{"id":2515,"date":"2010-02-03T20:25:28","date_gmt":"2010-02-04T03:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/?p=2515"},"modified":"2011-10-31T10:28:17","modified_gmt":"2011-10-31T17:28:17","slug":"review-giveaway-westport-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/03\/review-giveaway-westport-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Review & Giveaway: Westport Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disclaimer: Our stay at Vacations by the Sea and our dinner at the Half Moon Bay Bar & Grill were comped.
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I did not think that I was stressed out, but nothing will help a person unwind quite so fast as a view of the ocean. While I am very much a land creature — I get seasick — I love the ocean with my whole heart. I love the way it smells, I love watching the surf, I love it when a beach is covered in thick white fog and when the sand is so hot it bakes you completely when you stretch out on it. I’m crazy for the coast and think the Pacific the grandest of sights. As much as I love living on Puget Sound, I still dream that one day I will live where I can walk to the Pacific and stand on the edge of that great vast water that reaches out all the way across the globe.<\/p>\n

\"Westport<\/a><\/p>\n

With that kind of psyche, you can imagine that I was eager to accept an invitation to check out Vacations by the Sea<\/a> in Westport on Washington’s south coast. It’s a condo property at the end a road that dead ends at the beach. There’s a series of three story buildings (not all of the units have beach views, though ours<\/a> did), and a club house with a fitness center and a pool. They’ve got one and two bedroom units — we stayed in a top floor one bedroom with a huge picture window. There was a full kitchen, stocked with everything you’d need (blender included!), a nice little balcony, cable TV, and wifi. I’m sure we had one of the pricier units — it looks like the ocean view condos start at 169\/night.<\/p>\n

I’ve become pretty picky over the last year, so many hotel stays have made me extra critical and also, very focused on what matters. I like a clean, quiet place to stay with a comfortable bed. Everything else is gravy. Vacations by the Sea had the details covered, plus, really, with that view and the ability to make endless cups of tea, I was wildly content. Our hostess checked in via email to ask if I had any critical remarks and I was hard pressed. There were two things I could think of — our downstairs neighbors were a little noisy, though they shut down early enough to not be a nuisance and the ice machine in the fridge was making kind of a weird noise. Had I been sleeping in the living room, that would have been a problem, but I was absolutely sedated by watching the ocean from the couch that I couldn’t find much more to complain about.<\/p>\n

On Saturday night we went to the Half Moon Bay Bar and Grill<\/a> for a bit of feasting. Because of the notes in the guest book in our unit, I was expecting something of a romantic dining spot — I wouldn’t go that far, it’s more of a family restaurant. There’s some beach town\/Hawaii stuff in the decor, it’s a bit brown for my likings, but it was comfortable and we’d gone to eat. That we did — we started with the Sesame Ahi (that was some yummy stuff, get this!), then J had steak (I don’t cook meat at home so this was a good choice) and I had the crab cakes. Everything was great, the crab cakes were crispy on the outside, the veggies were fresh and not overdone, the starter salads were generous (as were the dinners), and the waitstaff was friendly and helpful. We shared a giant serving of tiramisu for dessert. Though our dinner was comped, we did see the tab, dinner for two with drinks was 71.00. It was all very nice — and about a ten minute drive from our condo. In better weather, it would make a nice walk.<\/p>\n

Not only did we get to have this lovely weekend through the hospitality of the Vacations by the Sea crew, but hey, you can have this too! They’ve agreed to a giveaway — but let’s have our lovely hostess tell you what you can win:<\/p>\n

Let’s start with the disclaimers. Restrictions apply, dates subject to availability, the usual stuff. Some of the attractions may be operating on limited pre-summer hours or be closed for the season.You’ll need to use your stay before June 30 and holidays are excluded — that would be Memorial Day and Presidents Day weekends.<\/p>\n

We’d like to give away one of the following packages<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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