Twas a cold and stormy… afternoon.

Not like ‘wake Frankenstein’ kinda stormy, more like ‘Donner Party’ kinda stormy.  Less-than-tropical winter storm Electra to be specific.

Rewind- through a varied set of conditions I ended up several weeks behind in work.  My job is very travel heavy, and quarterly based.  November to December my performance was travel bulimic and quarterly failing.  Because of that, when I could get back on the road- I needed to plan a long trip.  Last Sunday I attempted a trip to Rochester, planning on pinpointing all my locations along the New York Throughway corridor, east on the Mass turnpike then home by Christmas.  Luckily [sarcasm] a rough winter whiteout postponed me  until Monday.  Luckily [not sarcasm] escaping Delaware on the following day put me just ahead of (above?) the storm.  The majority of the week, save a light sprinkling on my way into Albany on thursday, was snow-free.

Then Saturday.  I left Albany early Saturday morning, heading east to Lanesborough, MA; and was met with light snowfall almost immediately upon entering Massachusetts.  I finished my work relatively quickly, intending to stay at that office until 4 or 5pm, to complete my final hike to Marlborough, MA arriving between 6 and 7.  By 1pm I decided working 16 days in a row gave me executive privilege to start my drive.  Whenever I’m in Marlborough, I make a point to stop by this amazing Brazilian restaurant – Pruller.  I can’t possibly recommend this place enough, and crave it whenever I’m away.

Anyway- no winter storm was keeping me from getting a takeout from Pruller.  The roads got scary a bit, but made it safely.  So, 5 lbs of assorted Brazilian meats in hand I checked in.  I only stay at the nearby Holiday Inn because of Pruller.  Not to say that isn’t a great hotel, they are actually very modern and clean, but with my business discount I don’t accrue points for staying there (other than the platinum bonus 500 I get, rather than the customary welcome bag).

Planning on being here several days this time (and with the possibility of getting snowed in), I asked to be placed in a room with a refrigerator (typically this results in the hotel sending up a small dorm fridge for the room, which is more than adequate.)  This time I was greeted with “We’ll just put you in a suite”.  I’ve heard suite before, sometimes its a slightly bigger room, sometimes its just that it has a fridge built in.  This time the room is literally 2-3x the size of my first apartment.  A bedroom I could fit my car in three-fold, a separate living room with couch and recliner,  a full kitchen, and a bathroom suitable for any prosticide in New England!

Is this an editorial that boils down to “This was a long trip, I was worried about driving and it all worked out”?  Yeah.. pretty much, but I’m sitting on a couch, watching Naked Gun, while a hot cup of better-than-hotel-coffee brews up in the Keurig and my stomach is full of random Brazilian prepared animal protein, and if I have to get snowed in to any hotel situation, I appreciate it being this one.

Almost makes me want to go on a run by the lake tomorrow morning.. too bad I didn’t pack appropriately for that 🙂