A full day: tourism, consumerism, drivingism?, and a brief encounter with the sordid side of life.
Tourism: the Arch
Returned to the Arch for the first time in 20 years. Last time here, went up with Cheryl (pre-Sabo!) and Keil and Serena (I think).
It looks as impressive as it did 20 years ago. What I didn't recall was that the closer you get, the more impressive it looks.
The Park Service has entered into a partnership with a private vendor to run the system (tram to the top, riverboat cruises, etc). They call the partnership the "Core" of Discovery. Which they probably mean to be clever -- but every time I read it I think: you spelled it wrong, idiots.
Mitch was impressed, but not as engaged as I might have hoped. Not interested in any of the history. I think the highlight was the tram ride to the top.
Consumerism: REI
Mitch still needed some gear for the river trip, so we stopped by REI. In addition to raincoat, sunglasses and fleece, we got a hammock ratchet.
A hammock ratchet is just a dead simple way to attach the hammock the tree -- which feels like cheating, until I stop and think about (a) how inept I am with knots and (b) how much time it takes me to sling a hammock with just rope and knots. Know your limits, I say.
Drivingism: St. Louis to Hays, KS
We used priceline to buy room in Salina, KS -- which was a perfect length drive. But it didn't work out -- and the town was full-up for some festival, so we pushed on to the next sizable town.
Sordid: our initial hotel
The directions to our priceline hotel steered us into sketchier and sketchier parts of Salina, KS. When we finally arrived, at 10:30-11, it was a place that looked like it rented rooms by the hour. Beater cars in the 3/4th empty parking lot (when the rest of the hotels in town were jammed with festival goers), guy in a sweat stained wife beater just hanging out on the 2nd floor balcony eyeballing us as we registered.
I would have risked it anyway. But then we went into the room.
The sheets had not been changed in who-knows-how-long. We could tell this because: (a) they were stained with who-knows-what, (b) there were hairs all over the place and (c) there appeared to be roach droppings on the pillows and toilet.
Word to the wise: if you threaten a hotel manager with negative reviews (and pictures) on yelp and travel advisor, they will sometimes (after initial refusal) refund your money even though they are not obliged to by your priceline contract.
And that's how we wound up at the Sleep Inn in Hays, about 100 miles further down the road.
1 comment:
Fun times!
On the flight back from Hawaii, where I spent a fortune taking Frank when he was about 10, I asked what was his favorite thing about the trip. His answer: the video arcade across from our hotel on the Big Island. Ho boy!
Later, he started to remember all the wonderful things he saw and learned and the time we spent together. You are building memories and writing stories together that will last forever.
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