Tag Archives: La Quinta

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Night #4 at La Quinta…

When you have pets, La Quintas are a good bet.  They offer basically comfortable accommodations and don’t charge pet fees.  Last year, when Bill and I moved to Texas, we stayed in two La Quintas.  One was a really nice place in Beaumont, Texas, clean, convenient, comfortable, and right next to a Sonic.  The other was an older, rather shitty property right next to Interstate 35.  It had a nice shower and a good bed.  Other than that, I pretty much hated it.

The one we’re in right now is kind of a mixed bag.  The staff has been very tolerant of my hounds, who have mostly been good but are prone to a lot of barking when someone knocks or a sound makes them alert.  It’s basically clean and our room is fairly comfortable.  It’s not very close to any restaurants, though, which is only a problem because Bill gave up the rental car today.  His mother is coming to get us early tomorrow morning to take us to Houston.

Our flight leaves at 3:50pm and we should be arriving in Frankfurt at about 8:30am and hopefully on the road to Stuttgart by 10:30.  We gotta get through customs because we have the dogs and they have to be examined and what not.  Should be fun, especially since we have to pay and the price is higher on Sundays.  But I figure it gets Bill to work earlier and it means we don’t have to spend another night in Texas.  The sooner we get to Germany, the sooner we can find our next house.

Anyway, this particular La Quinta kind of reminds me of a halfway house.  Obviously, a lot of people stay here because it’s near Sea World and Six Flags.  There are a lot of kids around.  But it also has the feel of temporary digs.  There’s a barbecue outside and a well attended pool and hot tub.  Having seen how many kids are out there, I decided I would not partake.  There’s probably a lot of pee in the pool and my immune system is not what it used to be.  But I am kind of impressed that there is a spa out there, given that this property is kinda low brow.  I would add pictures, but our room hasn’t been serviced since Wednesday and the pictures wouldn’t provide an accurate picture of what it looked like when we checked in.

I don’t like the breakfast at this La Quinta.  It’s pretty cheap, with mostly fake food.  I’d rather eat at McDonald’s.  Fortunately, Bill’s mom gave us breakfast this morning and let us use her washer and dryer.  We have been very lucky to have her.  She’s making this move to Germany a lot easier for us.

Bill is sitting at the desk in our room, swearing at the VA.  He cracks me up.

The dogs have enjoyed the trash littered field next to the hotel.  There’s lots to sniff out there… and lots of poop that hasn’t been cleaned up.

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Yet another La Quinta…

We’re staying at a La Quinta about 40 minutes from where our soon to be former house is.  It actually would have made more sense to stay at a La Quinta closer to Converse, since it’s on the way to Houston.  But Bill’s mom lives on the northwestern side of San Antonio, so we decided to stay closer to her.  She’s driving us to Houston.  Or actually, Bill will probably drive… and she will come along and drive back home afterwards.

I’m going to stay in the hotel tomorrow while Bill deals with the movers.  I’ve done all I can do and the dogs need to be kept out of the way.  I’m happy because I don’t want to go back to that house ever again and now I don’t have to.

We are at La Quinta because it’s pet friendly and reasonably priced.  It’s basically got all we need, though if we were sans dogs, I’d want a more comfortable place.  The breakfast at La Quinta rather sucks.  This particular La Quinta is pretty well booked, too.  Hope I can keep the dogs calm tomorrow.  I’d almost want to go with Bill tomorrow because I think I’ll be bored, stuck here with no car.  But it’s really too hot to leave the dogs outside all day while the movers come in and out of the house.

Hard to believe I’ll be in Germany again in just a few days.  I will have plenty to write about.

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The big road trip… part four

Since we had good luck with La Quinta in Beaumont and needed pet friendly digs in San Antonio, we decided to book the La Quinta on Rittiman Road in San Antonio.  There are several La Quintas in San Antonio.  I chose the one on Rittiman Road because it was close to where the property manager’s office is.  It’s also very close to Fort Sam Houston, which is where Bill will be working; but that wasn’t important for this stay.

I should mention that San Antonio has a number of pet friendly hotels.  But the Army will only pay so much per night and since we don’t really know our way around yet, we opted for Rittiman Road.  In retrospect, it wasn’t the best choice in terms of lodging or locale.  The La Quinta we stayed in locally was a bit of a dive.  Located between a mega church/Christian school and another motel and Mexican restaurant, it was obvious this particular property had seen better days.  There are also train tracks on the other side of the interstate, so when you don’t hear the rushing of cars speeding by, you’ll hear the train whistle blow.

First view of the room.

Bathroom

The “view” from our one window.

Peeling wallpaper

Yuck!  What is that?

And that?

“Helpful” handout…

 

It was not the worst place Bill or I have ever stayed, but it was a bit on the depressing side.  The wallpaper was peeling and the carpet was pretty gross.  There was one spot where someone had apparently spilled something.  Arran would not stop licking it until we covered it up.  They gave Bill a handout that was supposed to help with concierge needs, but as you can see from the above photo, it’s not very legible.  Their printer needs servicing.

The room was obviously very old school, yet had some modern touches like a big flat screen TV with some rather fancy features.  The bed was very comfortable and had decent linens, though the pillows were cheap.  Breakfast was fairly lame, though Bill did manage to make me a Texas shaped waffle.

I don’t actually like most waffles that much, especially when served with “butter spread”.  But I had to admit that waffle was pretty cute.

I must also give credit to the La Quinta’s shower, which offered plenty of hot water and great water pressure.  I had no way of knowing how much I would miss hot showers when we checked out, since I thought we’d have gas hooked up in our house.

The Mexican restaurant next door also has very good food and is easy to walk to, so that was also a plus.

There are also no pet fees to speak of, which is a good thing.  And there is a coin operated washer and dryer available  for guests and that came in handy, too.

All that being said, though, I wouldn’t stay at that particular La Quinta again unless circumstances forced me to.  It’s not the most awful dive I’ve ever been to, but it’s very far from being even close to the best.

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The big road trip… part three

We decided to make our next stop Beaumont, Texas.  It’s a bit over the Texas line from Louisiana.  That meant we would drive across the lower part of Louisiana on our third day of driving.  I thought it was interesting when we got down to Mobile, Alabama since the horse I owned as a teenager was born in Baton Rouge and purchased by a woman in Mobile who bought his mom when he was a foal.  Mobile was interesting, because that was when the wetlands started.  It was also cool to be so close to Florida and Mississippi at the same time.  But once we got into Louisiana, with its welcome signs in French and English, that’s when I noticed we were down in the bayous for real.

We stopped in Mandeville, Louisiana for gas and loaded up on some high octane stuff for my car.  I noticed that once the tank was full, I had a range of 567 miles!  Amazing!  My car holds about 15 gallons and we didn’t have to stop again for gas until we got to Flatonia, Texas, which is not far from San Antonio.

Anyway, after gassing up, I followed Bill and we had to detour through a parking lot to get back on the interstate.  A lot of traffic was coming and Bill and I got separated.  Some nice lady noticed me waiting in the parking lot to get on the road and very kindly let me in.  Yes, I bitch about inconsiderate drivers, but I also like to call out the ones who are nice.  She did me a solid.

I thought about pulling off of I 10 for a pee break, but decided I didn’t need to.  And then I saw the sign warning us that there were no more facilities for the next 20 miles.  Yup… there’s a nice bridge over some serious wetlands in Louisiana.  As we drove across, we encountered some heavy rain.  Wish some of it would hit Texas.

When we got to the other side of the causeway, we stopped for lunch at a Wendy’s.  Bill got me a burger that was smothered in mayo.  Pretty gross for a sweltering hot, humid day in Louisiana.  It actually felt like Hell outside.  I called my mom because she’d left me a message.  As Bill was fetching lunch and I was trying to handle the dogs, Mom laid a big guilt trip on me about attending Thanksgiving in Virginia this year.  I was kind of annoyed by the conversation.

Then we started back on the road.  The first thing I noticed when we crossed into Texas was how much nicer the roads were.  It reminded me of the time I took a bus trip from Yerevan, Armenia to Istanbul, Turkey.  As soon as we crossed into Turkey, stuff worked.

The second thing I noticed was that the exit mile signs start at 850.  There’s a sign that says it’s 850 miles to El Paso.  That’s a long way.

The third thing I noticed was that the speed limit went up to 75 miles per hour.  Of course, I couldn’t enjoy the higher limit because Bill was towing a UHaul and I needed to stay close to him.

We stayed in a La Quinta because they are pet friendly; I had never stayed in one; and they don’t charge pet fees.  The one we encountered on the west side of Beaumont was very nice.  It was right next to a Sonic, so Bill was able to get me some ice cream.  And it was very clean; the room was large; and the bed was very comfortable.  In fact, I actually went looking to find out what kinds of beds La Quinta uses.

Nice bed.

The bathroom had bare essential toiletries, but was functional.

Nice view of the TV.

Microwave and fridge

Arran decided to make a bed out of my duffel bag.

 

I can give high marks to the La Quinta Inn and Suites in Beaumont West.  They were pretty awesome to deal with.  Wish I could say the same about the next La Quinta we stayed in.

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Gotta find a local hotel…

A week from today, our furniture is going bye-bye.  We’ll be in transit, but we have to stay in a local hotel for a couple of nights so we can clean up the house.  I don’t think it’ll take a really long time to get that done, since this house is smaller than the last one was and has no carpets.

Sanford, North Carolina is not the most cosmopolitan place in the world.  Last time we stayed around here, we stayed in Fayetteville, which is pretty far from Sanford.  So I guess I’ll be consulting TripAdvisor to find a suitable place.  And then we will probably stay in a series of La Quintas, since they are famously pet friendly and we will have the dogs with us.

I generally stay with the dogs when we travel with them, so they don’t bother other people or get into trouble.  Last time we moved, it was pretty easy because Atlanta was only about six hours away.  Once we were done cleaning, we went to sleep at a hotel, picked up the dogs, and started driving.  This time, it will take a few days to get where we’re going.  I’ve always wanted to drive across the country, but I’d rather do it in one car and without pets.

It’s a lot more fun to do this kind of trip when it’s really a trip and not a move.

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