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Fairmont Hotel Vancouver – British Columbia

During our road trip to Vancouver, we decided to stay at the Castle in the City, Fairmont Hotel Vancouver and what a glorious stay it was! Although the hotel was undergoing some major renovations, it was still quite nice. The lobby wasn’t done yet, and one of the main reasons for our trip was the visit their Fairmont Store – which they are renovating out.

We stayed in their King Bed Deluxe Room and it was quite nice. It’s great as it still has the old feel to it, yet it’s not run down! The room was simple and that’s really all we need!

The neat thing about this bathroom was the flush handle – it’s like the bar that you use to flush! It’s not typically what you see inside a hotel, but it was fine! It was a weird side note I had in my mind when I saw it.

The stay was still really nice, with a view of Vancouver Art Gallery. I think the only disappointment was the Fairmont Store not being here anymore and was told the closest one was in Victoria – at the Fairmont Empress. We did find finding where to go for parking the car tricky as it was our first time in this area. We ended up just parking the car on the street and running inside to ask Concierge where to go. It was quite an ordeal as there was some protest outside the hotel as well. But, we managed and all was well!

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

900 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
604 684 3131

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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