We spent Sunday doing a little shopping and sight-seeing, then headed for the Grand Traverse Resort about 4. The place was packed with families. A lot of people without power had moved in, complete with luggage carts filled with video games, computers, and other things you usually don't see in hotel lobbies (of course, I go to game conventions, I regularly see luggage carts stacked with boardgames rolling through hotel lobbies, so I really shouldn't talk).
The halls were crowded with kids running to and from the pool, or just running around being teenagers. It was not what we expected. We were told that the resort is owned by an Indian tribe, and apparently tribe members get a greatly reduced rate to stay. So when the blizzard knocked out power everywhere, families drove from all around to the hotel.
We were hoping to use the pool, but it was so crowded every time we checked it out that we decided against it. Plus the water looked pretty cloudy. On Monday the pool was closed, probably because at least one of the hundreds of kids using it created a biological hazard.
We spent some time relaxing and playing games. I taught Theresa how to play Saint Petersburg, and we played that five times. She really enjoyed it.
We ended up spending quite a bit of time away from the hotel, because it was so crowded. Unpleasantly crowded. So we explored Traverse City. We found six or seven thrift stores, we ate at some really neat restaurants, we found a kitchen store with some neat gadgets, Theresa found an awesome pair of shoes on sale, and we shopped at an eclectic mixture of artsy shops built into the basement of the former state psychiatric hospital, one of a cluster of massive brick buildings from the late 1880s.
We had a fantastic dinner at Aerie on Monday night, on the sixteenth floor of the hotel tower. We watched the sun set over Grand Traverse Bay from our table, while enjoying spectacular service and outstanding food.
We had a lot of fun, despite spinning off the road, the trouble with the power supply, and the crowded and noisy hotel.
Our trip ended up being a Great Adventure. Vacation Brain was right.
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