I stayed here for two weeks in August with my wife and two-year old son. The first thing that you notice as soon as you walk in is that this isn't just some extra space that Rob sublets; it's his actual house. And it goes without saying that one should really treat it as such. The fact that Rob hands this entire place over you is a testament to his trusting nature and commitment to being to a great host.
First off, the location. For being one street behind Hawthorne, the neighborhood is surprisingly quiet and calm. You can look at Google Maps to get an idea of how much variety Hawthorne provides. Restaurants, cafes and small variety shops abound. Craft brew pub? Right around the corner. Fred Meyer? Only five minutes by foot. Burgers? Vietnamese? Mexican? Indian? All within at most 10 minutes walking time. There are a couple of bus lines that run right through Hawthorne, so you're not too far from the Max line or downtown. We're big on walking and took our son to Laurelhurst park almost every day (only 20 minutes by foot). If you're up for it, Mt. Tabor makes for a great morning hike and there is a playground right at the top. This took us the better part of 45 minutes due to many detours and stopovers along the way.
Next, the house itself. Rob's place is incredibly cozy and wants for nothing, except a microwave. The living room is decked out with a big screen TV with access to Netflix, Amazon Video and a gaming system. The kitchen has all of the basic amenities and the laundry room is equipped with a huge washing machine and dryer. There are two bedrooms, each with a pull down shade and fans that one can place in the window if needed. It never got too hot for us but the fan did come in handy to at least help circulate the air through the rooms.
The highlight of this place is obviously the BBQ and hot tub in the back yard. Unfortunately, we didn't use these nearly enough as we had planned, due to our travelling schedule. But the time we did spend was well worth it. We noticed that the hot tub takes about 4 hours or so get up to 100 degrees F, so you should plan well in advance if you want to make use of it at higher temperatures.
For those of you with small children, it was definitely a welcome surprise how child-friendly this place is. There is a child lock on the cabinet beneath the sink where the cleaning supplies are and for the basement there is a portable gate that one can set up right at the top to keep the little ones out. Otherwise, one only needs to make sure that little hands don't wander too much since, as I wrote earlier, this is really Rob's house and everything else is laid out as such.
Finally, Rob himself was incredibly helpful all the way from well before our trip to right through the end. He was always available if I ever had a question about how something worked or where something was. I'm relatively new to Airbnb and I'm incredibly thankful that one of my first experiences with a host was so pleasant as with Rob. I would wholeheartedly and without reservation recommend him and his place to future travelers staying close to Hawthorne.
Thank you, Rob, for making this an unforgettable and memorable experience for us!