Text 18167, 89 rader
Skriven 2007-07-24 11:10:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 867
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The rental Jeep Liberty (complete with a driver's side American
flag decal) had a pretty decent ride, was moderately responsive
(some hesitation), and had a surprisingly good turning radius.
It also, as it turns out at the end of our trip, got over 20 mpg
in normal driving.

We took the secret short cut past the Wal-Mart distribution
center and got to see a hot-air balloon about to be launched
and then to marvel at how the area has grown - for a while
Northwest Arkansas was the fastest-growing area in the country;
Barry tells me that the latest stats have it as #2, first being
the Las Vegas area. There was still plenty of traffic at 9 in
the evening, but we got to our hotel in less than 20 minutes,
past hotels and housing developments that hadn't been there when
I first saw the place two years ago and strip malls that hadn't
been there when I'd most recently been there in April.

The Fairfield Inn is next door to the virtually identical
Candlewood Suites which is a block from the virtually identical
Residence Inn. I chose the Fairfield because it was offering a
special - the rates are the same as everyone else's, but I got
a $50 coupon off my next Fairfield Inn stay, which may be never.
Is anyone here going to stay at a Fairfield Inn for the picnic?

After waiting around for a while (there was only one guy working
the desk, and he was off in the hinterlands doing who knows what)
we got Room 101, which was your perfectly average hotel room,
almost unused (the whole place smelled like new construction),
with a slightly above average shower (extend-a-shower curtain
rod, fully functional shower massage, ample counter space), with
Ethernet connection, right next to the emergency exit.

As the pool was about to close. and we were tired anyhow, we
didn't take the swim that Carol had been looking forward to,
and we just plopped down and went right to dreamland. The king
bed was pretty comfy.

In the morning Carol lured me to the "continental breakfast"
with the promise of Jimmy Dean pure pork sausage.

It turns out she'd read the Website wrong: what is being
served is the Jimmy Dean bacon-egg-cheese breakfast biscuit,
which comes individually wrapped in a microwave bag, so you
nuke the thing for 45 seconds and out comes ... the cheese
is all exploded on the inside of the bag, which is fine with
me ... two scant slices of limp bacon and an egg puck in
a somewhat greasy biscuit whose fat coats the roof of your
mouth after you bite into it.

The only juice was incredibly sweet apple juice - at Carol's
urging I got them to refill the o.j., which turned out to be
kind of sludgy and not worth the wait.

A cheese Danish tasted just like airplane food; a blueberry muffin
slightly worse, being dry and soggy at the same time but actually
having a few little dried blueberries.

Delights untested: make-your-own waffles, cold cereal, bagels.

Farmer Brown coffee - I tried the decaf, which was sludgy and
gave me a huge frightening buzz, as if the Marriott people were
gunning for tree-hugging decaf-drinking Commies. I had two sips
and tossed the rest.

Here is a serving suggestion, typed from an index card found at
the breakfast buffet:

Apple and brown sugar oatmeal
cat: found art
servings: 1

1 c prepared Oatmeal
6 1/2 Tb brown sugar
1 apple, sliced

Pour one cup of prepared oatmeal into a bowl.

Stir the brown sugar into the oatmeal.

Cut the apple into one-inch thick slices; don't
forget to cut out the seeds.

Add the apple slices to the oatmeal and enjoy!

Source: Early Eats[tm], Fairfield Inn, Rogers, AR

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