I Thought My Day Was Over

So I thought all I had to do was drive from Norfolk to my hotel in Richmond and get to my hotel and my day would be over. Thats not my life - its never THAT easy.

I stopped at a grocery store in Norfolk and picked up some veggies - I've taken to staying at Residence Inns or Springhill Suites if its for more than one night because then I can buy healthy stuff and just fix good meals in my own kitchenetty thing. So, thats where I was headed - the Residence Inn in Richmond off of Dickens Road. I liked the sound of Dickens and the pictures looked good - I booked it.

Here's one thing you can learn from me about Marriotts -- most of their locations are new or have been newly remodeled - but there are ones that they've missed - and BOY have they missed them. Another thing is that the old Fairfields and Residence Inns were the kind with the outside doors. All rooms were accessed by doors that were just out by sidewalks with no real type of security.

I turned off on Bell St which leads to Dickens and in the distance I see tons of lights. All these firetrucks and police cars and such. Something big happened - and of course - it happened at Dickens where I needed to turn. There were 4 firetrucks and 8 police cars all parked around the Denny's at the corner and the road was closed off. I spent about 10 minutes circling around the back side of Dickens and looking for the Residence Inn that was neatly tucked away behind the Comfort Inn.

I noticed the doors right off the bat and I had a little hestitation, but when Chip at the desk asked if I'd rather stay somewhere else, I bravely said that it was fine there. I asked about a gym and he gave me passes for the Richmond Health Club about 5 miles from the hotel. I was still determined, even though it was almost 8 by now, that I was still going to get over and at least run. All I had to do was check in, get the groceries in the fridge, change and over to the gym - no problem.

I drove around back and got everything out of my trunk and made my way through the "breezeway" that led to my room. I had to tote everything up two flights of stairs and I finally got up, unlocked the door and swung it open with the ease of moving a sheet of styrofoam packing board. I then reached over and flipped a switch that turned on two small dim lights. I stood in the doorway of an enormously, cavernous room with two floors, silhouetted by a poor, sputtering yellow light over the kitchen sink. An eerie "Psycho" feeling came over me and I decided pretty quickly that I needed to leave that fine establishment.

The front desk clerk was extremely nice and understanding - I'm going to guess that it happened a lot that people ran after they visited a room. He called and got me another room at a Springhill Suites about 3 minutes down the highway. This actually turned out to be a mecca for me! :) It was a BRAND new hotel, 2 seconds from the highway, with a STARBUCKS right across the street and a CHICK-FIL-A down the road.... It was love at first sight! :)

By this time it was a little after 8:30 but I still got my run in on this amazingly beautiful, new Lifefitness machine - so smooth! Turned out to be a great night - and I can hit the Bucks on the way to the hospital tomorrow morning! The start of a great day!

Good night Richmond!