All the Comforts of Somebody Else's Room
Why do I love fancy hotels so much? I haven't been at many, but the ones I've been at are just fantastic. Maybe it's because I can pretend I'm another person, someone who doesn't have to vacuum up dog hair every other day and do laundry.
The St. James Hotel was build in 1875. All of the rooms are decorated with antique furniture. The picture below shows the bed in my room as well as the hand-made quilt, which was removed and put on a quilt rack after the turn-down service. That's right, turn-down service. They turned-down the bed, left me chocolates, and a little card with tomorrow's forcast. The front desk even called me and asked how I liked the room and if I needed anything. I, of course, mentioned that I needed dinner reservations, which she made. Magic.
I had some time before dinner, so I wandered around the shops in the hotel and around downtown Red Wing. (Fact: The name of the town comes from the dyed red feather that was the symbol of the Mdewankanton Sioux who were the first people to live in this region. Now it's the familiar symbol of Red Wing shoes.) The hotels shops had a gift shop where I bought some bath salts and a good, cheap mystery. It was dark when I started walking around downtown, so there wasn't much to see. There were several coffee shops, antique shops and other places to spend money at near the hotel. (Fact: Red Wing was the largest primary wheat market in the world around the time the St. James was built.) I imagine the town looks a lot different during the daylight.
Dinner was scrumptious. It had to be. It cost me $56. After dinner - dessert and coffee, of course - I stumbled up to my room. Well, not stumbled, just walked slowly up three flights of stairs. I guess two glasses of wine were too much for me.
Now, back in my room, I'm using my free WiFi and watching cable TV. Good Eats, no less. I don't have cable at home and one of the shows that I miss is Good Eats. It's like heaven here.
