Portland, OR

Where am I? Portland, OR

Hotel: Vintage Plaza Hotel (http://www.vintageplaza.com/)

Dates: 11.17-11.19.08

I arrived in Portland on Monday the 17th after a fairly long two and half hour flight.
It wasn't too cold, which was good because I decided to leave my big new coat at home. I rented my car and set my GPS to find my hotel.
After my GPS sent got me a little lost in all the one way streets of downtown Portland, I called the hotel. They got me to the hotel just fine and I entered to check in.

I have to say that this hotel was BEAUTIFUL! At first site I was in love. It was definitely an older building, but re-vamped to look exquisite. Red velvet couches and wood burning fireplaces, deep wood all around with beautiful rugs and carpeting. So lush!
The staff at this hotel was beyond helpful and friendly and they even had Georgie their resident canine who greeted all the canine guests that arrived at this pet friendly hotel. She was adorable and always dressed in the cutest little doggie fashions!
So I get my room and head on up. Open up the door to a very large room with 2 double beds, a little sitting area with two plush green velvet chairs and a table, 2 floor to ceiling windows and the tallest ceiling I've seen in a hotel ever! I had a desk, a TV, and best and unique of all... a little stuffed bear named Rocky! I so badly wanted to take him home at the end of my trip, but he was a bit pricey! Oh, and some really cool robes in the closet! Leopard!
I honestly can't say enough nice things about this hotel... the most helpful and best staff ever!

So, after ohh-ing and aw-ing over the room, I went back downstairs and decided to walk around downtown for a bit. I grabbed a gingerbread latte from Peet's Coffee (http://www.peets.com/) to warm up and just walked. I did get a bit of harassment from some local homeless peeps asking for money, 1 guy that wanted me to sponsor a foreign child, a guy that wanted me to come on over and "chat at him".

Finally I decided I was hungry and stopped to eat at a little Thai place next to my hotel. I can't remember the name of it, but I had an amazing bartender/waiter taking care of me and he was super nice and since I was the only person in the bar at the time I got first person service! The food itself was pretty damn good. I had my usual Thai meal of Chicken Pineapple Fried Rice and I tried their veggie rolls. I seriously had to stop myself because I was so full, but so badly wanted to finish it off since I knew that I couldn't warm it back up as left-overs later!

The next day, I decided that since I didn't work till later in the afternoon, I would try a great breakfast place. I put a lot of thought and research on citysearch.com for the perfect breakfast place. Finally I found it... "breakfast at it's finest" said Citysearch... Sanborn's. I read the thirty-something reviews all of which are great or pretty good and set off for my 15 minute drive over there. I arrive, park, and walk up to the door and notice it is closed... for vacation! I was so mad and sad that I would never get to try the finest breakfast in Portland!

So I ended up at Mother's (another citysearch favorite) (http://www.mothersbistro.com/). I had an amazing pair of buttermilk pancakes and an egg. The coffee was even good.

After that, I headed out to the mall I was training at that night and shopped for a bit... where I learned that Portland has NO SALES TAX!!! What?!? Seriously. What it says on the price tag is the price you actually pay... couldn't believe it!

After working I had a late dinner at Mama Mia! (Citysearch's best Italian-Portland) (http://mamamiatrattoria.com/) Had a delicious Caprese salad and Ravioli and was spent for the night. This place was definitely another A+!

That was pretty much it for Portland, I had a great time in my awesome hotel and highly recommend it to anyone staying in the Portland area. I really hope to make it back there someday because I REALLY loved it! Next time I also plan on seeing more of the city!

Boulder & Denver, CO

Where am I? Boulder, CO / Denver, CO

Hotel: Boulder Marriott (http://www.marriott.com/) / Sheraton Denver Tech (http://www.sheratondtc.com/)

Dates: 11.10-11.13.08

So I'm playing a little catch up here and wanted to post my Boulder info!

Carl and I got to Boulder late Monday night and checked into our hotel. Very nice place, great bed!
After working Carl and I drove out to the Coors Plant to do the tour and tasting, but alas they were closed on Tuesdays for tours :( ... So we did the next thing on our fun things list...

The Butterfly Pavillion! (http://www.butterflies.org/)

This place was awesome! First off it wasn't just butterflies. There were many different bugs, fish, ect and we had a blast. Both of us got brave and held Rosie the Tarantula, she was soft and kinda cute in a very scary spidery way! I took lots of pics of all the beautiful butterflies and just really enjoyed watching them flutter around. Like I said, we had a blast!

Next up was dinner, since we didn't eat lunch we were quite hungry!
OLD CHICAGO (http://www.oldchicago.com/)

Carl and I each tried a flight of beers, had a sandwich and over-stuffed ourselves with all around deliciousness. I had a great chicken parmagean sandwich and it was seriously good. A+ to this restaurant!
After this we were pretty much done for the day!

On the next day, I worked, we checked out of the hotel and drove up to the

STANLEY HOTEL (http://www.stanleyhotel.com/)

This was probably my favorite part of the trip. I had wanted to visit the Stanley for a very long time and was finally able to take the oppurtunity to do so.
For those who don't know, the Stanley was the hotel that inspired Stephen King's 'The Shining'.

What most people don't know is that this is not where the movie was filmed as the producers looked at the hotel and then built sets in London to film on.
Still, this place was amazing. It was built in 1909 and still had lots of the same stuff, beams, looks, etc. I took lots of pics and loved our little Ghost Tour that we took part of. The stories were great and fun to hear about. We didn't see any ghosts, but the experience still put a huge smile on my face!

We got to meet up with my old friend Giselle and her dad and mom who I've known since I was born as they are friends with my parents, and we had an amazing dinner at Nono's Cafe (http://nonoscafe.com/). This is an amazing little place that was started by a guy actually from New Orleans (like me!) and the food is great New Orlean's style stuff. Carl and I split the Crawfish Pasta dish and loved it. Oh, and the crab au gratin... I only had a little cuz it was waaaaay rich. Delicious!

That night we checked into the Denver Sheraton Tech, which unfortunatley wasn't very great. The bed was comfy enough, but the chairs were a little scary and stained, the bathroom was tiny and blah. However the drinks and chocolate cake at the bar were quite delicious.
The next day was spent driving to Boulder and back to Denver for work, then to the airport.

We did manage to fit in dinner at BRIO (http://www.brioitalian.com/). We had some really great brushetta and then split the mediterrain pasta dish and a tiny tiramisu. I loved this place so much I found one in Phoenix to have lunch at! Try it out.

So that was pretty much it for Denver and Boulder. It was amazing to have Carl come along and keep me company. I know he had a great time too and I hope we get to visit again soon.

A Beautiful Day in Tucson

Where am I today? Tucson, AZ
Hotel: Westward Look Resort

Hello again,

It has been awhile since I've posted because I actually have had almost 2 weeks at home! No traveling, but don't worry, this month is FULL of travels.

Today I did the drive to Tucson, AZ and Carl decided to tag along for the fun. It was awesome to have him along for the drive and the drive ended up being great. Took a back way to stay off of the construction ridden I 10 and it was much better and more relaxing.

We arrived at the Westward Look Resort early and asked about checking in. Well, not only did we get checked in, but we got upgraded to a LOVELY SUITE!

The property is great and the room is even greater. A nice sofa and chair, desk, a soft King sized bed, a great huge mirror that I want to steal and a pretty amazing bathroom area including our very own robes! Yippee!

We had a not so great Mexican food experience at the local Las Margaritas, and no, we did not have magaritas. Then had a nap together. Then walked around a cool little Labyrinth maze thingy. And we just got back from a meal at the Outlook bar and grill where I had a $5 strong as hell martini. Weeeeee.

So now, we relax, because tomorrow I train and then we do the drive back in time to stand in line and VOTE!
I'm really excited for voting tomorrow and I hope you all go out and do your duty as Americans! It's all up to us people, so get it done!

Happy Voting and check back soon for my travels to Denver, Portland, and Vegas this month!

p.s. I'm still trying to figure out a great way to post this blog and make sure people are enjoying. So any format you would like to see or comments on how to better my travel blog... let me know! Thanks!