Weddingbee Blog

As I have already covered, I am a knitter. With my Stampede ribbon, sometimes I wonder if I now qualify as a Knitter, but that’s just semantics.

Mr Cinnamon Bun is a Gamer. While I play some silly, fun games (Mario Kart, Katamari, Angry Birds) every now and then, he games almost daily.

In 2009 we each went on summer vacation. Separately! We’d never traveled together (our San Francisco engagement trip in 2010 was the first time) so why did we choose to take separate vacations in 2009? Answer: our hobbies.

Early in 2009 I heard rumours through the knitting grapevine that a major event was being planned in Portland, Oregon, and any self-respecting knitter would do all they could to make it. The event was Sock Summit, and I had a 100% A-mazing time there. I was in Portland for 4 days, I took amazing classes from the glitterati of the knitting world, spent waaaay too much on yarn, knit on the MAX, knit at Burgerville… It was sock-knitting Woodstock. Cinnamon Buns didn’t come with me because he cares about knitting about as much as I care about gaming (in that it is good, because it makes my partner happy!).

2009 also marks the first year that Cinnamon Buns made it to PAX – a huge gaming festival (not just computers, tabletop too!) in Seattle. He drove down with a few guy friends and had a great time talking games non-stop for 3 days. I didn’t go because, well, I will sit through a sushi dinner with him and Best Man L talking games and computers non-stop, but 3 solid days seemed a little much. Plus, I had to work that weekend.

I found out that Sock Summit was going to be repeated in 2011, and as soon as physically possible I phoned up and booked into the same slightly dive-y inn near the convention centre that I stayed at in 2009. All I cared about was being less than two blocks from the convention centre, and having somewhere to store the mountain of yarn I was going to buy (don’t ask me about the mountain of yarn from the last Sock Summit and haven’t knit yet). Then we started talking honeymoons and I realised that our potential honeymoon plans might prevent me from going back to Portland, either through the budget, or timing. Cinnamon Buns wasn’t sure if he’d make it PAX this year because of the same reasons.

As all our honeymoon ideas fell through one by one, I joked that he could take me to Sock Summit for our honeymoon. He said he’d been thinking about. Say what?! That’s when we decided that maybe the best honeymoon for us would be two mini-moons this summer, so neither of us has to miss the events we’d so been looking forward to!

Now that Portland was my honeymoon, I started researching hotels. The hotel I had booked already was fine for sharing with a roommate and filling with yarn, but if Cinnamon Buns and I were making it our honeymoon, I wanted something nicer. I also wanted to see more of Portland than just the two blocks between the convention centre and Burgerville. We came up with a short-list of three hotels to stay at in the downtown area:

Image via the Ace Hotel‘s website

Image via the Vintage Plaza‘s website

Image via The Nines‘ website

The picture from the Vintage Plaza is of one of their ‘Starlight Rooms’—45-degree conservatory windows throughout the whole suite (yes, they all have blinds too). I read somewhere that the Vintage Plaza is in an old department-store building, and that’s why they have those windows. I saw those rooms early on in the search and pined over them, but they were too expensive. Last week we sat down with both our schedules and figured out exactly which dates we will spend in each city, and then agreed that that night we’d book both hotels. I checked the Vintage Plaza again and there must have been an aligning of the planets (and discounts) because the Starlight room was now in our budget! After debating briefly between that and a room at The Nines, we went with the Starlight room at the Vintage Plaza just for the wow-factor of the room. I loved the look of the Ace, but feel that I’m probably not hip enough to stay there.

I’m happy to be staying at another Kimpton hotel—we stayed at the Serrano in San Francisco and the service was wonderful, and the decor amazing. I have high hopes for the Vintage Plaza!

In Seattle we will be staying at the Red Lion on 5th Avenue:

Image via the Red Lion‘s website

Near the convention centre, and Pike Place Market!

We’re both really excited to be returning to “our” events, and also excited to share them with each other. I’ve agreed to wander the trade floor at PAX with him, and he’s going to be my yarn sherpa in the Marketplace at Sock Summit. We are also going to explore both cities more than we ever did on the last trips, we’re staying extra days before on one trip and after on another, as well as not committing to going to everything on offer at our respective conventions.

Yes, we will visit Powell’s in Portland. Portland made such a great impression on me two years ago that I can’t wait to share what little I know about the city with Cinnamon Buns, and discover new things with him. I think he feels the same way about Seattle! I haven’t been to Seattle since high school, and that was (the reunion group on Facebook keeps reminding me) *ahem* 10 years ago.

Did your hobbies play a part in choosing a honeymoon? Have you ever been to a similar convention? (If you have a passion, I totally recommend it!)