Travelblog!!!!!!!!!
I spent yesterday in a cleaning fervor. I vowed the last time I travelled (to tunica and Alabama), that I would not return to a dirty apartment, or at least a dirty room on my account. Im lazy, I didn’t do it last time, and felt it necessary to make good on this belated promise to myself. I cleaned like crazy. I probably spent about five hours over the course of two days getting my room in order and doing dishes. The place, while not perfect, looks pretty damn good. This frenzy left me fatigued, so I went to bed without really getting ready for the trip I took today.
Senta and I woke up at precisely to seven o’clock this morning. I am not a morning person, and I am firmly convinced that Senta embodies those novelty coffee cups that show a ratty looking cat saying ‘Don’t talk to me until I’ve had this’ or something to that effect. She is not a force to be reckoned with until she has had caffeine. We got ready in less than an hour, still waiting for the coffee to kick in. We were picked up from my apartment by our friend Denise, who has way too much energy for somebody who was up at this ungodly hour. The Norman train station is beautiful. It’s extra pretty for the holidays all dolled up in wreathes and garland, looking very much like the cocktail waitress at the office Christmas party that all of the dudes in accounting desperately want to bone. Anyhow, train travel is the shit.
If you don’t mind spending a little extra time on the beaten path, train travel is an excellent way to take in central Oklahoma. The ride to Fort Worth was smooth, the seats have plenty of leg room and the ride was mostly quiet…with a noted exception. There was a flamboyant tech support guy who sat directly behind us on the train. This guy was fucking awesome. He spent most of the time assisting people with advice about train travel upon this particular route, and a significant amount of time chatting up this middle aged business woman who was lingering upon his every word. When he wasn’t befriending someone on the train, he was on his fivehundred dollar blackberry monstrosity having extremely loud, extremely tasteless conversations. I know I shouldn’t evesdrop, but here are a couple of the juicier soundbites for quoting: 1. ‘You know why he got kicked out of Pegasus, right? He was doing something he shouldn’t have in the bathroom!’ 2. ‘THAT BITCH CAN FUUUUUUUUCK!’…..Hilarity. He actually helped us save quite a bit of time. We had initially booked the train connecting from fort worth to dallas. But he informed us that the local commuter line connects the two cities and runs every hour(this is opposed to the Amtrak which would have had us waiting quite a bit longer). The commuter line, The Trinity express, was les comfortable, but at a one or two dollar fee and the amount of time saved, there is very little room for complaint. We got to downtown dallas in fine time and booked a taxi to the hotel in no time flat from the station.
Ok, I already feel like a king having ridden a train to Dallas. But then we got to the hotel. Until recently, my experience with nice hotels has been limited to staying in basic hotel rooms in gambling towns, which were only really nice because I could gamble and drink in the same facility. The Hotel Adolphus is THE best hotel I have ever stepped foot in. And believe me, stepping foot into this place is no small change of atmosphere. We were immediately greeted to the sound of someone playing some classical fare on the piano in the upstairs lobby. The sounds of this piano reverberated off of the carved oak walled cavern that is the lobby at the hotel Adolphus. This place is gorgeous. I still am in shock at the absolute luxury that one surrounds themselves with upon entering this place. I have never felt less deserving to stay somewhere in my life. It is one of those experiences that leaves you completely cognizant of the sharp difference of class that exists.
It is hard to stay too serious about feeling unworthy for a place when you step into the hotel room. The place reeks of everything posh, and AND and, it is on the fourteenth floor. NO SHIT! I wish I could take more pictures of the place but I didn’t want to seem too touristy. We walked around downtown Dallas for a bit, went to Neiman Marcus, which is huge and just as far from reach as the hotel seems. I am counting my blessings. I am a lucky, lucky, lucky man.
Tomorrow, I’ll fill you in on a little history and up to date information, but I am going to leave you all with a few photos for the evening.
CLEAN ROOM Norman Train Station
Me and Senta at the train station
The Heartland Flyer The Red River from the train
The hotel entrance(not the fullblown lobby) and the outside of the hotel.
some snaps of the room interior
The view(s) from the hotel window
Outside of Nieman Marcus(sic) My cat being awesome for once