Just a False Alarm

This past weekend we met friends from college in Minneapolis. The weekend started out beautifully. Ate supper at the Rainforest Cafe. The kids were enthralled with the talking apes, fish, waterfalls and artificial thunderstorms at the cafe. Also went to the Underwater Adventure Aquarium. Evan in particular LOVED the aquarium, especially the sharks. Then we did some rides at Camp Nickelodeon.

Met the others in our group Sat. morning. Visited the Jackson St. Roundhouse. What a hidden gem! The kids went inside restored RR cars, worked crossing signals and even got to sit in the engine of a real diesel train for a short ride down the track. The diesel pulled a caboose which held the adults and any kids not able to fit in the engine.

After lunch we drove to the Minneapolis Firefighters' Museum. The kids squirted water at a fire, got chased around by a large remote-controlled hydrant, climbed on various types of fire trucks and took a short ride on a real fire truck around the neighborhood.

One of the families in our group had to leave that afternoon. They wished they could stay another night, but the life of a pastor required them to lead church services the next morning. The rest of us would later regret not leaving with them.

When we returned to our motel, we noticed that a fan was blowing on the first floor carpet and the window was open at the end of the hall. Didn't think too much of it. Swam in the pool. Due to the obvious fact that not all five family members fit in the shower simultaneously, Cami and I went up to rinse off first. It was then that I discovered that we had no hot water. It wasn't even lukewarm. I had the coldest sponge bath of my life as did Cami. I warned Craig and the boys when they returned, so they skipped the rinsing altogether. Phoned the front desk. We were told the entire hotel had no hot water and that a plumber was on the way.

Around 7PM Craig asked the front desk for an update. He was told, "Three hot water heaters, twenty minutes to fix each, hot water should be back in service this evening."

Socialized with the remaining two families and went to bed. Meanwhile, the hotel was filling to capacity with athletes in town for the Special Olympics. Cami, who usually doesn't sleep well in strange places, didn't fall asleep until 10:30. At 12:30 AM, we were awakened by the deafening screech of the fire alarm. Craig woke up confused and was desperately trying to shut off our alarm clock while I yelled, "Fire alarm! Fire alarm!" until he got the picture. One of us had the sense to grab the room key while the other grabbed the car keys. We ordered the kids to put their shoes on, grabbed our purses and wallet and headed out. The special olympic athletes were terrified. We sat in our van, thankful that we had left our coats in the vehicle and that it wasn't winter. We waited. We wondered how many people hadn't grabbed their room keys. A police car, at least two ambulances and fire engines arrived. After about 15 minutes we were told we could return to our rooms. No reason for the alarm was given. We thought maybe one of the special needs persons had pulled it. As we were settling the kids back in, I told Craig I had a bad feeling it was going to happen again. We were just falling back asleep when the alarm went off again. The kids had been pretty calm the first time, but now they were screaming. My friend was worried about her baby who wasn't old enough to cover his ears. This time I went downstairs by myself. The firefighters were standing on the first floor in the same area where the fans had been blowing on the carpet. The door to a mechanical room was open and steam had filled the first floor hallway. The steam from the malfunctioning water heaters had been tripping the alarms. So much for the 20 minutes per heater fix.

Went to the front desk and asked if the alarms could be stopped. They said a plumber and someone from the alarm co. were on their way, but they couldn't guarantee this wouldn't keep happening. They also said we wouldn't have hot water by morning. We were staying at the Fairfield by Marriott. Frustrated, I called their sister hotel (Courtyard by Marriott) on the same block. The time was after 1AM. I explained the situation and the Courtyard would not offer us a deep discount. Thinking I'd have the same luck, I walked to the Hyatt on the other side of the parking lot. The desk clerk told me that if we could get the Fairfield to foot the bill, he'd give us a room for "free."

I returned to the Fairfield. The general manager had been summoned to the hotel by this time. She agreed to pay for the Hyatt room and also agreed to let us keep our belongings at the Fairfield until check out time in the morning. We grabbed what we would need to shower and left along with the other two families. We were unable to get a crib for Cami, who had miraculously slept through the WHOLE thing. We laid her on some couch cushions on the floor. It was 2AM before we were settled down. Our friends' baby woke up at 4AM for a feeding, so they got even less sleep.

At 8AM Cami woke up and asked, "Where's my crib?" We showered at the Hyatt, collected our things from the Fairfield, and checked out of both hotels. Craig was offered a choice of the second night being free or a voucher for a free stay at the same location in the future. He passed on the voucher.

I wasn't feeling well, probably from stress and lack of sleep. The baby in our group was unhappy and the parents were wiped out. We scrapped church and our Sunday afternoon plans and headed home.