Reunion Reflections

In many ways, attending my HS reunion last weekend was a rehearsal for my 64 party. (For those new to the site, here's the back story.) The reunion was in Stockton, which meant Judi and I had to find a hotel (more about that in a minute), and things to do during the weekend before and after (well that part turned out to be easy...we went to Pac Bell and watched the Giants beat Arizona) the event.

Here's what I learned. The reunion committee did a great job on the event itself, but the hotel (did I already say more about this later?) and the "tourist attractions" part of the package were not so good. So I promise to get you all some hotel information by the end of the week. As to the tourist attraction stuff, I've covered that in a lot of detail starting here with airplane stuff, here with stuff to see on the way here from the north and south, here about the many golf opportunities nearby, here for those who like wine tasting, and here for assorted other information and things to see and do.

OK...about the hotel in Stockton. My best guess is that it was built by someone or a company that intended to operate it as a franchise for a large chain (whose name starts with an S), but at a certain point (apparently just before the pool was tiled over the cement) the money ran out. The hotel had 4 floors, but the building had 6 or 7 (depending upon how you count), so I assume that the top floors were to be condos or apartments. Someone told me they had one sale in escrow on that but that it hadn't closed...

So it was a brand new hotel (built in 2007 they told us at the front desk) which had no sign. Not on the building, not on the street, not at the entrance, not on the phones (the name had been sort of blacked out with a magic marker), not on the front door (well...unless you count the piece of paper taped to the door...). The room felt as if it had hardly, if ever, been used. I'm guessing that either the bank, or somebody acting entrepreneurially, had hired a (mostly incompetent) staff to keep the hotel open as it was and try to get some cash flow.

Whoever planned the hotel thought it would be cool to hire a great designer, and, I must say, the hotel looked good (at least on the inside...the outside was rather chrome/glass/boxy). But design, in my opinion, is more than just looking good. I'll give you a forinstance...the shower in our room was not completely enclosed. There was a sheet of plexiglass covering about half of the "interior" shower wall, but it was open at the end away from the shower head. Which meant that every hotel housekeeper had to mop every floor every day...and the linen service must be a nightmare, because we had to request extra towels to be able to walk on the bathroom floor after a shower. (Which, in a way, was a utilitarian use for our towels, since there was no place to hang them up...sigh...)

But to make matters worse, the open end of the shower was also next to the door into the rest of the room, and on the other side of that door was wood (or laminate, probably) flooring. Any guess as to how long that is going to survive the constant water?

Oh...did I say we got a great rate?