... was fantastic. absolutely fantastic.
a quick rundown:
the lobby is as amazing as all the website pictures appear, with a number of adorable little seating niches - perfect for hanging out with wine, knitting (or, in my case, attempting to knit) and gossiping. the concrete floor had this delicate stenciled pattern on it and the front windows had curtains made from millions of hanging woven/crocheted string (the kind i remember from my childhood, where you could pull a thread at the end and unravel it in kinked nylon excitement).
there are 3 types of rooms, it seems:
- rooms that face the parking lots
- rooms that face the courtyard
- cabana rooms near the pool
we splurged and got one of their courtyard rooms from a getaway weekend deal, which was TOTALLY worth it. the room rate was less than normal, you get a bottle of wine, a day-long on-the-beach cabana rental (shade!) and a ridiculously delicious pulled pork sammy picnic lunch with 2 ice cold beers. SCORE! the courtyard rooms are totally worth it - you can leave your door open and it's beautiful. we even had a mini-fridge and a small seating area with an adorable ceramic light.
from the beach cabana (& where i wish i were right. this. instant.)
mmmmmmmmmmmmmemories...... (of the first night, second night was rough... if you saw my tweet, you know why....)
the good: no roach infestation in the room (as some of the reviews seemed to imply) (thank CHRIST); super cold air conditioning during the day; excellent water pressure; clean sheets; 1st floor room meant no stairs!
super foofy pillows!
the bad: box springs are very creaky (which made me feel like the beds were cheap); 1st floor room meant we could hear the people above us, including their toilet activities (not *too* bad); super cold air conditioning seemed to fail in the middle of the night, wherein i woke up hot & sweaty; we were never told, even at check in, that there would be a wedding that weekend.
sadly, i did not take 500 billion photos as i originally intended. the first night we just relaxed and took it leisurely. and then.... starting saturday morning... the courtyard was completely taken over by the wedding - photographers, caterers, tables, linens - it was awkward. each time we came out of the room, we felt a little like we were invading a private event. (hello? a little warning?! thanks.)
the magical nighttime photos planned for saturday night? utterly scuttled.
in fact, we pretty much had to scoot off the property for a while, either going to look at thrift stores or relaxing on the beach (which sounds ridiculous, i know, but sometimes you just want to have the choice of relaxation venue). the cute little letter we got from management for our getaway weekend seemed to imply that we wouldn't even need to leave the property, it was so relaxing!! try again. we just felt like outsiders at a wedding that took over the entire hotel. towards the end of the night, as we got progressively more drunk on wine and cheese, we sat on the concrete slab in front of our room and watched the wedding and ended up meeting our swedish hotel neighbors.
1) (violeta) she's a server who gets paid $15 an hour. (one of her actual quotes: "yes, we get paid more, but we don't have the same tipping rules. i mean, maybe on a night... i get... maybe $150." WTF, $150 was a crazy good night for me when i was a server. note to self: move to sweden.) he (bjorn) was a bartender that worked 3 nights a week. THEY GET SIX WEEKS OF VACATION. in april and october, they take 3 weeks each and vacation in florida. poof. just like that. also, he wears an engagement ring.
2) i took my first drag on a cigarette. um...... FUCKING NASTY. meaghan was going on and on about how good it tastes with alcohol so i had the itty bittiest suck/inhale/baby drag from the cigarette she bummed off violeta. it burned. it was gross. (fucking gross.) and my hands smelled like old ashtray. smokers? ya'll are nasty. sorry.
and then, at the very end, when we were REALLY drunk, we ran up onto the stage/dance floor and had a rollicking' good time. if only we'd gotten some cake and had the balls to get pictures at the photo booth. damnit!
