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| King studio #302 in Staybridge Suites Cincinnati South |
We received no welcome or status recognition at this hotel. In fact, our room had not even been preassigned when we arrived after check-in time. The 500 platinum points automatically posted to my account after check-in.
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| King studio #302 in Staybridge Suites Cincinnati South |
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| King suite 322 in Staybridge Suites Westport--St. Louis |
We received a great welcome at this hotel, along with an upgrade from a queen studio guestroom to a one-bedroom king suite.
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| King suite 322 in Staybridge Suites Westport--St. Louis |
This guestroom was the cleanest and most comfortable guestroom we stayed in this trip. The hotel was actually a few miles out of our way; however, when I was looking for hotels just south of St. Louis, this looked like one of the best options. We were happy with our decision to choose this hotel!
Sharing photos and a bit of information from our stay in London, Kentucky a few weeks ago!
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| Guestroom 226 in Fairfield Inn & Suites, London Kentucky |
The guestroom was comfortable, spacious, and clean. I do not know how old this hotel is; it appeared to be fairly new.
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| Guestroom 226 in Fairfield Inn & Suites, London Kentucky |
I like that the guestroom was at the end of the hall where it is usually quieter. I almost always request this in my reservation comments. Staff at this hotel had read my requests before we arrived.
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| Breakfast at Fairfield Inn & Suites, London Kentucky |
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| View of Gateway Arch in St Louis from our car |
We stayed at this hotel for just one night on our way south several weeks ago. I do not remember much about the stay, so it must have been okay, with no delightful or negative experiences. I have a few photos, so I am sharing those, along with the few things I do recall for sure.
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| Guestroom 322 in Holiday Inn Express Rolla, Missouri |
The hotel is next to I-44, with easy access to and from the expressway. It is about 1½ hours south of St Louis and Six Flags. I had also considered the Holiday Inn near Six Flags for our stop, but decided against that hotel because I thought it might have more families. I have nothing against families or children, although I do think traveling business guests tend to be quieter neighbors. The next morning, I was glad we had not chosen the Holiday Inn, because there was a fire at that hotel overnight. I do not think anyone got hurt; however, I imagine being displaced in the middle of the night must have been an ordeal for those guests.
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| Sunset from guestroom 328 in Home2Suites Joplin, Missouri |
I was not impressed with my arrival experience at this hotel. I was told that all of the guestrooms are suites, so there are no upgrades for diamond members. I realize all rooms are suites; however, there are also nicer rooms than the basic suites, and I have received upgrades at this type of hotel in other locations (Kalamazoo, Michigan, for one). The agent also implied that because this was my first stay at this property, I am not a real diamond member. Although she did not actually say that, she made me feel that way by telling me that regular diamond members all check in beforehand, and choose their rooms. As if they know what to do, and I don't! 😳 Well, I had looked at the app several times after check-in became available, and it never showed any rooms on the top floor in good locations, nor any upgrades. You can tell by looking at the diagram at the end of this post, that there are a few larger rooms in this hotel. I was able to get one of the few diamond parking spots every time I returned to the hotel, so it did not appear as though there were that many diamond members in the hotel. This is also the first time an employee at a Hilton hotel has told me that as a diamond member, I could not have any complimentary bottled water.
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| Guestroom 328 in Home2Suites Joplin, Missouri |
This hotel has four floors, and I received a room on floor three, near the end of the hall. My room was assigned when I checked in at the front desk. The guestroom was comfortable, clean, and quiet. I did not mind that I had not received an upgrade; I just did not like the way the front desk agent spoke to me. For those of you who do not know me--I am usually pretty easy going! I treat people with respect, and I speak in a polite manner.
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| Campsite 27 in Nichol's Lake South Campground |
This campground is on the south side of Nichol's Lake, just west of M-37. The campground has 28 primitive campsites (that we saw). The reservation site says there are 29 campsites in this park, and the US Forest service website says there are 30. We only saw sites 1 -28. Some sites are available first come, first serve, and some can be reserved through the recreation.gov reservation site. We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and more than half the sites were available. We could not choose an empty reservable site, however, because the host at this campground does not update the status like other national parks we have been to. Usually, the host has contact and posts signs on sites with upcoming reservation dates. If there is no reservation for the current night, then someone else can rent it. When we arrived, there were about 5 empty reservable sites with previous dates on the posts, and no upcoming dates. We were only staying one night, so I asked the host if it was okay to take once of the vacated sites that did not have an upcoming reservation tag on it. He said those sites can only be reserved. So, we moved down to campsite 27.
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| Above: view from vehicle on Skyline Drive Below: Jeremy's Run Overlook |
I am quite far behind with my travel sharing; this is just a brief post to share some photos of our drive through Shenandoah National Park in June of this year.
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| Above: Hogwallow Flats Overlook on Skyline Drive Below: Little Devil's Stairs Overlook |
We traveled Skyline Drive from Front Royal to Tunnel Parking Overlook and back. There is a National Park entrance fee to drive this road.
