Here we are in Barkeyville, PA. I know, I know, you are just as surprised as we are that we were able to fit this extra stop in on our vacation. A little morsel of western PA.
When one has 4 kids (traveling 6 altogether), staying in a hotel is a challenge. One cannot lawfully sleep more than 4 per typical room. You must rummage around looking for a suite, or stay in KOA Kamper Kabins, as we have taken to doing.
The one unplanned night of the trip had us in Pittsburgh this evening, city 58.2 square miles, 306,211 people, 3.3 million metropolitan. We didn't make a reservation, confident we could find a room.
As you can guess, with this particular post coming from Barkeyville, we were about 80 miles wrong. Who knew that Pittsburgh was so indelibly popular, dare we say, "sold out"?
2 hours of driving, searching hotels.com, expedia.com, franticallydesparateinPA.com, and as many phone calls as can be made on the Sprint network in a rural portion of our great land, and we had nada.
If one is trying to raise honest kids, not letting them witness the bald-face lying of their parents, then you get a Suite, for the 5% of hotels that have them.
Or, after 10pm, after hours of effort, you tell 2 of them to squat down in the car as you pull up to the hotel, so the check-in lady doesn't see how many we have. You ask for a room for the Mrs. and the 2 little ones, then you sneak around the back, conspicuously carrying 2 sleeping bags, 2 sleeping pads, 2 pillows and 2 layers of bribery for whichever 2 kids volunteer to sleep on the floor.
You will be able to spot us in the morning as the parent carrying 6 waffles, orange juices, and sausages out of the continental breakfast bar so we can eat in our room.
Goodnight, and good luck.
When one has 4 kids (traveling 6 altogether), staying in a hotel is a challenge. One cannot lawfully sleep more than 4 per typical room. You must rummage around looking for a suite, or stay in KOA Kamper Kabins, as we have taken to doing.
The one unplanned night of the trip had us in Pittsburgh this evening, city 58.2 square miles, 306,211 people, 3.3 million metropolitan. We didn't make a reservation, confident we could find a room.
As you can guess, with this particular post coming from Barkeyville, we were about 80 miles wrong. Who knew that Pittsburgh was so indelibly popular, dare we say, "sold out"?
2 hours of driving, searching hotels.com, expedia.com, franticallydesparateinPA.com, and as many phone calls as can be made on the Sprint network in a rural portion of our great land, and we had nada.
If one is trying to raise honest kids, not letting them witness the bald-face lying of their parents, then you get a Suite, for the 5% of hotels that have them.
Or, after 10pm, after hours of effort, you tell 2 of them to squat down in the car as you pull up to the hotel, so the check-in lady doesn't see how many we have. You ask for a room for the Mrs. and the 2 little ones, then you sneak around the back, conspicuously carrying 2 sleeping bags, 2 sleeping pads, 2 pillows and 2 layers of bribery for whichever 2 kids volunteer to sleep on the floor.
You will be able to spot us in the morning as the parent carrying 6 waffles, orange juices, and sausages out of the continental breakfast bar so we can eat in our room.
Goodnight, and good luck.