Earlier this week, Nathaniel made a fantastic discovery while browsing Craigslist: there was a 2001 Volvo V70 listed for a great price in the KC area which is only about 3 hours from us! We did some checking on Carfax and spoke with the seller and decided that we would take a little roadtrip to KC for an overnight adventure. I got a good deal on a room at the Q Hotel, a new “green” hotel in the westport district and we headed out with Søren and my teenaged sister, Theo in tow on Friday when Nathaniel got off work.
Road Trip! Theo and Søren at our first stop.
Yes, Søren is mostly naked in that picture. He likes to chew on a mesh feeder bad filled with ice cubes while we’re in the car but he hates having soaked clothes. Look very closely and you might see two of Søren’s new teeth!
We arrived in Kansas City proper and promptly headed to the hotel to check in and unload before trying to find some dinner. The hotel was pretty swanky but I LOVE boutique hotels and this one seemed to be perfect for our eco-conscious family with it’s recycling and composting programs, low-flow toilets, CFLs, and other “green” features. Unfortunately, the service was pretty much terrible from the start and the night manager and only other front-desk employee seemed to be irritated by having to put down their blackberry phones to attend to customers. Finally after much typing and chatting (with the other employee and guests, not us) the manager gave us the keys to our room and we went to the car to get our bags. When we came in and asked how to get to our room, we got a look that said ‘figure it out’ and a point in the direction of the elevator. We found the room and I was a bit apprehensive due to the beer-toting people in the hallway and group of propped doors at the end of the hall. A LOUD party was ensuing. We tried to open our door but the privacy latch caught. Thinking it was weird, I tried again. This time we heard a stern “WRONG ROOM!!!” called out from within. Great. We headed back to the desk to tell them the room was occupied. They were not pleased and started typing away at the computer again. They called the room and apologized to the guests, then pulled out their papers and our papers. I peeked over the desk and saw that they had identical check in and check out dates and room numbers so there was no clerical error, they simply double booked the same room. All this time we’ve spent hanging out in the lobby, Søren has been perfectly behaved and smiling at everyone. Finally, we were given keys to a different room and headed into that one very cautiously. Luckily, it was unoccupied so we dropped our stuff, used the restroom and logged on to the wifi to find a place to eat. Keep in mind that at this point it’s 10pm! The room fiasco took more than an hour! We ended up eating at PF Changs- not ideal as I prefer locally owned restaurants, especially when travelling, but they served dinner until midnight so it was the best option. After dinner we headed back to the hotel where the staff had thankfully delivered the rollaway we requested… with no pillows. We called down and asked for two pillows and after MUCH hesitation, the man at the desk said that they’d send someone up in a bit. I went to use the complimentary computer service in the lobby while Nathaniel played with and read to Søren. Now, I understand that air conditioning isn’t very eco-friendly… we haven’t used ours yet this year at our house! Celing fans would be nice though- the computer room was stifling, humid, and to add to the tropical feel, there were tiny flies that kept landing on my screen! I went back to the room after about half an hour and found Nathaniel and Søren reading quietly and Theo passed out on the rollaway with two pillows- one of them from our bed! They only brought her one pillow when I specifically requested two! I layed down to nurse and decided to watch a little television since we don’t have one at home and I thought it’d be a fun treat. The television wasn’t plugged in. When we plugged it in, it wouldn’t work and continuously shut off. After 20 or so minutes of tinkering, it finally stayed on and I flipped through channels. Søren went to sleep pretty easily because he was tired out from his long day. Our neighbors, on the other hand, came back to their room at about 1:30 am and knocked things around and showered for about an hour before they presumably fell asleep.
We woke up this morning to head to the complimentary hot breakfast bar where we had fresh omelets and waffles that were the best part of the hotel stay. The dining room had a VERY institutional feel for such a nice hotel though. Nathaniel surprised me by sending me to the in-hotel spa after breakfast for a massage. I headed there ready to relax from the rest of the hotel debacle but found only a small, cramped room. The massage therapist was nice but after three comments on my part about too much pressure, still didn’t let up. I’m so sore still that I can barely sit comfortably.
At check-out, the employee at the desk asked us how our stay was and when we replied with a halfhearted “alright” he LITERALLY glared at us. No joke. He said “just alright?” but was obviously not looking for a reply because when we attempted to elaborate, he cut us off with a question about the debit card.
I know that sounds pretty harsh but really I would never dream of staying in that hotel again. It was worse than getting a motel room at a Sleep-Inn would have been except that the bed was pretty comfortable.
Anyway, the trip was not all terrible! Today, we started the day by heading to Happybottomus, a cloth diaper store in Lee’s Summit, MO. I’d never been to a brick-and-mortar cloth diaper store so that was fun! We ended up getting quite the variety of merchandise including a wool wrap, a new pul cover, 2 new wetbags (one is a pail liner, the other is for the diaper bag), hemp nursing pads, 2 bumgenius snap closure organic all in ones to try out, and a couple of other items. The young female employee at the store was extremely personable, helpful, and sweet.
Then, the moment we’d been waiting for. We went to check out the car in Overland Park. We walked up and introduced ourselves to the owner who was very nice and then started looking the car over. The first thing I noticed was that the inside was quite dirty. It was going to take some real work to clean it all out. The exterior had some scratches and dings but nothing really serious. Nathaniel test drove it and when he got back, we made an offer on it. After a quick barter, we reached a deal and with that, we purchased our first family car at a fantastic price!
After a nice trip to Whole Foods where we always spend way too much money (we never get to go to them, okay?!) we headed home. I led our mini-caravan with Theo and Søren in the back seat of my Pontiac and Nathaniel followed in the station wagon. We stopped halfway and Søren nursed in the back of the Volvo at a gas station while the rest of us ate dessert.
Hanging out in the hatch on the Volvo's maiden voyage (with our family, that is!)
Søren started screaming 30 minutes from home and there was no reasonable way to stop for him. I felt awful by the time we pulled up at my mom’s house to drop Theo off but he recovered immediately when I picked him up. After we left and got to our own home sweet home, my very dear friends Emily, Daniel, and Cole stopped by to visit. We had a grand time catching up (Em and Cole go to school in Illinois) and they loved playing with Søren who was very excited to see his “stuff” when we got home.
All in all, I think the trip was a success. We ended up having fun despite the issues and Søren was as perfect a baby as one could ask for until those last 30 minutes. I was initially worried about him in a hotel but he slept fine and never once screamed/cried/otherwise disturbed any sleeping guests.
I will leave this post with a few bonus pictures of the kiddo from the last week!
Nathaniel wearing Søren in the ring sling at the Branson Landing last weekend.
I think that messy baby pictures are gross but he was so happy with his yogurt and avocado "meal"
Søren still doesn’t really EAT much in the way of solid food but he’s begun to really enjoy tasting and playing with food. Yay! It’s pretty fun to let him get all messy and then let him play in the bath. He thinks so too!
