dallas

So Wifey and I went to Dallas a week or so ago for a long weekend to celebrate our 10th anniversary, and to see friends Jeremy and Grace Goering. We had a great time, but I have to say that the highlight of the trip wasn't eating out at fun new places, nor was it seeing old friends, nor was it any of the many exciting things that people generally do in Dallas; it was seeing the quite flustered faces of ALL the employees of the quite swanky hotel (the Stoneleigh Hotel) we stayed at, where the valet parking is mandatory (snobs) when they finally broke down and admitted that they could not find my truck keys. Aaaa-hahahahaha!

I had no idea that this place had the mandatory valet service when I booked it through expedia; using my credit card miles, nor was I aware that they would charge me 21.00 a night for the privilege of not having to walk 20' outside the hotel and open my own door. Money well spent, I'm sure. But after I casually dropped it to the hotel manager that the poor chumps couldn't find my keys, (I wish I had video of the blank look, the widening of the eyes, then the flush coming to his cheeks) he solicitously offered us a ride, then a hotel car, then to buy us breakfast at the also very swanky restaurant, and then tore off to presumably chew some butt, vowing "to bring in the guys working late last night and search through every vehicle, one by one" . We gracefully accepted breakfast; (even the wait-staff at breakfast were profusely apologizing, as if they personally felt guilty) that's all we were gonna go do anyway, and the short way of finishing the story is that they finally found them- 2 hours later! And man, were there some red faces! I wasn't mad, I wasn't even upset- they knocked off 2 nights of the Valet charges, we got a free $50.00 breakfast, and I wasn't ever even worried that one of the night shift valets decided to make off with my '07 GMC pickup, rather than steal one of the many Mercedes, Caddies, or Bentleys.

They never did tell me where they had been, or what happened to them; even when I directly asked, but I did put my hand on the shoulder of the guy who lost my keys and asked kinda quiet like: "So level with me- what kind of tip does it take to get my keys back the next morning?" I had to rub it in just a little... Here are a few pictures of some fun we had:

The Girlz: doin' what they love most- LOOKING at stuff

Uncle Dan and Cutie-Cakes-Caris

Brynn admiring an original Mary Cassat painting, one of her favorite artists; we have several of these at our house (um, rather prints, actually, of course)