By Victor Block

Ari and Brad Nicholson are settled for the night in the most luxurious setting they have enjoyed anywhere. Their penthouse is lit by chandeliers and includes opulent touches such as a martini bar and hot tub.

The ambience is very different where Lee and Laura Hockman are bedding down. As dog lovers, the opportunity to stay in "the world's biggest beagle" gave them no paws (pun intended).

These disparate accommodations are among choices available to travelers seeking a unique experience when it's time to check in and turn in. They range from ultimate luxury to basic bedrooms, from hotels on high to underwater sleeping space.

That plush penthouse is one of 16 themed quarters at the Adventure Suites complex in New Hampshire. Others include a deserted island room where guests sleep in a giant oyster-shell-shaped bed, a wine cellar suite that is any oenophile's dream and a jungle hut complete with thatched roof and waterfall. Rates begin at $119 a night and escalate along with the degree of fantasy one prefers.

Overnight guests at the Dog Bark Park Inn B&B in Cottonwood, Idaho (population under 1,000), enter a 30-foot-high beagle-shaped structure that offers the usual amenities found in many hotel rooms. The inn is a throwback to the kind of roadside architecture that was popular in the early days of automobile vacation travel. The unique B&B is open April 1 to Oct. 31 and charges $98 a night for two people.

Other places of temporary housing for travelers around the country provide equally unusual, unexpected and in some cases offbeat accommodations. Train buffs who check into the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel will think they've gone to railroad heaven. The station in that city has been converted into a hotel complex with swimming pools, gardens and onsite shopping. In addition to standard hotel accommodations, guests may opt to sleep in one of 48 train-car rooms that are lavishly decorated with Victorian furnishings yet provide today's modern conveniences. Rates begin at $180 for up to four people sharing a room.

The accommodations are less luxurious but equally as intriguing aboard a World War II submarine moored along the shore of Lake Michigan. The USS Cobia was launched in 1943 and saw action in the Pacific theater, sinking a total of 13 enemy ships. Now part of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, it's available for day tours as well as overnight stays. Guests, who bring their own bedding, receive a guided tour and admission to the museum the following day. The cost is $44 per person.

Those who prefer to rise above it all also have inviting alternatives. Some choose to relive childhood memories of playing in a tree house. At TreeHouse Point, located in a lush forest near Seattle, Washington, cabins are perched above the aptly named Raging River. The property says they offer a "personal encounter with the trees and nature." Guests access their rooms by way of stairs or a swinging walkway and find cabins that are rustic but comfortably furnished. Rates begin at $255 a night.

Another room with a view, the Jersey Jim Fire Lookout Tower, was built for a more serious purpose than playing in a tree house. It's one of hundreds of structures once located around the country from which forest rangers kept a lookout for fires. Located in the San Juan National Forest in Colorado, the cabin sits 55 feet (and 70 steps) above a meadow at an elevation of almost 10,000 feet. Inside are the original furniture and ranger logbook, along with propane-powered heating, lighting, refrigerator and oven. The tower is available from late May to mid-October at a nightly rate of $40.

Although it's 20 feet shorter than the fire tower, the Rose Island Lighthouse offers an equally dramatic, if different, view. It overlooks Narragansett Bay along the coast of Rhode Island. The base of the lighthouse is a museum that occupies rooms restored as if keepers still lived there. In fact, it's possible to become a keeper — sort of — for a night or longer. Short-term guests take care of a few chores, such as raising and lowering the flag and turning on the generator.

Those who opt to become keeper for a week have additional responsibilities that include checking the weather on the radio and recording and managing the wind-powered electric and rainwater gathering systems. After completing their tasks, keepers are free to swim, fish, use the kayaks or just take in the scenic setting from the top of the tower. The price of this unique experience for two people is $225 to $350 per night and $1,000 to $2,300 for weekly lighthouse-keepers.

With rates that start at $280 a night, Kokopelli's Cave Bed and Breakfast in Farmington, New Mexico, is no mere hole in the ground. Carved into a 65-million-year-old sandstone cliff face and almost 1,700 square feet in size, the carpeted grotto includes a full kitchen and bathroom, television, DVD player and other amenities not expected 70 feet below ground. The cave can accommodate up to four people.

Another low-down experience awaits guests at Jules' Undersea Lodge. Originally built as an underwater research laboratory, the mini-hotel sits on the floor of a mangrove lagoon off Key Largo, Florida. The living area includes two bedrooms and a common space that serves as the galley, dining and entertainment area. The best entertainment is provided by 42-inch round windows that look out onto a gathering place for angel fish, barracuda, snapper and other reef fish. It's even possible to enjoy a meal prepared by a chef who dives down to the hotel and prepares a gourmet dinner. Non-divers receive a brief introductory course that allows them to access the lodge using scuba gear that is provided. Rates are $800 a night for two people and $350 per person for three or four.

Some accommodations appeal to folks who seek a less exotic experience. That certainly applies to the Shady Dell in Bisbee, Arizona, about 90 miles southeast of Tucson. In 1927, it began to provide trailer and camping space for travelers along U.S. Route 80, the first all-weather coast-to-coast highway. Today Shady Dell puts up folks in 10 fully furnished vintage trailers. Several of them have a toilet and sink, and group shower and bathroom facilities are available for the others. Rates begin at $88 a night.

The word "basic" certainly applies to a home away from home located in the Mississippi Delta region in a tin-roofed sharecropper cottage. Furnished in what is described as "a flea market lover's dream," the colorfully named Shack Up Inn lives up, or perhaps down, to that moniker. Once guests get past the ramshackle outside appearance of the little houses, they find rooms that have been renovated to add electricity, plumbing, heat and air conditioning. Mismatched furniture, walls adorned with old photographs and other period pieces embellish the theme. In keeping with the inn's motto "the Ritz we ain't," rates begin at a budget-stretching $75 a night.

WHEN YOU GO

Adventure Suites: www.adventuresuites.com or 603-356-9755

Dog Bark Park Inn: www.dogbarkparkinn.com or 208-962-3647

Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel: www.choochoo.com or 800-872-2529

USS Cobia: www.wisconsinmaratime.org or 866-724-2356

Treehouse Point: www.treehousepoint.com or 425-441-8087

Jersey Jim Fire Lookout Tower: 800-253-1616

Rose Island Lighthouse: www.roseislandlighthouse.org or 401-847-4242

Kokopelli's Cave Bed and Breakfast: www.kokoscave.com or 505-860-3812

Jules' Undersea Lodge: www.jul.com or 305-451-2353

The Shady Dell: www.theshadydell.com or 520-432-3567

Shack Up Inn: www.shackupinn.com or 662-624-8329

. Antique train cars provide overnight accommodation at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Photo courtesy of Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel.

Treehouse Point near Seattle, Washington, gives new meaning to getting away from it all. Photo courtesy of Treehouse Point.

Victor Block is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.