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Travelodge Salmon Arm – British Columbia

We decided on a limb that we were going to take a road trip to Vancouver for the weekend, where we would stop over half way so we would have more time in Vancouver. Our halfway point this trip was around Salmon Arm where we booked into Travelodge which is conveniently located right off the highway.

We stayed in their 2 Queen Bed Room that is a motel like hotel that has tons of amenities! There’s free breakfast in the check-in area and a giant pool as well. The rooms are equipped with coffee maker, mini fridge and a desk!

The beds are decent and the rooms are quite clean – although my sheets smelled like smoke in a non-smoking room. I’m sure it’s just in the air though.

The bathroom is divided out such that the toilet and tub are in the bathroom and the sink with lots of counter space is located just outside of the bathroom area. This does make it convenient for more than one person to get ready in the morning!

The overall room was decent in size and the stay was good. Location and rates were excellent – so there’s really not much to complain about!

You can view the room walk-through below on the link!

Tradelodge Salmon Arm

2401 Trans Canada Highway
Salmon Arm, BC
(250) 832-9721

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Chatime – Calgary, Alberta

Recently, bubble tea places has been popping up around Calgary alot, and when we heard of Chatime in Chinatown, we knew we wanted to try this place out! Located right on Centre Street, a small store front exists with just a few tables – and they have only bubble tea.

We’ve been here twice now and both times, the drinks were pretty good. It does take a LONG time for your drink to come, and double check your order as we’ve been getting mix ups, or them forgetting items that you’ve paid for. The nice thing about here, you can really customize your drink with the amount of sweetness, ice and there are tons of toppings you can put in your drink.

I ordered their Chocolate Hazelnut Milk Tea and they didn’t goof it up -but it didn’t taste the same as my first time here. So, I think they may need a big more consistency – or there’s something going on as the wait is quite long for a bubble tea. The milk tea is quite nice though and you do get the chocolate/hazelnut taste!

We also ordered the Jasmine Milk Tea and usually with the toppings is where they seem to mess us – so if you ordered any toppings, just be sure to double check it. They do give you a bit of hassle, but ultimately – you paid for it! The Jasmine Milk tea is really good as well though!

Overall, their drinks are quite good. It can be worth the wait if they get it right! It’s a neat little place to go to! Make sure you do have some time as the first time we were there, we waiting over 40 minutes for the drinks. The second time was about 20 minutes. So, I would like to think they’re getting better!

Chatime

#102 328 Centre Street SE
Calgary, AB
(587) 352-0710

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Catch & The Oyster Bar – Calgary, Alberta

We met up with some friend one evening at the Catch & The Oyster Bar right on Stephens Avenue, downtown Calgary inside the Hyatt Regency Calgary Hotel. It’s a lovely place and the location is actually larger inside than it looks!

Once we sat down and ordered, they gave us quite a bit of bread and butter. To be honest, we were saving our bellies for the main attraction for this visit.

We started with a bowl of soup, where we ordered their Seafood & Bacon Chowder and this chowder was jammed pack with seafood and flavours. It was really fresh and delicious with the perfect texture and creaminess without being greasy.

Now, for the main attraction, we got their Large Chilled Seafood Platter and it’s as large and impressive as you can imagine it in your mind, and exceed that image’s expectation! This platter had 1 lobster, 4 snow crab clusters, 12 oysters, 16 mussels, 16 clams and 16 large shrimps! The Oysters they gave us was 8 BC and 8 PEI oysters so we can taste the difference. Everything on this plate was so good, and we all over ate – yet couldn’t stop eating!

Overall, there’s not a bad thing we can think of to say about here! The place was clean, cozy, comfortable, yet casual. The food was fantastic, the service was awesome!

Catch Restaurant & Oyster Bar on Urbanspoon

Catch Restaurant & Oyster Bar

100 8 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 206-0000

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Caesar’s Steak House Downtown – Calgary, Alberta

We have actually been here before, and it’s a place where we’d go back to – so we did! We made a reservation here for a special occasion at the Caesars Steakhouse downtown Calgary location. We lucked out with parking on the side street, but apparently there’s complimentary valet parking after 5pm.

We sat down and ordered some drink. We ordered the same thing, the Caesars – one regular, and one virgin. It was off to a rough start as our waiter had messed up placing whose drink goes with whom. So, I ended up with the alcoholic one in front of me – but I was quick to tell it wasn’t a virgin drink. The drink did taste really good though! Then, came our toast, which was a few pieces of buttery toast – grilled! Once slice had cheese and the other was plain. It was really buttery and quite tasty!

For an appetizer, we had their Escargot which came out in their shells, instead of the typical escargot plates which we really enjoyed from here! The meat was tender and the flavours were tasty and buttery – and it was even sauteed in butter with walnut & butter filling!

Then came a bowl of soup, we had their French Onion Soup which was standard. Nothing special, but definitely nothing to complain about. It was just a little bowl, so it wasn’t substantial as we were excited for our steaks at this point!

We then got a salad, their House Salad with their house dressing. This was quite a disappointment as the salad was wilted and drenched with dressing… it unfortunately didn’t look or taste too good – but it’s a salad, not the main highlight of our trip here!

Finally, the highlight of the show – I ordered the small New York Strip with a side of twice baked potatoes! It was fantastic! The meat was cooked perfectly, it was tender and juicy and tons of flavour!

My husband had their T-Bone Steak which he enjoyed thoroughly and devoured! Well, to be honest, I had quite a bit of his steak as well. The fries were good, but nothing too special or anything!

Our overall experience was good! We enjoyed what we came here for, with a few hiccups. We were told while we were ordering that there was no Steak Dianne, and the table right next to me, pretty much in the seat next to me got one… so, I was a little disappointed with that. Steaks are worth the trip to Caesars downtown location for sure though!

Caesar's Steak House on Urbanspoon

Caesar’s Steak House

512 – 4 Ave SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 264-1222

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Sushi Bar Miki – Calgary, Alberta

After awhile without sushi, we figured we’d go try a new experience and this time we found ourselves at Sushi Bar Miki which wasn’t hard to find but it was out of our way for sure! They’re located off 16th Ave in the NW in a strip plaza, kind of near a grocery store!

We ordered a few things to try and something we don’t normally get – but decided to have from here was their Ika Geso Karaage which was their deep fried squid legs. It’s one of my favourite things to order at dim sum, but I’m glad we got them here! Tender and delicious, soft yet chewy – I loved it!

We then got an order of their Large Sushi which had 10 pieces of assorted sushi and a tuna roll! The sushi was quite delicious and you do see a sushi chef in the front making the orders! It was a large plate of sushi and it came in around $25. The quality was there so that’s always a treat!

Then, we got our order of udon. We felt like something soup so we got their Sansai Udon which we ordered as we had no idea what it was (which we could have looked it up…) but it was vegetarian option! It wasn’t bad though and it’s got the vegetables you’d find in a Chinese market – not your usual vegetarian cuisine! The udon and broth was quite tasty so we’re glad we just picked something and went with it!

As though we didn’t eat enough, somehow we saved room for dessert (or we just figured it’d be fun to over stuff ourselves!) and we got their Mochi Ice Cream which is something I’ve loved for years! This platter had 3 flavours, the sesame, green tea and vanilla. All 3 flavours were so tasty we loved it!

Overall, fantastic dining experience and we’d have no problem coming back and just picking anything off their menu! Great staff and food! Not much more that we need!

Sushi Bar Miki

5032 16 Ave NW
Calgary, AB
(403) 286-2860