Almost a full year ago, John and I headed to Portland from New York. The drive was very long, as anyone could imagine, but we had quite an adventure and I loved every moment of it. As we got closer to Portland around dusk driving West along I-84 and we passed a mysterious hotel. After several trips into the Gorge I became more fascinated with the hotel and we finally investigated it on my birthday. The Columbia Gorge Hotel features a small spa, restaurant, and very small gift shop. It was built in 1902 when roads weren't major highways, but politely paved roads.
It's website reads, "To alert the hotel, the captains
(from steam ships on the river) would sound the whistle once for each guest he had on board. Maids would
then quickly make up the appropriate number of beds."
Today the hotel seems like it needs a push of energy to freshen it up. It had some great potential, but needed some updating. It's still a wonderful place to visit, and it's certainly a very scenic place for people to have weddings. Anyone who stops by is sure to sense it's powerful nostalgic pull to the past.
In continuing to sum up my recent trip to Las Vegas that I took a couple of weeks ago, it was nice to see an older part of the city that was new to me. Angela and I had to take a bus, appropriately called the Deuce, to the Fremont Street Experience, which was quite a trek from the newer parts of the Vegas Strip. Fremont is famous for its covered pedestrian street that is covered in LED lights. We were just in time to catch the President's Day tribute. We took in the sights with some fun novelty drinks and decided to walk around the famed Golden Nugget casino and hotel, which looked dated on the outside, but turned out to be modern and unsuspecting inside.
Beyond the older part of Fremont Street we saw large puffs of fire bursting from some weird creature down the street. We, of course, began walking in that direction. Fire balls were coming from a large mechanical prey mantis (Burning Man related?), with the body of a school bus, that was a greeter to Container Park. Container Park turned out to be an open communal space, full of shops, cafes, and a large playground for children. The bi-leveled park was mostly constructed out of sea-lockers; large storage containers used for international shipping. Ironically we had to sit at the entrance of the park for a couple minutes to finish emptying our novelty containers.
The following day, I had decided that I wanted to spend sometime relaxing at an indulgent Vegas spa, so I choose the spa at Aria. Getting a day pass is a good idea for getting a great spa experience on a budget. The day pass gave me open access to the spa, which meant I could use the large eucalyptus steam room, several whirlpools, and other great amenities. The highlights of the spa included an infinity pool on a balcony, especially great since I was the first person to try it out, and the salt room, which was a room with message chairs that featured a beautiful wall of salt bricks that apparently help people to relax.
Later on, I met up with Angela and we decided to investigate another place in Vegas that we have never been to before--Circus Circus, an older hotel and casino, known for it's large circus tent-like structure in the middle of the Strip. I realized after our trip that we totally missed the part where they have a roller coaster. But our impression of the casino when walked in was...not too positive. Circus Circus needs to tweak itself along the lines of the Golden Nugget to stay fresh with the changing amenities offered by newer and updated hotels in Vegas.
My second trip to Vegas was spectacular. The new sights were fun to see, the old sights were great too! I ate some really great food and next week I'm gonna talk about a very special restaurant I went to my last night in Vegas.
