I can’t possibly let today go by without giving a recap of the princess treatment I have received at this luxury hotel I’m staying at tonight before heading the rest of the way to Cleveland tomorrow. I’m staying at the Blennerhassett Hotel in Parkersburg, West Virginia. I found it through a quick Google search of hotels in West Virginia along I-77. Their website says something about where “history meets luxury”. “History” just means it’s an old building that is legit haunted. Seriously, yesterday I Googled the hotel to see if I could find out what time check out was and I found a bunch of information about how haunted this place is and the ghost tours they do in October. Josh’s advice was to just not bring one home. When I texted my sister a picture of the hotel when I arrived, she said it’s definitely haunted.
It was impossible to find the parking lot. All the parking lots around the building and in the vicinity were permit only and the spaces were numbered. I drove around at least 2 or 3 times before giving up and parking in the first public lot I could find. I fed the meter a couple of quarters and walked about a block to the building. When I went to the front desk to check in, the valet guy was right there. I filled out a piece of paper with information about my car. I gave the valet my keys and a general description of where I parked. Not only did he go find my car, drive it to the hotel lot (still don’t know where it is), he also brought my bags up to my room. There was one bag that was at the back of my trunk that I needed. He made a 2nd trip to get it. The cost of the valet was included in the room so I gave him a cash tip when he brought my bag on the 2nd trip. He still has my keys, so I assume when I check out he’ll pull my car up to the front.
Not long after I checked in, I went to the spa for my scheduled facial. Their website said they offer massages, but I couldn’t find it on their booking app to schedule one. It would have been great to have that massage given how many times I had to take a break from driving because my body hurt from sitting in the driving position for so long. The facialist—is that a word? Miranda’s facialist ruptured a disk in “The Devil Wears Prada” so I assume that’s a word—the facialist offered to call in one of her massage therapists to come give me a massage if I wanted. She didn’t have them as an option to be booked since they didn’t have regular availability. I declined her offer, but while I had the seaweed resting/caked/laid/soaking on my face, she massaged my upper back, my shoulders, and each of my arms and hands. That was delightful. The whole experience was amazing. She said I had really nice skin, which I guess is a compliment coming from a lady who gives facials for a living. She held a mirror to my face afterwards and said my skin responded really well to all the treatments she did to it. Honestly, it didn’t look different to me. It felt good and clean and moisturized though.
After my facial, I stopped at the front desk to figure out how room service worked. Since Mr. Valet/Guest Services had my car keys, I couldn’t very well run out and grab something for dinner. This place has a fancy restaurant downstairs. I guess people come here to just have meals because when I first arrived, the person who greeted me asked if I was here for the hotel or the restaurant. To order food, I had to look up the menu on the website and then call the restaurant from the phone in my room. I ended up ordering the wagu and mushroom crostinis and the caprese salad. For the price I paid, I was very disappointed. The crostinis were cold and they forgot my Dr. Pepper. At least the water was cold.
Despite how disappointing the food was, I was at least tickled by how it arrived. There was a knock on the door and someone called out “room service”. Like in the movies. And then I signed the receipt, and confirmed that the food would be charged to my room. You know, like how celebrities do it. That was pretty cool.
So now, after a long hot shower…the kind that makes your skin almost melt off (our water heater at home is not that good), I am propped up on 7 pillows. Seriously, there are 7.
I brought my granny square sweater project to work on. So I’m just going to enjoy my evening in the same way I would if I was at home. I’ll take my time leaving in the morning since my sister won’t get off work until 3:30 and it’s only a 2.5 hour drive from here to her house.
I’ll report back tomorrow if I experienced any ghostly happenings over night. I didn’t do enough research to determine if there are specific rooms that have activity. I guess I’ll just have to be surprised.
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