The night manager of the Columbia had left our room keys in an envelope at the front desk. The hotel was quiet as we entered room number five. As I brought our bags in, my wife looked at me disappointedly and said, "Honey, there's no television". I found this somewhat hard to believe, so took a look myself. She was right, no telly. I said that we probably wouldn't have much time to watch, anyway. She asked if the lounge had a boob tube. I walked out there and again, no luck.
I was a tad bummed because I had been looking forward to seeing the Vikings and Giants play the following afternoon. I figured I'd look around town when I woke up and hopefully there'd be a bar showing the game. The reason why the Columbia doesn't have TV's is because it's meant to be a trip back in time to the 1920's (there are also no phones in the rooms and you have to go down the hall to take a shower). And, of course, the effect wouldn't be complete without a number of doilies. Here's a picture of the room we stayed in:
the infamous clawtub:
and (can you believe it?) a day bed:
It was probably no coincidence I dreamt about my grandmother that night (the smell of the hotel had done the trick). If I had smelled a pack of Bazooka Joe the night before, I'm sure I would've had a dream about my childhood.
The next day, as I passed the front desk to get a bite to eat, I noticed the clerk was working on a laptop. I said to him, "Isn't that cheating?". He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Well, this is supposed to be like we in the '20's and you're on the information superhighway". He smiled and said, "I've got the best of both worlds".
Excerpted from My Experience in Ashland, Oregon at the End of 08
7 comments:
I LOVE that!!! 'Isn't that cheating?' lmao. :)
Interesting Thomas. :)
It is quite amusing. The next day, an older man at the front desk said the laptop replaces their previous form of data collection: 6 spiral bound notebooks.
That's a cute hotel room, though, I don't think I could stand having to go down the hall for a shower-especially if it meant sharing with the other guests.
I'm with silverneurotic and I almost posted my thoughts but didn't ... I don't know why.
I can deal without a TV and I can deal without a phone but I refuse to stay at a hotel where I can't have my own tub in my room, let alone shower.
The idea that you have to coordinate around stranger's schedules to bathe just doesn't sit well with me. If I wanted to go to camp, that's exactly what I'd do but if I'm paying to stay at a hotel, I want my own showering facilities. You can't even wear flip-flops in a bath tub. *Shivers me timbers*
If I just came off as a princess, I'm not going to apologize for it. :-P
Besides, you can't have naughty time in the tub if it's communal. ;)
Love the room, my kind of place. Forces you to take walks and explore the area instead of setting up shop in the hotel room as if you never left home.
Holy crap! I haven't seen a tub like that since the one at my Great-Grandmother's. I'm sure hiding in one of the damn things would allow you to survive a nuclear blast (a lot better than a fridge :))
Sil & Stephanie, I was fortunate in that I never had to wait to get into the shower. I would say the hotel was only about 28% full for the five days we were there.
Stephanie, I can see where that might not be your bag. My wife takes a shower every other day, so wasn't too put off by it.
Tim, great point.
Eric, love the "Indy" reference. That scene was quite ridiculous, wasn't it?
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