Ramada: you can freeze to death and eat soggy cake!*
*To be fair, the soggy cake was not Ramada’s fault.
Neither of us slept last night, not more than a couple of hours. The bed was super uncomfortable, the kids didn’t leave the pool for at least an hour after we went to bed, some light (maybe from the A/C unit) was glowing too brightly, and I was fuh-REEZING. I can’t sleep when I’m shivering, there weren’t any extra blankets, and we were too tired to figure out the A/C plus it was mounted really high on the wall. We were both awake an hour before the alarm went off, awake enough that we just got up at 3:30 instead of waiting for it, and then our flight to Seattle was too short for napping (only 30 minutes in the air). We are going to crash so hard tonight.
So with the uncomfortable bed, the mildewy smell in the room, and a couple of other things, I think I have validated my resistance to Ramada hotels over the years. I mean, last night the price was right and obviously it was okay, but given a choice, I’ll choose something else.
The last time I can remember staying in a Ramada was for our first anniversary, 2001, in San Diego. John and I had just driven across the country for the first time, moving from Newport, RI to San Diego to get to my first ship. We didn’t have a place to live yet; the plan was to find an apartment within the first few days and stay in cheap hotels in the meantime. When we got there, we spent a night or two in a Motel 6 (where one night I got up around 3am and got in the shower because I thought it was morning), and then decided to splurge on the Ramada for our anniversary night.
Mom had packed the top layer of our wedding cake in dry ice for the cross-country trip. The dry ice lasted until we got to San Diego, and then we replaced it with regular ice for the last day or two. We realized that might have been a bad idea when we started to unwrap it in the hotel room. There was some dripping, and we moved to the bathroom sink.
First layer of aluminum foil: water from the ice. No big deal. Next layer of foil: more water. Next later of wax paper: water and a few crumbs. That’s when we started to worry. Next layer (foil or wax paper – can’t remember): more water, more crumbs. When we finally got to the actual cake it was pretty water-logged. The middle was still edible, but I can’t say it was good. Still – we ate it. I mean, not the whole thing, but enough to count.