i am returned from the beach trip. frankly, it wasn't long enough. i could have stayed down there until next year or the next big hurricane, whichever comes first.
i am still stunned that since they opened all the new bridges traveling over to THE OUTER BANKS, what used to be a 4.5 hour trip from raleigh is now lessened by an hour. an hour! that's like getting extra sleep time or something!
i arrived in manteo to OUR HOTEL sometime around 6:30 PM. you will note that this hotel's website lays claim to a "... friendly atmosphere, superb food and exceptional spa facilities ...". i ask, what was their PR person smoking at the time of the inception of said statement?
i can promise that "the friendly atmosphere" was nowhere to be found. instead, rude staff who couldn't speak english, yet were stationed at the front desk, refused to "take a message" for room 336 (my parents' reserved room, where i was staying, when it appeared my parents left for dinner before i got there). never mind the fact that i didn't want to leave a message, but rather would like to know if room 336 left a message for me. yet again i got a stock answer of refusing to take messages. never mind the fact that when my parents did return to the hotel, they informed me that not only did they leave a key for me at the front desk, but said key was supposedly left in an envelope with my name on it. duh. i will rant about this momentarily & some may be offended, but seriously, it should be a requirement to speak coherent english when you will be doing customer service interaction-oriented jobs. regardless of whether you are from this country or another, a good grasp of conversational english is required. no ifs, ands or buts. next!
as for the "superb food" claim, i can only snicker quietly to myself. the continental breakfast was in a room the size of a walk-in closet, with only two tiny tables with two chairs apiece respectively. the breakfast wasn't awful, but certainly not superb. cereal was offered, bagels & packaged muffins. at least they were supposedly offered .... we wouldn't know for sure because most of it was gone, save for 2 dried out bagels & a package of OTIS SPUNKMEYER™ BANANA NUT MUFFINS. i took stale cereal & called it a day. but i admit, i'm a cranky person without breakfast. i submit that said food was not "superb" by any stretch of the imagination.
finally, the "exceptional spa facilities"? those make me laugh long time. 'nuff said. so now that i've bored even myself with the recount of our accomodations, on to the good stuff ...
since the wedding wasn't until 2 PM, my parents & i set off to amuse ourselves in exploration. it's been over ten years since we last vacationed as a family there (despite my trip to nags head two years ago to see the ROANOKE ISLAND OUTSIDE DRAMA OF "THE LOST COLONY" and kayaking through the PEA ISLAND, NC WILDLIFE REFUGE). we ended up at FORT RALEIGH, "THE LOST COLONY'S" SETTLEMENT where my dad (ever the historian) engaged the park director in various conversations about weaponry & the lost colony & the latter civil war ties of fort raleigh. the gentleman was fascinating, obviously a honed skill which descended from his days as a professor, assistant dean & dean at WEST POINT after serving 20+ years in the military. he retired to nags head about four years ago to open his own parasailing business & works at the museum on weekends in an effort to stay in touch with acadamia.
after leaving fort raleigh, we headed to the quaint charm of DOWNTOWN MANTEO, which included the MANTEO LIGHTHOUSE & waterside shopping. most of it was the same of all small beachtowns -- overpriced beach shops, tasty local cafés, & overpriced antique/junk shop(pe)s. before we knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding & to greet out of town family members who were changing at our hotel.
i have pictures from the blessed event that afternoon, as soon as my dad emails them to me from his digital camera. the ceremony was right on the beach, just behind the beach house they rented for the week. there were easily 100+ people in attendance, (excellent considering the families are mostly in VA & NY) all in the seabreeze, under clear carolina blue skies with puffy clouds. the weather was phenomenal, despite the way the wind jinxed the sound system. the groomsmen all wore their tuxes with bare feet, bridesmaids were attired in tea length, a-line sea green strapless dresses with cute flounces on the bottom, & joanna was stunning in a strapless ivory a-line dress with her hair down in ringlets & bare feet.
as we arrived on the beach, we were given a choice of removing our shoes & adding flip-flops provided by the bride & groom. score one pair of cutesy flops for me, bearing one small pink tulle rosette each. i also scored big laughs when joanna's aunt (on her dad's side) kept using "thongs" to refer to flip-flops. i can't tell you how many times she made remarks like, "i think it's just darling that all the young people exchanged their flip flops for thongs" & "if i had great toes like yours, honey, i'd be wearing thongs, too!".
hello, how old am i again? don't answer that!
i am still stunned that since they opened all the new bridges traveling over to THE OUTER BANKS, what used to be a 4.5 hour trip from raleigh is now lessened by an hour. an hour! that's like getting extra sleep time or something!
i arrived in manteo to OUR HOTEL sometime around 6:30 PM. you will note that this hotel's website lays claim to a "... friendly atmosphere, superb food and exceptional spa facilities ...". i ask, what was their PR person smoking at the time of the inception of said statement?
i can promise that "the friendly atmosphere" was nowhere to be found. instead, rude staff who couldn't speak english, yet were stationed at the front desk, refused to "take a message" for room 336 (my parents' reserved room, where i was staying, when it appeared my parents left for dinner before i got there). never mind the fact that i didn't want to leave a message, but rather would like to know if room 336 left a message for me. yet again i got a stock answer of refusing to take messages. never mind the fact that when my parents did return to the hotel, they informed me that not only did they leave a key for me at the front desk, but said key was supposedly left in an envelope with my name on it. duh. i will rant about this momentarily & some may be offended, but seriously, it should be a requirement to speak coherent english when you will be doing customer service interaction-oriented jobs. regardless of whether you are from this country or another, a good grasp of conversational english is required. no ifs, ands or buts. next!
as for the "superb food" claim, i can only snicker quietly to myself. the continental breakfast was in a room the size of a walk-in closet, with only two tiny tables with two chairs apiece respectively. the breakfast wasn't awful, but certainly not superb. cereal was offered, bagels & packaged muffins. at least they were supposedly offered .... we wouldn't know for sure because most of it was gone, save for 2 dried out bagels & a package of OTIS SPUNKMEYER™ BANANA NUT MUFFINS. i took stale cereal & called it a day. but i admit, i'm a cranky person without breakfast. i submit that said food was not "superb" by any stretch of the imagination.
finally, the "exceptional spa facilities"? those make me laugh long time. 'nuff said. so now that i've bored even myself with the recount of our accomodations, on to the good stuff ...
since the wedding wasn't until 2 PM, my parents & i set off to amuse ourselves in exploration. it's been over ten years since we last vacationed as a family there (despite my trip to nags head two years ago to see the ROANOKE ISLAND OUTSIDE DRAMA OF "THE LOST COLONY" and kayaking through the PEA ISLAND, NC WILDLIFE REFUGE). we ended up at FORT RALEIGH, "THE LOST COLONY'S" SETTLEMENT where my dad (ever the historian) engaged the park director in various conversations about weaponry & the lost colony & the latter civil war ties of fort raleigh. the gentleman was fascinating, obviously a honed skill which descended from his days as a professor, assistant dean & dean at WEST POINT after serving 20+ years in the military. he retired to nags head about four years ago to open his own parasailing business & works at the museum on weekends in an effort to stay in touch with acadamia.
after leaving fort raleigh, we headed to the quaint charm of DOWNTOWN MANTEO, which included the MANTEO LIGHTHOUSE & waterside shopping. most of it was the same of all small beachtowns -- overpriced beach shops, tasty local cafés, & overpriced antique/junk shop(pe)s. before we knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding & to greet out of town family members who were changing at our hotel.
i have pictures from the blessed event that afternoon, as soon as my dad emails them to me from his digital camera. the ceremony was right on the beach, just behind the beach house they rented for the week. there were easily 100+ people in attendance, (excellent considering the families are mostly in VA & NY) all in the seabreeze, under clear carolina blue skies with puffy clouds. the weather was phenomenal, despite the way the wind jinxed the sound system. the groomsmen all wore their tuxes with bare feet, bridesmaids were attired in tea length, a-line sea green strapless dresses with cute flounces on the bottom, & joanna was stunning in a strapless ivory a-line dress with her hair down in ringlets & bare feet.
as we arrived on the beach, we were given a choice of removing our shoes & adding flip-flops provided by the bride & groom. score one pair of cutesy flops for me, bearing one small pink tulle rosette each. i also scored big laughs when joanna's aunt (on her dad's side) kept using "thongs" to refer to flip-flops. i can't tell you how many times she made remarks like, "i think it's just darling that all the young people exchanged their flip flops for thongs" & "if i had great toes like yours, honey, i'd be wearing thongs, too!".
hello, how old am i again? don't answer that!
This entry was posted
on 10 October 2004 at 10/10/2004 06:17:00 PM.
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If you have beautiful toes, they must look just like your one and only auntie in Georgia...You know who she is.
aha! however did you find my corner of the web? is this d or l?
you mean there was a wedding in which you were not a bridesmaid?! what is this world coming too - apathy
shocking,isn't it?! apathy, what's your livejournal link ... i've losted it!
... my corner of the web said the spider to the fly. Is it d or l... Who am I?
i'll take "D" for $1,000, alex.
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