So there we were, out in the middle of the woods at a house in the country. No cellphone service, no way into the house, no belongings beyond the bridesmaid dresses we were wearing, Laurie's purse, and a borrowed car. We would have to drive to the closest small town to make any phonecalls, and it was already far too late to be dropping in at Eileen's parent's place, where we were sure there would be spare keys for the other doors of the house, and we also knew we'd get a spot on the floor to sleep without question. (there were lots of out-of-town visitors, the beds would all be full) A weighing of pros and cons... the less travelling the better at that point... we were tired, and ready to get out of those dresses. So we drove to the closest small town where we knew there was a motel.
Sad fact, most small town motels close up shop by about 11pm. There wasn't a light on in the place. Decision making time again. Where to now? We were only about a 20 to 30 min drive from the outskirts of Winnipeg, and there was a big casino hotel we were sure would have rooms. So with just a little more driving, we'd splurge on the expensive hotel, and we'd get a place to sleep.
Apparently even the biggest hotels get sold out, especially on a Saturday night when a big-name band is in town. (I think it was AC/DC?) The girl at the desk told us that if we waited she might have a room open up at 3am. (3am, seriously? Who leaves at... I really don't want to know!) Uh, ya, we want to sit in your lobby for a couple of hours, all dressed up, for a maybe. Any other suggestions? She also suggested that the Radisson downtown had a few rooms last time she checked. The Radisson is only a 15min drive from my parent's place, I may as well go home at that point! Anything closer? Not that she'd recommend us staying at. I'm not totally sure what she meant by that. And considering how dressed up we were, she may have thought we just wanted a really fancy place to stay at. But the way she said it, it really sounded like we were better off not going anywhere nearby. We thanked her and headed back to the car. It seemed like a much better idea to just head to my parent's place than continue wandering from place to place. We'd spend less money on gas getting there and back than we would on a hotel anyways.
Somewhere around 2am, we pulled into my parent's driveway. I dug out the spare key, we slipped into the house as quietly as you can in high heels, and made our way to the spare room. Luckily, my mother keeps some spare winter clothes in a dresser in the the spare room. We dug around, found stuff we could sleep in, washed up in the bathroom, and finally got to sleep.
Our adventure wasn't over yet though. We still needed to get our stuff back! And return the borrowed car.
So the next morning, bright and early, we called Eileen's parents to explain our dilemma. Feeling very sorry for us, they promised to stop by and unlock the house before church. So after we had breakfast, I changed into some comfy clothes of my mother's and Laurie decided her small frame was better suited to putting her dress back on. I borrowed a car from my parents so we could drop off the other borrowed car on the way back out of town to pick up our stuff. By the time we made our leisurely way back to Eileen's house, it was noon, and her parents were already back at the house after church. We came in, talked a bit, ran upstairs to get changed and pack up. (and brush our teeth... so nice to get the toothbrush back!) Back in normal clothes, and with all our belongings in the trunk, we headed back to Winnipeg and treated ourselves to a lunch out at a lovely cafe. (Stella's. Which is Laurie's favorite)
I then headed back to my parent's place for a nap, because I was driving to Texas that evening!
No comments:
Post a Comment