ELK.  Everyone loves the famed seaside inns of Elk, but let's face it: $300 a night is a bit steep. Thank heaven for the Griffin House, a dressed-down collection of cliff-top cottages - some with ocean-view decks -- that doesn't try to compete with its fancy-pants neighbors. Here, the furniture doesn't match, and the bathrooms are nothing special. But the Griffin House's charm lies in its simplicity. Instead of roses on the bedside table and oil paintings over the mantel, there are board games in crushed cardboard boxes and paperback books on pine wood shelves. The innkeeper won't glower at you if you hike barefoot from the beach and track sand into your cottage. And after dinner, you can down a couple pints in the pub while gabbing with locals, and nobody will care that you laugh too loudly. In the morning, light a fire in your wood stove and recover privately over a hot breakfast delivered to your door.