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Saturday, May 26th –
Grandma and Grandpa from Illinois gave the two older kids some spending money to purchase some fun things once we arrived. During yesterday’s trip to Target, Chloe and Toby purchased several different types of spray chalk to share with cousin Elliot. We met for breakfast outside their townhouse, and much fun was had as they covered the sidewalk (and themselves) in vibrant colors.
Last night I tried to book the hotel room at the Holiday Inn through the weekend, but was told it was completely full due to the holiday. After calling around and looking online, I began to realize there were no good options for less than $200 night in a 2-hour radius of us, and even those rooms were quickly disappearing.
Since $200 a night was completely out of our price range, I started looking into alternatives – motels, resorts, cabins, rv rentals, and even tent campsites. All of them were booked, and I was beginning to think we would be sleeping in the van somewhere.
At lunch time, I took the kids to In N Out for burgers, and then sat in the parking lot for several hours while Jotham took a nap, looking for lodging on my phone. My brother in law helped by calling quite a few places, and we effectively determined that everybody and their mother must vacation in this area over the memorial day weekend since there was nothing available anywhere.
As a last ditch effort, I checked Airbnb one more time. A family just listed a casita in their home a few minutes before, and it was very reasonably priced. Though it was a 25 minute drive away, that was worth being able to sleep in a bed in air conditioning.
I booked 3 nights to get through the holiday, and then ended up booking 4 more nights to give myself some time to continue the hunt for a reasonably-priced rental home with monthly rates. The casita has worked out well for the most part. It’s in an area that bothers me due to a nearby reservoir, but the kids seem to handle it ok.
So after all that, I’d never left the parking lot of In N Out, so we got burgers for the second time in one day and headed off to the casita to make sure it would work for us. It has some VOCs due to new cupboards, appliances, air fresheners, and scented soaps, but it sure beats sleeping in the van.
Disclaimer- my Airbnb referral link is above, and if you book a stay with my link, you should receive a $25 credit at checkout. I will also receive a credit to use on future bookings, but it doesn’t add anything to your price!
