Sleepless in Vancouver

I rarely go out of town anymore and stay overnight in a hotel, but friends had asked me to take photos of their wedding day. The day began in Vancouver, Washington, took me to Timberline Lodge, Oregon and at the end of the day, back to Vancouver. (Yes, I took this photo of Mt. Hood on Saturday evening.)

I left Puyallup Friday and stayed overnight near the Vancouver Mall. I didn't want to be late meeting the women in the wedding party at the hair salon early on Saturday morning. Friday night in the hotel was uneventful, with the exception of my usual trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep. (I don't have a photographic brain, but it tends to be full of photos I've taken or will be taking and I can't seem to close the albums and sleep when I want too!)

Saturday night back at the hotel was another story. I crawled into bed about 11 pm after opening the window for some fresh air. Even though I turned on the TV and watched a PBS detective show to erase photos from my brain, I continued to hear laughter off and on. I thought they were partying in the parking lot, but when I checked it out around midnight, realized the giggles were probably coming from the room next to mine; their window was also open.

Deciding fresh air wasn't going to be the answer to muffling sound, I closed the window, turned on the air conditioner, turned out the light and went back to bed. As obnoxious sounding as the air conditioner was, it was also not the answer to laughter from next door, as well as various other random sounds which shall remain un-described, except for furniture bumping against the wall adjacent to my headboard.

About 2 am, I turned on my light again and proceeded to read the chapter in my camera manual about making movies. Don't read too much into that; I am trying to do a better job of taking videos, but that still wasn't enough to put me to sleep. Around 3:30 am, I found myself previewing over 600 wedding day photos I'd just taken. From time to time, I did think about pounding on the wall with my tennis shoe, but figured I'd just get more reciprocal pounding in return.

At 4 am, I finshed off a poppy seed muffin I'd brought along as a snack and finally about 4:30 am, all was quiet  - at least until 8:30 am when I was awakened again. That was it. I got up, got dressed, packed my bags and hit the road for home. But on my way out of the hotel, I did slip a note under the door of my neighbors which read:

Dear Hotel Room Neighbors,
I admire your stamina. You have a heck of a weight loss program going for you.
Best wishes,
Sleepless in Vancouver

I think I heard even more laughter as I left the hotel. :-)