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I recently returned from a Vantage Travel trip to the Northwest.  Our trip
began in Seattle, bused to Tacoma on to Portland where we joined the
Columbia River Queen  down the Willamette, Columbia and Snake Rivers
following the Lewis and Clark Trail.  The boat had my GF bread for me as
requested.  However, I was assured that they would also have bread for me
at our hotel stays in Seattle, Tacoma and Portland - no such luck.  (Of
course, I brought along a little to tide me over as when I was called that
bread would be provided at the hotels, it seemed much too good to be
true).  While the Maitr D was helpful, I might have had a bit of
difficulty had it not been for Desmond, our waiter.  The first night I
asked the Maitr D about hamburgers - assuming, of course, that I could eat
them.  He said probably not.  When I suggested that I understood that all
hamburgers supplied in the U. S had no fillers, he checked and said they
were GF.  Not a confidence builder!   The first thing that Desmond, our
waiter, told me was that he had worked for P. F. Chang's and that he knew
all about the diet.  And he really did.  Each evening when I went to
dinner, he had a list of the food from that night's menu that I could
order.  He promised me that he checked with the Chef if he had any
questions about a certain dish!  He gets a standing ovation!  I kept
reminding myself that we were in the U.S., not Europe where the Vantage
River boats are superb - and the Maitr D, head waiter and most of the wait
staff knows Celiac Disease.  We had 4 lunches out - at one they prepared
fried chicken for me coated with soy flour.  It was so delicious I have
bought soy flour since I am home and hope to try it soon.  At 2 stops
there was nothing - but of course, I ate the salad and some tuna in foil
wrapper which I brought along with me.  Judy, our tour director, was very
helpful; however, she had never heard about Celiac Disease.  I promise you
she knows about it now!  She did make sure that my included dinners at the
hotels were Gluten-Free.  The trip was very interesting and varied.  We
traveled by bus, boat, train and rafted down into Hell's Canyon.  On a
scale from 1 to 10, I would give it an 7 1/2!  (I gave the Vantage River
boats a 10!)  I would definitely use Vantage Travel again.

Concerning the restaurants in Seattle and Portland, I hope that any of you
traveling to the Northwest (or the Northeast) will go to
www.glutenfreerestaurants.org.  What a wonderful selection of restaurants
that they have - this plus the national restaurants that indicate that
they have a Gluten-Free menu makes eating out so much easier.  In Seattle
we ate at the Wild Ginger restaurant.  (I got the name of this restaurant
when I requested suggestions on Listserv).  As it was just 2 blocks from
our hotel, that seemed the easiest to get to.  It was excellent.  The wait
staff definitely knew 'Gluten Free' and I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner.
The roast duck was superb!  We asked the concierge at our hotel how long
it would take to get ot Edmonds for Kalli's fish and chips, but it wasn't
feasable to spend so much time traveling to get there.  But in Portland I
had my fish and chips!  We were able to catch a bus to Corbett's Fish
House for dinner!  I thought that I had died and gone to Heaven!  They
actually started out wanting a healthier menu using rice flour and canola
oil to fry their fish and chips.  It wasn't until later that someone told
them about Celiac Disease.  Aside from bringing in rolls for those
requesting them, they don't have any wheat flour in the kitchen!  No
chance for contamination!  Wish they would open somewhere in St. Louis!

The bottom line - I stayed well the ENTIRE trip!!!!!!

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