maolor.blogspot.com: Oct 21, 2011

The girls and I just got back from an amazing trip! We got to visit our lovely friend Lec Lue and her boyfriend - Nathaniel in Portland (awesome hosts), drive up to see Seattle, and visit Canada!!!

Here's an overview of our trip and since I dislike ending on a negative note, I’ll start with the bad first. :P

Vancouver, Canada

Coast Plaza Suites

We booked two rooms in Vancouver through Priceline for a dirt cheap price ($60/night) at Coast Plaza Suites, which I thought was going to be a disaster because after booking the rooms I decided to read the reviews on this hotel and there were a lot of bad comments about the cleanliness of the hotel. But I figured since it was dirt cheap what can we expect. Yes! I know that you’re supposed to read reviews first before purchasing but when you “bid” on Priceline, you don’t get the choice of the hotel, you only get to pick the star rating, which I picked a three star hotel.

So, we arrived extremely late on Friday (Saturday @1:30am) because we were running behind schedule when we left Portland. The front desk lady was “decent”…. Let’s just say she checked us in and that was pretty much it. We had to ask where to park our car, how to get back into the hotel, where the elevators were, and when we asked for a place to eat around there she just said ask the concierge. Okay, I get it that you’re not the concierge but can you BE a little nicer about directing us to them.

Parking was a disaster! I had to park a ginormous Expedition in a tiny, narrow, low ceiling parking garage. No joke, it took me ten minutes to park our car! Now, before you start with your jokes about me being a bad driver – let me just say… the parking spaces were made for compact cars so when our car was parked it was sticking out on both ends and they DID NOT have any other parking spots. On top of that since the car was so big, the pipes hanging from the ceiling was scratching the top of my car! Ugh! It was definitely a production just to park!!!

Then when we checked out of Coast Plaza Suites, we were charged for “extra” people. Seven girls and two rooms – WTF? Extra? Where? We didn’t have ten people in two rooms. “Supposedly” the room prices are only for TWO per ROOM. Okay, I’ve booked many, many, many times with Priceline and have NEVER had a problem with this. I’ve even booked one room for six people before and never had to pay more for the “extra” people. So…. note to self: Book more rooms because the price we paid for the “extra” people would have gotten us another room! WTF Coast Plaza Suites?!?!?! <-- Maybe it was just Canada but who knows… let’s just say they got points deducted in my book.

Vancouver, Canada

Kirin

So, besides the incredible high prices, the wait staff barely spoke English. *slaps forehead* Of course this is our first time there so we weren’t sure what to order. We tried several times asking several different staff members about the menu but the conversation itself was frustrating so we just stop asking questions. LOL! Therefore instead of being adventurous and trying new dishes, we just order the “typical” stuff like fried rice, lo mein, stir fry, and soup…. so disappointing! Note to self: check out the menu before sitting down. LOL!

I think those were the only two down falls… but on a positive note, the hotel was clean and spacious with a nice view.

See....

Onto happier things! ^_^

Portland, Oregon

Beautiful scenery! The hiking trails and waterfalls were just amazing! We got to hike up Mount Multnomah and Eagle Creek.

Mount Multnomah was DEFINITELY a hike… 6 miles total but we all made it through… here are some pictures of the beautiful scenery.

At the beginning....

View from the very top of the falls.... you can see the cars in the parking lot on the right side of this picture.

Somewhere along the hike.

Love this shot! I'm kind of proud of it. LOL!

Beautiful as well...

Close to the end of the hike.... such a beautiful sight! ^_^

Eagle Creek wasn’t as difficult of a hike as Mount Multnomah since we only did two miles up and two miles back. But Eagle Creek’s hiking trails were right by cliffs and very rocky. We were so close to the edge that some parts had railings just in case you needed to hold on. *Scary* Once we got to the fall, it was beautiful! Again, more camera whoring by the waterfalls. :P

A view of what our hiking trail looked liked. Talk about a drop off!

View from the top of the trail.

Look at that!!! Who wouldn't want to walk two miles on a rocky, steep, and high trail to see this? :P

Camera whoring.... LOL!

We walked a little further to get a closer look/picture. Just beautiful!

Seattle, Washington

Snoqualmie Falls

This fall was insane! It was so strong that it created mist-like rain around the whole site-seeing area….

Shot of the fall...

We were this far away and still got soaked from the fall.

Saying Goodbye... LOL!

We didn’t stay too long because that’s all there was to see but it’s beautiful and the little town right by the falls is so cute and peaceful. It’s like walking into the twilight zone where everything is just perfect!

Pike Place

I fell in love with Seattle because of Pike Place. Loved the market place and it was right by the ocean! Had a great time browsing the small shops, visiting the first Starbucks (extremely packed), saying hi to the old Hmong ladies (adorable), and EATING oysters! Yummy! We went to an Oyster bar called Elliot’s that had great service and food. We ate six dozens of oysters, five orders of fried calamari, and four orders of mussels just between the six of us. LOL! We were only in Seattle for one day but it was a great day!

At the market.

Oyster time!!!!

Hmong ladies! LOL! These flowers were only $10!!!! Look at how big the bouquets were!

LoL... they were so nice to us... ^_^

Vancouver, Canada

Overall, Vancouver was a very chill and hip place. The atmosphere was calm, peaceful, and had a great vibe to it. The nightlife wasn’t too shabby either. Although I was a little disappointed that their nightlife ended at 2am, which I thought should have at least continued till 4am. LOL! However, the guys were very welcoming. It could be because we’re girls but… we’ll never know that will we. ^_^

Here are some pictures from Vancouver…. Enjoy!