Napa/Sonoma — March 2012

This trip was taken with another couple who are also into food and wine and had only been to Napa once, and I was once again designated the honorary travel agent. It ended up looking a lot like our first trip, and I was worried it would feel repetitive for us. But it wound up being very interesting to see how things have changed (or not) in a few years.

Somewhere in Sonoma.

Hotels:
Petis Logis, Yountville: We decided to stay here the night of our French Laundry reservation so we wouldn’t have to worry about driving. One of the reasons we chose it out of the many B&Bs and hotels in Yountville is that you can choose not to get breakfast (and pay slightly less) since it’s right next to Bouchon Bakery.
If you’re not into the whole B&B experience, this is the B&B for you. The rooms are very simply decorated, or in my husband’s words, they don’t look like grandma’s living room. And since there’s no breakfast, there’s no making small talk with the other guests in the morning. We actually never even saw the owners — they just left notes on the office door for us and our rooms were open with keys inside, and that’s how we left them the next day. This was fine for us, but if you’re looking for that experience and maybe advice about where to taste and eat on your trip, it could be a drawback. The rooms are quite spacious with nice high ceilings, and the bathrooms have jetted tubs. There’s not a ton of privacy since it’s right between two of the main streets in Yountville, but the location is so ideal I think it’s worth it.

Petit Logis.

Inn at Sonoma, Sonoma: Why mess around with something else when a known entity is available? This place was still awesome. Low-key friendly staff, cookies all day, delicious breakfast, comfy room with a balcony and fireplace, and an excellent location close to the square. I had been concerned this place would have gone downhill since our experience at the Healdsburg Inn, which is also a Four Sisters property, wasn’t fantastic. But nope, still great!

Prescott Hotel, San Francisco: I spent the first night of the trip here catching up with my husband who had been in SF for work. He had a nice big room and the hotel is in a great location. There are also lots of rental car locations close by for heading up to wine country!

Restaurants:
French Laundry: There’s really not much to say that 1,000 other people haven’t already said. As far as reservations, we used Open Table this time. There’s old information out there that the Open Table reservations open at midnight or between 8 and 10 a.m. I called (in the afternoon) a couple days ahead of time and asked when the Open Table reservations open, and they said 10 a.m., same as the phone reservations. Sure enough I had our reservation a couple minutes after 10.

The French Laundry garden from the balcony of the restaurant.

We had debated about bringing our own wine, but with a $75 corkage fee you’d have to bring a pretty pricey bottle to make it worth your while. We ended up loving the red the sommelier chose for us so much we ordered a half case of it when we got home. And I was excited to see that our sommelier was our waiter the last time we went (although I think I freaked him out by remembering him).

Girl + the Fig, Sonoma: Even better than I remembered. The table split a cheese and charcuterie plate that was excellent. My husband and I each got a fig and arugula salad, which were huge and delicious, and then we split the flounder, which was insanely good. The entree was enormous so we definitely made the right choice with big salads and splitting it.

Mary’s Pizza Shack, Sonoma: A nice reprieve after two elaborate and pricey dinners. Nothing fancy or particularly special about it, just good pizza and beer right on the square.

Wineries
These are going to be from best to worst, not chronological or geographic order. So make note of the locations!

Joseph Swan Vineyards, Russian River Valley: In doing research I found a place called Scherrer that sounded amazing, but when I called to make an appointment they said they were going to be out of town that weekend (that’s how small of an operation it is). I asked them to recommend a place nearby that had a nice zin, and they pointed me to Joseph Swan. During this trip when they asked us where else we were going at other tastings, when I mentioned this place everyone’s reaction was basically, “Of course! That place is a classic.” I was expecting a pretty grand place with prices to match, but it was the complete opposite and quintessential Sonoma County. The tasting room is also the barrel room, which is also where they store a bunch of their wine making equipment. The guys behind the counter both looked like flannel/Carhartt-wearing farmers. It was just super laid back and casual, the wine was fantastic, and the prices are incredible for the quality you’re getting. We came home with 2006 Mancini Ranch zinfandel, the 2009 Trenton Station pinot gris, and the 2006 Trenton Station – Lion Ridge zinfandel.

View from Porter Creek.

Bell Wine Cellars, Yountville: This was recommended to me by Mike at Vin Underground (more about him later), and we hit it up before French Laundry. In a word, wow. I could have taken home a bottle of everything we tasted. Joanne, the woman pouring for us, was super nice and knowledgeable, and was happy to take us even though we didn’t have an appointment (something I would not try on the weekend or during a busier time of the year). Just a really tasty, pleasant tasting. You can also do fancier seated tastings with cheese pairings. We bought a bottle of the 2007 Massa Ranch syrah, because while I could have bought a bottle of anything we tasted, the prices were a little too high for that (the cabs were a-m-a-z-i-n-g).

Gary Farrell, Russian River Valley: We came here on our first trip, but it was at the end of the day and my palette was completely shot. I’m soooo glad we came back! Even though the tasting room was crowded the guy who poured for us was really nice and super knowledgeable (he teaches classes about wine tasting at the community college in Santa Rosa). And the wines were delicious. They’re on the pricey side, but we still came home with bottles of the 2008 Russian River Valley pinot noir (and I’m not a pinot person) and the 2009 Dry Creek Valley zin because there was no way I could walk away without them. And the views from this place are spectacular.

View from Gary Farrell.

Relic and Behrens Family Winery, Spring Mountain: This was a rec from a co-worker of one of the people we went with on this trip, and I was happy to go because I’ve been wanting to go up Spring Mountain for a while but could never work it into our schedule. If you want to go to a tasting on Spring Mountain a) go on a clear day (we were completely socked in with clouds and couldn’t see farther than 50 yards) and b) take a GPS/iPhone/something because we almost missed the road.
I’m grouping these two together because they’re on the same property*. I think on nicer days they’ll do tastings outside, but since it was drippy and foggy when we went we were in Airstream trailers (each has their own trailer). Behrens was supposed to be an hour-and-a-half tasting, but we showed up late so she cut it a little short, and Relic was an hour. Both required appointments and we were the only ones in each tasting, so it could be a little intimidating if you’re new to tasting/wine. It also seemed like if you do one you pretty much always do the other. Both were good, but the tasting fees were pricey ($25/person) and the wines aren’t cheap, although the former counts toward the purchase of the latter. We came home with bottles of the Relic 2010 Ritual and 2009 Old Vines petite syrah and the Behrens 2008 Heavyweight and 2009 Kick Ranch petite syrah.
*The woman who poured for us at Relic (who, by the way, is a dead ringer for Mandy Moore in “A Walk to Remember”) said they’re working on opening a tasting room in St. Helena, so if you’re reading this in the future look for it there.

Sky the dog at Porter Creek.

Porter Creek Vineyards, Russian River Valley: I picked this place because it gets rave reviews on Yelp, which has previously steered me to awesome places like Tin Barn, but the wines didn’t impress me too much. The location is stunning — just a beautiful rural setting with chickens and a cute dog running around, and really friendly staff. But the tasting room is tiny and there were a ton of people there. We kept getting our wine and walking outdoors to actually enjoy it. And the wine really wasn’t that great, especially since we went to Gary Farrell and Joseph Swan right after this. We did come home with a bottle of the 2010 Carignane, which is a nice spicy red to have with Italian or spicy food, and at a good pricepoint.

Cakebread, Rutherford: I’m almost angry we came here. I don’t know if our initial good experience was because of the nice young man who poured for us or the fact that it was outside in beautiful weather, but this time around was very different. The woman guiding our tasting spent a good 10 minutes on pushing the wine club, and none of the wines tasted that great to me for the price. After the tasting I asked about buying a bottle of the Rubiyat, which I remembered as being good, and the woman basically scoffed at me for asking for their crappy red blend (which they didn’t have because it gets released in May and sells out quickly). Ugh, don’t bother.

Ducks in Sonoma.

The whole impetus of this trip was my husband going to San Francisco for business and wanting to spend some time with friends who were also there for business. So I flew down to SF after work, and we went up to Napa the next day. While I was waiting for my husband to pick me up from the hotel after getting the rental car, I got to talking to one of the bellmen at the hotel. Turns out he’s a sommelier who does wine tours! He gave me lots of great recs, one of which was Bell, and even gave me some places to try back home in Washington state. So if you’re in need of a wine tour from San Francisco, Mike with Vin Underground might be a good place to start.

Phoenix

This is just a quick little report after I took two trips to Phoenix within a couple months of each other (November 2011 and February 2012) to see friends who are living there for a year. Two different friends who have nothing to do with each other who just randomly ended up in Phoenix at the same time — that’s totally worthy of two trips!

View from North Mountain.

Activities
Taliesin West: Pretty much out in the middle of nowhere in a very remote corner of Scottsdale, but worth the drive if you’re a FLW fan. There were some in our group who were willing to visit but not super interested, so we just did the 1 hour tour. I found this tour a little disappointing because you mostly just see the common spaces of the compound, and I would have really liked to see more of the living spaces. Still very interesting and worthwhile, and our guide was incredibly knowledgeable, not just about FLW but the landscape of Arizona and history of Phoenix. If you’re going in the summer this might not be the greatest idea because almost all of it was outdoors.

Taliesin West.

North Mountain: Paths start from different parking lots, and for the life of me I can’t figure out the one we parked in. Wherever it was, it was just a short climb up a rocky path to the paved path to the top. The slope was fairly gentle and I managed to do it in jeans, so it’s not a hardcore hike or anything. There are nice views from the top. Just a good way to get some fresh air and sun.

View on the way up Piestewa Peak.

Piestewa Peak: A lot of fun and the views on the way up and from the top are gorgeous. It’s not particularly long and the effort comes mostly from the verticality, so it’s a nice way to get in a good workout without killing too much of the day. The path can be uneven at points, so if you’ve got soft ankles be careful. The very top is the toughest vertical section, and if you want to go to the actual peak you have to do a bit of rock scrambling. I found the hardest part to be the people, though. Between careless people who weren’t paying attention and wouldn’t let you by or give you the right of way and the trail runners who almost crashed into me a couple times, if you can get up really early to avoid crowds it would be worth it. Also there’s not much shade and we were pretty warm doing it in February, so I’m sure it would be insanity to do it outside the winter much after sunrise.

Nordstrom Last Chance: And now for something completely different! Not the place for someone with no patience for shopping, and you have to be careful because a lot of the stuff is damaged. I was lucky enough to be there when they dumped a new load of purses into the giant purse bins, for two reasons. 1) I got to see security hold back a crowd of women while the staff finished unloading the bags, complete with threats to throw out anyone who harmed a staff member or anther shopper; and 2) I got a gorgeous new, undamaged Marc Jacobs bag for third of the original price. I also got a cute pair of heels.

Food
Barrio Cafe: Really tasty, interesting Mexican food. Very good margaritas, too. Much nicer than a hole-in-a-wall kind of place, but not in any way snobby.

Switch: We went here for brunch. Good for a group (even with a couple vegetarians) because they mostly have basics like pasta and sandwiches, but everything was very good and just a bit upscale.

Citizen Public House: In Old Town Scottsdale. REALLY good food and drinks. The staff was really nice, too, and they totally could have been jerks because we got there really late straight from a flight and then took forever to order because we were catching up with our friends. The only drawback for me as a visitor was that I felt like this is the kind of food you can get in any larger city — nothing about it said “Southwest” or “Phoenix.”

The Mission: The appetizers and drinks were great and I loved my dish, but they had talked up this porchetta as the house specialty and the three people who got it thought it turned out dry and sort of crappy. The food had taken a while to come out and our waitress told us the chef had been unhappy with one of the dishes and insisted it was remade, and we suspect the other dishes sat under heat lamps while that was done. I still enjoyed it and would recommend it, but maybe a restaurant with a picky chef just isn’t ideal for a big group.

True Food: We went here for brunch after another place we looked at had a 2-hour wait, and I believe it was the Biltmore location (they’re both in malls, so who can tell the difference). The focus is on fresh, healthy food. They also have a bunch of fresh juice drinks.

RnR: We went here for drinks before The Mission. Good margaritas and the outdoor patio was nice.

View from the other side of Piestewa Peak.

Other stuff
For one trip I stayed with a friend who lives there full time, and for other the group I was with just used Priceline for a hotel downtown. We wound up with the Hilton Suites for about $70 a night. I don’t know that I’d recommend it for someone just looking to go to Phoenix for a visit, but it was close to our friend, the rooms are big, and it was cheap.

If you’re going to visit and you’re debating about renting a car, in my opinion it’s pretty necessary to have one. I didn’t see any part of the city (Phoenix or Scottsdale) that was designed to be walkable, and even my friend who lives on the light rail line admitted it’s not really useful except for getting to the airport.

Kauai — September 2011

This was our third trip to Kauai, and there are still things we haven’t seen! It was just a quick little five-day jaunt, but we were both in pretty dire need of a vacation so it was nice to have.

Bay past Maha’ulepu Beach.

Hotel
Koa Kea
This is a relatively new (opened in 2009) boutique hotel on Poipu Beach. When I say “boutique,” that’s Hawaiian standards. It still has 121 rooms, but compare that to the Hyatt (565) or Princeville (252), and it is on the smaller side.

I think the location of this hotel along Poipu Beach is fantastic. Having stayed at both the Sheraton and Hyatt, we liked being more central. There’s no beach right in front of the hotel, but the beaches just to either side of the proeprty are great. You’re also walking distance to the Poipu Shopping Village (Roy’s, Whaler’s General Store, Puka Dogs), which is very handy.

We didn’t see much evidence to the contrary of the hotel’s reputation of catering to couples. There were two couples with one kid each (a baby and a girl of about 7) while we were there, so it’s not like it was Hedonism or something, but it seems like there are really no services for children (no kids club, kiddy pool, kids menu). I thought this might be because of the time of year, but we ran into a friend staying at the Hyatt and she marveled at the number of kids there.

Wailua Falls.

We were in a garden view room on the ground floor of the wing to the right of the pool. Normally I don’t like ground floor rooms, but these do have an advantage. The rooms on the upper levels have a small table and two chairs on their lanai, but the ground floor rooms also have a chaise. And on the garden view side (we were facing landscaping separating the property from the Kiahuna Plantation next door), our lanai had an extended brick patio, which the ground floor rooms facing the pool did not. We also had more privacy than those rooms. The ocean front rooms at this place are indeed really close to the water. However, the ground floor ocean front rooms are pretty close to the public walkway running along the waterfront, so they really lack privacy.

The rooms themselves are super nice. Very modern but still cozy, gorgeous marble bathroom, no mini-bar clogging up the fridge, and L’Occitane products for the shower. The maids did a great job and our room was usually clean by early afternoon, and you get two bottles of Fiji water every night at turndown.

There’s not much to the grounds of the hotel. There’s the pool, a hot tub, a pool bar, and beach/water sports shack. The pool is a good size for the number of guests, and it’s salt water filtered. It’s fairly private, set way back off the road, and the nearest units in Kiahuna Plantation must not be too close to the property line because we never heard a peep from over there. The parking is mandatory valet, but the car was always waiting for us after we called before leaving the room and it was a quick walk up there. There’s a small store if you’re desperate for aspirin or overpriced shirts with the hotel’s logo. They do have a spa, but I didn’t use it.

The restaurant, Red Salt, is open for breakfast and dinner (the pool bar serves lunch). We had breakfast there once (mac nut waffles!), and one dinner there. I, uh, got pretty drunk at dinner, but my husband assures me it was very good. They also have coffee set up in the morning in the lobby and coffee makers in the rooms. Well, technically the machines are espresso makers that use those little single serve cup things. You get six, then you have to buy more.

The cost per night is on par with the other nicer hotels on the island. There is a resort fee of $15 per day, which includes the valet parking and wi-fi. However, if you’re a Hawaiian resident, their kama’aina rate is a very good deal.

Food
Roy’s

They’re never as good as the one in Hawaii Kai on Oahu, but the food is still good. The one in Poipu is much more casual (as far as atmosphere) compared to others, so no need to dress up when you go.

Keoki’s Paradise
Also in the Poipu Shopping Village. Decent bar type food and live music. My husband’s mai tai was not good, but it’s his fault for not getting Kona Brewery beer on tap while he could!

Kalalau Valley from the Pihea Trail.

Pizzetta
We came here on our last trip and liked it, so when we wanted something casual we headed back. Good pizza, a nice waiter, and pitchers of Fire Rock. You can also get a $5 off coupon in almost every coupon book available.

Puka Dogs
Meh, I don’t get the hype. The Polish dog itself was good, but everything else was just OK (not much flavor from the relish, no heat from the lemon spicy stuff, too much bread in the bun, weak lemonade). Maybe I’m just mad because I got a huge glop of relish on my skirt.

Hamura’s Saimin

Noodle bliss. It’s not every day two people can eat at a Beard Award-winning restaurant for $12.

Dolphins on our Na Pali Coast tour.

Activities
Blue Dolphin Charters
On our first trip to Kauai we tried to see the Na Pali Coast by boat, but that’s not so easy to do in March. So getting a boat tour of it in this trip was an absolute must. I chose Blue Dolphin because the reviews on Yelp seemed to mention getting seasick less than other boats. We chose the morning Na Pali snorkel tour. The crew was fun, not too many people got sick, and breakfast and lunch were simple but tasty. My husband was annoyed at himself for forgetting our snorkel gear at the hotel, but honestly the stuff on the boat was very good. Probably among the best gear I’ve seen provided by a boat.

I took Non-Drowsy Dramamine when we checked in at the office and was fine. It wasn’t too rough so I don’t know that I needed it, but better safe than sorry. There’s a Big Save and a Longs at the turn off from the highway to Port Allen, so you’d think if you forgot Dramamine you’d be safe. BUT I couldn’t find it at the Big Save and the Longs doesn’t open until 9, so get it the day before (I found it at the Sueoka store in Koloa, which is worth a stop anyway). They do sell Bonine at the Blue Dolphin office. The crew can’t give you anything on the boat other than ginger ale and sympathy.

Pihea Trail.

Pihea Trail
Since we did the Hanakapi’ai Trail last time, I wanted to do a Waimea Canyon trail this trip. Unfortunately we got a late start and it was hot as heck, so not ideal hiking conditions. Also the whole point of the trail is that you get amazing views of the Kalalau Valley, and it got socked in by clouds half way through our hike. Still, a very nice hike with good scenery. Not terribly difficult, but the ground is very smooth and I think parts of it would be nasty in the rain.

Maha’ulepu Beach.

Trail from Maha’ulepu Beach
So you get to this beach by driving past the Hyatt to the end of Poipu Road where it turns to dirt, continue to the four corners where the only way you can go is right, go down another dirt road that very well could pop a tire on your rental car, and park in the lot (going off a paved road will violate your rental car contract). You can also turn left from the lot to get down farther along the beach. We just parked in the lot and walked along the beach to pick up the trail along the coast. We had tried to hike to this beach from the Hyatt on our last trip, but it was really windy and we felt like we were being sandblasted so we stopped. This is a stunning hike. Beautiful scenery and only saw other people occasionally from a distance. Bring bathing suits because there are a couple of places to swim. It ended for us when we ran into a fence that went down to the cliff’s edge, and I don’t trespass. The earlier you go the more likely you are to have the beach/trail to yourself.

Zipline
We didn’t do this because I waited too long to make a reservation and the slot we wanted was full. But since I did the research I figured I’d share what I learned. So a lot of the ziplines are “adventures” or “tours” and involve lunch and tubing, swimming, etc. These take 4-5 hours. Since we were going for such a short trip we weren’t really interested in all that, we just wanted to try ziplines. I found Just Live. This appealed to me because it’s closer to Poipu and they have a “Wikiwiki” tour, which is 2 hours and three ziplines.

That’s it! As this was our third trip to Kauai, we probably won’t be going back anytime soon. I wasn’t fond of it after our first trip, but it’s really grown on me and I think it’s a wonderful choice for a trip to Hawaii.

Poipu sunset.

Amsterdam and Paris — April 2011

You can just click here to go directly to the Paris section if that’s all you’re looking for.

Church in Amsterdam.

This trip was a bit unexpected for us–there’s was a snafu with my husband’s vacation time request for a trip to Montreal, and the colleague that he was conflicted with suggested he go to a meeting in Paris a week earlier instead. I’d been to Paris twice (this is my review of the last trip) and he’s been there three times, and we really hadn’t planned on going back anytime soon. But who are we to say no to a trip like this! We decided to go to Amsterdam for a few days at the start of the trip because I’ve never been and it seemed like an easy thing to tack on to a trip to Paris.

Amsterdam
As I just said above, I’d never been to Amsterdam. Part of the reason for that is because I thought tourists only went there to smoke pot and walk through the Red Light district to see hookers in windows. Boy was I wrong! Amsterdam is a beautiful, walkable, almost relaxing city once you get away from the seedier bits and major tourist areas. There’s also pretty much no language barrier since English is the default language for anything related to tourism, and from what I could tell even among some locals. We arrived on a Sunday morning (Easter morning to be exact), and left on Tuesday afternoon for Paris, so we had to be pretty focused with our visit since we didn’t have much time.

Hotel
We arrived on Easter morning. The day after Easter is a holiday in Europe, and with Queen’s Day (April 30th) a week later, finding a hotel proved a bit difficult. We ended up at the Museum Suites. This is a boutique hotel located down the street from the Van Gogh Museum. It’s relatively new, which is why I think we could still get a room there, but it seemed full and with so few rooms I’m sure it won’t be easy to book for long! We really enjoyed staying in this neighborhood because we were close to not just the museums, but also Voldenpark, a large lovely park just outside of the central tourist areas.

Scenic Amsterdam!

Stuff to see:
OV-chipkaart: This handy little card allows you to ride public transportation options in Amsterdam on an unlimited basis and can be purchased for however many days you need. It’s activated the first time you use it. We tried to buy these at the airport, but I mistakenly went to the train ticket windows to get one when we should have gone to the visitor information desk (VVV). It wasn’t a wasted trip because the card doesn’t cover the train from the airport to the city. Instead we got ours at the VVV office next to the central train station in Amsterdam. You could also elect to get an iAmsterdam card, which includes admission to a bunch of museums and some other goodies in addition to transportation, but this is pretty pricey and we decided it wouldn’t be worth it for us since we only wanted to do the Van Gogh Museum.
The trams in Amsterdam are incredibly easy to use. They’re sort of like buses in the sense that they’re supposed to come every 10 minutes or so, but there were times we had to wait longer, and then they were bunched up. If you decide not to get the chipkaart, most of the trams we saw had attendants selling tickets.

Van Gogh Museum: We did this right after we arrived while we were waiting for our room to be ready. The very nice woman at the hotel got us tickets online so we wouldn’t have to wait in line. However, since it was Easter and a beautiful sunny day, even the line for people with reservations was big (although not around the block like it was for tickets!), and they were only letting people in in bunches. This was a little annoying because the line to buy tickets was orderly while the line for people who already had tickets was just a mob. And for what it’s worth, when we went by on Tuesday there was absolutely no line. As for the museum itself, it’s very well organized and includes works by artists that either inspired Van Gogh or were considered peers. Definitely worth a visit.

Heineken Experience

Heineken Experience: I was excited to do this because it seems like everyone I’ve ever known who has gone to Amsterdam tried to tour the Heineken Factory and couldn’t for whatever reason (closed, sold out for the day). But I think that was back when this was an actual factory and not just a tourist thing–notice it’s called an “experience,” and not a “factory tour.” If you’ve been to the Guinness Storehouse tour in Dublin it’s pretty similar to that (although the bar at the end is nowhere near as nice in Amsterdam). It’s basically a rather slick tour that’s like one big commercial for Heineken. You do get to do a small tasting halfway through, which is nice, and then you get two beers at the end. We had gotten tickets online and printed them out at home because you can use them at any time, but this wasn’t necessary because there weren’t any lines for tickets. It was fun but if you’re not that into beer I think you could skip it.

Flower Market

Flower Market: My mom lives for gardening and loves tulips, so I was very excited to buy some bulbs for her in Amsterdam. I, however, don’t garden at all, so I had no idea you’re supposed to plant tulip bulbs in the fall. Because of this all the bulbs available in Amsterdam when we went had been grown in greenhouses and were “forced” so they could be planted immediately. So if you’re really a hardcore gardener that’s something to keep in mind. Something else to keep in mind is that you’re only supposed to bring home bulbs that have a sticker on them denoting they’ve been inspected by U.S. Agriculture. We did find one place in the flower market that had these, and I’ve heard that you can get them at the airport, too (we flew out of Paris). We also stopped by the Tulip Museum when we wandered by, and they only sell bulbs in the fall. But they have tons of other tulip-y stuff.

Anne Frank House: We actually didn’t do this, I just wanted to post this picture of the line. This was on Tuesday, not one of the holidays. I was pretty relieved one of my co-workers told me it wasn’t a must-do unless you’re really into the book and can’t pass up the chance to see this.

Line for the Anne Frank House.

Train from Amsterdam to Paris
We booked our tickets for the Thalys train at http://www.nshispeed.nl/. We just printed out our tickets at an internet cafe in Amsterdam the day of our trip. Thalys trains are a little different in that even with a 2nd class reservation you get an assigned seat in a specific car. I overheard someone on the platform ask a conductor about using some sort of pass, and she said that it wouldn’t work for Thalys and that you need a specific reservation for them. We had to ask for help at the train station because the ticket printed in Dutch and we had no idea which ones were our coach and seat numbers. Once we had that we were all set! Amsterdam Centraal is a pretty straightforward station. The trains are announced about 15 to 20 minutes before they depart, and then the trains are at the platform for just a few minutes to board. There are numbers on the platform for the Thalys to correspond to the coach numbers so you can board quickly. The seats were pretty comfy, and we had just a few quick stops before getting to Paris about 3 1/2 hours later. Some of the itineraries have you changing trains in Brussels, so watch out for those, and the items in the snack car were quite pricey, so bringing your own would be a good idea.

Street in Montmartre.

Paris

Hotel Relais Bosquet: This is the same place we stayed last time (read my review here), and we still really liked it. We stayed in a smaller room this time and it was still fine, and cheaper.

Stuff to see
Le Bon Marché: I was looking for a birthday present for my nephew while in Paris, and while looking around online I saw that this department store had a big kids section. It was walking distance from the hotel, so I strolled over. If you’re like me and a little intimidated by designer boutiques, this place is for you. They have gorgeous clothing displays, but you’re not being glared at by a clerk who knows you’re “just looking.” When I did buy something and had a question about sizes, the woman assisting me didn’t speak the greatest English but she was still nice and helpful. The children’s section is indeed enormous and has toys, games, and books in addition to clothes. The best part was the food hall across the street, La Grande Epicerie Paris! While wandering around the main store I had been starting to feel a bit tired and my feet hurt, but I still managed to walk around La Grande Epecerie Paris for a good hour. I even grabbed lunch and ate it in the park across the street from the main store. I don’t think Le Bon Marché is a must visit for a first timer or anything, but it was fun.

Behind Sacre Coeur.

Sacre Coeur: Two trips to Paris and this was my first time to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur! It’s very pretty but it was covered with tourists. Fortunately we tried walking around the outside of the church and found a quiet little park where we could admire the view of the back of the church. Like Notre Dame, I liked this view better than the one from the front, and there were hardly any people back there. We then just meandered down the hill through Montmartre, which was pretty pleasant, and wound up in Place Pigalle. It was a pretty darn nice way to spend an afternoon! If you’re wondering whether to take the funicular up to Sacre Coeur, eh, if you’re in reasonable shape it’s really not that many stairs.

You can pretty much stop reading if this entry is in the distant past for you, but if it’s not, two timely things we discovered:
There’s a Manet exhibit at the Musee d’Orsay. We paid the extra few bucks to see it, and then when we got in we saw that you have to wait in a huge line inside for it. We didn’t do the Paris Museum Pass on this trip so we’d already been in line outside for an hour, so we just didn’t bother. We peered in a bit and it looked like a madhouse inside.
We went all the way up to the front door of the Picasso Museum only to find out it’s closed until Spring 2012. At least we got a bottle of absinthe nearby at Vert d’Absinthe for a friend and had a good lunch at Casa San Pablo, so it’s not like the trip was a waste!

Wine Country — February 2011

For this trip we stayed in Healdsburg, which is in northern Sonoma County. I wouldn’t recommend it for your first trip to Wine Country because it is quite a hike to Sonoma (about 45 minutes), and it’s really impractical for Napa. But it’s a cute town and the wineries around it are rather chill and quite tasty. The Dry Creek Valley to the north of town specializes in zinfandels and beautiful views.

Bodega Bay

Wineries

Christopher Creek: This was our first stop of the trip on our way from the airport to Healdsburg. It’s a cozy little tasting room, and our pourer (and his feline assistant Pop Tart) was a nice guy. When he saw me peering back into the barrel room, he invited us and the other couple there to wander back and gave us a little tour. This was our first taste of those yummy Dry Creek zins, and we came home with a bottle of the 2009 Dry Creek Zin and a 2009 Reserve Petite Syrah (which I believe is their specialty). It was a great first experience for the trip!

Iron Horse: This place was on my list because I read a book the CEO had written about her family and the winery. They specialize in sparkling wines and had two tastings available: all bubbles, and still wines. I did bubbles. They were nice but nothing spectacular, and my friends who did the still wines didn’t seem hugely impressed either. This is really a shame because the property is ridiculously gorgeous. The tasting bar is outdoors so you can gawk at the view, which is stunning. It was also insanely crowded. I was pretty surprised by this because it’s way off at the end of a back road. If you’re really looking for a place with a gorgeous view or you can go at an off time to skip the crowds this might be worth it, but otherwise I’d give it a miss.

Hartford Family: Another one tucked away on a back road in the Russian River area. Very pretty property. The tasting bar is pretty small so we were sort of hanging back by a table with some books on display, and one of the pourers brought glasses out to us to start, which I thought was quite nice of her. Once a few people left we stepped over to the bar to continue. There were several nice wines and the pourer was helpful with questions, quick with refills, and not overbearing. They had some tables outside, and this place would be great for a picnic. We bought a bottle of the 2008 Fanucchi-Woodroad Vineyard Zin and two bottles of the 2007 Land’s Edge Pinot Noir.

Ledson: This was a request from one of my friends. Meh. It felt very Napa–big, fancy, newly constructed building, multiple bars (which were understaffed), a big gift shop. It’s just not really what I wanted on this trip. We did buy a 2006 Old Vine Zin and a 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, and the wines weren’t terrible, but it wasn’t the best tasting experience.

Ledson

Sojourn: Loved the wines, and I really loved the experience! This is an appointment-only, seated, guided tasting in a little house just off the Sonoma Plaza. You taste 3 pinots (although our pourer let us try a 4th, too), and 3 cabs. Because of the setting and focus, this isn’t for newbies or bachelorette parties. I personally wouldn’t come here with a big group unless you’re all pretty serious about wine, pinots and cabs in particular. But make no mistake, this was not stuffy or pretentious. The wines are affordable (around $50, and they ship for free if you order at least 4 bottles), and the woman leading the tasting could not have been nicer or more helpful. She also didn’t hover or quiz us about what we were tasting or what we thought and would periodically head out of the room to attend to something or other, so we could discuss the wines honestly. I hate it when you’re trying to make decisions about what to buy and the pourer is right there. We bought two bottles of the 2009 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, one of the 2009 Gap’s Crown Pinot (probably our favorite), and a bottle of the 2007 Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon.

Fritz: Beautiful spot way back in the Dry Creek Valley, super nice guy pouring for us (and traning a new employee, who was also nice). We were the only ones there and he made us feel welcome and comfortable. The wines weren’t great, but if you’re looking for a place with nice people that’s perfect for a picnic, this is a great spot (although they told us it can get really hot in the summer). We got a bottle of the 2008 Estate Reserve Zin, but I don’t know if I would have bought one if we hadn’t been the only people there.

View from the picnic area at Fritz

Sbragia: This hadn’t been on our list, but our pourer at Fritz gave us a coupon for a free tasting here so we stopped in. There was only one other couple there tasting, but I suspect that on a busy day in the summer this place gets a lot of traffic. It’s rather large and has a gift shop, which is not something I really want in the Dry Creek Valley. But the wines were good, the woman pouring for us was nice, and they have a huge outdoor patio with great views of the valley. We left with a bottle of the 2008 La Promessa Zin.

Truett Hurst: The pours at Fritz had been pretty generous and this was our 3rd winery before lunch, so Truett Hurst is a little fuzzy. I remember the wines being great, the pouring room and outdoor space being gorgeous, and our pourer gave us some really good cheese to nibble while we were tasting. We got two bottles of the Red Rooster Zin.

Hop Kiln: We stopped in because I’d always heard the name and it looked neat. It’s beautiful and our pourer was a nice (young, cute!) guy, but the wines weren’t anything special. Plus it’s ginormous, so I imagine it could be quite a zoo if it gets busy.

Hop Kiln

Martinelli: Another disappointment. We stopped because there were a bunch of Martinelli wines on the wine list on Cyrus, but I don’t know if they’re reserves or aged or what because the wines we had were unimpressive. A positive though is that the pourer spent most of her time helping some wine club members who were there, so she waived the tasting fee since she couldn’t give us much of her attention.

Healdsburg Inn: We stayed at the sister property in Sonoma on our first trip to Wine Country and really liked it, and since my husband was pretty adamant about not wanting to stay at a “grandma’s house” B&B, we wound up here. If we had paid $100 less per night I would be 100% happy with it, but for the price I think some things were lacking. The room was cute and quite big, but it was at ground level at the back of the hotel. That meant that the blinds always had to be closed. The fireplace didn’t have real flames (maybe because we were in an ADA room? on the ground floor?), and this obviously wouldn’t be an issue another time, but the room was cold and the heat didn’t work well (too intense so we’d have to turn it off, then it would get cold quick). Also, one of the things we’d really liked about the Inn at Sonoma was the breakfasts, and these were pretty lackluster. I don’t know if it’s a policy, but there was never any meat! Just different egg casseroles (which weren’t good, and they’d always put the leftovers out for days), some fruit, and bread and English muffins that never seemed to actually warm up in the toaster, no matter how long we left them in there. And maybe I’m just a big Seattle-dwelling coffee snob, but I swear they were putting decaf in the regular pots!
Just so I don’t completely crap all over it, the location is fantastic–right on the square. I suspect if you pay more for one of the nicer rooms upstairs your experience is better. Even though I wasn’t crazy about being on the ground floor, our room was huge, and that goes for the bathroom, too. They included some thoughtful little extras in the bathroom like makeup remover wipes, which was handy.

Bodega Bay: We FINALLY made it out to the coast! I’ve wanted to since our first trip and we never went, so I was adamant that we do it on this one. We drove out the Bodega Highway to Bodega Bay and hung out at the headlands for a little bit. It was sunny and lovely and just quintessential dramatic California coast.

Beach next to the headlands at Bodega Bay

Bear Republic Brewpub: We recently discovered and love Bear Republic’s Racer 5 IPA, so we were excited to visit the brewpub in Healdsburg. The food was pretty typical brewpub food, and the drafts were quite cheap–$4! It was a nice contrast to our fancy dinners. They close kind of early (9:30). Not that I’d want to be out drinking until 2 a.m., but it’s not like there’s a ton to do at night otherwise.

El Dorado Kitchen: A bit of a trek from Healdsburg, but we were there with friends and this was sort of a halfway point between us and the rest of the group. It was good with a group because it’s more lively than romantic or cozy, and the food was very good. I liked that the portions weren’t huge because it’s nice to not feel grossly overstuffed when you’re done with a nice dinner sometimes.

Cyrus: I’ve seen this compared to French Laundry. I don’t quite agree with that, but it is good. There’s an eight-course menu and a five-course menu. The dishes not on the five-course menu were one a friend had actually told us to avoid, a dessert and the cheese course. With the warning and not really wanting the extra dessert, we just added the cheese to the five-course menu and we were still stuffed. One thing I really like is that they give you a copy of the menu, including the wine pairings. The service did remind me of French Laundry–everyone is on top of everything, but they make you feel completely relaxed and comfortable.

Santa Rosa Airport: *sigh* I was SO excited to be able to fly into and out of this airport! We were at Christopher Creek 20 minutes after landing, where we’ve waited an hour just to get a rental car at SFO. Even though we were on a prop plane from Seattle it still only took two hours to get there, and when you fly out of STS Alaska (which is the only airline that uses it) let’s each passenger check a box of wine for free. But we learned the big problem with flying out of a tiny airport that only has a couple of flights per day. We were supposed to be out on the last flight of the day, but our plane had a mechanical problem and the flight got canceled. No parts, no other planes, no other way to leave. My husband immediately got on the phone with customer service and jumped in line at the front counter behind just two other people. Good thing he called, because the staff took half an hour to process those two people! By that time we were re-booked on flights out of SFO. I got us a rental car, which we jumped into and FLEW down to San Francisco to get the last flight out of there to Seattle. I honestly can’t imagine what happened to the poor people who were still waiting in line when we left. I felt a little bad for the staff because it honestly looked like they had ramp workers on the computers trying to re-book people, but my husband made a good point that the staff at STS should be completely prepared for this sort of thing because the odds are good for it happening often. I think we’ll still definitely try to use this airport because it’s just so much more convenient than SFO or Oakland, but we will not take the last flight of the day!

Ah, California

Wine Tasting Tab app for the iPad: I really looked around for a great wine app and this was the best I found. They had most (although not all) of the wineries we wanted to visit along with useful information like prices.

Cook Islands – October 2010

This is going to be a big one, so I’m adding some anchors if you have something in particular you want to look at. I apologize in advance for the quality/lack of pictures. The weather was very overcast and windy when we were there, so the light wasn’t the best.

Books | Flights | Aitutaki | Rarotonga | Cross Island Track

The Cook Islands are a group of islands about 700 miles west of better-known French Polynesia. The Cooks have a “free association” with New Zealand, which means that they use the New Zealand dollar, receive aid from NZ, and Cook Islanders can also have NZ citizenship (almost twice as many Cook Islanders live in NZ than the Cooks). But they are self-governing and hold the right to completely sever ties with NZ. Although Maori and another Polynesian language are spoken, everyone speaks English. They’re in the same time zone as Hawaii and also don’t observe Daylight Savings Time, so two or three hours behind the West Coast depending on the time of year.

Little Polynesian hotel, Rarotonga

Books
I’m a nerd and pretty much only read non-fiction, so I use a trip as a way to fill up my book que at the library. The Cooks proved a challenge because there just aren’t too many books written about them, and the few that are out there are either far out of date or getting there, or just not available on this side of the Pacific. But they’re still pretty interesting, so if you can track them down they’re worth a read. The Cook Islands web site also has a good list if you think your library can do better than mine.
Doctor to the Islands, Tom and Lydia Davis. Tom grew up on Rarotonga, moved to NZ to attend medical school, married an NZ girl, and they moved back to Raro for Tom to practice medicine there. Very interesting and honest look at life on a small island in the South Pacific in the ’40s.
White Savages of the South Seas, Mel Kernahan. A collection of travel essays from a woman who started going to Tahiti in the 60s, got disillusioned with it by the development that came along with the nuclear testing, and switched to the Cooks.
Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, Tony Horwitz. Sounds pretty promising with the word “Cook” right there in the title, doesn’t it? Literally the only mention of the Cook Islands is to say that Captain Cook didn’t go there very long, and the author didn’t go there at all. BUT an absolutely wonderful book anyway. His other books are also excellent reads.

Honeymoon Island, Aitutaki

Flights
It’s not particularly difficult or even expensive if Air New Zealand is running a sale (and they often do), particularly if you live on the West Coast. Air NZ has one direct flight to Rarotonga a week, leaving LAX late Sunday night. Nine hours later, you arrive at 6 a.m. local time. The return flight leaves a minute before midnight on Saturday, getting to LAX at 12:30 on Sunday. These times are great for North Americans because they give you plenty of time for connections, even from the East Coast, and you don’t lose days in the Cooks. Unfortunately they do limit your stay to five nights if you have one week or 12 if you have two, but the first and last days are full ones and the jetlag isn’t too bad from the West Coast, so I think it’s still a good bet. I can understand if someone flying from North America wouldn’t want to visit more than one island, although I think it worked out fine for us. It’s not like there’s so many things that you just ABSOLUTELY MUST DO!! on either Aitutaki or Rarotonga that you would feel crunched for time.
As far as prices, with taxes and fees during a sale it’s about $800 for coach. If you’re seeing it for more than that, sign up for e-mails from Air NZ and keep checking its US site because the sale price goes up pretty often. If you want to go a little nuts, Business Class (there isn’t first class on this route right now) is only about $1,100 more (roundtrip). I know what you’re thinking, “$1,900 is a lot more than $800!” But price out what a business class ticket from New York to London costs–this is a bargain! We took advantage of this and flew B class to Rarotonga as a way to try to get some sleep to be ready for our first full day there, and coach on the way back when we didn’t care if we arrived uncomfortable and grumpy.
Air NZ is a fantastic airline. On our way there we had access to the lounge at LAX, and it’s a nice one. There are two flights to Auckland on Sunday night so it’s crowded, but they also stocked it with a pretty decent buffet, lots of NZ wine, and there were people to chat with to pass the time if you wanted. While the seats in business class aren’t true 180 sleeper seats, they’re still plenty comfortable. Coach on the way back obviously wasn’t as comfortable, but it’s still quite good. I have trouble sleeping on planes and I did fine. The food in both business and coach was great, you can get wine with dinner in coach, and both have personal entertainment systems that allow you to start and stop your programming.

Road next to the runway on Aitutaki.

You get from Rarotonga to Aitutaki (or any of the outer islands) on Air Rarotonga. As soon as you know that you want to go to an outer island, book these flights. When we first priced the flights they were $311 each roundtrip, but when we went to book a week later they were $388. If you’re going to a smaller island like Atiu do your research on the flight times because they don’t go daily.
The flights themselves were pretty unremarkable. The planes are small prop planes but the flights were smooth, and we boarded and deplaned quickly. Don’t worry about having your ID handy because they don’t want it, just your name. Baggage claim at the Aitutaki airport is a trailer pulled by golf cart parked next to the terminal.

Aitutaki’s lagoon

Aitutaki
Aitutaki is a small island known primarily for its lagoon and tiny uninhabited motu scattered around it. Most of the hotels on the island are along its west coast. There are also a handful scattered on the Ootu peninsula, which is just east of the airport. Since the hotels on the west coast of the island face out toward the reef, we opted for Samade on the Beach on the Ootu, which faces in toward the lagoon. I figured if that’s what makes the island special, that’s what I wanted to see. The location is indeed amazing. So quiet and right on a beautiful beach, but there are a couple restaurants within a short walk. If you’re looking to relax it would be pretty hard to beat. Aitutaki is pretty notorious for mosquitoes, but they weren’t too bad when we were there. Probably because it was so windy. The bungalows have small kitchenettes, which is pretty much the norm for accommodations in the Cooks.
While Samade isn’t free, it’s a more affordable option that a lot of the fancier places on the island like the Pacific Resort or the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort. The prices seem to have gone up since I booked, though. I’m not sure I’d pay the rack rate on the web site now. But if you’re interested in it send them an e-mail to see if they can give you a deal on your dates.

One Foot Island, Aitutaki

With only one full day on Aitutaki, it was pretty much a given that we’d spend it on a lagoon tour. After reading reviews of the various operations on TripAdvisor we chose Aitutaki Adventures. The snorkeling at the first stop was amazing–the best I’ve seen since the Great Barrier Reef. A moray eel even chased my husband. We stopped at Honeymoon Island to wander a bit, then headed over to One Foot Island for lunch and swimming. We met Puna, who normally captains the boat but had stepped on a stone fish the week before and had a very bandaged big toe. He’s a very nice guy and it would have been great to spend the entire day with him. I’ve had a few of these snorkel tour lunch things and they’re usually edible but nothing special, but this spread was quite good. A bigger snorkel operation opens a bar on One Foot when their tour comes in, so you can buy a drink or postcards (they call the shack a post office, but I’m not exactly sure if you can mail things from it), or if you bring your passport they’ll stamp it. There was one more snorkeling stop after lunch, then it was back to the main island.
One last note about Aitutaki, there are no dogs on the island, so cats rule the roost. They sat at our door and cried to be let into our bungalow, they wander around the restaurants, and just generally hang out. I love cats so I was A-OK with this, but I could see how a cat using your purse as a scratching post when you put it down at dinner wouldn’t be so amusing (I laughed). I was happy to see that everyone on the island seems to treat the cats well rather than as a nuisance.

Wigamore’s Waterfall, Rarotonga

Rarotonga
Although Rarotonga is the “main” island, it’s still pretty quiet and extremely laid back. It doesn’t have the large lagoon of Aitutaki, but it’s surrounded by a reef so there’s still plenty of good swimming, kayaking, and snorkeling. And Muri, the main tourist area, has motu offshore so it’s quite picturesque. We opted for Muri Beach because we like to have options for food and drink within walking distance when we stay somewhere. There are people who feel it’s too developed and if you’re really looking to be isolated I suppose it wouldn’t be right for you, but there are no high rises or massive resorts or jet skis zipping everywhere or anything like that. Also, Rarotonga is all of about 20 miles around, so it’s not like you’re far from anything regardless of where you stay. We rented a car from Island Cars, which was sketchy but cheap, and made it easy to get around. There are also legit agencies like Budget and Avis. There are two buses that run in opposite directions around the island once an hour if you don’t want to bother with a car or moped.

View from our deck at Te Manava.

We decided to go a little nuts on Rarotonga and stayed at Te Manava in a beachfront suite. This is sort of a weird concept in that it’s like renting a really nice condo, but they’re managed by the nearby Pacific Resort. Absolutely nothing is included in the (rather hefty) base price–not maid service, not shampoo, not breakfast. Essentially the opposite of an all inclusive. We did have a concierge during the day, who was very nice and helpful, and we could call over to the Pacific Resort for help and also had charging privileges there. In the pictures it had looked like the decks of the suites were right on the beach and I was a little concerned about privacy, but they’re actually raised off the beach, so they are fairly private. Which is good with a private plunge pool! Since the weather was crappy and we ended up being indoors a lot it was nice to have a cushy place to stay, but I don’t think I’d bother spending the money to stay there again.

View from the Needle, Rarotonga.

Cross Island Track
As soon as I read that there was a hiking trail that lets you go from the north side of Rarotonga, up over the middle of island just past a large hunk of rock known as the Needle (Te Rua Manga), completely across to the south side, that solidified my decision to want to go to the Cook Islands. My husband and I love to hike and try to find vacations with good hiking whenever possible, so this was easily the highlight of the trip for us.
If you want to do the cross island hike, the first decision to make is whether you want to go with a guide or do it on your own. We have done quite of a bit of tropical hiking and are both in good shape, so we did it alone. The trail was in good shape and well marked with orange reflectors, but it isn’t what I would consider easy. Parts are quite vertical (both going up and coming down) to the point where there are ropes in place in the parts with no handholds or roots for steps, it was slippery thanks to mud and leaf litter, there are several stream crossings, it’s hot (even with the cooler weather when we were there), and you get eaten alive by mosquitoes (you’ll sweat off any bug repellent). However, there was a group with a guide right behind us and they took a different easier route down than we did. When I talked to the guide at the end of the trail he told me we’d taken the “suicide route,” but man it was fun!

The lovely and luxurious Sheraton at the end of Cross Island Track.

The second decision to make is transportation since the trail is point to point, not a loop. The trail starts and ends at the ends of paved roads, but the bus doesn’t run on them. So you can take the bus and walk to and from the trail, or if you have a car you can leave it at one end or the other and take the bus around. The road is about 2 kilometers to the trail head on the north side, and a bit longer than a kilometer from the end of the trail to the outer road on the other end, so the distances aren’t insignificant in a hot and humid climate. But there’s cool stuff to see along the way like taro fields and a big resort project that was abandoned halfway through construction. I did see some people with the guide getting dropped off or picked up by taxis, so that’s an option if you think the hike itself is all you can handle.
The trail takes about 3 hours with stops for breaks and at the top by the Needle, not counting the road sections. According to my husband I was grinning the entire time! It’s a fun trail if you like a moderate challenge and don’t mind a little mud.

Random little waterfall along the Cross Island Track.

So even with the spotty weather we both really enjoyed the trip. Going to the South Pacific hadn’t been on our list because the prices in places like Bora Bora are just so outrageous and I wouldn’t know where to start with Fiji. But the Cooks were quite easy to plan and I would consider prices in line with Hawaii. The “Cookies” are lovely, especially on Aitutaki, and your fellow tourists are mostly Kiwis and Aussies, so they’re pretty fun, too. I’m not sure if we’ll go back anytime soon just because there are so many other places to go, but I would be happy to return.

Vegas hotels

Since questions about Vegas hotels get asked a lot, I figured I’d throw together a quick little post with reviews of the hotels I’ve stayed in.

These are in the reverse order of when I stayed the hotel, so the properties toward the bottom could be quite different now.

The view from our room at Aria.

Aria
The location of this place is fantastic. You’re quite central on the Strip, and if you’re a shopper it’s pretty much ideal. There are gorgeous shops at Crystals next door, and you have the Miracle Mile shops across the street at Planet Hollywood, which have more down to Earth stores and prices. We had dinner at Social House at Crystals and it was incredible, and drinks at the Todd English pub, which had a great beer selection.
One thing that’s almost sort of creepy, though, is that a LOT of CityCenter is residences. Empty, empty residences. The Veer Towers and the residential section of the Mandarin Oriental were almost entirely dark at night. I suppose that’s a good thing for guests at the hotels because if those suckers were full it would be a zoo. Some of the stores at Crystals were busy, but many times we were the only ones in whatever shop we were in. The casino was reasonably busy, but we never had much trouble finding $10 tables.

We had a city view room that faced south toward the Monte Carlo. I think at one time the rooms on the other side of the hotel must have had a sick view of the Bellagio fountains, but now all you can see are the Cosmopolitan towers (our friends were on that side). I’d say the room is similar in size to our room at the Bellagio although obviously newer, but way smaller than the rooms at Encore or THEhotel. They get super excited about having this central remote thing for all the lights/electronics/curtains, but when you’re in a basic hotel room and a few steps from everything I don’t see the point really. I think the Bellagio’s bathroom was a little bigger with more counter space. An advantage of the Aria bathroom is that you walk through the shower to get t the tub, which was handy for when you want to rinse off after you get out of the tub, whereas at Bellagio the tub and shower were on opposite sides of the bathroom. I also liked the Aria’s bath products, which have a really light fruity smell and not a heavy perfumey one like a lot of hotels’ products. It was pretty quiet, and we were on a non-smoking floor, which was nice. Speaking of non-smoking, if you’re interested in staying at Vdara really look at the location. It’s set way in the back of CityCenter–I’m not even sure how you get there from the Strip, especially with the Cosmopolitan towers blocking it.
As far as the staff, everyone we ran into was very nice. They did give us an upgrade and sent chocolate-covered strawberries to our room because it was my husband’s birthday, and the standard checkout time is noon, not 11, so snaps for that. BUT the checkout line in the lobby on Sunday was insane. It was even longer than the cab line at the airport! I’m not quite sure why because you can use your TV to check out. One of those Vegas mysteries I guess.

Mini bar and “art” at the Aria.

Price:I’ve always been a huge advocate of signing up for email alerts and booking Vegas hotels directly. This time I decided to check the price of booking my hotel with my flight through Southwest, and I was shocked at how much cheaper it was. Initially I was going to stay at the Hard Rock because I was seeing a show there, and at first I wasn’t even sure they were showing me the “bundled” price for flight and hotel or just my flight alone. And you can still cancel the hotel reservation without a penalty as long as you do it before the hotel’s cancellation cut off. With that Southwest rate, the Aria was about the same as what we paid for the Bellagio. There is also a resort fee of $22 per day, which includes WiFi and two free drinks and some other stuff that we didn’t use.

Bellagio
I was really excited to stay at the Bellagio for a trip with my husband and some of our friends. I’ve never stayed so central, and it’s probably the most well-known Strip hotel. While I don’t regret staying there, I have to say, “Meh.” THEhotel and Encore have much nicer rooms, it was always crowded with people, the line for the Bellagio Cafe on Sunday morning was enormous (and this was a “dead” weekend for Vegas–there were $10 tables!), which was problematic because there aren’t many casual dining options in the hotel. Don’t get me wrong, the room was very nice, but I was expecting quite a bit more due to the hype. We were in a Spa Tower room, which was in great shape, but still your basic nice hotel room. I will say that the location is fantastic, especially with CityCenter next door now.
Price If you’re interested in staying at the Bellagio, definitely sign up for e-mails. They’ve been running a deal for a while now where if you book a certain number of days in advance you get a discount, and we managed to get 25% off. It actually made Bellagio cheaper than a lot of the comparable Strip hotels.

Bellagio Spa Tower bathroom.

Encore
Sort of the newer sister property to the Wynn. Beautiful room. Not quite a proper suite like at THEhotel, but still large with a really nice bathroom and sitting area. Our room had a view looking south down the Strip plus west to the mountains. Nice casino, decent restaurants, although the pools seemed a little small. Very high end shopping between it and the Wynn. There’s really not much farther north on the Strip, and it’s a bit of walk to the central Strip area.
Price We got a stay one night get one free deal through our credit card, so it was pretty reasonable. I don’t think it’s known for running good specials, and I’m not sure I consider it worth it at full price.

THEhotel at Mandalay Bay
Pretty much our default hotel in Vegas. I’ve stayed twice (maybe three times?) and my husband has stayed a couple more times. The rooms are fantastic–proper suites with a living room that’s separate from the bedroom (with a door and everything!), and a half bath by the entrance in addition to the huge “master” bathroom. Because of the setup I think it’s great for groups. You have access to the Mandalay Bay pool area, which is top notch (just make sure you each have a key). However, the pool is a bit of a walk, and through the casino at that, from THEhotel. The blackjack rules at the casino are good (although who knows when they’ll catch up with the rest of the Strip hotels and start having the dealer stand on soft 17).
The downside is that it’s really far at the south end of the Strip. There’s a free monorail to the Excalibur, but then it’s still a walk to the center of the Strip. However, if you’re looking for a resort-type experience in Vegas, this does it pretty well. There’s some basic shopping, and the restaurants are good. So if you’ve been to Vegas before and are just there to relax by the pool and have a couple good meals, it’s great for that. I also get the impression that it doesn’t get as many non-guests wandering around as the more central hotels do, so it can feel a lot quieter than, say, the Bellagio. While I think this is the case for Mandalay Bay in general, it’s especially true of THEhotel since there’s not much reason to be there if you’re not staying there except for Mix.
Price Sometimes THEhotel is very expensive, but I’ve also gotten fantastic prices on it, especially mid-week. It’s such a nice room I consider getting it for less that $150 a night a great bargain, and it’s usually the first one we check when we’re planning a trip to Vegas.

Hard Rock Hotel

2011 update: I saw a concert at The Joint in January 2011 with a friend (we stayed at the Aria). It’s a fine place to see a show, but it’s so freakishly clean! If you’re used to places with sticky floors that still reek of smoke even though it was banned years ago, it’s disconcerting. Even the bathrooms are clean! There was a really long line for cabs after the show, but we walked around to the new Tower valet, and the cab line was only 3 people. So that’s my tip! We had dinner before at the Pink Taco, which was packed but we managed to find room at the bar. The name is gross but the food is good and comes very fast, and they had good margaritas.
I went here during the week in the late fall, so the party atmosphere it’s notorious for wasn’t anywhere to be seen (although Kevin Federline might have been at our blackjack table, but I’m not sure it was him). It was also before the new tower was built, so I imagine it’s busier in general now. The atmosphere of the hotel was very cool, but the blackjack rules were ridiculous and the rooms were pretty plain. One bonus was that you could open double doors to get fresh air, which is quite nice (I don’t think this would be the case with the new tower rooms). When we stayed there they had a shuttle running to and from the Strip that stopped at 7 p.m., but I’m not sure if it’s still running. We never walked up to the Strip from it, but it would probably take a few minutes.
Price This place can get super cheap during the week if there’s nothing going on. I think I got it for under $100 a night and you can still get prices like that sometimes. Weekends can get pretty pricey, though.

The Rio
The first place I ever stayed in Vegas. Not a bad hotel off the Strip. The rooms are very big, but they’re not an interesting configuration or anything–just a big ol’ room. We were there in early spring, so the pool wasn’t fully operational yet, but the pool area was nice. The Voodoo Lounge on the top floor is fun and has good views. There’s a shuttle that runs to the Strip. I think we walked once before we realized that distances in Vegas are much greater than they appear, and it’s a hike. With the Palms close by now at least there’s something else over there.
Price It was so long ago I don’t remember what we paid, but I think it was pretty low. It looks like you can still get some pretty good rates here.

Renting a car
Renting a car in Vegas is one of those fun little never-ending debates. Some people would rather just cab around, some people are fine with taking a bus, and some people like renting cars. We’re in the last category. For one thing, renting a car in Vegas is usually incredibly cheap, especially since parking’s free at all the hotels. Primarily we get a car because there’s great hiking around Vegas, so we need a car for that. We’ve also had great experiences eating off-Strip (Raku to name one), which we probably wouldn’t bother doing if we didn’t have a car. If it’s your first trip to Vegas and you’re just going to be checking out the Strip, then a car probably isn’t necessary. But once you start returning I think it’s worth getting one to explore.

Funky embroidered wall by the elevators at Aria.