View from the Space Needle

I love this city. It's such a great place to vacation. They have so much to offer including lots and lots of great places to eat. And let me be honest, we pretty much ate our way through Seattle.

Most places we went to were crowded and I am a shy girl and hate to pull out my camera to take pictures, but I will let you know what we ate and what we thought anyways.

We had already done the Seattle Underground a few years back. We have also did the the Space Needle at that time too.

GETTING THERE FROM PORTLAND ::

We took the train. For $60 round trip it's pretty sweet. You spend the 3.5 hours reading, talking and not thinking about traffic. It's great.

The whole reason for our visit was to take our daughter and her friend on a college visit. Because of that they got a discount on their train fare.

GETTING AROUND SEATTLE ::

Once you get off the train you have to walk…wait for it…..1 block. From that point on you are in the free fare zone. Chances are you have a motel in that area, so no need to grab a taxi. We don't ride the bus system ever anywhere, but it's pretty easy to figure out.

We walked. Our motel was only about a mile away from the train station. And honestly after sitting on the train, I was ready to stretch my legs and look around.

As we walked we stumbled upon many happy hours. I used my Happy Hour app for Seattle, called Cocktail Compass. By the way Portland has one too, not sure about other cities though.

EATING IN SEATTLE ::

Where to start??

We stopped at Lola, which is a Tom Douglas restaurant. This place was packed. Now mind you, we are carrying back packs. But we make our way to the bar and grabbed some great eats.

Salmon cakes, red pepper humus and chicken and pork kebabs, plus 2 beers. The portions were small, but so great. We decided not to order more, but instead hit another happy hour later.

We made our way to hour hotel. (more on that in a minute) dropped off our things and hit the city again. I had scoped out more eats earlier in the week.

We went to Amber. Great place, great ambiance. Again we bellied up to the bar. We ordered the Kobe beef sliders (these are why we came), 2 pizzas, that turned out to be rather large. An order of ribs, because they told us we needed too and a bowl of their house made Clam Chowder. We also ordered 2 cocktails, that were happy hours specials and 2 beers.

Amber was amazing. We had way to much food. Partially because it was our second Happy Hour, although it was over an hour between and almost 1 mile of walking. We had earned it, right?

The bill for the 2 places were exactly the same. If you want quality, special and unique fare, make your way to Lola, just expect to pay more, but it's worth every penny.

If you want great eats, I mean great happy hour eats that's not typical fried bar food, and you want it at a great price, head to Amber.

Both will make you happy.

STAYING IN SEATTLE ::

Both times we stayed in Seattle we used Hotwire. Last time we ended up at the W Hotel.  This was the epitome of a 4 star hotel. Beautiful, sleek and amazing. It felt like luxury. The price for this 2 years ago was just $119. I just looked up a 4 star and found one for $125 a night for Pike Place area. Not sure what hotel it is, but you get the idea. I thought earlier I had found the Westin for $100 a night.

We found a boutique hotel for just $106 a night and it was a 4 star too, Edgewater Hotel, I told you about it here, and I was so excited.

Well, the Edgewater Hotel in Seattle was so incredibly disappointing. Disappointing is an understatement. I think they earn their 4 star because they are on the water. The rooms lack 4 star quality. Check out the pictures of Edgewater Hotel here. Trust me it was worse than it looks.

Now we did end up with a city side, which is much smaller and not as nice as the water side, but let me remind you we were only viewing the city out of our last hotel a few years back. The room did not make up for the lack of view. We never thought twice about our view last time, we were so pleased with our room.

The beds were hard and there was nothing luxurious about the decor. As a matter of fact the decor was down right awful. The beds in this 4 star hotel were log beds with like ugly bedding. The rooms were tiny. Again we stayed in a 4 star in CA once with tiny rooms, but the rooms were amazing.

When asked at the front desk what we thought, we told them there is no way this should be a 4 star. I think at $106 a night it was an ok deal. But at $180-$200, which is the original cost of the room, I would have been pissed to say the least.

There are tons of bad reviews of this hotel on YELP. This is my favorite because she perfectly described what I thought of the place.

I have not written a review in years but  my experience here was so bad that I had to write something. I feel like they totally lead you on, on their website. My mom had a discount from Expedia so I used it. Even with that I still payed over a hundred dollars for a room that was less then even okay. We were promised a flat screen tv which we didn't have, free internet which wasn't free, they didn't even have a continental breakfast which they had expressed was also included. The room was tiny we walked in and were literally on the bed. The whole feel of the room was dirty I think if I had not drank as much as I did that night I would not have laid on the bed. You know that it is bad when you both look at each other and say the only people who would find this luxury are people that live in a trailer park. The only nice feature was the bathroom. The decor is beyond horrible. Luckily I had the best person with me so we made the most of the night despite the hotel. Overall I give this a major thumbs down.

There is so much to see and do in Seattle. I barely touched on it. We did wander through the Pikes Place Market. We also wondered through Pioneer Place. I wanted to go to Queen Anne, but we never made it over. Another trip I guess.

We have had a ton of rain this winter and spring. So finding something to do in Portland when it's raining has been high on our list.

Entertainment ::

• Blitz – With games like pool, air hockey and shuffleboard you can have a great time. They have 13 beers on tap and a pretty decent menu, although it's typical bar food.     Right next door is Little Big Burger. Grab a bite there first then head over to drink your beer and play your games. Get there early because this place packs out.
• Players – This is an upscale bowling alley with video arcades as well. You can even rent rooms with 2-3 lanes for private parties. The food is supposed to be more upscale as well.
• Big Al's- for bowling and food. Great place for kids parties.

Comedy clubs ::

• Comedy Sportz – good or all ages, although they also have later adult shows. We used to go all the time, but haven't been lately.
• Harvey's Comedy Club
• Curious Comedy Theater – I have been to this venue and had a great evening.

Cool Movie Theaters ::

• Living Room Theaters – This is the best dinner and a movie experience in Portland.
• McMenamins – they have multiple buildings that they have purchased over the years. These also offer the dinner and a movie experience. They are also so spread out over Portland and the suburbs that you should find one near you.

Musuems ::

• OMSI
• Pittock Mansion
• Childrens Museum

Shopping ::

Most Portlanders don't even realize that it's raining and will just grab an umbrella and shop at one of these trendy outdoor places

• NW 23rd
• Bridgeport
• Woodburn Company stores.

Shop at Lloyd Center Mall while the kids enjoy ice skating in the mall.

Miscellaneous ::

• Powell's Books – Yep, with one square block of books, they should have what you are looking for. It's the largest new and used book store in the world. Don't worry it's a typical Portland establishment and it does have a coffee shop attached.
• Southwest Community Center – Indoor water park in SW Portland
• North Clackamas Aquatic Park
• Go to a Spa – they are a dime a dozen here in town. Groupon and LivingSocial often times have deals and you should never have to pay full price.
• Oaks Park Roller Rink

Grab a Bite to Eat ::

• I do like to eat, so finding a place to eat and watching it rain works for me. I often refer to Urbanspoon for reviews, but also find lots of info at EatingMyWayThruPortland.
• Check out one of the many Breweries in town. Portland is known as the micro brewery capital of the U.S.
• Enjoy a Food Tour

Looking for something different? Something unusual? Then sign up for Groupon or LivingSocial. You never know what they are going to offer. You will get $5 just for signing up with LivingSocial. Signing up is free and you are under no obligation to buy. Just watch the deals roll in.

Whenever we take a trip I will easily spend a day searching local restaurants.  I do this because I refuse to eat at most chain restaurants and because I really don't enjoy bar food every.single.meal.  Therefore, I start a search early on.

I look for healthy food, I look at price and I look for location.  As much as I enjoy a good meal, I won't drive out of my way for one, unless a reader suggests something that should not be missed.

I was excited when I came across the website called HappyCow.  This is a great site to help you locate healthy restaurants worldwide.

Next time you are on vacation and you are curious about what's around that's healthy, give HappyCow a look.

But I did want to share the trip my husband and son took to In-n-Out.  That's right they drive 6 hours, grab a burger, see some sights, grab a burger and come home.

This is the 2nd year they have done it.  This year they stopped in the Redwoods.  They spent a few hours there just checking things out.  If you haven't seen the redwoods, you need to make a trip out.  It's pretty spectacular.

You can see in order to make it through they had to pull in the mirrors.  This was a fun stop, but they had better things to do.  You guessed it.  They had to make their way to the the happiest place on earth…In-n-Out.

The bottom picture is something that is ordered off the "special menu".  I think this is called animal fries.

They spent the night at the Gaia Hotel and they loved it.  You can read how I got it at such a great deal.  I have to preface this with my husband is a hotel snob and won't stay at a Motel 6, so getting a nice hotel at an affordable price is always a good thing.

]]> http://vacationthrills.com/2010/09/10/how-far-would-you-drive-for-in-n-out/feed/ 0 http://vacationthrills.com/2010/08/26/end-of-summer-road-trip/ http://vacationthrills.com/2010/08/26/end-of-summer-road-trip/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:02:38 +0000 Amy http://vacationthrills.com/?p=963

My husband and son are taking their 2nd annual road trip to In n Out in just a few days.  Yep, that's right they drive over 8 hours to the nearest In n Out for a burger, and a little site seeing.  This year they are adding in a Brian Regan concert.

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My husband and son are taking their 2nd annual road trip to In n Out in just a few days.  Yep, that's right they drive over 8 hours to the nearest In n Out for a burger, and a little site seeing.  This year they are adding in a Brian Regan concert.

We had to book a hotel, so I did my little trick and matched the amenities to the list that Hotwire gives and sure enough we matched it perfectly.  Now it does help when you head into an area that is not heavily populated with hotels.

The hotel was $105, on sale for $75 through Hotels.com.  We went through Hotwire.com and got it for $69, then we went through Ebates then to Hotwire and will get an additional 2% cash back THEN I put it on my Chase Freedom credit card and will get 5% cash back.

I'm making money right now!!!!  Just so you know that's a line from Brian Regan.

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1.  Drink what's Free – They do offer pop/soda cards, but they are expensive and the only way to get your moneys worth is to drink a lot and then it just becomes unhealthy.

2.  Don't eat a the restaurants that charge – There are more than enough "free of charge" restaurants to choose from why would you even consider paying for a meal?  If you do want to pay for a meal do it while in port and try some of the local flavor instead.  That's why you are on vacation right??

This was a bean dip fondue in Honduras

3.  Choose the Free activities – There are plenty of things to do on the boat.  Plenty of shows to see and game shows to watch, don't pay for your entertainment.  Walk past the casino, you can do that anywhere.

4.  Don't feel like you need to have an excursion at every port – Big, big money maker here.  We met up with a couple a few years back and they had booked something at all but one port.  By the time they were at the last one they were happy they could do their own thing and not have another excursion.  They almost felt like they had missed out on a few ports because they were whisked away to an activity instead of enjoying the culture.

A private island I found online before we went. We walked over to the boat ferry. We did not book it ahead of time.

5.  If you do want to do an excursion try and book it through the company instead of the ship.  You can save up to $10-$20 a person just booking it yourself.

6.  Grab your drinks while in port – Ships charge lots of money for alcoholic drinks and they charge a 15% (although it could be higher now) tip right on there, and give you an additional tip line.  Really??  We like to stop at a local place and try one of the local beers or drinks.  Tons cheaper and you get to do something more authentic.

Drinking a local beer in Roatan

7.  If you want drinks on the ship try and bring some of your own.  It's risky, sometimes they go through and sometimes they don't.  But if you can get your own on the boat it will save you tons.

8.  Once off the ship, walk a little ways – If you get a block or 2 away from port the taxis start to get significantly cheaper.  Acapulco was a huge price difference.  We went to see the cliff divers. We paid  $2 and the couple next to us grabbed a taxi right at port and paid $17.

9.  Buy local – You are cruising so you can see different cities in different countries or areas.  Don't buy the silver on the boat, instead walk the city streets and pick up something from the locals.  It will be a fraction of the price.

Some of the Many Shops in Cozumel

10.  Don't tell your kids the card is attached to an account – They make it so easy to spend money on a cruise.  Your room key will also get you drinks.  As a matter of fact our last cruise didn't accept cash or credit cards, room keys only.  Either don't tell your kids or make sure they know they are responsible for anything charged.

There are so many more ways to save, but this is just some of the basics.  For us it becomes a game. You want my money and I try and see how little I give you.  We don't have regrets about things we haven't purchased, instead we love the new things we tried and the adventures we have found, at a fraction of the price.

Finally last summer I met up with a friend and we stopped in Hood River.  We had the the most amazing meal and I decided the next time we came through we would stop as a family and enjoy.  And we did!!  That was the stop that made me want to come back for a weekend.

So here we are 3 months later enjoying Hood River.  Before we even entered the town we enjoyed hours of hiking and sightseeing and photography.  Not that I am good at photography, but I just wanted to remember it all.  The day was beautiful and we managed all 3 meals outside in the sun.

The weather the second day was bad and we sat inside Doppio Coffee shop, reading and relaxing.  I had found this place online, before we even got here.  When we went out the first day I forgot to take my list of coffee shops to try and that didn't seem to matter, we ended up here anyways.

The bed and breakfast was good.  I am not a bed and breakfast person, but no complaints.  I was hoping for a little protein for breakfast, but the homemade scones did not disappoint.  The room, although small, suited it's purpose on that sunny day.

It seems that there is always something to do in Hood River.  This day was no exception.  As we began to walk around we noticed that the roads were blocked off.  After asking around we realized that there would be a Crit bike race.  This sounded intriguing, so we began to look for a place to sit and watch.  We knew the race was going to start right around lunch time, so we started walking the 1k course to find a place to sit.  We stumbled upon Double Mountain Brewery, which was also on my lists of places to try.  We walked in and the owner/manager (not sure which) told us to go into the other room, where a garage door was wide open and tables were pushed up to the edge.

Double Mountain Brewery is great.  The pizzas were amazing, and the beer was even better.  The thing I really love about beer and breweries is you can sample until you find one you like, then they pour you a big glass knowing you are happy.  This place was no different.  I sampled 3 kinds.  She told me I HAD to try all 3, so I did.  And just like they hoped, I was completely happy and ready for more!!

As the rain began to come down, we sat there, fully covered, yet outside, with the best view of the race.  How do we know it was the best view?  The whole time people walked by the said "wow, you have the best seats here."  We smiled, sipped our beer and hoped they would keep moving, as to not block our great view.

Between the hiking, the breweries, and the bike race we just got a taste of what Hood River has to offer the outdoorsy person.  It is after all the windsurfing capital of the world.  Along with all kinds of other water sports, the close mountain for ski or boarding, and mountain biking there is never a dull moment in Hood River.

Check out the Romantic Side of Hood River

Our first stop of the last day was not a new discovery, but when you live in Oregon you have to make a stop at least once when in California.

That's right, we made our token stop at In-n-Out.  I got my burger and fries, while my friend watched me eat. I am a foodie, but hey, it's In-N-Out.

Ok, once we got that out of our system, or me out of my system, we continued on with our walking and eating fest.  We decided we wanted to do the Point Loma lighthouse hike.  I can't remember how we found it and why we wanted to check it out.  We actually had other plans and kind of stumbled upon it I think.

But before we went we decided we needed a coffee.  We started looking for coffee shops and we found Con Pane Bakery.  We went in and I was disappointed to find that they didn't have my white chocolate mocha.  They did have homemade butterscotch.  I don't like butterscotch, but she insisted that I try it. It was so good.  I ordered it and drank it with no regrets.  As we were waiting in line (yes, this place was packed and the line was long) we saw a cinnamon roll that we decided we NEEDED to share.

You can see the homemade butterscotch drizzled across the top.  This was almost better than zinc.  I wouldn't get the cinnamon roll again.  It was good, but not super gooey and that's what makes for a good cinnamon roll.

Finally full of caffeine and ready for our last hour of our day before my flight.  We headed to Point Loma Lighthouse.

We did have to pay an entrance fee, that was around $5, per car.  We parked up close to the lighthouse and looked around.  It's so cool because you are on this peninsula and you can see water all the way around.  So beautiful.  We noticed people down by the water and had seen the road on our way up, so we made our way down.

You could do a really long hike if you wanted or you could just wander around the beach too.  Since I was dressed and ready for a plane ride we chose not to hike.  The amazing thing was were just minutes from the airport, but you felt like you were out far away from everything.  There were not many people there, which made it nice.  We were sad that we hadn't discovered this sooner, as neither one of us were ready to go.  We decided on our way out we would most definitely come back to this place.  My friend even said she was going to bring her family on a Staycation day.

]]> http://vacationthrills.com/2010/03/02/more-cheap-san-diego/feed/ 0 http://vacationthrills.com/2010/03/01/san-diego-on-the-cheap/ http://vacationthrills.com/2010/03/01/san-diego-on-the-cheap/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:59:28 +0000 Amy http://vacationthrills.com/?p=192 My best friend moved to San Diego over a year ago, so I make trips down to see her on occassion.  Our trips really just end up being eating our way through all of San Diego.  But we have also found some great hikes, walks and of course EATS.

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