Americana Hotel and Swimming in the Snow

When I was a kid, we went on a lot of family vacations. Most of the time, we traveled by car to a National Park (with a stop somewhere to ride a steam train) and car-camped. We would hike and go for drives and spot wildlife and recite the spiel from the rangers' station ad nauseam: "Hello, five dollars please. Keep the receipt, show when you leave, good for 7 days." (I still remember it, that's how much we said it...sorry mom and dad).

Anyway, a few times, we traveled by plane to somewhere fun and educational. But, we were still money conscious...finding good deals and eating cold cereal in the hotel room because continental breakfasts hadn't been invented yet (or so my mom says). The two of those trips I remember most were Florida and Washington D.C. In Washington D.C., my mom was so proud of the great deal she got on our hotel, "And it even has free breakfast!" We got the rental car and drove past tall, shiny hotels until we arrived in front of the Americana Hotel.



It had bright pink and green doors on each room, a perfectly gaudy lobby complete with 60's decor and hideous puke-colored carpets throughout. I remember getting stuck on the questionable elevator and also being locked "in" our room because the door got stuck and I think one of us climbed through the bathroom window to open the door from outside. The free breakfast was literally stale donuts and room-temperature Tang. We still haven't let my mom live it down and it's been more than 20 years since the trip! I'm sure we did a lot of fun and educational stuff in Washington D.C., but the thing we remember most was the Americana Hotel.

Well, last night, I took a gamble at the Blockbuster Express while I was at the grocery store and brought home a movie I had never heard of called "State of Play" (I still don't understand what the title had to do with the movie).

It starred Ben Affleck and Russel Crowe...so in my mind, it could be great or horrible. Despite our skepticism, it turned out to be pretty good, but the best part was when Russel Crowe's character blackmailed a rich, flashy bachelor guy to come with him to a private location for some questioning. The dialogue literally went like this:

"You're sure this place is nice? I'll be comfortable?"
"Yes, it's a nice place."

Then they pull up to none other than THE Americana Hotel! The disgust on the rich guy's face is apparent as they walk into the room with puke-colored carpet and gaudy flowered wallpaper.

"What is this hole? Where did you bring me?"

Then he tries to sit on the bed as he is answering intense life-or-death questions from the reporters, he fusses with the bedspread and then stands back up, muttering, "This bed is disgusting!"

Later, Russel Crowe's character calls Ben Affleck's character to ask him to come to the hotel, saying, "Remember that place we went for so-and-so's bachelor party?" and Ben Affleck's face is like, "Oh great, that dive?" as he agrees to come. The scenes in the lobby as they talked made the taste of stale, plain donuts (no icing or sprinkles or anything) come to my mouth and distracted me for a moment.

I picked up my phone to call my sister and realized it was 10 pm and she is out of the country anyway...but my mom is in town and I was able to share the experience with her this morning. Awesome.

In other news, we went swimming today in the middle of a snowstorm...here are the pictures.





As you can see, the attempts at a cheerful group photo went really well. Stinkers.