We have had some crazy experiences with air conditioning (or the lack thereof) over the past couple of weeks. It started the first night of vacation. We ended up leaving earlier than we had planned and driving longer than we planned, and we found ourselves in Charleston, West Virginia at 6:30 p.m. on a Saturday night. Since we normally eat dinner at 5:30, we headed straight to a restaurant for dinner. We finished around 7:45 and set out to find a place to stay.
Jeff and I are cheap and have lots of kids who suck up all our money for silly things like food. Consequently, we both have dumb phones. In order to get internet access, we pulled into a McDonald's parking lot and managed to snag a parking space right by the door. Instant wi-fi. (Yes, we are very bad people. You should know this by now.) At that moment, hotels.com reported there were three places at that exit with vacancies. A Holiday Inn Express for $120 a night, a County Inn & Suites for $140 a night, and a Knight's Inn for $54 a night. Since the kids normally go to bed between 8:00 and 8:30 and we just needed a place to shower and sleep, we opted to at least check out the Knight's Inn before shelling out twice as much for a fancier chain. (Back when we were first dating, Jeff and I took a trip and spent almost 3 weeks driving cross country. We stayed at lots of Motel 6s and Red Roof Inns, and with the exception of one night in a Super 8 that smelled like cat urine, we had lots of great experiences. We are not opposed to low end.)
As we pulled in, we had to wait for a bunch of bikers to leave. This should've been a warning sign, but we did not drive away in horror and when we could, we drove around to the other side of the lobby and parked. From there, we could see families playing at the outdoor pool. Nice, normal looking families and not one of them threatening to beat or whip their children. The grounds were tidy, and the grass was green and trim. I was driving and sent Jeff in to the lobby to check it out, and a few minutes later he returned with a room key.
As we went into the room, we realized this was the first time we had stayed at a cheap motel with the kids. They are used to luggage carts and white duvets and breakfast bars with hot food. Still, Ree took one look at the floral bedspread and exclaimed, "Ooh, la la!" It does not take much to impress my kids, however, I think "Eww," would've been a more appropriate response. The room was a dive. It also felt pretty warm. I checked that the air conditioner was on the coldest setting and the fan was set at the highest level, Jeff turned on the bulky, non-flat screen TV and discovered a European Cup match from earlier in the day was being rebroadcast, and we went about settling in.
I gave the kids cold baths with them standing in the tub because, of course, the stopper in the bathtub didn't work. I was hot while giving the kids baths, but the bathroom was in the back of the room and far from the A/C unit. After baths, they had snacks while I tried to arrange the room to accommodate everyone. As I was moving furniture around, I realized I was pretty dang hot. Like my clothes were stuck to me. And I looked around and saw that Jeff was now watching soccer with his shirt off and he had sweat pouring off him. (I have never previously seen him watch TV topless.) Natalia was flushed. And Leon was bouncing around the room, because for some strange reason when he is hot, he cannot stay still. (Another hot night he started thrashing in bed, wildly kicking his legs, and saying, "I just can't get cold!" And to think, he's our kid with common sense!)
I felt the A/C unit, and it was clearly blowing warm air. Although it was cooling off outside, opening the door was not an option since the women from the next room were chain smoking outside our door. I looked at Jeff and said we had to do something about this. Yes, it was already 9:30, but there was no way we were going to get any sleep in there. I went to call the front desk and realized we had no phone. So I found my shoes and headed for the lobby.
The lobby was just as nice as the grounds and the pool. It was obvious where they spent their money, and it became clear how we (and I'm sure others) got sucked into staying there. The front desk clerk stared at me when I said our air conditioner didn't work and we wanted a different room. Thankfully, a manager was there and he quickly intervened. After a few minutes, they finally gave me a key to another room. I went to check it out before relocating the family. You know that nice blast of Arctic air you typically get when entering a hotel room? This room did not have it, but it did have cool air blowing. Upon returning to the first room, I realized the second room was at least 15 degrees cooler, and I got busy repacking and relocating all of out stuff. Of course the rooms were on opposite sides of the building, and it took several minutes to walk back and forth between the two. Plus I lost my book in the process, and it took 3 trips to locate it. (Natalia had wedged it so it was vertical under the bed, and it was a book with a black cover next to the black bed frame.) But by 10:30 that night the kids were all tucked into our not-quite-cold, but non-roasting room. The bed was horribly uncomfortable, but still, we all passed out and slept.
The next morning the kids enjoyed doughnuts from the lobby, and while I walked around the grounds, I realized it really was a decent looking place in a beautiful location. And quite oddly, there was a large vegetable garden on the grounds.
Little did we know, that was only the beginning of our adventures in hot nights...
No comments:
Post a Comment