Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Vacation 2016

I am now into day 2 of work after a 10 day off vacation.  And I'm still getting into the groove.  Love vacations but boy, it's hard to get back to routine.  This year was different for hubby and I as it was the first year that none of our now adult children were not with us.  That was a bit of life change that took getting used to.  We were so used to planning our holidays around what we thought mostly they would enjoy.   We hummed and hawwed forever and a day in trying to decide what to do and where to go.  A couple of weeks before our actual holiday time, our friends invited us to join them in Spokane, Washington.  They were going for a couple of nights.  It sounded like fun so we joined them (though, oyvay, the exchange rate just about made us pass out!)




What a lovely experience it was for us.  We loved the hotel we stayed at, Red Lion at the Park.    (BTW, this link shows just a small section of this huge hotel! )  Even though the hotel was under major renovations while we were there, I have to say it was still a great experience staying there.   All staff we dealt with and all the construction workers were super friendly and super helpful.  Our room was upgraded from a regular king room to a king corporate suite....for free!  What a blessing that was!  Definitely will stay there again.

A huge downtown park where they held the '74 Expo is where the hotel is so there was lots of wonderful paths along the river that runs through town and we were within walking distance of downtown and tons of stores, restaurants, and a big mall.  (Hello my first experience at Nordstrom's and their Anniversary Sale).  My friend knows all the stores in Spokane and is designer savvy and knows good prices.  She is power shopper extraordinaire so it was lots of fun going with her!


Carousel in the park.
There was also a small ferris wheel and carnival rides...very family friendly


And the pool was wonderful.  Have to say I spent all of our 3 mornings out there reading and swimming.  Yes, it was already hot enough by 9:30 to be out sunning and swimming.  One of the most favorite parts of my holiday.  I finished 2 books.  I have to say this was one of the most relaxed vacations I've ever had.  Even though hubby is not a pool lounger or a swimmer he let me spend as much time as I wanted down there.  A real gift!  Every once in awhile him and the dog would show up in the window and wave to me.  :D


view from our room

But as with every holiday of eating well, staying up late, sleeping in and generally not running on any schedule whatsoever, I am easing very slowly into this week.  Yikes.  6:15 comes mighty early.  I'm always amazed at how easy it is to lose routine even when only off of it for 10 days.  But get into it I must.  So I've dug out the extra large cup of coffee and I'm motoring on!


5 comments:

Karen said...

It sounds like a perfect trip. A wonderful place, lots of rest and relaxation, time with friends and your hubby. My son went to school in Washington for a year. I was hoping I would have plenty of time to visit the area, but unfortunately he didn't stay up there. It's on my bucket list!

Barbara H. said...

We have not gone away for a vacation in ages due to having my m-i-l with us, but your post did just give me a jolt that it probably will be just the two of us next time. Wow! The only time we've done that was over a weekend a couple of times for our anniversary.

Sounds like a lovely, restful time. I can understand how hard it must be to get back into work and 6:15 rising times!

ellen b said...

Woohoo. Sounds like fun and sorry about the exchange rate. Our son and daughter in law live 60 miles north of Spokane and we have to drive through Spokane when we visit them. Well, we generally choose the route through Spokane to visit them. For any major shopping they drive down to Spokane. Glad you had a positive experience in our fare state!

Faith said...

What a relaxing trip for you!! I love love love NORDSTROM's but we can only afford NOrdstorm rack which is what our town mall has....we get some awesome deals there!!

Yay for swimming and reading books...I've done that this week too!

ALthough I prefer my mountains for vacations (or Cape Cod)...I like less people than in a city...but maybe it's because we live inbetween 4 cities...haha!! At any rate, it sounds like you had a wonderful time.....keep filling up that coffee mug!!

nikkipolani said...

Sounds like you were away long enough to really relax. Busy vacations can be fun, too, but your kind are my favorites ;-)