The Hotel Alex Johnson

Hotel Alex Johnson

Hotel Alex Johnson- a Historic hotel right in the heart of downtown Rapid City is where our travel agent (aka Scott – Husband/Dad) has set us up for the night. There is only 1 entrance which is off the main street, there is no separate pull up drive, you pull up to the side of the street turn your blinkers on and there you are. Connected to the front of the Hotel is a restaurant so on the side of the entrance are cafe tables and at the present time there are about 30 people sitting at these tables eating. I pull my bug covered car up and feel like the Beverly Hill Billies. I jump out and ask the Valet what the situation is -He says he can park the car for $15 or I can park the car in the same garage he would 3 blocks away for free. (If you know me, you know I will park it myself because heaven knows I will be able to find a Fab pair of shoes at DSW for $15!)

Now, as if all eyes are not already staring at us I start to have a panic attack realizing I have to open the back of my car in front of all of these people. For a moment I consider going to a different hotel, but instead I take a deep breath, here goes — a box of Pop Tarts fall out…a water bottle, a ball and a LaCrosse stick. I can only imagine what people were thinking if they looked over, it is packed to the brim and a little messier than when we first started. A Giant Ziploc bag of Dirty Laundry, an Extra Large tote of non perishable food & a stroller is what you 1st see, this isn’t so bad except these are the things I have to take out of the car and place in the street so I can reach the things I need – my pre planned labeled ziplocs of clothes for the next day, food I need for Beckett, the pack-n-play, camera gear & the suitcase. I then start to panic again worrying I might need something in the middle of the night and the car will be 3 blocks away (you don’t worry about this so much when you have a partner with you) so I just start grabbing stuff and pilling them on the Valet cart. Inside, the Hotel is filled with all sorts of interesting things. We check in and they give us the Penthouse. Wow! I was so excited until we get to our room & realized it is their way of saying we are going to put you, your 3 boys and baby on the top floor closest to the outside balcony bar so any noise you make in our paper-thin Historic walls will mesh with the noisy bar. So we get the Penthouse, which was smaller than my bedroom at home but the beds and pillows were heaven! Now we have to go park the car…