There were only two planned breaks on this day – a gas station and a big pencil. Exciting. We would also pass through four states. The excitement of a family trip has worn off and the kids are back to bickering with each other again. What I thought the drive would be like on the way to the East Coast is what it’s going to be like on the way back….
Our first stop was…different. It was also closed. Using our powers of flexibility, we quickly searched for something else to do. Even though Old Salem had recently reopened for half the week, Sunday was not one of those open days. Although the bakery was closed (the one part of the school field trip I remember….) we were still able to walk around outside and see the historic buildings. We also added another large item, even if it’s probably not a world’s largest.
After lunch, which the kids enjoyed because the kids meals came with small plastic frogs, we were back on the road. We got out to stretch at a large pencil.
Because we didn’t have many stops, we actually got to the hotel at dinner time. That never happened on the way, even when the kids asked if we could get in earlier. There weren’t a lot of choices but DH found a highly rated Italian restaurant…in a gas station. We splurged and got 4 dinners and 4 desserts for around $40. It ended up being pretty good, especially compared to some of the other meals we’ve eaten on the road.
We were at least looking forward to staying in a Holiday Inn Express suite. That was everyone’s favorite on the way to the East Coast because we had a little more room to spread out. Based on our experience with other chains, I’m not sure why we expected consistency with this chain. I don’t need to see the same paintings on every wall and the same furniture, but I did expect some consistency in standards.
This hotel was rather worn. When we got in the room, kid goes to the bathroom and says “Eew. The tub looks gross.” We weren’t sure if it wasn’t cleaned or if it was just so worn down that it always looked that way.
We asked if we could switch rooms and got upgraded to an even bigger suite. It had a bedroom with a king bed and king and queen beds in the main room. The kids were excited about the size of the room. It was still pretty worn but looked cleaner. I had the kids wear flip flops in the shower, which didn’t work too well, since after about a minute, the tub filled up with water. Also, the room only had three bath towels, even though at least 8 people could have slept in the room (there was also a pull out couch). I asked if we could have another towel, so we could each shower. The response was that they didn’t have any more, but we could get two pool towels. Those towels were essentially hand towels.
