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The Labor Day Holiday weekend, lengthened by one day due to the threat of Hurricane Earl, was spent visiting Rhonda’s parents (Western Maryland), spending time at the Thunder Over the Blue Ridge Airshow, and relaxing.

David and I, with the puppy (Jesús) is tow, took some time to explore off the beaten path. I was reminded of some of the simple pleasures that life has to offer.

For the second year in a row an American Robin nested on our front door.  Unlike last year, where no eggs resulted, four were laid and all hatched.  The babies are almost three days old in this video and we only hope that they mature and fly off quickly.  Having a bird, eggs and now young hatchlings precariously perched on our front door has made things challenging.

No equivocation, Rhonda and I totally, completely, utterly struck out with a choice in hotels this weekend. I wont go so far as to say it was the hotel from hell, not quite there, but close, close in all the wrong ways.

My wife had only the best of intentions; she was being thoughtful, considerate and spontaneous. A weekend of rain and cancelled beach plans lay ahead of us on Saturday afternoon. Rhonda went online, found an inexpensive hotel in Williamsburg (30 minute drive) with an indoor pool. She booked two nights stay, counting on a spur-of-the-moment family get away, permitting David to enjoy the pool and a hotel room (he is still at the jumping on the beds, hotel adventure phase). More important, she pre-paid in full to receive a 25% discount, a fatal mistake.

We planned to drive down, spend the night in the hotel, order pizza, rest up, then have all Sunday to take a family day and enjoy shopping, touring Williamsburg, the College (William & Mary), a purposeful family day.

All those plans held until we arrived at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel. Now I know, you get what you pay for, and $50 for a night at a hotel is not the Ritz, nor the Hilton, but this place was a dump. Leaking ceiling tiles, dirty floors, the “bar”, “restaurant” and “tea room” all closed and under “construction and renovation”. One got the impression that these spaces had been under a permanent state of “renovation” for months if not years. The “pool” was unheated, a half dozen dirty towels tossed on a table in a corner. The Plexiglas roof that covered the pool had not been cleaned in decades, to say nothing of the excessive rust the lined the steel beams.

The rooms and their decor was plucked right out of the 1970′s, with brick interior walls covered with thick layers of white paint. The toilet had perhaps 1/2 pound of water pressure and backed up constantly. Maintenance personnel were non-existent, and calls to the front desk brought no resolution. After several calls, “Phil” finally came upstairs with a plunger wrapped in a trash bag, and then spent ten minutes trying to dislodge a clog.

Close inspection of the elevator revealed that it had not been inspected by the county in two years and had an air of a death trap. Essentially the whole “Plaza Hotel” gave the impression of an establishment barely staying in business or on the way out of business.

To make matters worse the weather has remained overcast, rainy and humid. In total, the Morales’ experienced an eventful and challenging weekend away.