Why I Abandoned My Vacation

My Port Townsend rejuvenation weekend did not turn out as planned thanks to a wind storm and a rowdy wedding party in the hotel.

Five Ways Your Vacation Tells You to Go Home

The children's museum I work for has a summer event for 25,000 of its closest friends and it's exhausting and stressful and we work about 36 hours in just three days. So the weekend after this big event I planned a quiet weekend for myself in Port Townsend, Wash., to relax and recuperate.

The drive there was gorgeous. Fall leaves turning fiery orange and red and a beautiful tour
of Hood Canal up the 101. I arrived at the Ann Starrett Mansion Friday night planning to stay through Sunday. My vacation had other plans for me. After a wonderful Friday evening sitting in a little alcove in my Victorian-style room reading and watching the ocean, here are five ways my vacation told me to abandon my plans and go home - so I did.

1) My vacation allowed me just FOUR HOURS of sleep. It's vacation. I should be resting and rejuvenating. The wedding party at the hotel had other plans for me. Note to self: Old mansions have paper-thin walls.

2) Mother Nature blew 50 mph winds that literally swept me off my feet as I tried to enjoy a stroll downtown. It also rattled my old mansion like chains in an old-time jail preventing napping.

3) Because of the weather, the historical tour of downtown was canceled. This is when I realized this storm was legit. 

4) I kept my room very tidy and mindlessly kept packing my suitcase. Maybe this one was more intuition, but I certainly did not settle in and make my room my own.

5) Because I couldn't take a nap with the howling wind vibrating the home (can mansion's blow over?), I decided to take a relaxing bath. When the stopper in the tub didn't work (there was no shower in the room) I threw in the towel, shut my suitcase and checked out.

Have you ever booked a trip and been completely disappointed? Would you return after an experience like this? 

Part of me wanted to make myself hang in there and turn that trip around. Most of me wanted a hot shower, my cat and my bed. Kitty always wins in the end.

This was my room, the Drawing Room, at the Ann Starrett Mansion. No ghosts, just a poor night's sleep.

This was the best part of my Port Townsend weekend. Reading all Friday night and looking at the sea.