Through the window

Usually when my husband and I travel, we stay in a tent or a cheap hotel, crowded in with all the kids, but for this trip, my husband was attending a conference, and the conference was held at a luxury hotel. It's the first time we've ever stayed in such a place. It's not the lifestyle I'd choose – the waste of resources would make me feel guilty – but it was certainly worthwhile to experience that lifestyle. You know how in movies people stay in fancy hotels where they put on white bathrobes? This place actually gave us thick white bathrobes. We'd come back from a hike, wet and muddy, and the first thing I'd do is strip off all my clothes and put on the white bathrobe so that I could just lounge about in one of the comfy chairs by the window like a character in a movie.

Of course, some of the services in the hotel seemed kind of strange. We returned from an evening walk one night to find the bedcovers on the bed pulled back and the drapes drawn. My husband's first thought was: "Wait, we walked into the wrong room." My first thought was: "Someone has been here! Did they take anything?" Then we saw the chocolate mints on the pillows and a note explaining that "Melissa" had performed the "turn-down" service for us. I have to say, I think it's a little weird to think that we would have been unable to pull back the bedcovers ourselves, but I am entirely in favor of the tradition of passing out chocolates.

The best part of the hotel was simply the incredible view we had out the window. We spent hours just snuggling in the comfy chairs by the windows and watching the mountains. The mists and rainclouds would roll across the slopes, shifting what we could see, and in the late afternoon, the sun sent shadows across the landscape. In the evening, the sky turned dark blue, and the mountains become dark silhouettes.



The view through the window.