No Place LIke Home

The trip home from Calgary was uneventful. When flying and getting through airports, "uneventful" is good. We did have a little bit of a problem in checking out of our hotel. Up until check out, the hotel staff had been very friendly and helpful. I had made friends with several of the maids and clerks. But the same hotel clerk that I had witnessed being unprofessional with other guests was again very unprofessional and upsetting. On Friday afternoon, she came to our room. She said she had been trying to call me all morning (which was an out-right lie) and according to the files, we were suppose to check out on Friday. I told her no; it was Saturday that we were checking out. She said she would take care of it. A few minutes later, she called from the desk (see the phone did work fine) with a different story saying that we were suppose to check out on Sunday in order to get the monthly rate, and if we checked out early on Saturday she was going to have to charge us the daily rate of $149.00 a day rather than the monthly rate of $99.00 a day. Now, I'm thinking, "What!? One day makes such a difference?!" But rather than argue with an idiot, I told her that none of this was my business - that since the company was paying for this, Toby would deal with it when he came home - that she could take it up with him when he came in from work." Later that afternoon, I went down to the lobby to check my email and blog, and the hotel clerk attacked me again telling me that she was going to have to re-charge us at a different rate if we checked out on Saturday. I pretty much ignored her saying again that she needed to talk to my husband. By the time Toby came in, her shift was over, and the man clerk, who was now on duty, was new and did not seem to know what to do. Toby told him that we had already paid, our credit card had already been charged, that the room was ours until Sunday, but we were leaving on Saturday, and they could do what they wanted with the room once we left. Toby is always very matter-of-fact when dealing with business stuff. The whole thing really bothered me and made me fretful, although I tried to be more like Toby. I didn't want it to ruin my last evening there. Toby took me to one our favorite watering holes and I had a Grasshopper beer. It put me in a much more relaxed mood. Then Toby took me to Joey Tomatoes for a very nice dinner. We had a great "last evening in Calgary", but I was still a little worried about the possible confrontation when we checked out on Saturday morning. But my worry was all for naught. When we got to the lobby with all our luggage at 5 AM Saturday morning, there was a different clerk there. He said he would wait until the next day to "check us out" - no problem. So why did the lady clerk have to be such a pain in the butt and ruin my good time. Winning friends and influencing people was not her strong point.

We arrived in Duncan about 4:30 PM on Saturday after flying from Calgary to Denver and Denver to OK City. We drove straight to the Grand-girls' house. GBN1 was wound up pretty tight and a little excited to see us. GBN2 was a little shy. We visited with them for a while, and then went to eat supper with Jesse. Then we went to see the play, "Oklahoma" because Sarah Ann, one of my art girls, was playing Laurie. Several of my other art girls were also in the play. Emily danced an excellent ballet in the "dream scene" and was very animated through out her scenes. Megan played Gurdy and had a great laugh. Anna was just beautiful as one of the dancers and singers. Megan and Sarah's husbands were also in the play and did an excellent job. But Sarah Ann was absolutely great as Laurie. She has a killer voice and wowed the crowed. None of the girls thought I would be home in time to see the play - so afterwards when the cast lined up to meet the crowd, they all squealed when they saw me. And I squealed when I saw them. Toby and I were worn out from our travels, but seeing that play was just very important to me, and I think it was important to the girls. They were excellent! I was so proud of them.

I have some photos, but I can't seem to locate the cord that goes from my camera to the computer. It is going to take me a few days to get my life and my home straightened out, unpacked, and cleaned up. When I find things, I will post pictures and tell more stories.