Every once in a while. . .

Something funky happens that we haven't encountered before. Recently, we had the first no-show of our tenure here. I waited up until around 11 p.m. and the folks never showed up. We have an intercom at the gate of the hotel and we can hear it from the bedroom, but no one came late and woke us up.

We also had a trio of folks that had flown in from Florida, gotten bad directions from a waitress, and ended up driving around for three to four hours before they made their way here. If they had followed the directions that we had sent, then they would have been here in 15 minutes from where they stopped to eat and ask directions. Instead, they went the wrong way and got to see a lot of the other countryside.

The first morning they were here, they had to be up early for rafting. That was an adventure watching them roll out of the tree house, try to get organized and on the road in time. They made it for their trip on time, but forgot their voucher, so we had to go through the process again with the company. They had a great time and came back and were headed for the beach the next morning. Breakfast here at the hotel is from 8 to 9 a.m. A little before 9, I went to their tree house to give a knock, but no one responded. Figured we'd let them sleep. Around 10:30, the son wandered down and asked what time it was. Around noon, they were all packed up and ready to go, still looking groggy for the five-hour drive to the beach. After they left and we cleaned the room, we understood why it was a little tough to get them up and moving in the morning: one bottle of wine (empty) and close to 30 cans of beer (empty).