Yes, busy tonight.
I forgot all about the vacation. We spent 4 days in San Francisco week before last. It was the 4 more gorgeous days you could ever imagine. Warm but not hot, no fog until the day we left, in short heavenly. Thank goodness for Shell vacation club points. I'll tell you about the windfall at the end of this point.
We stayed at the Argonaut. It's a Kimpton hotel and they are VERY pet friendly. In fact if you don't bring your pet they can provide you with a gold fish to keep you company during your stay. We opted for that one time in New Orleans (sigh, I'll touch on the story of Hotel Monaco at the end). We headed off with Colin and his 2 bags in tow. It's like packing for a kid.
Colin behaved as if he's been staying in hotels and riding elevators all his life. The the doorman stand they gave him treats on the way in and the way out. One night night we came back from a walk, there was no one at the stand so he plunked himself down until some one arrived and gave him his treat. The same thing happened at the bellman's stand - every day.
The hotel has a wine tasting hour each evening. We went to one and took Colin with us. Of course there were the usual questions - what is he, do you have a saddle for him... At one point we were talking to some people and I was not paying close attention, he had gone behind me, and all of a sudden I heard toddler laughter. He'd found a little girl in a stroller and given her a big kiss. She found it delightful and fortunately for us so did her parents. As we were checking out of the hotel the concierge came up and whispered in my ear "you know you're dog has his own fan club here" Yes his own fan club with staff and guests alike.We had made some tentative plans, finally visiting the new DeYoung, meeting Jan and Mason for dinner, just relaxing. As it turned out we passed up the DeYoung because Larry's leg bothered him more than he expected. But we did meet Jan and Mason and hit the dog park in Golden Gate park. I'd emailed a dog store in the City for info on fenced parks. They told me the park in Golden Gate park was at 26th and Fulton, turns out it was at 36th and Fulton. So while Larry went to move the car Colin and I meandered our way down the 10 blocks on wonderful paths through the park. Poor Colin kept trying to get someone to run with him, even the greyhound wouldn't run.
It was oh so lovely to spend time away from home, mostly spending no money because of our points with the exception of parking which is a major rip no matter where you are in the city.
Here's the story of the Hotel Monaco. It was GORGEOUS, in the CBD of New Orleans which got pummeled by Katrina. Kimpton had spent a great deal of money restoring this beautiful old building and it was a delightful hotel. However even Kimpton, which is not exactly a small company, was unable to come to an equitable settlement with their insurance company. This beautiful building in now boarded up probably full of rotting carpets, furniture, etc. Something is severely wrong with our insurance system, property and medical.
About Shell Vacations Club.It's not
a timeshare it's points that can be used in various ways. They do have properties of their own in
the City it's the Inn at the Opera and the Donetello. But they have numerous other options. One of them is an agreement with
certain Kimpton hotels. You can
also get what they call play deck cards for dining, movies, golf and
BOOKS! We had 14,000 pts available
and let me tell you I spend a lot of time calculating the best way to use
them. We ended up with 3 nights in
a deluxe room with a view at the Argonaut, $700 worth of dining cards, $100 in
book cards and 2, yes count them two, $200 spa certificates. SCORE!!!!
