Monday, June 11, 2007

The Westin Kierland Resort

The lack of blogs over this weekend should not be interpreted as a sign of my slipping into old, negligent ways. Take it, rather, as a sign of the price that the Westin Kierland Resort charges for its Internet connections: exorbitant!

Since the Hansons are expecting a child in July, they weren't expecting a fancy vacation in June. As a substitute for beautiful beaches and exotic locale, we opted for a Lazy River in north Scottsdale. Thus it was that I found myself unable to blog in the midst of so much luxury. But who could complain with a Barnes and Noble within walking distance?

Night One was not so pleasant as we had hoped. The evening went fine: a nice dinner, bagpipe music in the courtyard, and Smores for Stella and me in Windsinger Canyon (a well landscaped area between two wings of the hotel - not an actual canyon). But back upstairs we realized that the fanciest hotel room (even with cable) quickly becomes a prison cell when a toddler is involved.

Things would not have been so bad if we hadn't made a fatal mistake: trying to put her to bed at her regular bedtime. What at first seemed like an easy war of domination became a nightmare of insurgency. Stella, tuckered out from exploring the grounds, should have gone to sleep quickly; but her little head kept popping up over the rim of her Pack-and-Play, trying to see what was on TV. My advice: either let the child watch the Showtime movie or shut it off!

Day Two started off well, once I had some of the hotel restaurant's strong coffee and eggs Benedict in my system. After some pool time, Stella and I spent the late morning and early afternoon engrossed in a surprisingly good USA movie about a plucky band of archaeologists who travel back in time to 1357. But anything seems good when the thermostat is set to 68 degrees Fahrenheit and your eating lime-dusted Tostitos in bed.

To Be Continued...

6 comments:

faithsalutes said...

I make it a point to always eat in bed if I am at a hotel. It extends the feeling of luxury when the internet ain't free.

Veritas Nerd said...

hey! check your summer time format page, and Sage and I left a comment!

Anonymous said...

to be continued...in this century? (what WOULD you do without me to bug you about posting more?)

Anonymous said...

I'm back. But not to bug you about blogging.

You would be interested to know that I just ordered Many Dimensions...

Got any other particular Williams reccomendations, or shall I just begin buying his books in a random order? (I've decided that one of my bookish projects will be the acquisition of a bit of an Inklings library...oh, and Chesterton too of course. The man SHOULD have been an Inkling anyway.)

Hansonius said...

So did you read Many Dimensions? I gave my only copy away (that was a few years ago), otherwise I would read it along with you. It was one of my favorites. I love Prime Matter!

Anonymous said...

I just got back from England, and found that Many Demensions had in fact arrived--so I plan on beginning it on the plane to Colorado tomorrow. Yes, it's a busy summer.

Oh, and good job on the recent update--at least we know you're alive.