Good Times @ B & B's

Now that I've vented about Lost Mountain Lodge I thought I would post about the good times that we've had at the other B & B's. To celebrate Valentine's Day in 2005 I surprised Michael by making reservations at the Tucker House in Friday Harbor. We had heard from our friends Micah and Kim that it was a nice place. Come to find out later we actually ended up staying the same room that they had on their trip. Too funny! We took the ferry from Anacortes over to Friday Harbor and it was just gorgeous! We had blue sky the whole time we were there and this was in February. Since it was the off season some places were closed, but we still had a great time. We drove around the island and took a walk by the water. We ate at some fantastic restaurants and relaxed which was really nice. The coolest thing about this B & B is you can choose when you want to have breakfast and they bring it to your room!!!!


The room we stayed in was called 'Dove in a Window' and it's the second story window on the left side of the house in the front. There are actually two or three houses to this B & B.
Here we are tired, but getting ready to enjoy our breakfast that was brought to the room. I loved that I got to eat breakfast in my PJ's and I didn't have to get all ready and go down to a dining room.


This was the bathroom in our room. Before we had a jacuzzi tub put in our house I always tried to reserve a room with a nice tub.



Here we are walking on the rocky cliffs somewhere on the island. It was chilly, but it was beautiful!




I took this picture of Mt. Baker on our way home...it was so clear out!


This is the Run of the River in Leavenworth. Michael and I went there to celebrate Valentine's Day in 2006. I don't think the outside is all that attractive, but the inside of the Inn was just grand. Michael and I stayed in one of the biggest rooms at the Inn, but it was the least expensive. I think they priced it that way because our room was actually connected to the dining room. I didn't mind that though because I didn't have to put my shoes on and go outside in order to go to breakfast. I also loved waking up to the smells coming from the kitchen.
The Run of the River has the most wonderful beds. In fact so many people have commented about their beds that they contacted Serta to see if they could offer their guests a discounted rate on mattresses if they want to purchase them through the Inn. Michael and I desperately needed a new mattress and after sleeping on this high quality mattress we were sold. We order one through the Inn and saved a ton of money.

Some of the amenities our room had were a gas fireplace, jacuzzi tub, wrap around deck and heated slate floors in the bathroom. I would go back in a second!

Innkeeper's response!

So I checked the review website this morning and noticed that the innkeeper responded to my review. I think it's funny that Dwight was the one to respond when for the most part he wasn't even around when his wife was being totally inhospitable. I also think it's funny that he says it was busy around check-in time. I could understand that argument had there actually been other guests staying at the Lodge. Michael and I were the only people there for both of the nights we stayed. I also think it's completely ridiculous that he assumes we've never stayed at a B & B before because we are young. As if B & B's are only for old people!! Michael and I have actually stayed at two other B & B's and would recommend them highly - Tucker House in Friday Harbor or Run of the River in Leavenworth. I also think he was totally trying to cover his behind by saying he would have given us our money back or another free night. I know for certain his wife would probably have done neither, I mean after all they have staff to pay!

Here's the link to the review site if you want to read his response.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g58737-d581826-r14917445-Lost_Mountain_Lodge-Sequim_Washington.html

Review

So I found a website that had reviews on the B & B and there were a few other people that had the same type of experience we did. I wish I had check this site out first! I decided to share our experience and left a review of my own. If you want to check it out here's the link...

http://click.tripadvisor.com/ctt?kn=9&m=1029029&r=NjkzMjcxMzk2OAS2&b=0&j=MTA0NTI5OTczS0&mt=2&rj=MTA0NTA5NjQ1S0

Picking up Owen

On Tuesday after leaving the B & B we caught the ferry over to Seattle from Bainbridge Island. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in Seattle and then went and saw Vantage Point at Pacific Place. It was a great movie! After that we headed south to Orting to pick up our baby boy. We were so excited to see him. We snuck into the house and could hear him talking right away. We walked into the family room and this is the reception we got...

Yay Mommy and Daddy are here!!!

The Dungeness Spit

After getting the tire fixed we stopped at a little market and got some cash and then drove back to the recreation area. We walked down to the spit and had so much fun watching the waves. There were some really big swells. They sounded like firecrackers at times. I want to go back in the summer time and actually go out to the end of the spit. It's 5 miles to the lighthouse and I guess another 1/2 a mile of sand after the lighthouse has been deposited naturally over the years. As you can see from the pictures it's mostly rocks and drift wood so it's not the easiest thing to walk on so we would definitely need a whole day.

Another Hiccup on the trip...

After leaving the Game Farm we went to the 3 Crabs Restaurant for lunch and then headed into town to get cash so we could go down to the Dungeness Spit. On the way there I heard this funny noise so we pulled over and found out I had a nail in my brand new tire. I called information, but there isn't a Discount Tire in Sequim so we went to Les Schwab instead. If you know me you know that this was very painful for me to have to use the services of Les Schwab, but when you're in a jam what can you do. They let us know it would take an hour and a half to two hours because they had people in front of us. Thankfully the Les Schwab was on the main street in Sequim so we decided to walk down to all the little shops. Did I mention it was pouring down rain!!! We did have an umbrella so that was good. We ducked into a coffee shop and warmed up and then went out and looked at all the shops. I ended up buying some pretty smelling soaps and by the time we walked back to Les Schwab it wasn't raining anymore and the van was being pulled out right when we got there and they fixed it for free!

Olympic Game Farm

When we left the Dungeness Recreation Park we saw signs for the Olympic Game Farm which is something I've wanted to go to for a long time. We've had a few friends go and say it was a good time. I even packed our own wheat bread to feed the animals so this is something I really wanted to do. It was so much fun! You just drive through the farm stopping occasionally to feed the animals. The dangerous ones of course are behind fences or cages, but it's really neat to see them up close. There are certain areas where your not suppose to stop because the animals can damage your car. We didn't have anything like that happen, but Michael did get breathed on by a zebra and licked by an elk. It was really funny!

My mom and dad have a peacock theme in their front room so Michael took this picture for them!
The llamas would actually eat right out of our hands.

The zebras would eat a whole piece of wheat bread in one bite!

The bears were so cute. Most of them were sleepy, but this one was just sitting there right next to the road. We tossed a couple pieces of bread at him and he picked them up and ate them and then he waved bye to us. There was another car behind us he knew more food was coming! Too cute!

Dungeness Recreation Park

On Monday morning we got up and had a wonderful breakfast at the B & B. We drove into Port Angeles to go up to Hurricane Ridge only to find out that the road was closed and wouldn't be open until Thursday. Oh well! So we started driving back to Sequim and found a movie theater right off of Hwy 101, but it wasn't playing Vantage Point so we continued on. We decided to turn down the Dungeness Scenic Route and ended up in the Dungeness Recreation Park. We pulled over and took a few pictures of the gorgeous coast. We walked to walk out on the Dungeness Spit, but when we got down there we realized that we needed to pay and we didn't have any cash so we decided we would come back later on after lunch.

Getaway

On Sunday afternoon Michael and I left Owen with Ga-Ga and Pa in Orting and set off on a two night trip to Sequim. This trip has been planned since January and we were both looking forward to a little time with just the two of us before the three of us becomes the four of us. OH MY!!!

We took our time driving to Sequim since check-in wasn't until 4pm. We drove through Bremerton by all the big Navy ships and then stopped in Poulsbo to go in the antique stores. We arrived at the B & B just shortly after 4pm. We were greeted by the innkeeper and she showed us around the house. The house was beautiful! Lots of windows and big cathedral ceilings. She gave us the tour of the main rooms and the specifics in regards to the kitchen. Then it was time to do the actual check in process. This is when things went downhill!!! The reason this trip has been planned since January is because it was a promotion that Norelco was having with it's new razors around Christmas. My mom bought Michael a new razor so we got a free night at a B & B when we paid for one night. I followed all the instructions perfectly, I looked up online and found a B & B that was participating in this particular program and called it up. When I talked with her I said exactly what the certificate told me to say which was I had a certificate for a free night from I LOVE INNS. She was happy to hear that and so we scheduled the trip. Now sitting in the office she starts telling me that I should have told her that it was a Norelco certificate because she doesn't accept those because she doesn't get paid with that type of certificate. She goes on and on about how she has staff to pay and the electric bill doesn't give her a night free and neither does the propane company....blah blah blah. She completely made me feel like it was my fault that SHE was in this situation even though I did nothing wrong. Anyways she did end up saying that she would honor it because we were already there, but not after again mentioning that she had staff she had to pay.

After that was over she took us into our room which was exquisite. It's the biggest room in the house with a king size bed and a see through fireplace that can be seen from bed and the soaking tub. There was also a steam shower that was at big as a walk in closet. We also had our own private deck. Of course this innkeeper was so ridiculous because she thought she had to explain everything to us like we were two years old. She actually thought it was necessary to explain how to use a Duraflame log and how to work a childproof lighter. And if that wasn't enough she had about 5 or 6 picture frames around the room with little notes in them from Toilet Etiquette to how to not use the nice linens when we used the spa outside because they could get stained from the chlorine. There were even labels on every book, magazine and movie at the lodge saying the name so you wouldn't accidentally take one home thinking it was yours. Needless to say she was just an absolute CONTROL FREAK and not a people person in the least. I would never stay at Lost Mountain Lodge again not because it wasn't lovely and peaceful and relaxing, but because she was just an awful person all around.

Okay now that I'm done venting - Our trip overall had it's ups and downs, but it was really great spending time alone with Michael. Of course we missed Owen to pieces, but it was good to get away.