For What It’s Worth

5

January 6, 2009 by esarsea

…and no, I’m not writing about the Buffalo Springfield song written by Stephen Stills, although you might find that more interesting. As promised (or threatened, depending on your perspective) I wanted to share a little bit about my recent vacation.

Needless to say our Christmas was non-traditional at best this year, with Mary-Anne’s father passing and the record snowfall that followed. So the first leg of our vacation was a quick trip down to Portland, Oregon where I took Mary-Anne shopping at Lloyd’s Center. She picked out a couple pairs of pants, a nice sweater and a new watch.

From Lloyd’s Center we made our way across town and stayed at The Governor Hotel. The Govenor is a very cool place with a great vibe. The hotel is 100 years old, with some wonderful architecture inside and out. That night we ate at Jake’s Grill which is also located in the hotel. There I enjoyed one of the best ribeye steaks I have even eaten. If you’re ever in the Portland area, I highly recommend both The Governor Hotel and Jake’s Grill.

The next morning we were off to Lincoln City on the Oregon coast. Along the way we stopped at Spirit Mountain casino in the small town of Grand Ronde, Oregon and donated some funds to our indigenous brothers and sisters. As indian casinos go it was a nice enough place, but the slot machines weren’t very cooperative during our brief visit.

Just as we were leaving the casino I received a call on my cell phone. It was the reservations clerk for On The Beachfront Properties, who operate a number of oceanfront properties in Lincoln City. She explained that the room we had reserved, the Penthouse Suite at The Nantucket Inn had been damaged by high winds and rain, and was closed for repairs. The clerk said she had placed us instead at Beachfront Manor, another one of their properties.

The changed proved to be a bit of an upgrade. We got an oceanfront room with a gas fireplace, flat screen TV, and a private covered deck with a hot tub overlooking the ocean. It couldn’t have been any closer to the beach without being build on pilings over the water. The waves literally reached the bulkhead at times, and the front edge of our deck (1 floor above) actually extended even with that bulkhead.  The hot tub was clean, filled, hot and ready to go when we arrived. There’s nothing like ending your day in a hot tub overlooking the ocean at the edge of the beach!

Here’s a photo from our deck, looking North:

We spent 4 nights at Beachfront Manor. While we were there we visited Chinook Winds Casino, also located in Lincoln City. At Chinook Winds I entered a $40 buy in (with re-buys) no-limit Texas Hold’em tournament. I was among the final 3 players remaining when we agreed to chop the prize pool for roughly $500 each. I also managed to parlay a $20 investment on the roulette table into $300, so between the 2 wins we were able to play with “House Money” for the remainder of our stay.

For our anniversary (12/31) we went to dinner at Tidal Raves in Depoe Bay Oregon, 13 miles South of Lincoln City. The view was spectacular from our window table, and the food and service were both outstanding. If you’re ever in the area it’s well worth the visit.

Here’s (part of) the view from Tidal Raves:

We headed for home on January 1st, stopping by Spirit Mountain (again) along the way. No luck. Staying consistent on the theme of our trip, we stopped for dinner at the Prime Rib and Steakhouse located in the Lucky Eagle Casino in Rochester, WA for dinner. Another very enjoyable meal.

Finally we headed for home…but being rather spontaneous we made one final detour and stopped by Little Creek Casino near Shelton, WA. They’ve got nice rooms (we’ve stayed there before) so on a whim I checked with the front desk and asked if they had any rooms. Mary-Anne just smiled and shook her head when I said, “Great – hook me up for 2 nights!” So we stayed there for a couple nights and then went home.

The ocean proved cathartic for Mary-Anne who had the much needed opportunity to decompress. I was just happy that I had the means to pull it off for her.