Tiny bedroom
Tuesday night, C and I took off on a "staycation" for our 4th wedding anniversary. I had originally wanted to run up to Anchorage for 4 days, but C couldn't get the day off, and after my boss's injury, it's just as well. Since our anniversary fell on our weekend, we decided to keep it simple and stay close to home.
Looking to the door from the far wall
I have always wanted to stay at Land's End at the end of the Spit, and so we planned on it :) They run a Getaway Special every winter and that is what we booked: a room, dinner, continental breakfast, glasses of wine with dinner, as well as a couple other services that we didn't utilize.
The balcony!
I initially booked the cheapest room I could get - one overlooking the parking lot! WOO! Justification was that a view was around $40 more, we see the view every day, and it would likely be raining/snowing/foggy and we wouldn't be able to see anything anyway. I stuck to my decision, even though I had little wishes of dealing with it and paying more.
Back of the hotel, on the beach
We left Tuesday afternoon for our adventure on a gorgeous, sunny afternoon, effectively wiping out my visions of cloudy skies. We arrived, and the front desk girl ended up upgrading our room for free, for a reason that I didn't catch!!!!!
Chilly beach walk!
We headed up the narrow stairs and to our room with a view!
I....was less than impressed with the room, to be honest. It was tiny, but all the space was used well, so that was fine. But the decor and paint and such just seemed so out of date, like it had not been updated since the 90s. I really didn't care, but I was surprised at how such an "elegant" resort had such unelegant quarters.
Looking at photos online of the better rooms makes me think they are nice looking, so who knows. The bathroom was very tiny and the lighting was terrible in there.
The wing with our room on it
But we had a balcony! And a view! We headed downstairs and outside for a beach walk in the sunshine. It was a bit chilly and windy, but the sunshine was welcome and good company made it nice.
We came back inside after a bit and went downstairs for dinner in the restaurant. We have both eaten there countless times before, but usually for Local's Night (for cheaper fare).
With dinner included in our room rate, I was happy to not inwardly wince at the prices. C decided on a "petite tender steak" - "bacon wrapped steak with a port demi glaze". I chose chicken gnocchi - "grilled chicken with potato pasta, spinach and mushrooms in a blue cheese cream sauce with spiced pecans".
C's steak, potatoes and veggies
We were less enthused about the wine included...we both hate the taste of alcohol. We both were curious to try something new though, so we asked the waiter for some recommendations. I chose an Alaskan Chardonnay from the local Bear Creek Winery and C got a glass of Marietta Old Vine.
My chicken gnocchi
The food was excellent. C's steak was incredibly tender (like a steak is meant to be!) and the mashed potatoes it came with were just divine. They were both of our favorite parts of the meal! My gnocchi was wonderful as well. The wine....was ok. We didn't drink nearly enough of it (so I'm glad we weren't paying for it outright!) I'm sure it was wonderful to others, but I just can't stand that alcoholic flavor :( It was definitely more bearable with food though!
C at the top of the stairs, overlooking the Bay
We ended dinner stuffed to the max and went back up to our room. We watched our yearly dose of TV (we don't have TV at home) and decided it was bed time after a while. I spent a few minutes taking some night photos from the balcony. I was still in the midst of my awful cold and I ended up coughing so much that I kept both of us up for a long while :( We finally fell asleep, but it wasn't too restful (I hate that about being away from home!)
Us on the balcony outside the room
The next morning, we got up at 8 for the continental breakfast downstairs. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was located in the restaurant, and was a decent spread. When we arrived, there was a group of young men there, laughing a bit loudly, but they were the only others in the entire restaurant, and they quickly departed.
The empty restaurant for breakfast
Muffins, bagels, waffles, instant oatmeal, biscuits and gravy, and scrambled eggs were the main foods available (maybe more?) and so we were satisfied. We ate leisurely, with a few more people wandering in as the morning went on, and then we went back upstairs to get ready to check out.
One side of the continental breakfast
All in all, we had a nice stay. I don't know that we will ever stay there again (on our money at least) but it was a nice experience and I'm glad I can recommend it to others. The food was probably the best part :P
Other side of the breakfast
I will say how happy I was with a view room....I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would...though I really should have known it would be important to me since I was constantly gazing outside for wildlife, and watching the sunset and such.
Land's End
It was great to get away and celebrate our relationship, and I'm glad we did it! I'll post another post hopefully tomorrow of more nature photos I took on our getaway, and not just photos of the hotel!
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