Henry Doorly Zoo

In September, we went to The Henry Doorly Zoo with my parents and had a wonderful time. Some of you have seen the following info before, and if so, just skip it:

We spent the weekend in Atlantic and Omaha. Growing up, one of our summer "vacation" items was going to the Henry Doorly Zoo. We took Christopher 2 years ago, and went back with my parents this weekend. We had a great time and actually had less than 1/2 the whining we had last time, though we had one more child (tried to convince Jeff that if we had a third, there'd be even less whining, but he wasn't convinced...hm...)

Anyway, I have to share the one absolutely disgusting revolting horrible thing that happened that still gives me the heeby geebies (sp?)...this'd be better in person, but I really can't wait to tell it: So it was "Coca Cola Days" in Atlantic, which is big-time entertainment in a smallish town, so the Super8 (ie the decent) motel was full, so we were stuck at the Hawkeye, a locally run, fairly clean but rather run-down establishment. When we visit my parents, Christopher usually stays with my parents and Jeff, Michael, and I stay in a hotel b/c my parents just don't have the room for us all.

Anyway, we get to the hotel, unpack, and lay down with most of the lights off to convince M to go to sleep...and I feel like my back is slightly damp. Well I know I'm not sweating, so I get up to investigate. To the touch, the bed really isn't damp, but I know what I felt. Jeff says he feels fine, but I have the presence of mind to sniff my nightshirt...OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSS!! It's URINE!!!!!!! Heebie geebies, rip the shirt off, run to the shower!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, solutions: The Hawkeye office is closed for the night; we cannot ask for a different room. We cannot invade my parents, b/c we don't want to disturb C...if he doesn't have enough sleep, he'll be a nightmare at the zoo (like he was 2 years ago when he didn't sleep well the night before we went). We can't stay at the Super8 b/c they are full. Oh, hey, maybe Wal-Mart is good for something...I wonder if they are open 24 hours here in hick-ville?! I could go buy a mattress pad, pillows, and sheets for the second bed, which seemed clean and dry but we weren't about to believe that with any level of confidence! Well we never found out, b/c we couldn't get the phone to dial out and Jeff's cell phone oddly wouldn't connect to the Wal-Mart number in the phone book either. I went out in the van to see if they were open, but Super8 is right across the street, so I went in to ask if they'd had any last-minute cancellations (Mom had already checked on this a few hours before and they hadn't). Well they did, but it was 3 times as much money (b/c it was Coca Cola Days) and a smoking room.

I called Jeff and asked his opinion, not crazy about spending the additional money, though I said I'd get our Hawkeye money back in the morning. Also not crazy about repacking and moving down the street. Then I notice Super8 has a table of old linens for sale! I ask the clerk if they had been washed, and she assured me the owner was a neat-freak and yes, they were just washed. I purchased a thick comforter (nothing wrong with it, they must have just redecorated or something) for $5 and a sheet for 50 cents. Back to Hawkeye...We sleep on the "wrong" side of the comforter underneath us, even up over the pillows, and the I trust it to be clean sheet on top of us, with the rest of the Hawkeye blankets on top of that. I figured I'd have nightmares about bedbugs or other creepies, but we both slept well, and M was fine in his playpen from my parents' house with their sheets. (Hawkeye is so primitive I don't think they have any provisions for children).

And this morning I got back a significant amount of our original $39! Jeff pointed out that I probably misunderstood the clerk and thought he said "You're in room 17" when he really said "Urine room 17".

So guess where we are never staying again!? Perhaps next time we'll all go stay in Omaha the night before:)