Trip to Spokane part two - or - The time we almost spent the night in a hotel that charged by the hour

Now that we have slowed down a bit, I'll tell the story of the time we almost spent the night in a hotel that charged by the hour. Now, I don't know that it did indeed charge by the hour, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

The story begins where many stories begin - making last minute plans. We went to Spokane for the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Hixson. I've known Brad since we were 13. We were really excited to go on a road trip/mini-vacation. With both of us working full time, Andy going to school part time, me trying to be a good housewife with a job, trying to have a social life, and looking for a house, time together is scarce. Eleven hours in the car and three days away from normal life? Yes please!

Hotwire. As you probably know, you usually get the best deals on hotels when you book at the last minute. Which is why we waited to book a hotel until the day before we left. However, nobody told us that the wedding weekend was the same weekend as Gonzaga U's and Eastern Washington U's graduations. And it was the same weekend as Spokane's version of the Portland Rose Festival. So trying to book at the last minute turned out to not be such a good idea. All the regular places were booked solid and 2 star hotels were charging top dollar for their rooms. C'est la vie. We had no choice. We booked at the Rodeway Inn (comperable with La Quinta or Days Inn) in downtown Spokane. Okay, no?

We arrived at the Rodeway Inn at 8:30pm having not eaten anything since the Dairy Queen ice cream we had in The Dalles around 4:00pm. Allow me to paint the picture: exterior entrances. Fifteen homeless teenagers on the front step. Dirty lobby. One key. A fancy sports car pulls in and parks near our car. Astroturfed stairs up to the second level. Doors that appeared to have been kicked in at one point. A full sized bed (you know, that weird size between a twin and a queen). Stained sheets. Dirty bathroom. If I ever pictured a hotel where you would go to buy drugs or a prostitute, this was what I'd picture. Can I stop now?

I'm trying to be cool about it, but I'm screaming inside. I'm trying to be strong. We are working really hard at saving money because we are trying to buy a house. This hotel was the cheapest thing we could find. All the other hotels were booked. I'm hungy. Let's go get some food, Andy.

Good, sweet Andy. We get in the car and he tells me that before we go get some food we are going to drive around as long as it takes to find a new hotel. Thank you, Andy! And then I cried.

The first place we stopped at only had its most expensive rooms available. But the front desk lady had great compassion on us and offered to call some other hotels for us. Thank you, front desk lady! She found us a room that was a very reasonable price. Oh, thankfulness!

We rush back to the Rodeway (the fancy sports car was gone, by the way), run up the grass stairs, grab our things, run down to the lobby and turn in our key, and drive to our new place. It might as well have been Hotel Ritz. I have never loved a three star hotel more. The lovely miss Molly at the front desk couldn't have been more cheery and nice to us. Our room had an inside entrance. It was clean and nice. Horray and Huzzah!

We finally were able to get some half priced appetizers and margaritas at Applebees around 10:00pm. Back at the hotel around 11:00pm we easily fell off to dreamland in our snuggly, clean, stain-free bed.

And that is the story of the time we almost spent the night in a hotel that charged by the hour. Sleep tight, everyone.