Manito Gardens

Manito Park, one of the oldest and largest parks in the northwest covering a total of 90 acres from 17th to 25th Avenues in Spokane, is a beautiful place to relax and enjoy yourself. It consists of many areas, including the large duck pond, Duncan gardens, a classical European Renaissance style garden , the perennial gardens, a large rose garden featuring over 1500 bushes and 150 varieties, Lilac garden, Nishinomiya Japanese Garden, a very nice conservatory, a large picnic shelter, the Park Bench Café, and playgrounds and fields for most sports. Being so large there are roads winding through and parking areas dotted in several locations. Although we were primarily interested in the Japanese garden, the drive through this park was amazing. We had to stop several times to capture the beauty and look at the wonderful scenery. The Nishinomiya Japanese Garden was completed in 1974 and symbolizes the friendship of Spokane, Washington, for its sister city, Nishinomiya, Japan. A well-known Japanese landscape architect, Nagao Sakurai, who at one time was in charge of the Imperial Palace grounds, was enlisted to design the garden in 1967. This premier park of Spokane attracts thousands of visitors every year and we could really see why. If you are ever in Spokane, this park is a great place to spend an afternoon. And its free!

This fairly new three-story hotel in the eastern boundary of Spokane about ten minutes away from the downtown area is perched high on a hilltop just off the busy I-90 freeway. It was clean and had interior elevators. The lobby and breakfast areas were large and nicely appointed. Our room was well furnished and large enough for comfort and had all of the normal amenities expected in a three star hotel. A full breakfast was served in the morning. Although we heard lots of the freeway noise being on the freeway side of the building, I rated this hotel as better than average.

This is part of a large buffet chain, over 600 buffet locations across the entire U.S. and Puerto Rico. There are several names associated with the chain, Country Buffet, Old Country buffet, and Hometown Buffet. The Spokane location was quite large and offered all of the usual fair. The carving station includes ham and beef and even steaks now. And you can find fried or baked chicken and fish along with several other main dishes. Pizza for the kids is a favorite, and side dishes galore. The salad bars offer a large variety of green salad fixin’s and many other types from raisin, seafood, potato, and even Waldorf. Some nights are BBQ nights with ribs and other BBQ items and on the weekends they offer a breakfast in the mornings that offers a super wide variety of well prepared items. We have found that no matter where the location and what mood we are in, we can find a good meal at a very descent price.