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Cascadia Kids

Family travel in the Pacific Northwest and BC

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Travel Tips

April 5, 2013

12 Family Hotels That Offer a Free Breakfast

Okay, even if you don’t looooove chain hotels, you gotta admit — the free breakfast is awesome. Even if it’s just a bowl of cereal or a pastry and orange juice, that’s one meal out of the way. You can avoid  taking your gang of ravenous, borderline-manic children into a Denny’s or breakfast diner (hmm, or is it just me with that problem?).

Hanna Pauli
Your breakfast will not look like this. “Breakfast- Time” painting by Hanna Pauli.

I created this list of free breakfast-serving hotels in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Some of these are not just fine, but great — you’ll get a hot meal, a cooked-to-order breakfast omelet or an evening reception. Not bad at all. Many chain hotels also provide indoor pools (preferable in our always-undependable climate)  so the kids won’t mind if there’s not much of a personal touch. Free breakfast and a pool — I’m ready to go now.

Caveats: Check with the specific property you’re booking to make sure that they are offering breakfast. Always, always check.

1. Staybridge Hotels. These hotels offer a hot buffet breakfast, including fresh waffles. Evening receptions as well, Tuesdays through Thursdays. See the lists of Staybridge Oregon hotels, Washington hotels and BC hotels.

2. Embassy Suites. Free breakfast might include a cooked-to-order omelet, bacon, eggs, breakfast potatoes and pastries. Also, an evening reception (with wine!). Most locations are clustered in the Puget Sound and Portland. Also in the Hilton family: DoubleTree sometimes offers a continental breakfast. The roomy Homewood Suites provides a full, hot breakfast like Embassy Suites — along with a weeknight free manager’s reception featuring dinner items. Most are in the Puget Sound, Vancouver/Portland metro and in Medford, Oregon. Oh, and 15% off for active and retired military service members.

3.  Comfort Inns. The common Comfort Inns now advertise a free hot breakfast, including eggs, sausage, waffles and fresh fruit. Many locations in Oregon, Washington and Canada.

4. Oxford Suites. This contemporary-focused hotel chain has a free buffet breakfast and many also offer family rooms. Locations on the Oxford Suites map ? Six hotels in Oregon, six hotels in Washington State — stretching from Klamath Falls, Oregon to Silverdale, Washington.

5. Hampton Inns. While not so common throughout our area, Hampton Inns have a free hot breakfast served daily, with fresh waffles and oatmeal. If you’re in a hurry, the “On the Run Breakfast Bag” gives you the basics: apple, cereal bar, muffin, water. Check the map in this Hampton Inns link to find two in Oregon (Salem and Astoria), two in BC (Vancouver and Surrey) and more in Washington. I’ve stayed at the one in Burlington, and found it just fine, with easy access into the North Cascades.

6. Ramada Limited, Super 8, Travelodge. The Wyndham family offers free continental breakfast at many of the budget properties, including Ramada Limited, Super 8, and Travelodge.  I’ve stayed at Super 8s a few times; not my first choice, but it might be yours. See this listing of BC Ramada properties and use the Ramada map for Oregon and Washington free-breakfast hotels.

7. Holiday Inn Express. This hotel chain isn’t skimping on the free hot breakfast bar; here you’ll find cheese omelets, bacon and sausage, biscuits and gravy, cinnamon rolls, an assortment of cereals and pancakes at a few locations. View the British Columbia Holiday Inn locations, Washington State hotel and Oregon hotels.

8. Best Western Plus. Best Western Plus provides a free breakfast at the PLUS locations (and even then, I would call and make sure — also, some non-plus locations will offer breakfast too.). Here are locations for Best Western in Oregon, Best Western in BC and Best Western in Washington.

9. Days Inn. Pick up a complimentary breakfast at “participating locations,” Days Inn says. Which means you should double-check, but you’ll probably find the juice and pastries out at Oregon Days Inns and Washington State Days Inns. More than 108 Days Inn hotels dot British Columbia.

10. La Quinta Inns and La Quinta Inns and Suites. La Quinta Inns and La Quinta Inns and Suites serve up a continental breakfast. These properties are mostly found in Washington and Oregon, with just one in Richmond, BC.

11. Country Inn and Suites says that their free breakfast choices vary, but could include waffles, scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, hard-boiled eggs and biscuits and gravy. Nom. Unfortunately, there aren’t many in the Pacific Northwest —  one near Puyallup, one in Portland, none in BC.

12. Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn and Suites, Springhill Suites and TownePlace Suites. Several of the Marriott family of hotels offer free breakfast (hot and continental), including the Residence, Fairfield, Springhill and TownePlace. Only a handful in BC (a Fairfield in Kelowna, a Residence Inn with free breakfast in Vancouver), but there are many free breakfast buffets in the Washington hotels and in Oregon hotels.

Filed Under: Travel Tips Tagged With: breakfast, family, free, hotels

July 21, 2011

Camping in the Rain with Kids

You’ve got your reservations in hand, but the forecast is for rain. Should you go?

Alaska-based mom Jennifer Aist, author of Babes in the Woods: Hiking, Camping & Boating with Babies and Young Children, has plenty of experience with family camping in the rain. “Last summer we had 43 days in a row of rain, “ she says. Instead of getting wet and miserable, Aist got prepared.

The first hint? Bring drop-proof rain gear. Aist specifically recommends Oaki Wear clothing: “It is well built and holds up beautifully to lots and lots of rain and puddle stomping,” she says. If it’s chilly out, she brings rainboots for the kids, along with extra socks. “Nothing dries out well in rainy conditions,” she says. Stuff sacks (example: Granite Gear Toughsack)help keep a change of clothes protected from the elements.

If you’re car camping near pavement, Aist suggests packing sidewalk chalk. “It looks cool on wet pavement,” she says.

Those handy blue tarps offer respite from rain, plus a dry(ish) place to cook, read or play board games. Aist recommends that parents learn the knot best for tying tarps: the taut line. (here’s a YouTube link on how to tie the knot — love this guy’s moustache). On a sloping site, sure your tent’s opening faces downhil, not uphill, as you don’t want rain to flow into your tent.


It might seem counterintuitive, but Aist suggests avoiding the tent, at least during the day. “Tents are for sleeping,” Aist says. “Everything gets wet when you are in and out all day. It gets a bit claustrophobic too. Embrace the rain, because it can really be lots of fun to play in — just keep moving. Even hiking in the rain isn’t so bad.”

Michelle Tice would agree. Tice, a Vancouver-based mom who blogs at savvymom.ca, booked a stay months ago for Vancouver Island’s Parksville, along with friends. A total of 14 kids and 25 adults had planned the weekend, and weren’t going to be deterred by rain in the forecast.

The downpour set in.

“We had to shower the kids each night,” Tice says, but it was worth a little extra work. Croc-style shoes let water pass through, so feet got dirty and wet, but not cold (no waterlogged socks). They brought lots of extra clothing, and bikes for mud-puddle splashing.

“Exploring beaches, forests and puddles, can be done in the rain too.” They also explored local-area kids’ activities for “a change of scenery,” she says, including Little Qualicum Cheeseworks and Coombs Country Market.

“The kids did not care about the rain, only the adults did,” Tice says. “So the faster the adults cope, the better for all.”

With a mug of steaming hot chocolate in your hand, could you really disagree?

More tips for setting up camp in the rain:

Your-Camping-Guidebook.Com (funny name, good site).

A good video on setting up a tent in the rain, made by TrailPeak.com.

Filed Under: Get Outdoors! Camping & Hiking Trips, Travel Tips Tagged With: camping, kids, rain

May 31, 2011

What to Pack for an Outdoor Festival (with Kids)

It’s festival season here in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. We’ve got festivals of every stripe — berry festivals, Shakespeare festivals, folk festivals, medieval festivals, rose and rodeo festivals. Our family recently went to the Folklife Festival with our kids, and here’s a packing list I created. These items fit into one small backpack ( thankfully, we didn’t need any rain gear), which we slung over the stroller, along with the small cooler.

Festival essentials:

  • Cell phone
  • ID
  • Keys
  • Cash (more than you think you’ll need) and Credit/Debit card and pin
  • Tickets if necessary
  • Map or iPhone or Android event schedule/map
  • Camera w/extra battery or memory card

Festival packing for family health

  • Sunblock
  • Bug repellent
  • Sunglasses and sunhat
  • Chapstick
  • Water bottle (two big ones)
  • Tissues for well-used portapotties and for sad songs.
  • Mini-first aid kit w/bandaids, allergy med, 1-2 pain relievers, safety pins
  • Baby wipes
  • One or two plastic grocery bags or small Ziploc bags. Because.
  • Beach towel for grassy areas or a pashmina-style shawl – can be used for warmth, to sit on, last-minute cleanup, etc.
  • Ear plugs or ear coverage for kids
  • Thin thermal layer if it’s chilly
  • Poncho/raincoat if you expect rain

For the family blood sugar:

  • Shoulder/stroller-ready soft-sided cooler
  • Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
  • Granola bars, trail mix, kids’ health bars
  • Oranges or other easy-peel fruit
  • Chocolate

Festival packing for the kids:

  • Paper and pencils/pens/crayons (think about whether these will get so hot they’ll melt)
  • Bubbles, stickers, other lightweight and keep-busy items
  • A chapter book you can read to them during slow times.
  • Disposable camera
  • $5-10 spending money per child for cotton candy, small toys, etc.
  • A method for transporting them when they’re tired (and whiny). Do not discount this aspect, even if you think your child is too old for a stroller. When the choice is A) leave early with a whining, unhappy child or B) let them nap/color/blow bubbles in the stroller despite the disapproving eyes of parental passerby (holding whiny kids) …yes, you should choose B. I’m not saying I would stuff my teen into a stroller, but a 5 year old? Yes. If you think the area will be uneven (think grassy fairgrounds), you may want to bring a child carrier instead. Baby jogger-style strollers can easily become too unwieldy.

Write your phone number your child’s arm or on a piece of paper they keep in a pocket; make sure they understand what to do if they get lost.

Filed Under: Travel Tips Tagged With: family, kids, packing, rain

April 5, 2011

How to plan an awesome family vacation in BC, Washington or Oregon

I’m in the midst of trip-planning right now. Honestly, I love the research and time investment in planning a great trip, from picking the best kid-friendly hotel to finding out which museums are open on the days we’re in town. Yeah, I’m a travel-research geek. I cull information from a number of sites to plan a great trip for my family. They’re sort of spoiled now, though, and if I mess up — I hear about it!

One thing I’ve learned: Never rely too heavily on one site (even this one!), one friend or one guidebook. Planning a great trip takes intensive Internet time up-front, but it’s better than driving around a suburb at 7 p.m., looking for an open restaurant. And with the right amount of work, your partner and children will think you’re a travel genius.

(unless you chose the fly-in-my-soup restaurant, but we’ll talk about that another time)

Here are online sites I use to plan summer vacations, spring breaks and travel-research trips:

TripAdvisor: I use the TripAdvisor.com to dig up quality hotels in smaller towns outside of Vancouver, Seattle, Victoria and Portland, although the site works for big cities as well. I like Tripadvisor specifically because so many of the site’s participants go the independent-travel route rather than prepackaged lodging-dining-activity plans culled from a guidebook. The boards can be helpful if you have a question, and most reviews are interesting. I tend to read – but not necessarily believe – the best reviews (could’ve been written by hotel owner’s friends) and the worst reviews (written by a competing hotelier?) and then try to find the average. Generally, deal-killers for me include reports of poor soundproofing, bad neighborhoods and of course, bedbugs. (shiver)

Tripadvisor Tip: The best aspects of Tripadvisor are the hotel reviews and forums; Crowdsourcing from the vacation rental reviews or restaurant picks doesn’t work for me.

—

Chowhound: I love the Chowhound.com message boards. Those of us with pickier palates appreciate this site’s gourmet reviews. Not that every restaurant recommendation is expensive – you’re as apt to find a glowing review of a hole-in-the-wall burger joint as a upscale bistro. People on this board just love food, in all guises and pricepoints. It’s also a great way to find child-friendly restaurants at your out-of-the-way destination, if you want to ask a question on the message board.

Chowhound Tip: It’s not easy to find relevant Chowhound threads using Chowhound’s search tool. I use Google and enter “site:chowhound.chow.com” and then my term – “Olympia restaurants kids.” Or browse by destination on the board. Example: Greater Seattle Chowhound recommendations and reviews. Remember that not everyone has the same tastes, and this is an anonymous message board. Take everything with a grain of salt and a sprig of rosemary.

—

Priceline: If I’m headed into a big city for just a few days or an overnight, I use Priceline.com to pick up my room. Priceline is a cheap way to get a stunning hotel room (particularly in Seattle and Vancouver), so we have more money for eating out.

Priceline Tip: Use my Priceline process to book your Seattle, Vancouver or Portland Priceline stay. I would not use Priceline for a two-star hotel in any city. There’s just too much variance in quality.

—

Slow Travel: What is Slow Travel? According to the Slowtravel.com site’s founder, it’s about slowing down your itinerary, finding a “home base” for your vacation and just enjoying your destination without pressure. Slow travel is the perfect way to travel with kids. Most of the Slow Travel forum and site participants are Europhiles with plans for the summer in Tuscany; However, you’ll also find a North America section where you can read vacation-rental reviews , trip reports and other destination-ready suggestions. Or if you’re a local, maybe you can make a few suggestions to visitors.

Slow Travel Tip: View reviews of Washington, Oregon and British Columbia vacation rental homes and apartments before booking your next hotel stay; your kids will thank you.

—

Google Maps: I use Google Maps to map out my drive and stops along the way (I do recommend stopping at least every two hours with kids, just so don’t drive one another crazy). I find the site’s directions fairly accurate, although it’s always good to double-check directions and suggestions with a real, live human (that road may be under construction or the bus route may not operate on Sundays).

Google Maps Tip: Use Google Street View to check out a hotel or rental’s exterior and surrounding neighborhood. Is the hotel in a dodgy part of town, or is the rental right on the highway? Good to know before you show up. However this visual information, like all information, can rapidly go out of date — make sure the construction cranes are still there before you break up with your hotel reservation.

—

VRBO or HomeAway.com: If I can’t find an apartment or house review on Slow Travel, I will browse VRBO or HomeAway for a family-friendly Washington, Oregon or BC rental option, particularly if I’m staying for more than three nights. I hate tiny, cramped hotel rooms as much as the next traveler, and I find that cooking in the room makes more sense, financially.

VRBO.com Tip: Read this CascadiaKids.com article on finding a child-friendly or family vacation rental in Seattle, British Columbia or Washington State.

—

Other sites worth a mention:

Nwcheapsleeps.org. On her blog, Lauren blogs about various bed and breakfasts and fabulous destinations throughout the Pacific Northwest. Great if you’d prefer to go the B&B route (with kids, or without!). The Cheapsleeps Finder makes searching easy.

Yelp.com for restaurants at my destination. The site provides random reviews — more like a restaurant snapshot than a panoramic perspective. It also doesn’t work well for some cities; Spokane stands out in my mind as an example of a city where you do not want to take Yelp reviews into account. I found that out the hard way.

AAA of Washington for finding and booking hotels that accept my AAA card (10%off).

Fodors.com and Frommer’s forums; ehhh, sometimes they work for me. Sometimes not.

Local mom blogs for my destination, particularly if I trust the blogger’s taste in dining. I always try to leave a blog comment if I visit and get a great local-travel tip from a blogger!

I know I’ve forgotten many more important sites. Do you have favorite trip-planning site for your Northwest trip? Tell me all about it in the comments below (comments moderated, please wait for your message to post).

Filed Under: Travel Tips Tagged With: BC, family

December 17, 2010

Great Gifts for the Local Family Traveler

What to buy the traveler in your life? Check this list:

Spot It is my favorite new game, hands down. It’s easy to learn (you’ll get it in about two seconds), scales well by age (I’d say 5 and up) and comes in a very portable tin.

Gift certificates to a favorite hotel or restaurant. Many come with bonuses for you, too. I’ve seen a 10% bonus for purchases for the Victoria Clipper, an extra $25 gift card when you purchase one $25 gift card at the Cannon Beach’s Wayfarer restaurant and a few more I can’t really mention — they were only for e-mail subscribers to the hotel e-mail lists. But you’ll find these sort of “secret deals” when you sign up for a restaurant or hotel’s e-mail li.

Reusies are one of our favorite ways of transporting snacks for the kids (particularly crackers, nuts, cheese, etc.) in the car. Children can chow down, then seal up the container themselves — no plastic lids to struggle with. ReUsies 2 Pack Reusable Sandwich and Snack Bag – Pirate

If I were buying just one gift for the family traveler, it would be a picnic backpack. We’ve had ours since our wedding day and have used it over and over again — it’s a fantastic way to save money. Eat oatmeal in your hotel room or create a picnic from yummy things you’ve collected at Granville Island market. Here’s one example: Picnic at Ascot Classic Blue Picnic Backpack for Four with Blanket

A NW-centric book, like Lonely Planet Pacific Northwest Trips or (my book) Northwest Kid Trips: Portland, Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver or The Most Beautiful Villages and Towns of the Pacific Northwest.

A Chicco Capri Lightweight Stroller. I don’t have the money for a Maclaren. But I think a Chicco umbrella-style stroller ($65-75) is a great value for those of us on a budget. This particular stroller works well no matter what the streets throw at it — cobblestones, dips, bumps or grass-covered hills. It fits easily into most crowded urban restaurants and the handles work well for my tall husband. If you don’t want to buy from Amazon, head to your local Babies R Us, which typically has this stroller in stock.

A membership to a local zoo or science center. All the better if they’re participating members of the ASTC Passport Program or the Association of Zoo and Aquariums, which allows the recipient to visit nearby cities’ zoos and science centers for free or at huge discounts.

Is there anything you hope Santa brings you this year?

Filed Under: Travel Tips Tagged With: Pacific Northwest, restaurant, victoria clipper

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