9 Hours in Bakersfield
High Desert Weekend Trip-log #2
Bakersfield, CA - Sat, 26 Mar, 2002. 8am
There's good news and bad news about our trip to Bakersfield last night. The good news is, the drive wasn't as long or as late as I feared. We actually rolled out of our garage at 6:20pm, instead of closer to 7 as I feared. Then there were minimal traffic delays leaving Silicon Valley to the south. We did make several stops along the way- for gas, dinner, snacks, and shopping 😅- but door-to-door the trip took only 5 hours, not 6. We checked in just before 11:20pm and were settled in our hotel room by 11:30.
What's the bad news? The bad news was we were still had to spend the night in Bakersfield. 😨🤣
But even that bad news turned out not to be as bad as I feared. For one, as it was late at night, we didn't have to see much of Bakersfield. Nor did we encounter many of its residents. By that hour of the night most people in Bakersfield are already asleep, in drug induced comas, or dead. (Fact: most murders are committed between 9am-11pm as murderers like to keep regular hours.)
Then there was the not-bad news about our hotel.
It... genuinely didn't suck. ...Which was a pleasant surprise as its reviews on Yelp made it seem like it had degenerated into a shit-hole. We even got a room with a nice little outdoor patio overlooking the pool area.
"Why would you stay at a hotel multiple reviews claim is a shit-hole?" you might ask.
Well, the thing is, in Bakersfield most hotels have reviews claiming they are shit-holes. The older ones, like the Sheraton Four Points I picked, have numerous reviews faulting them for being outdated, dingy, and with surly staff. But even the newly built ones, like built within the past 2 years, have complaints of poor cleaning and hot water not working. And surly staff.
I decided that probably most people were disappointed with the fact Bakersfield hotels are in Bakersfield and tried my luck with one of the lower rated ones, the Sheraton Four Points. It was super cheap on points. I figured it if really did suck I could write it off as a small loss and have a great story to tell.
While the hotel wasn't great, it didn't suck. Our room was roomy. The bed was comfortable, and the plumbing in the bathroom worked. The drywall in the bathroom showed evidence of obvious and poorly-done repairs, though that didn't bother me much. The whole complex of buildings had a "Built in the early '80s, pretty dull, and now well used" vibe to it, but that didn't bother me, either, once I was in our room- which fortunately had been updated much more recently than the 1980s. The sliding glass door out to the patio was a nice touch. I left the door open with the curtain drawn while I wound down for bed.
Well, here it is barely 9 hours after we arrived, and we're getting ready to leave. Our stay in Bakersfield has been a success. We've minimized our time here and, on top of that, spent most of it unconscious. And not plagued by a ratty room or stabbed to death by junkies.
Up next: Oo-oh, I heard it through the Grapevine!
Bakersfield, CA - Sat, 26 Mar, 2002. 8am
There's good news and bad news about our trip to Bakersfield last night. The good news is, the drive wasn't as long or as late as I feared. We actually rolled out of our garage at 6:20pm, instead of closer to 7 as I feared. Then there were minimal traffic delays leaving Silicon Valley to the south. We did make several stops along the way- for gas, dinner, snacks, and shopping 😅- but door-to-door the trip took only 5 hours, not 6. We checked in just before 11:20pm and were settled in our hotel room by 11:30.
What's the bad news? The bad news was we were still had to spend the night in Bakersfield. 😨🤣
But even that bad news turned out not to be as bad as I feared. For one, as it was late at night, we didn't have to see much of Bakersfield. Nor did we encounter many of its residents. By that hour of the night most people in Bakersfield are already asleep, in drug induced comas, or dead. (Fact: most murders are committed between 9am-11pm as murderers like to keep regular hours.)
Then there was the not-bad news about our hotel.
It... genuinely didn't suck. ...Which was a pleasant surprise as its reviews on Yelp made it seem like it had degenerated into a shit-hole. We even got a room with a nice little outdoor patio overlooking the pool area.
"Why would you stay at a hotel multiple reviews claim is a shit-hole?" you might ask.
Well, the thing is, in Bakersfield most hotels have reviews claiming they are shit-holes. The older ones, like the Sheraton Four Points I picked, have numerous reviews faulting them for being outdated, dingy, and with surly staff. But even the newly built ones, like built within the past 2 years, have complaints of poor cleaning and hot water not working. And surly staff.
I decided that probably most people were disappointed with the fact Bakersfield hotels are in Bakersfield and tried my luck with one of the lower rated ones, the Sheraton Four Points. It was super cheap on points. I figured it if really did suck I could write it off as a small loss and have a great story to tell.
While the hotel wasn't great, it didn't suck. Our room was roomy. The bed was comfortable, and the plumbing in the bathroom worked. The drywall in the bathroom showed evidence of obvious and poorly-done repairs, though that didn't bother me much. The whole complex of buildings had a "Built in the early '80s, pretty dull, and now well used" vibe to it, but that didn't bother me, either, once I was in our room- which fortunately had been updated much more recently than the 1980s. The sliding glass door out to the patio was a nice touch. I left the door open with the curtain drawn while I wound down for bed.
Well, here it is barely 9 hours after we arrived, and we're getting ready to leave. Our stay in Bakersfield has been a success. We've minimized our time here and, on top of that, spent most of it unconscious. And not plagued by a ratty room or stabbed to death by junkies.
Up next: Oo-oh, I heard it through the Grapevine!