Xmas in Bend

This year we finally shifted our Xmas morning celebrations to the Solstice. It was perfect and amazing and you can read more about it at The Indecisive Moose.

The greatest things about this shift was that it left Addicus' entire 4 day weekend open and free. We took advantage and planned a mini vacation to Bend, a neighboring town. With our snow gear packed in tight... we headed out.

We picked Bend because I was hoping for snow fall on Xmas morning. We didn’t get it… but playing in the snow at the base of Mt. Bachelor and then again at some of the sno-parks through the pass, totally made up for it.

We picked a hotel that we had been to before. The fact that we choose to return to it says a lot, as our expectations are high and our family (namely the kids), can be unruly at times.

We stayed at Holiday Inn Express & Suites. They have a pool and a hot breakfast included in your room fee. This is something we noticed about many hotels in our surrounding areas. They either have a pool or breakfast… not usually both. So this automatically put them on our favorite list. But we’ve also found that the staff are always friendly and helpful and never seem to be annoyed that we need them. Which, unfortunately, is something we’ve come across in various ‘service’ industry establishments.

With 3 kids who have the potential to make our hotel room look like the homebase of a rock bands after party, we are always looking for ways to stay entertained without jumping on beds or turning on the tv (which is actually something else my kids love, because we don't have cable, so in hotels they get to see a whole new world of shows). But with an indoor pool in the building? No one even asked to turn it on. I did feel kind of silly packing for our adventure. I had snowsuits, winter hats, gloves, pocket warmers, sledding tubes and swimsuits and floaties.

But, whatever. It was so fun.

Another thing we love is the option for 2 beds. #placeholder has rooms with 1 or 2 beds. This means we don't have to rely on the hid-a-bed in the couch. It also means we don’t have to pull out the couch and put it back in the morning so we can walk around. If we want to be lazy in the morning we can and still make it to the restroom without climbing over a creaking bed that threatens to fold my son up at any moment.

We also LOVE a hotel with breakfast. Three kids means we pack lots of snacks just for a single meal or we spend a sufficient amount of money on every meal. So places that help us cut this cost down a bit? Head to the top of our list, quickly. Plus, our kids mostly eat cereal, eggs, and toasted bread products (sliced bread, bagels, english muffins, etc.). So a hotel breakfast is right up their alley and a great way to start our day. We head down mostly still in pajamas, cause we’re not even concerned with dressing to the nines for breakfast. Or even to the two’s, if I’m being completely honest ;) We eat a bit, get some good, hearty food in our bellies and head out for our adventure (after getting dressed… most days). This allows us to get started on our days adventure without sitting at breakfast for an hour and a half before we even get to DO anything. Now, don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of places where eating the meal (be it breakfast or otherwise) IS the thing to do… but on this particular adventure? Snow Play was the days game and getting to it fast was everyones goal.

Holiday Inn Express & Suites helped us do that by providing everything we needed. A pool to tire out the littles and ensure that sleep came fast and hard (thus ensure a well rested crew for snow play day). Breakfast to fuel the first part of our day and set us out with plenty of time to play.

We will always seek out Holiday Inn Express & Suites when we head to Bend, which is actually more frequent than you'd think as Bend itself is GREAT fun. Maybe that's a post for another time. ;)

For now? If you're heading to Bend, we highly recommend Holiday Inn Express & Suites. We also recomend driving the round-a-bouts for a fun surprise.

Taps, taps. Lights out.

!jen