We brought our Seattle-based team out to compare the nearby world of Portland Oregon, for just a 3 hour drive. While Portland has many similarities to Seattle in weather and culture – it can be a different and interesting place to getaway.  We found some great places and a bit of the culture that is satired in the Portlandia television show.   Here is the story of our weekend.

We began our Saturday in Portland at the top-shelf coffee of Stumptown.  While Stumptown has several Seattle locations that we enjoy, the huge Portland cafe was really amazing for its quality and atmosphere.  If you want some of the world’s truly highest quality coffee — Stumptown is the place to go.

We stayed at the Riverplace Hotel, which is a Kimpton hotel, right on the Wilamette River.  The hotel has some special service with Kimpton style and a very caring staff.  We got chocolate caramels at our bedside, free DVD rentals, super comfy beds, and a free goldfish for our room.  The hotel also provides much needed umbrellas.  This hotel is about a mile from the central downtown district, but next to a relaxing park with riverfront views.  We’d rate Riverplace highly based on Kimpton’s caring staff and attentive service.  One tip – skip the $30+ valet parking for the $12 per day (or less on weekends) lot next door, an easy one block walk.  The hotel is part of a condominium complex with restaurants including McCormick and Schmick’s all bordering the river.  The hotel stay includes an upscale health club with full pool and basketball that we really enjoyed.

One of our favorite things about Portland is the many microbreweries that dot the city.  We had a great time enjoying two of the larger ones, Deschutes Brewery in downtown and Hopworks Urban Brewery (“the HUB”) across the bridge.  The beers, service and food at Deschutes were awesome and a location very convenient to downtown hotels.  The bar is very family friendly but with an active bar area and sports programming.  Deschutes Brewery was four stars with our team.

It’s no coincidence that Portland’s most famous business – Powell’s World of Books is within walking distance of Deschutes Brewery.  Combining the two is a great way to spend a rainy day.  Powell’s is a full city block of books that actually takes a map to get around in the store.  During an age when online books and e-books have taken over, it’s great to see, feel, and touch real books in an atmosphere where people love literature and reading.  Despite our best efforts, we left Powell’s with a good sack of new books to enjoy for our trip.

Hopworks Urban Brewery is an interesting place across the Wilamette River.  The brewery is extremely popular with a huge bar ringed by old bicycle frames.  The food is organic and locally grown and the beer is organic too.  This place was a bit too popular and crowded for our taste and the service was below average.

The HUB felt like a bit more hype than was deserved and while it may be a fun place for locals – we enjoyed Deschutes far more for its service and atmosphere.

On Sunday, we checked out the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry which is a great place for kids and families.  The museum can be very popular on weekends.  Our kids really enjoyed the interactive exhibits.  There is a submarine tour which is really special for $5 extra.  You will tour a real submarine and feel what it is like to live underwater.  The museum was cool, but I might try for weekdays when it is less busy.

We closed out our visit with a try of a Scandanavian style restaurant that is lauded by Yelp readers, Broder.  Today’s lesson:  too many positive Yelp reviews can make for a very busy place.  This tiny restaurant had some great food, but hassle was way out of whack with the food quality / enjoyment of the experience.  The servers at Broder made a valiant effort, but its a better option for people with unlimited time on their hands who like to eat in cramped places.  The place is really small, with the open kitchen taking up about half of the restaurant.  The food was unusual and tasty – and we enjoyed it, but be prepared to wait — a lot.  They also can run out of many items as you go later in the day.. when it is less busy…   Broder features a bar next door that they use to house the waiting patrons, you can order coffee and drinks there while you wait.

Overall, Portland is a great getaway trip from Seattle.  Time your weekend visit right and you can miss the traffic on the busy SEA-PDX corridor.  The walkable downtown is filled with great breweries and organic food, and in some ways… does Seattle one better in walkability and convenience.  Check out Portland!

An American, an Argentinean, an Australian, an Austrian, a Brit, a Canadian, a Columbian, a Costa Rican, a Cuban, a Congolese, a Dane, a Gambian, a German, a Ghanaian, a Honduran, a Jamaican, a Mexican, a Swede, a Vincentian, a Trinidadian, and an Uruguayan (shown above with fancy tea) walk into a bar.

Bartender says, “What’ll it be?” They reply, “Shots all around!”  I present to you your 2012 Seattle Sounders.

 “Our mentality right now is to try to win everything we are playing.  We don’t want to lose anything.  We want to be sure that everyone wants the same thing.  You have to have that thought if you want to represent the Seattle Sounders.”

Courtesy Seattle FC Sounders

When asked what his personal goals were for this season, that’s how Mauro Rosales responded.

Our 100% better midfielder won the MLS Newcomer of the Year award in 2011, and received serious MVP consideration before his MCL tear last September (before the injury he had tallied 4 goals and 8 assists in 9 games…so he was clearly pretty sick before the injury). He also helped the Sounders lead the league in scoring with 13 assists and 5 goals.

Head Coach Sigi Schmid talked about Rosales’ communication skills that went beyond the pitch. “He’s a very good guy in the locker room.  He’s also very good in terms of his communication with the players and helping them understand what he’s looking for in the game and he doesn’t come across as a know-it-all.  It’s more an old pro helping younger players.  His personality and his ability to lead and help in that manner is very good.”

And then there’s there the back-to-back team MVP, Osvaldo Alonso. In 2012 he garnered league MVP consideration when he led the league by winning possession with 133 tackles, 38 more than the next highest in the league.  “What distinguishes him in this league is his ability to recover the ball,” said Sigi. “A lot of guys can pick up mistakes that the opponent makes.  He forces errors out of the opponents and he’s almost cagey about it.  You think he’s not marking, then the ball gets played and he’s right there.”

So, okay, it’s pretty clear now that if the Sounders were Star Wars characters Rosales would be Obi Wan, Montero would be Luke Skywalker, Alonso would be Han Solo, Alvaro Fernandez would be C-3PO, and Sigi Schmid would be George Lucas. And every storm trooper would be David Beckham. (Jesus. The thought.)

But I digress.  We should really turn our attention to some of the new members of our Galactic Ball Kicking Squad.  Let’s start with the quick and shifty: Cordell Cato is a 17-year-old midfielder from Trinidad who came in 2^nd on the team in speed trials (Mike Fucito came in 4^th).

Side note: I came in 9^th, as it happen, but they only placed up to 8 and I was holding a cheeseburger and they said I wasn’t on the team and barely a reporter. I didn’t wanna finish the cheeseburger after that ‘cause it was wet with my tears… (GO SOUNDERS!)

“We kept our eye on him in the off-season and he was definitely someone we wanted to bring in and join us through preseason,” Sigi said about Cato. “We felt he had a good shot at playing.”  Better shot than I did I guess.

Sigi is also excited about Danish midfielder Christian Sivebæk (5^th in the speed trials), who plays an unapologetically attacking style. Christian’s father John Sivebæk famously scored the first goal in Alex Ferguson’s tenure as manager at Manchester United.  And as a child Christian would often dance around his father chanting “Manchester United” in a mocking tone. And then he’d be grounded for 180 days. Just kidding. They loved each other.

Sigi on Christian: “He’s a big boy, huh?  He’s a big boy and he’s fast, so he presents a few different options for us. He hits the ball very well, he’s pretty aggressive going after people…I think he’s got great potential.”

Y’know who else was a big boy in 2011? Sammy Ochoa. Sammy provided a nice spark for the team late in the season last year, and for 2 months right after the season ended he worked like a dog on a weekly basis at the Starfire training center.

“Sammy is fitter than he was last year when he came to us,” said Sigi, “he’s dropped some weight, which was important for him.  I still think he’s a good player that can hold the ball up.  He’s a good target that way, he’s mobile, he’s pretty good in front of the goal.  I’m pleased he’s with us.  He’s done ok, but he’s still going to get better.”

Jason Banton will also get better.  He was picked up as a 19-year-old Supplemental Draft pick. Banton, an Arsenal youth prospect from North London, has a similar style of play and background to Steve Zakuani.  “I’ve seen a few videos of Steve and I play quite similar,” Banton said after his first training session with the Sounders FC. It won’t be easy for Banton to find playing time as a winger with Zakuani, the nearly-lionized Morales, Alvaro Fernandez, Lamar Neagle, and Siveæk in front of him on the depth chart (not to mention veterans Roger Levesque and David Estrada. Even though I just did).

One man who won’t have trouble finding playing time is Michael Gspurning. He’s been playing gspectacularly in training camp (sorry I had to get one out).  As the first to hop into the wake of a Seattle sports legend, the 6’5 Gspurning splashes into the Seattle limelight as a 30-year-old Austrian who’s been playing in Greece since ’07.  In Greece he earned records such as 8 straight road game shutouts in their Super League (apparently Greece has a “super league.” I guess they also refer to their gyros as “super gyros.” I’m kidding, I love Greece. It’s super.) In 2004 Gspurning was named Best Goalkeeper in Austria’s 2^nd highest division. And when Michael was 8 he kicked a ball right at the television which was broadcasting a 20-year-old Kasey Keller playing in the German league. He kicked the ball right at Kasey Keller’s face on the screen. His parents were shocked. They told him, “Gstop that right now!” (I’m sorry. None of that happened about the TV. I have no idea where Kasey Keller was when he was 20.)

The bottom line is that Sigi likes this guy. “First off, you don’t replace Kasey Keller. What you’re looking for is a new goalkeeper,” said Sigi. “We like Michael’s background and pedigree. We like his size. He’s got good feet so we can play through him and he’s very good on crosses, takes good angles and has good hands.” Good hands? His hands are gorgeous.

Coach Schmid is not the only person excited about the assemblage of chess pieces before him.  Majority owner Joe Roth believes we have the best midfield in the league. “We have the best midfield in the league,” he said, “and there will be some real competition for those spots. I think we’ve been more aggressive this year than the last three years. I was really happy with the moves we made.”  Roth went on hinting towards building a legacy, where exceptional players become rooted here and stay in Seattle throughout their careers:

“I’d like to be able to keep a core group of players. Growing up in New York, players played an entire generation for the Yankees or Dodgers or the football Giants. I think that’s a missing component in today’s sports.”

On that note you’re gonna need a lot more hollow calabash gourds filled with tea and armed with filtering straws for our Uruguayan Sensation Alvaro Fernandez (seen above with tea that was not originally in the photo…but he would have it in his hand if he had the chance).  Alvaro, who had 11 goals and 5 assists last season, is now vying to get on the Uruguayan National Team by improving his play in 2012. But back to that gourd: “A lot of people give me looks and others stop me and ask me what it does,” Fernandez laughed.  “It’s just tea.”

Yeah, right. It’s what all the soccer Jedis are drinking right now, I’m sure. With the Sounders shattering MLS attendance records year-by-year, and Professional Franchise of the Year and MLS Executive of the Year (Gary Wright) awards showering upon this young sports franchise, there is no better place to consider the headquarters of the Rebel Alliance of MLS than the home of the Seattle Sounders. And I promise you under the very stars that shine over me tonight, that I will not make one reference to Star Wars in my next article. It is out of my system. It is now somewhere in the Dagoba system. Go Sounders!

By:  Matt Caliri

Hotel Address: 9030 East Westview Road, Lone Tree, CO 80124
Phone: (303) 662-8500

Positives:
* The room is very large, with a flat screen 42 inch TV and pull-out couch.
* High end bath with granite sink and high quality shampoo / conditioner, plus bonus toothpaste.
* Mini-refrigerator and bar sink with automatic coffee maker.
* Free internet (slow, see negatives); free parking
* Super convenient to I-25 highway, and huge shopping malls with great restaurants. Excellent location.
* Clean and well managed.
* Very comfy high quality Hyatt bed.
* Indoor (small) pool
* Walking distance to Chick-Fil-A fast food and Red Lobster restaurant. Walking distance to huge mall.
* Very safe area.
* Generally reasonable prices – seems to do a lot of Priceline and Hotwire opaque offers at a discount.
* Very convenient location to Denver Tech Center and light rail station to downtown Denver.

Negatives:
* The breakfast is very basic. They upsell cooked breakfast items, but none are free.
* Breakfast includes: fruit; yogurt; bread to toast; coffee; juice; cereal + milk. Again, it’s very basic.
* The internet is painfully slow. For email, it’s tolerable. For anything else – it’s just plain bad.
* The internet worsens as the hotel fills up at night. You can forget about streaming anything at all.
* No microwave in rooms – they’ll set one out in the downstairs breakfast area only if you ask.
* No laundry machines: no washers, no dryers.

We liked this hotel a lot – it offered a lot for our money in a great location.

These photos will help you to know exactly what your room in the hotel will be like, before your reserve or make a choice. Click any thumbnail to see the full detailed photo for that portion of the room.
Hyatt Place Image Gallery Part 1 of 3
Hyatt Place Image Gallery Part 2 of 3
Hyatt Place Image Gallery Part 3 of 3

In the last week, a story appearing in the local media was based on untrue assertions about STITA Taxi’s current status. I am writing to assure you that STITA is very much in business, is committed to honor our account agreements, and continues to serve our loyal customers and passengers throughout the region.

Unfortunately, a November 12 article by the Seattle Times that was widely disseminated gave readers the very wrong impression that after operating successfully for 21 years, STITA is going out of business. The reporter–an intern–attempted to describe STITA’s current status without actually talking to a single STITA representative. Instead, he quoted the personal opinions of two people who are not part of STITA and know little about STITA’s current business or operations.

For the record, STITA is open for business. In fact, we are actively working to expand our services and accounts, not to shut down or cut back.

We value your business and your confidence in STITA as your transportation service provider.
And, we look forward to continuing to meet and exceed your transportation needs. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at 206-246-9999 if we can provide additional information or assistance.

Sincerely,

Harpreet S. Bassi
President, Board of Directors
STITA Taxi