Finally found/edited the pics, came to post and saw this so here ya go. Easiest post ever!
Finally the time has come!
A much, much needed vacation for me and my "kid", Adrienne.
She has not really taken a vacation since she started working full-time, which was approximately 6 1/2 years ago. Rarely misses work or school. So very unlike me at her age. Good for her!
We'd been planning this for several months which is the only way that we could make this work. Leading up to the trip was actually very stressful! I had to interview home health agencies to stay with my mom; it's really nervewracking to think of leaving your elder, cats, and house in the care of a stranger! Plus the weather has been such shit that I was so worried about the drive.
But after much stress, the day finally arrived.
Adie & I both had school/work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. so we were planning on rushing to get ready and leave when the caregiver arrived between 5:30 and 6 p.m. Of course, I was still printing tickets and needed to pack when she arrived at 6:00. lol But we finally got out the door about 6:40.
The drive was great! We were both awake and enjoying each other's company, music blaring to equal our excitement for the coming few days. We made great time and switched drivers at 10: 25 pm. after 264 miles. We hit the Grapevine around 11:45ish...don't remember exactly. There was actual snow on the ground! This is the first time in all my years that I've ever seen snow on the Grapevine. I knew it had been snowing a few days previously and my greatest fear was that it would snow while we were driving it...so this was the most epic of both worlds. lol Obviously, I did not take this photo of the snowy Grapevine since there is daylight, but it serves to illustrate my purpose.
We got to Marriot Courtyard El Segundo at about 1:30 a.m. after a crazy detour because the 405 was closed for construction. Stan the night clerk was awesome. We had a somewhat rocky start... Stan checked us in and gave us our keycards and directions to our room. We pulled the car around and unloaded our luggage.
After entering the building using our keycards, we got to our room and, lo & behold, the keycards wouldn't work. We are nothing if not tenacious so we tried each card several times while muttering amongst our selves and wondering what the hell we were doing wrong. Finally I took both keycards and, leaving Adrienne by the room with both of our luggage, went back to the front desk.
When I walked up and told him that the keycards weren't working, he asked how we had gotten into the building. He said if they didn't work for the room they shouldn't work for the outer doors. He checked and found that the room door had deactivated the cards. He reactivated them and I started the walk back to the room, but I had only gone about 4 steps when his phone rang. He immediately hollered for me to come back; the caller id said it was our room. He answered to find a man named Ryan complaining that someone was trying to get into his room!
It turned out that an earlier clerk had not processed his check in correctly so the computer showed the room as empty and Mr. Ryan as not being checked in. Luckily, the room card reader recognized that the room was occupied and deactivated our cards when we tried to get in! That would have been embarrassing and potentially dangerous for someone.
To correct the problem, I had to wait while Stan checked in Mr. Ryan by phone and then he asked me to call Adrienne and have her come back up to the front while he found us another room. I told him that she had all the luggage and wouldn't be able to bring it all. So I called her and let her know what was going on and that I'd be back in a minute.
Stan remarked how nice I was being and I commented that it wasn't his fault and I appreciated his fixing it for all of us. He then said "I appreciate your calm demeanor! Hold on, I'm going to make this right...you're gonna like this." He then upgraded us from our discounted, one-bed/sofa-bed room to a two-room, two-queen-bed suite for the duration of our stay! YAY!
I went and got Adie and we headed to the other side of the hotel. The room was lovely! Gold and burgundy with 2 flat-screen, high def televisions and a kitchenette. Heaven! We got all settled and watched some t.v. to settle down after the drive. Went to bed around 2:30. The only problem was that the room was freaking cold! We had to jack the heat way up to maintain a constant temp that was warm enough for us to sleep. The thin comforters on the beds just weren't cutting it! But it was a small price to pay.
Finally we were off to sleep in la la land.... To Be Continued!
