Lights Out

Coming back from the group dinner last night, our driver cruised right on by the hotel. I noticed when we passed Starbucks and when everyone else agreed that the hotel was surely behind us, the van got turned around and we headed back into a eerie darkness. Where was the hotel? Exactly where we'd left it, only completely without power due to the storm. The hotel had someone stationed in the entryway, prying the automatic doors open as people approached. Inside, a camp lantern lured you to the front desk, where they were handing out glo-sticks to those without their own source of light. Room keys were rumored to work but there was a working fireplace in the bar if you didn't want to sit in your room in the dark. Most of us opted for the cozy fire and, after a bit of cajoling, got the hotel to open the bar too - they didn't want to serve alcohol in the dark, in case we might bump into things. After pointing out that we were going to bump into things anyway, they relented and we settled in before the fire for an animated discussion about the emergency lighting in the hotel. We're SUCH party animals.