North to Alaska, but not quite yet Part 2

With 620,778 residents, and thousands of visitors at any given time, Seattle is a large, vibrant city with something for everyone.  Our time in town was relatively short, and the focus was on visiting with old friends and preparing to get underway. Still, no trip to this city is complete without a stop at Pike Place market. Here the famous fish mongers toss the freshest catch imaginable over customers heads, stalls of fresh flowers spill perfume into the air, antique shops, ethnic food stores, artisan craft stands, tacky Seattle souvenir shops and funky tobacco stores share wall space with bakeries, meat markets, candle shops, and jelly stands. There are always street performers playing and singing for change, which just adds to the eclectic fun atmosphere.  Every repeat visitor has his or her favorites- mine are the jelly stand, the hot fresh donut stand, and the fragrant incense store. We spent a few hours browsing and eating our way through the market- pretty typical for our visits here.

After leaving the market we walked down the many sets of stairs and hills to the waterfront area. One thing I always get a kick out of here, is the main road you have to cross to get to the piers themselves is “Alaskan Way”. It’s a great reminder of this city’s ties economically and historically to the great state far north of it. On this visit, we had the chance to take our first ever ride on the great wheel on the pier. At $13 for adults, $11 for seniors, and $8 for children it’s a little steep priced but trust me when I say the ride is also really steep and it’s worth every penny. The views were amazing! Clear views  over to the space needle on one side- across the sweeping city, the the majestic Mt Rainer on the horizon. I am not one who loves heights, so I was a little nervous. Okay, a LOT nervous! But really, the cars are enclosed and I was able to convince myself I wasn’t going to go pummeling down to my death and I sat back and enjoyed the views. The cars do sway a little but it’s very mild and wasn’t enough to make me feel concerned. You get one trip around as they load the entire wheel, and then 3 additional rotations. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but it really was enough!

As far as food goes, Seattle is a mecca of good eats. You can find dishes of every ethnicity imaginable. So what does a girl from PA do when faced with all those wonderful choices? She goes for familiar comfort foods of course. Sort of. We stumbled upon the Icon Grill on 5^th street, near our hotel (the Warwick Hotel) and out of sheer hanger desperation and the fact there was a wine bottle visible through the window. The restaurant is decorated with dark woods, blown glass, and fun kitchy décor. The staff was extremely friendly and whisked us off to a table, where our server cheerfully explained this restaurant liked to call its food “upscale comfort food”, and better yet- he actually volunteered his favorites which helped us narrow down dishes.  I have not had red eat in quite some time, so it was a bit of a surprise but I was immediately hooked by his description of the meat loaf- a dish made famous on the Food Network. The meat was wrapped in bacon, and cooked in a black molasses sauce and served with cilantro-corn mashed potatoes. Sold! My husband and children had various versions of macaroni and cheese. I managed to make my great meal even better, with a wine flight of some great reds. All in all, we would eat at Icon again- in fact, we did! Breakfast the next day. Food was not quite as good as dinner but the $5 Bloody Marys and Mimosas were fabulous.

Our other notable eats were at the Crab Pot, which is pretty much always good, plentiful and messy and a late night snack and drink stop at Fado Irish Pub where I enjoyed a really unique drink, the Jameson and Ginger drink, which was a tall glass filled with a mix of Jamesons and an alcoholic ginger beer, It had bite and a bit of a punch and I liked it!

Our night culminated in a celebrity sighting back at the Warwick. One last nightcap in the hotel lounge led to a chance encounter with Elizabeth Pena (of Batteries Not included, La Bamba, and The Incredibles among other features) I should probably go revise my post about The Warwick as any time one has a celerity run in it immediately raises a hotel’s legitimacy right?

And at last, we are done in Seattle. So done we’re currently on the ship at the dock and are awaiting sail away. Bon Voyage!

North to Alaska! But not quite yet... Part One

One personal rule I have about cruise travel is never fly in the day of a cruise, or even the day before. Caveat here, we have spent the past three years in Hawaii and the three prior in Alaska, so travel is an all day affair and one missed connection can be a nightmare. At any rate, we arrived in Seattle last night, with plenty of time to spare before Tuesdays sail away. We are lodging at the Warwick Seattle hotel, chosen for it's proximity to everything fun downtown, decent looking rooms (online), and price. I was able to snag an extremely good deal via one of my agency suppliers and booked rooms for ourselves and our traveling companions (my husband Brian's parents.)

I was going to run around and take a bunch of photos of the Warwick, but really why reinvent the wheel. They obviously paid someone a lot of money to take nice quality pictures, so go check theirs out at their website. Now, on first glance as we approached the Warwick I was a little skeeved out by the worn exterior. When you walk around downtown Seattle though you find buildings have one of two exteriors- sleek, modern, mirrored glass or old worn down brick. This was the second kind of building. The lobby is very small, there is a nice looking restaurant I have not tried yet attached to the lobby that my in-laws enjoyed last night. The room itself is roomy, modern, and very clean. I do have two complaints that you'll see below- one really can not be helped, but the other is pretty strange.

Okay this just is what it is, we're downtown in a big city full of big buildings and everyone won't have a view. Some of us will have a view alright... of a brick wall. My suggestion to anyone selecting a room at the Warwick, request a room that is NOT an even numbered room on floors 1-4 to avoid this view!

That was really no big deal, we spend little time in the room after all. The next bit is a little odder. As I climbed into bed last night, my feet felt something warm and furry. Not a rat thank god.... a blanket type cover of some kind for the mattress. We pulled up the blankets and sheets from the bottom and saw this. The top of the bed also had a gap- that's when we realized the maid had put the bottom (unfitted) sheet on sideways! This could probably be shrugged off as a one time freak anomaly.... except we checked the second bed in the room and hey- it was also made with the sheet sideways. So there we were at 11 pm after traveling all day, changing our own hotel sheets so our feet were not rubbing bare mattress.

Would this put me off of staying at the Warwick again? Probably not on it's own but there is one other problem that is probably a deal breaker for me. This hotel has cotton balls in pillowcase syndrome. As I revealed in my review of The Outrigger, pillows are a big deal for me. They pretty much make or break my sleep. I could probably sleep on a bare floor, if I had a decent pillow. this room offers six pillows, all of the same poor cotton bally quality and it was a difficult night's sleep. If you driving and can toss a pillow into the back of your car, and are offered a great rate- the Warwick is a good choice. It's safe, it's clean, its very conveniently located. Bring a pillow though, and check the sheet tuck!

I'll check in with Part 2 later, and share a little slice of Seattle. Some great eats and special treats in this beautiful Northwestern city.

T minus 1 day and counting, Travelers Rev Your Suitcases

I'm really excited to share our upcoming Alaskan cruise with you all. I think in recent years, not without some legitimate reason, cruising has earned a bit of a bad name. Cruising Carnival in particular is in some circles considered as brave and dangerous a choice to make as say- taking up sky scraper repelling. This will be my 6th Carnival cruise (I have also cruised NCL and Royal Caribbean, both were enjoyable experiences.) so I have an idea of the ups and downs ahead of us. My hope is to present a really BIG picture of the family cruise, for those who have not previously cruised or perhaps have been shy to try the Carnival brand.

Is a cruise really an "affordable" family vacation? What exactly does your basic fare cover? What out of pocket expenses can you expect? Are there hidden fees?  How big are those cabins really- square footage only gives part of the picture after all! Can you squeeze 4 people in 1 cabin? Will my kids be bored? Will there be a lot of annoying drunk people around? What kind of food can I expect? What can I do on board other than eat and drink? How enjoyable can a port call really be if it's only for 7 hours? What's the REAL "tacky factor" on a budget cruise line?

I'm going to explore all of that and more; I will be inundating you daily with blog posts describing everything from the mundane to the insane-  cruise style. There will also be pictures, lots and lots of pictures! This will be a good time to subscribe to this blog or add it to your blog roller, so you don't miss any of it.