So did you hear that I went to Blissdom, and it was held this year in nearby Grapevine, Texas at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Conference Center? Yeah, well I am notorious for telling about things weeks after they happened.
I had wanted to see the Gaylord ever since we moved to the area. I’ve heard so many things about it, but parking is $17 so uh, yeah, without a good reason I was never going to see it. So I was thrilled that the must attend blogging conference was going to be there!
I clicked a couple of photos when I first walked in. Isn’t this amazing?
And then that was the last photo I took of the place not counting those I took in the conference rooms. 🙂 I was so busy meeting people that I’d really still like to go back and just look around and eat. The food was surprisingly inexpensive!
Well, you know how I’m a real chicken when it comes to driving places I’ve never been? I was very comfortable driving here because it was near many places that I’ve driven. But I was in my husband’s car and the first night after the conference I couldn’t find how to get out of the parking garage. When I finally found the exit, I pulled up to the parking attendant station and could not figure out how to roll the window down. I sat there fiddling with it and finally just opened the door and told the guy my problem. He laughed good naturedly, and I laughed at myself as usual.
On the third evening when I was leaving, there was a huge line. One line was long and the other short. Of course I took the short line, but not realizing it wasn’t a face-to-face line, but automated. Great. I had no idea how to run the thing. I tried and tried and held up the line for what seemed like ages. I pushed the “help” button, but no one came. I got out and flagged the man in the booth. It was the same man from the other night! There was a twinkle in his eye when he saw me, and I could tell he remembered me. Instead of acting put out with me he smiled. Then he stood there for a while and couldn’t get the machine to work either. He walked back to his booth and came back with a different card. Finally it worked! As he handed me my credit card, he said he gave me an $8 discount for my delay! Again he smiled, and I drove on. But I left smiling and feeling great because of the kindness, consideration, and humor of the guy running the parking booth!
Oh that was so nice of him.
When we were in Florida 5 years ago, we were on our way to the airport to go home. We were on a toll road, and my husband decided to not pay attention at the toll booth. So we approached the “exact change only” line. Problem: we didn’t have exact change only.
I got out of the car to search a bag for some change even though I KNEW we didn’t have any. I didn’t know what to do. We couldn’t back up. There were 100 cars behind us. FINALLY, the car behind us shouted at me and had a quarter for me. I wanted to KILL my husband. I’m still traumatized by that event.