Our Road Trip

Ah better without the bees. Each one seemed to be telling me I should be doing the laundry, cleaning the kitchen or baking something. Okay.

Now yes, we went on a trip. The guys got together and planned it and we went. I really hate tying myself down to something on a trip. You never know when it just isn't working out. Like you plan on stopping in Memphis but decide you just can't make it all the way there that night... So we had interesting hotel experiences I will share first, before I go on to the fun stuff!!

With four children you'd think we had a bus full with the trouble it was. We wanted to stay in the same room, if only to be sure no one was doing paid movies or making long distance calls when their cell phones died. So we found a chain we liked the first night, and stuck with it most of the way. They had what we want in a hotel:

* They let us all stay in a room or a suite together. Even gave us extra pillows etc.
* They were reasonable in price
* They had cookies upon check in.
You know it was that last that tied it up for us. But I had to ask. I said, hey, you don't have any perks here, do you? Like, at Double Tree Inn in Seattle they gave us cookies when we checked in. Clerk: Well, we make cookies hot for you. Would you like some?

You can imagine my reaction. A mixture of "Why are you still SITTING THERE?" and "You have just said the magic words!!!" Needless to say we ate all dozen and grabbed the book that said where all of them were across the country and several foreign countries, in case we zip over to Uzbekistan before our trip is over.

Like I said, some let us have a room (good price) and some had us take a suite (so we'd have enough room, a little more). They didn't realize we were willing to sleep in the car, if only it were 20 degrees warmer out. The cheap motels were cheaper but by the time you added up the "extra person" fees they were MORE than a nicer hotel... and the hotels had breakfast, which saved us a lot of time and money too.

So one time we go to our chain hotel and they said, no, they could not possibly legally let us squeeze 6 people in a room, even if we were all related and didn't have any band equipment. He wanted to charge us for two rooms, so I pointed to the pile of already unloaded bags and then to the car. "There are over 140 hotels in this town. I don't have to stay here." We went next door and got a BETTER rate, larger room but NO cookies, sorry to say. Of course by this time we had plenty of stashes of treats if we wanted.

I used to be nicer than that. But I'm old and cranky now, and my "put up with crap" meter is not what it used to be. I have a lower crap tolerance now.

We did meet some really nice hotel staff and one that was from Poland even. It's a wonderful world.