This time of year I feel like I am running a marathon. While most folks are all caught up in gift shopping, holiday prep and various other related activities, I am in work mode. This is when I get busy at work. Really busy. Long hours and no days off throughout the month of December have been a part of my life since I got out of college. Like a runner, I put my head down and focus on the distant finish line, which right now in my case is so far out of sight I can not even see it.
When life gets like this I do better knowing there is a prize waiting for me. I like having a couple of weekend trips or a major vacation planned. It makes it easier to get through the workday when I know I am slowly counting down to some fun escape from the norm. Unfortunately between my insane December work schedule and a planned late January move to a new house, it might be a long time before I have a vacation or a quickie weekend get-a-way.
Before my friend Tammy moved out of Dallas a few years ago she gave me a book that she and her husband made great use of called ‘Romantic Days And Nights In Dallas/Fort Worth’. No it is not some twisted longhorn rodeo sex manual but it is filled with great ideas for weekend getaways with detailed descriptions of local hotels, Inns, as well as Bed and Breakfasts. I wish we had gotten the book sooner. My wife and I have been a bit gun shy about staying at local B and Bs ever since our last in-town weekend trip to a place in Fort Worth called the Lockheart Gables Inn.
We knew something was obviously not right when we pulled up in front of the place at the time we prearranged to check in and found the front door locked. After 20 minutes of trying different ways to get in or at least get someone inside’s attention, I called the Inn’s phone number. Marilyn the innkeeper answered and eventually wandered over, portable phone in hand, from a garage across the street where she said she had been ‘busy restoring antiques’.
We were tired and wanted to quickly check-in and get to our room but Marilyn insisted we take a tour of the place. The tour of the 4 downstairs rooms, not including the under-the-stairs closet that had been turned into the chapel “for whenever we want to pray”, should have taken about 3 minutes but instead took well over half an hour.
The tiny pink and gold colored living room had four uncomfortable rickety chairs with a floral print. The adjacent ‘music room’ had a piano that no one played and not much else. The nook near their private kitchen was filled with crummy Salvation Army quality crappy antiques lying on the floor that she repeatedly tried to sell us all weekend. In an effort to speed things up I oooed and ahhed at the monstrosity on the tearoom wall as she explained how she makes and sells these giant 5-foot wreaths that are filled with plastic flowers and mismatched broken teacups.
We finally were led upstairs to the guest rooms. On the way we passed a tiny 3’x 3’ bookshelf that she referred to as the library and a 20+-year-old refrigerator with a loud squeaky door and even louder humming motor that was stocked with soda and water. Eventually we were shown to our home for the next two days, the room described on their web-site as “presidential suite and hopelessly romantic” Melody Of Love room.
The room featured an antique pink sofa so beat up that your butt almost hit the floor when you sat on it, a tiny table with 2 chairs, a boom box with Christian music cds, and the room’s one of a kind focal point piece a queen sized bed that stood three feet off the floor on a home constructed bed frame made out of a sawed in half upright piano with sloppily nailed together wood planks. The bathroom walls were papered with peely and moldy pages of sheet music. The one thing we did thing think was hilarious was the towel rack and toilet paper holder made out of a rusty old trombone.
We were afraid to make too much noise because the walls were paper-thin and the floors loudly squeaked and creaked whenever you walked around. The next morning started with our Twilight Zoneishly creepy hosts Marilyn and her husband David bringing breakfast to our room (there is no dining room) an hour late and then forcing my wife and I to stand up and hug for several awkward minutes as they sang the entire song Melody Of Love to us. My wife and I were then instructed to kiss each other as they kissed each other. Afterwards we ate our coldish cutesy heart shaped pancakes, heart shaped toast and heart shaped fruit as I wondered allowed if they had a heart shaped trash can for me to vomit in.
My wife had wanted to watch a particular television show that afternoon so we asked about the TV they said they could supply us when we made the reservation. David grumbled at us and said he would try to find one. An hour or so later Marilyn came by to tell us they were going to church but they will look for a TV when they get back.
Several hours after that David rolled a small black and white model on a little stand into the room and then spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out how to attach it to the cable outlet. We were getting creeped out by his intense persistence and eventually told him it was just not that important and not to worry about it, but he just continued to loudly grumble and would not give up. He kept leaving and then coming back with different cords, wires and tools. Eventually he attached rabbit ears to the top and gave up.
The next morning’s breakfast was even later and colder but we were quite relived to learn there was no required hugging and singing. I guess for the right person this place would be fabulous but for my wife and I it was so over the top hideous that we never stopped laughing. With each crazier thing that happened we laughed even harder. Now that I think about it maybe spending my weekends at work this month is not that bad after all.
When life gets like this I do better knowing there is a prize waiting for me. I like having a couple of weekend trips or a major vacation planned. It makes it easier to get through the workday when I know I am slowly counting down to some fun escape from the norm. Unfortunately between my insane December work schedule and a planned late January move to a new house, it might be a long time before I have a vacation or a quickie weekend get-a-way.
Before my friend Tammy moved out of Dallas a few years ago she gave me a book that she and her husband made great use of called ‘Romantic Days And Nights In Dallas/Fort Worth’. No it is not some twisted longhorn rodeo sex manual but it is filled with great ideas for weekend getaways with detailed descriptions of local hotels, Inns, as well as Bed and Breakfasts. I wish we had gotten the book sooner. My wife and I have been a bit gun shy about staying at local B and Bs ever since our last in-town weekend trip to a place in Fort Worth called the Lockheart Gables Inn.
We knew something was obviously not right when we pulled up in front of the place at the time we prearranged to check in and found the front door locked. After 20 minutes of trying different ways to get in or at least get someone inside’s attention, I called the Inn’s phone number. Marilyn the innkeeper answered and eventually wandered over, portable phone in hand, from a garage across the street where she said she had been ‘busy restoring antiques’.
We were tired and wanted to quickly check-in and get to our room but Marilyn insisted we take a tour of the place. The tour of the 4 downstairs rooms, not including the under-the-stairs closet that had been turned into the chapel “for whenever we want to pray”, should have taken about 3 minutes but instead took well over half an hour.
The tiny pink and gold colored living room had four uncomfortable rickety chairs with a floral print. The adjacent ‘music room’ had a piano that no one played and not much else. The nook near their private kitchen was filled with crummy Salvation Army quality crappy antiques lying on the floor that she repeatedly tried to sell us all weekend. In an effort to speed things up I oooed and ahhed at the monstrosity on the tearoom wall as she explained how she makes and sells these giant 5-foot wreaths that are filled with plastic flowers and mismatched broken teacups.
We finally were led upstairs to the guest rooms. On the way we passed a tiny 3’x 3’ bookshelf that she referred to as the library and a 20+-year-old refrigerator with a loud squeaky door and even louder humming motor that was stocked with soda and water. Eventually we were shown to our home for the next two days, the room described on their web-site as “presidential suite and hopelessly romantic” Melody Of Love room.
The room featured an antique pink sofa so beat up that your butt almost hit the floor when you sat on it, a tiny table with 2 chairs, a boom box with Christian music cds, and the room’s one of a kind focal point piece a queen sized bed that stood three feet off the floor on a home constructed bed frame made out of a sawed in half upright piano with sloppily nailed together wood planks. The bathroom walls were papered with peely and moldy pages of sheet music. The one thing we did thing think was hilarious was the towel rack and toilet paper holder made out of a rusty old trombone.
We were afraid to make too much noise because the walls were paper-thin and the floors loudly squeaked and creaked whenever you walked around. The next morning started with our Twilight Zoneishly creepy hosts Marilyn and her husband David bringing breakfast to our room (there is no dining room) an hour late and then forcing my wife and I to stand up and hug for several awkward minutes as they sang the entire song Melody Of Love to us. My wife and I were then instructed to kiss each other as they kissed each other. Afterwards we ate our coldish cutesy heart shaped pancakes, heart shaped toast and heart shaped fruit as I wondered allowed if they had a heart shaped trash can for me to vomit in.
My wife had wanted to watch a particular television show that afternoon so we asked about the TV they said they could supply us when we made the reservation. David grumbled at us and said he would try to find one. An hour or so later Marilyn came by to tell us they were going to church but they will look for a TV when they get back.
Several hours after that David rolled a small black and white model on a little stand into the room and then spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out how to attach it to the cable outlet. We were getting creeped out by his intense persistence and eventually told him it was just not that important and not to worry about it, but he just continued to loudly grumble and would not give up. He kept leaving and then coming back with different cords, wires and tools. Eventually he attached rabbit ears to the top and gave up.
The next morning’s breakfast was even later and colder but we were quite relived to learn there was no required hugging and singing. I guess for the right person this place would be fabulous but for my wife and I it was so over the top hideous that we never stopped laughing. With each crazier thing that happened we laughed even harder. Now that I think about it maybe spending my weekends at work this month is not that bad after all.
CLICK BELOW TO GO THIER WEBSITE (FILLED WITH PICTURES)http://lockheartgables.com/melody_of_love.html
CLICK BELOW TO READ A GREAT REVIEW:http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55857-d226485-r8102090-Lockheart_Gables_Bed_Breakfast-Fort_Worth_Texas.html
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