“The last year has been painful,” a Seattle B&B owner recently told me. “I need more business.” I don’t doubt it. I’m traveling less, and I’m guessing a lot of others are, too.

It’s too soon to tell if the Northwest’s travel slump will start to turn around this summer, but plenty of people are hopeful.

The economies of Washington, Oregon and British Columbia depend on tourism dollars to fuel job growth and tax revenues. In Washington state alone, tourism provides over 147,000 jobs and generates over $95o million in local and state tax revenues. And while there is no doubt the global economic recession has curtailed travel spending for both businesses and private households, it’s not yet clear whether the travel budget purse strings have been loosened, despite some hopeful signs of recovery.

For the local budget traveler, this may be viewed as good news. Recession-era lodging rates make weekend excursions more appealing and budget-friendly. Take this post on Budget Travel this week; evidently Seattle hotel room rates have averaged $63 a night this year so far, down 8 percent from last year, and down 17 percent from a couple of years ago. This piqued my interest, and I did some research on Priceline and Hotwire to check out current rates. Looks like you could score a room at the Doubletree by the airport for as low as $40, or the Holiday Inn at Seattle Center for just $58. (See my previous post about scoring good hotel rates online).

This led me to wonder how small, independent inns, many which operate on a shoestring anyway, are faring as they face a third summer of travel woes. Though it’s not unusual for large hotels to be agile in changing their rates based on demand, we’ve even noticed a handful of B&Bs and vacation rentals slashing rates or offering special packages or discounts. One of our favorite places, The Garden House on Orcas Island’s Doe Bay, continues to promote a recession reduction that is 8.5% off your stay. The Corner House in Seattle’s Capital Hill neighborhood, an owner-occupied bed and breakfast guest house with rates $79 – $99 a night, guarantees their rates are the lowest for comparable amenities (queen bed, private bath, full breakfast, parking, WiFi, and tax included) within two miles of Pike Place Market.

Still, accommodations whose rates are low to begin with, serve a niche market, and support each other with referrals might find their vacancy rates comfortably low, even in the recession.

Terry Rusinow runs the Everett Street Guesthouse & Cottage in Portland ($70 – $100/night), and had this to say about the economy:  “In terms of how the “downturn” has affected my business, I don’t really think it has.  I would say that 70% of my guests are here visiting their grown children and grandchildren, and they’re not putting off their trips because of the economy. I also get lots of referrals from other small guesthouses and b & b’s, and I do the same for them, so that gets the place filled as well.”

And for some, there’s even a bright side.  Our weak U.S. dollar has brought foreign tourists from Europe who are used to staying in B&Bs. They enjoy the added value of breakfast and the local information from the proprietors. Take Julianne and Oliver, who own The Corner House in Seattle. Julianne recently told me: “What I’ve noticed in our brave new world is that we attract many more young people, many more tourists, many more foreigners from many more countries. The dollar has been low; young folks around the world are very internet-savvy; they’re willing to experience the US beyond New York and Florida. We love our new international visibility.”

Photos: Top, a room at The Corner House in Seattle. Bottom, the Garden House on Orcas Island.

In my state of Washington, the economic recession has hit state budgets extremely hard.  Our state legislature is currently grappling with fixes to fill a $2.6 billion budget gap; this is on top of a $7 billion budget shortfall they dealt with last year. These are big numbers, and they’re resulting in big, deep cuts across the board to pretty much any cause or program you could care about, from education to health care to state recreation lands.

Last week, I learned that they’re seriously considering deep cuts to the agency called Washington State Tourism. In some proposals, the cuts are so deep that the agency would be eliminated; the Senate supplemental budget includes a more than $3 million cut that would close the office of tourism through 2010, at least.

When I learned of this, I was floored. Let’s talk about tourism in Washington state for just a moment, shall we?

Last year, tourists spent $14.2 billion in Washington. That was $1.2 billion less than in 2008, a sign of the recession and the “staycation” trend, no doubt. But still – $14.2 billion. In the Seattle area alone, tourism employs over 60,000 people.  Statewide, tourism provides 147,600 jobs — nearly 4 percent of all jobs in the state. Statewide, tourism generated about $958 million in local and state tax revenues.

With the nationwide economy poised to begin its long road ahead to recovery, it would behoove our state to make smart investments in areas that can benefit quickly from that economic recovery as it happens, especially in areas that can immediately bring in new revenues and create jobs statewide. Statewide tourism tops that list, and it is senseless to make deep cuts to it, and plain idiotic to eliminate the engines for it.

What can you do? Contact your legislators, and do it today, as soon as you read this. Find your legislator here. It’s easy to write a quick message to them.  Tell them how much tourism matters to our state and how short-sighted it is to bite the hand that feeds us. We need tourism to grow our state’s revenue and get out of this budget hole–it’s that simple. Do it for the independent B&Bs nestled among vineyards of the Yakima Valley, the bike rental shops along the shores of Long Beach and the art vendors at Seattle’s Pike Place Market.

Thank you.

Have you heard of “geotourism?” I first heard the term directly from Sheila Buckmaster, senior editor at National Geographic Traveler magazine, when I served on a panel alongside her in 2007. I remember scribbling the term in my notebook and thinking – that’s what we need in Washington!

Geotourism is defined as a form of travel that aims to sustain or enhance the geographical character of a place—its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents. In fact, the term was first coined by National Geographic, and they remain a strong proponent of this concept today. And thanks to their new partnership with Experience Washington and Travel Oregon, geotourism has arrived in the Central Cascades!

Check it out at www.thecentralcascades.com. There you’ll find an interactive map guide to the 446 “geotourism locations” throughout the Central Cascades region. Each location fits into one of seven themes that help to define the character of the Central Cascades. Explore archaeological sites, scenic trails, wineries, wildlife habitats, places to eat and drink, lodging and agricultural sites. You’ll also find a downloadable map that looks beautiful but is not terribly useful on the computer screen – if you want one of the geotourism maps to take with you on your travels, order one to be sent to you (it’s $5 for shipping).

The sheer amount of fun things to do and experience on this map is mind-blowing, and all of the geotourism locations were nominated by Central cascades residents and visitors. I was particularly excited to see a favorite hiking destination of mine, the Goat Rocks Wilderness, featured as a geotourism location in Washington; I nominated it for consideration back when this project was just getting off the ground.

Scanning the list of 43 lodgings on the map, I couldn’t help but wonder what makes a lodging geotouristic? Which kinds of lodgings enhance the geographical character of the Central Cascades–its environment, culture and heritage? Places like Carson Mineral Hot Springs Resort ($75/night) in Carson, WA, where the mineral water from nearby springs is thought to have healing properties.

Or the Cowboy Tree Inn in Silver Lake, OR ($75 / night) where 30 oz sirloin steaks remind you that you’re staying at what was historically the halfway point on a popular cattle trail.

In Wolf Creek, Oregon is the Wolf Creek Inn ($75 – $105), a place I’ve been eager to check out for this blog. Opened in 1883, Wolf Creek Inn is the oldest continuously operated hotel in the Pacific Northwest. A neat little fact I learned from the geotourism map is that Jack London completed his novel Valley of the Moon while staying at the Wolf Creek Inn. According to the geotourism map,”it was an important stop on the 16-day stagecoach journey from San Francisco to Portland, and the Wolf Creek Inn has housed practically every important person found in the Northwest during the early history of Oregon, include Hollywood stars such as Clark Gable, Carol Lombard and Orson Welles, looking for refuge.” As of this writing, the link to the Wolf Creek Inn’s website on the geotourism map is incorrect; the correct url is www.historicwolfcreekinn.com.

More geotourism fun at www.thecentralcascades.com.

This blog post was adapted from my original post on the Central Cascades Geotourism project that appeared on The Signpost Blog at Washington Trails Association.

They are coming in droves!

If there’s one thing about the Twilight saga that makes me really happy, it’s that the masses are descending on Forks and other Washington state coastal communities, the setting for the new movie New Moon and the Twilight series of books it is based on. These towns have been hurting economically for decades now, since the local timber industry basically folded up and left town. Tourism to nearby Olympic National Park and local correctional facilities have kept the job market afloat, but the Twilight books and movies and the local tourism that has followed provides a much-needed shot in the arm to these coastal economies– Forks has seen a 600% increase in tourism since the books’ publication.

I haven’t read the books. Nor have I seen the movies. But I know people who have! (Many, many people, according to my Facebook news feed). And I’ve stayed on the Washington state coast many times, sometimes in a tent and sometimes in a cabin, and always in the rain.

Heading to Forks for your Twilight fix? I can’t help you with vampire or werewolf sightings, but here are my picks for cheap places to stay.

Near the heart of Forks, Huckleberry Lodge Cabins comprise a handful of cabins set on five quiet acres of forest next to the Calawah River.  Amenities include down comforters, extra pillows, kitchenettes, on site laundry, a hot tub and sauna. If you’re lucky, you may even get a visit from a local herd of elk. $60 – $110. Contact: 360-374-4090 or visit the website.

South of Forks on Highway 101 between Ruby Beach and the Hoh Rain Forest is the Hoh Humm Ranch B&B. In truth, I could not write about cheap sleeps in the Forks area without mentioning this working ranch B&B, which offers rooms with shared bath at $35-$50 a night, including a big farm-fresh breakfast served at 8am sharp. I also cannot recommend it to absolutely everyone, because some folks will just be miserable here. This isn’t an inn. There are no Victorian antiques or pink quilts or claw-foot soaker tubs. It’s not an understatement to say the Hoh Humm is a bit shabby around the edges.  But there are llamas, geese, sheep, cows, deer and ducks. The setting is stunning. The basic guest rooms are clean, and the breakfast is home-cooked and generous. The hosts are friendly and kind and interesting. Read more here, and if it sounds like it’s your speed, do give it a try, especially if you have children, who will adore all the animals. Contact: 360-374-5337 or visit the website.

The funky, cheap Rainforest Hostel, also south of Forks, is popular with hikers, cyclists and international backpackers. Shared accommodations are $10 per person and guests are asked to contribute to daily chores. A large communal kitchen is available for guest use, and the common areas are comfortable and clean.  Contact: 360-374-2270 or visit the website.

While there isn’t much of particular interest to recommend the Pacific Inn Motel in downtown Forks, their standard 2-bed rooms are only $66, and they have free wireless. Someone at the Pacific Inn had the (evidently brilliant) idea of getting some dark paint and a few posters together and packaging a few of the rooms as “Twilight rooms.” These will set you back an additional $30 a night. And you know what? They are the first to fill up. Contact: (360)-374-9400 or visit the website.

Forks sign by Apocaknits.Up close with a llama at the Hoh Humm Ranch by MrPants. Photo of the “Twilight Room” from the Pacific Inn Motel.

There’s been an awful lot of excitement around here this week.

I should have told you all about this before, you being such avid fans of cheap sleeps. But I didn’t want to jinx it. Well, now it is official, we have launched, and it’s time to let the cat out of the bag!

Casa Casa Travel Club is a hospitality exchange club. As a member of Casa Casa, you stay in the private homes of friendly members like yourself when you travel, and pay a small gratuity of $15-$20. When you host traveling members in your home, you provide some warm hospitality and share a favorite breakfast recipe. It’s like staying in a bed and breakfast, only better!

I remember the first time I stayed in a bed and breakfast. It was run out of a single woman’s home in Winthrop, Washington, set in a field of tall grasses.  Her home was small, but her kitchen was huge — perhaps taking up half the house — and the breakfasts she created for her guests there were divine. Her daughter, about twelve years old, showed us to our room when we arrived, and then promptly went outside to play ball with the dog, but not before asking us if we’d like to join her. Clearly, she was used to the company.

Like many B&Bs (as I would later discover), this house had a certain decor that was all its own; our hostess had a doll collection in the living room that spilled out into every corner of the house, including our bedroom.  I remember a feeling I had at breakfast that first morning, nibbling on a flaky buttermilk biscuit and sipping strong coffee as we talked with our hostess about Winthrop’s history and beautiful landscape. The feeling took me quite by surprise. Here I was, in a stranger’s house, and I felt right at home.

It seems that many people either love B&Bs, or don’t care for them at all. I am definitely in the “love them” camp. And the reason is quite simple: warm hospitality. The kind you get meeting real people, in their homes, around their breakfast table. That first morning, I left that Winthrop B&B with a map of downtown and suggestions for lunch, directions to great hiking trails, a full belly, and a warm heart.

For years now, my travels both at home in North America and abroad have included B&Bs and homestays. Hospitality has become my travel partner. Unfortunately, in many places the cost of rooming in a B&B is prohibitive, and arranging a homestay is often time consuming and difficult, if not impossible.

That’s why I started Casa Casa Travel Club. It’s a new hospitality club for folks who see travel as more than just a destination. It’s about connecting with other people, making new friends and learning about the world together.

What role does hospitality play in your travels? Would you trade an expensive, boring hotel room for a cozy guest room where you feel right at home? Then sign up for a membership with Casa Casa today, and join a community of travelers and hosts that feel the same way you do about traveling. Out of this warm exchange of hospitality may come new friendships, local knowledge of the best places to visit and things to do, and an overall stronger experience of community through travel. At our $20 introductory membership rate, what do you have to lose?

Want to learn a little more? Check out the frequently asked questions and club guidelines. Be sure to browse our list of member locations throughout North America and around the world (we have members in eleven countries, and adding more every day!) If you have a question about Casa Casa, drop me an email – I’d love to see if I can answer it for you.

Special for Northwest Cheapsleeps readers! I have so much fun keeping up this blog and communicating with readers about where to go and stay in the Pacific Northwest. I want to offer avid readers of Northwest Cheapsleeps the opportunity to join Casa Casa for FREE. From today through September 15, just leave a comment on this post. Tell me a story of real hospitality from your travels (it can be brief!) and I will email you special instructions for joining Casa Casa, free.

Thanks! I’ll be back soon.

There is a Northwest travel blog that you must check out. Really. In fact, you should bookmark it right now.

Terry Richard is an outdoors and travel writer for the Oregonian newspaper, and writes a regular blog called Travels with Terry. From fly-fishing to wine tasting to spa-hopping, Terry knows where the best red is, when the fish bite, and how soft your robe will be. And he posts a lot (***hangs head in shame**). The angle Terry really covers well is outdoor recreation–camping, hiking, mountain biking, cabins and anything else outdoors–but truly, all of his topics are well-researched and incredibly fun to read about.

Throughout July, Terry has been on the open road, traveling throughout Oregon on reader travel tips and reporting back on his findings. His July blog posts thus far comprise the Oregonian’s “Send Terry on the Road” summer series, which is all about involving readers (like me!) in his adventures. OK, it’s about more than that. There is a prize involved. A really big, really awesome prize.

Click on this link to learn how to enter a contest to win a deluxe weekend getaway to central Oregon, provided by visitcentraloregon.com and www.traveloregon.com, which is also running a promotion called the Oregon 150 Challenge.

All you have to do is post a travel tip on one of Terry’s July Oregon travel blog posts. Share a relevant tip on a local activity to try, great place to eat, or overnight find of yours. That’s it!

(Wait a minute… why am I sharing this with you?? I should be keeping this to myself to increase my chances of winning that deluxe Oregon getaway!)

Happy and safe Northwest travels, everyone!

I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus lately. My goal is to post once a week, and it’s been three since I last posted. And although I would love to say it’s because I’ve been chillaxin in some remote corner of the Pacific Northwest with no internet access in site, that would be a lie. I’ve been at home, just feeling a bit under the weather, which has been hard, because the weather has been pretty awesome.  But it did give me a chance to catch up on some reading. And I’ve been reading about Lake Chelan.

If you look at a map of Washington state, you will notice a long sliver of water right in the north central part of the state, bordered on its west side by the Wenatchee National Forest. Lake Chelan is actually an eighty mile long glacial valley, and for most of its length lies deeper than the Grand Canyon. This fjord-like lake is fed by more than 100 Cascade glaciers, filling it with water is that crystal clear and deeply blue. Its banks rise steeply towards the glacier-capped, rugged peaks of the North Cascades, resulting in a truly dramatic landscape.

The lake’s south end, including the town of Chelan, is more developed. Just a 3-hour drive from both Seattle and Spokane, the lake’s south end offers orchards, wineries, golfing, boating, swimming, and hiking. However, a little bit of quiet is hard to find with the roar of a jet ski always in the distance. This post is about the lake’s north end, where most of the landscape is wild, and all of it is remote, with the quiet villages of Stehekin and Holden accessible only by boat.

Life slows down the minute you walk onto the Lady of the Lake boat ferry in the town of Chelan to begin your journey north on the water. (Round trip ferry rates are $34 – $39 per person. Click here for the schedule and here for a list of what you can and cannot take with you on board the vessel.)

All who have to do after that is decide where to get off the boat.

Slow down in Stehekin. The remote and picturesque town of Stehekin is reached only by boat, floatplane, horseback or hiking boot–which explains why there are only about 100 full-time residents! Come summer, though, the village is crawling with visitors, including thru-hikers that take a much-needed rest here as they make their way north on the Pacific Crest Trail.  You’ll find a few good places to stay in Stehekin, though none as cheap as the tent you could pitch along a nearby trail. My top pick is the Stehekin Mountain Cabin which sleeps seven for $90 a night. It’s a screaming deal. The best-known accommodation is the Stehekin Landing Resort, part of the North Cascades National Park complex, where you can get a very basic room in the summer high season for $112 a night. The “resort” has a restaurant and general store. Also run by the Courney Family is the Stehekin Valley Ranch, where a perfectly acceptable tent cabin and all meals runs about $95 a person (an adult person, that is–kids are cheaper).

Retreat to the Wilderness. Holden Village is a year-round Lutheran wilderness retreat center about 11 miles up into the mountains from the Lucerne landing dock. Situated on the edge of the Glacier Peak Wilderness, this retreat village has so much to do regardless of your religious denomination, from art projects to crafts to spiritual renewal to wilderness exploration. It’s a day hiker’s dream come true, with several stunning trails departing from the village into the Glacier Peak Wilderness. While at Holden, you are invited to find your own pace and pursue your own unique renewal and interests. But don’t expect to connect with the outside world – Holden has no phones or television, no cell phone reception, and limited radio. Rates are about $70 per person (cheaper for kids) and all delicious meals are included in your stay.  Holden is not a resort, it’s a community. (NOTE: The Holden Village folks also operate Holden Bed and Breakfast, a fabulous deal at $30 per person, but this is separate from the Village and instead accessible by road from the town of Chelan.)

Take a hike. Looking for a totally unique way to experience Lake Chelan? Hike the lakeshore! The Chelan Lakeshore Trail is a 17.5 mile backpack, and perhaps the only trailhead in Washington state that requires a 20-mile boat ride. Begin your backpack adventure at Prince Creek and make it a 2-3 day journey to, pitching your tent at fabulous lake view campsites along the way to Stehekin,  where you will board the Lady of the Lake once again for the return trip to Chelan. It is also possible to take the boat to Moore Point and dayhike 6.8 miles to Stehekin, which some feel is the best part of the trail – you can overnight at the campground in town or stay in the lodge. Make sure to consult the boat schedule carefully! If you are up for a really unique adventure, consider a Volunteer Vacation with Washington Trails Association – they host several working vacation trips in the north Lake Chelan area each year.

Photo of the Lady of the Lake by Kingfox.

Photo of hikers along Lake Chelan by Dan..

A good guidebook is a perfect companion for the budget traveler. In the travel guidebook world, Lonely Planet tops the list as the best shoestring guide for a whole bunch of global destinations– for pretty much anywhere in southeast Asia to hot destinations like the Czech Republic.  So when I saw one of their latest titles was for our neck of the woods, Pacific Northwest Trips, I was intrigued to see how it would stand up as a travel guide for a budget-minded local. So I asked them to mail me a copy for review, and they did. And they included an extra one for you, too. But more on that in a minute. First, about this book.  It’s been on my coffee table for the past three weeks, and I dare say, it won’t be put away anytime soon.

Pacific Northwest Trips isn’t much organized at all like a destination guidebook. Instead, it leads you on hundreds of journeys and experiences. I think that’s what makes it such a fantastic coffee table find for a Pacific Northwesterner. Whether you’ve got just one Saturday free to journey along Chuckanut Drive in Washington, or a whole series of Saturdays to explore the eleven destinations that comprise “Oddball Oregon” (care to tour the world’s only museum of velvet paintings, anyone?), the guide will keep you traveling locally for a long, long time.

There are 52 themed “trips” in the book. I think the themed trips are quite a nifty way to organize the 1000+ suggested places to see, eat, and sleep. The theme categories for the trips are as follows:  Iconic Trips, Routes, Food & Drink, Outdoors, History & Culture, and Offbeat. The eleven “Iconic Trips” are definitively Pacific Northwest, designed to plunge you into the heart and soul of the region, so expect to drink microbrews, gaze at totem poles, and explore an active volcano on these. Again, this book is all about experiencing your trip. The guide even includes a list of suggested songs to load onto your Ipod for the Northwest roadtrip, and includes such tunes as Elliott Smith’s “Rose Parade” and Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Posse on Broadway.”

The trip ideas have maps, driving times and directions and all offer detour ideas, places to eat and sleep, and fun things to do along the way. And, they’re totally clever. Here are a few of my favorites:

Trip #5: Whistle Stop Brewery Tour (Iconic Trip) Sure, I like coffee and wine. A lot. But it is Pacific Northwest microbrewed beer that stole my heart. This trip takes you on a tour of some of the Pacific Northwest’s best breweries by train – no designated driver necessary! Start in Eugene and make your way north with whistle stops in Portland, Centralia, Olympia, Seattle, La Conner and Vancouver. You’ll be sipping at fifteen brewpubs in all.

Trip #23: Cowboys & Kerouac: The North Cascades (Outdoors) Care to sample “Cascade Mountain oysters,” proudly served on the menu at the Buffalo Inn Restaurant in Marblemount? These “oysters” are actually deep-friend buffalo testicles. Which I will not be eating. This trip also takes you to an organic farm, one of the best campgrounds for families  in all of Washington state (Colonial Creek), and gets you to roadside views of Desolation Peak, where Jack Kerouac spent 63 days holed up in a fire lookout practicing Buddhism. Before your trip ends in Winthrop, a detour takes you up to Hart’s Pass at 6197 feet, the highest point you can drive to in Washington.

Trip #37: Prehistoric Oregon Trip (History & Culture) The painted hills and fossil beds of central Oregon are one of the coolest, most beautiful landscapes in all of the Pacific Northwest, yet many locals have never made the trip there. But you must go, because this place is spectacular!  (See my former post on this area here.) This trip begins in Clarno and ends in Mitchell, with an optional trip extension to the town of John Day. The John Day Fossil Beds National Monument comprises 22-square miles of prehistoric goodness and fabulous scenery. Great cheap sleeps are sprinkled throughout the area, with decent camping opportunities, too.

Pacific Northwest Trips goes well beyond the typical guidebook in providing road trip opportunities for exploring hidden fun and offbeat experiences.  I love the way it is organized and have been dreaming up trips ever since I got the book. Not all of the trips are practical, though. One trip, called Washington Roadside Curios, outlines a road trip past eleven funky roadside attractions, from what I call a “tacky art” residence in Ellensburg to the World’s Largest Frying Pan in Long Beach. The thing is, the trip is 690 miles long! So in practice, you may want to combine elements of several “trips” on your excursions in order to save time and gas money, or just do bits and pieces of trips.

Now, about that free book. What are your summer vacation plans? Leave a comment on this post and tell me where you are headed this summer. On May 22, I’ll select a comment at random and if it’s yours, I’ll send you a brand new copy of Lonely Planet’s Pacific Northwest Trips!