game.
They had gone to the beach thefirst day, and they came back the
second day, and one of the girlswas so terribly burned on one side.
Ouch.
And the dad said, yep, she got angry atus and rolled over and wouldn't roll back.
Cliff Duvernois (30:42):
Oh my goodness.
Tracey Davis (30:46):
Yes.
And I tried not to laugh,and I said, I'm sorry.
how did that work for you?
And then everybody started, humorcan help, and she said, not really
that well, I said, I can see that.
Yeah.
So it just, it was, it's justfunny, you know, the whole thing.
Life at large, right?
Cliff Duvernois (31:05):
Yes.
All of it.
Definitely.
And Tracey, if somebody is listeningto this and they definitely want
to come and they want to stay here,they want to experience this, this
peace, tranquility, serendipity,be right next to Lake Michigan.
How can they find you?
Tracey Davis (31:20):
We have a really good website at glenmeadowbb.
com And you, a person can book directly.
We have five platforms through, adatabase called little hotelier, and so
we, work with Expedia so they can makereservations through Expedia, hotels.
(31:42):
com, Airbnb, booking.
com, and travel advisor, I think.
So if they are members to.
With any of those places, theyshould be able to find us.
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (31:56):
Perfect.
Tracey Davis (31:57):
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (31:58):
Tracey, thank you so much for taking time to chat with us today.
This has been a, it's been a treat
Tracey Davis (32:02):
for me too.
For me too.
I'm so glad that you're here
Cliff Duvernois (32:06):
for our audience.
You can always roll onover to total michigan.
com and click on Tracey's interview toget the links that she mentioned above
and book your room at this incrediblybeautiful breakfast bed and breakfast.
We'll see you next time while wetalk to another Michigander doing
some pretty extraordinary things.
We'll see you then.
Tracey Davis (32:21):
Bye bye.
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