How to survive being snowed in your hotel room
How to survive being snowed in your hotel room
Let me share with you a vacation that was not a vacation at least it was not the vacation I had planned. We got snowed in on vacation!
So we sometimes take crazy trips, ok maybe more often than sometimes. So let me tell you the plan and then tell you what went wrong and how we handled the change in plans. The plan this year for our annual ski trip was to head to Harrisonburg VA for 2 days. We planned one day of skiing at Massanutten Resort followed by a day of splashing at their water park. Then we would hop in the car and drive to Timberline West VA for 3 more days of skiing. Massanutten is about 2 hours from our home and then Timberline is another 3 hours west so it made for a nice stopping point to extend our trip into a nice long vacation. So I carefully packed to make the transition from one hotel to the next easy. I planned meals (we pack almost all of the food we eat to save money) based on where we were staying and what activities we had planned for the day. We loaded up the car without a square inch of spare space and headed out. We arrived at Massanutten as planned and enjoyed a fantastic day of skiing. The temperatures were frigid but we took frequents breaks and used hand and foot warmers and lots of layers. After skiing, we checked into our hotel room got settled and then headed out for a great meal at a nearby restaurant. So far so good, vacation relaxation all the way. We were given a heads up when we got back to the hotel that a snow storm was on its way and they were calling for 12 inches. Yikes!! Well I thought no worries we had a great day of skiing and tomorrow we will be inside at the water park which is only 10 min away from our hotel. We are comfortable driving in the snow so a 10 min drive did not seem so daunting.
The storm hit earlier than predicted and we woke up to several inches of snow already on the ground and it was still coming down strong. There would be no water park for us today. While I planned and packed for skiing and swimming I did not plan for an extended amount of downtime at the hotel. Now I had a big problem: how to keep 2 young kids entertained for hours on end in a hotel?
Our vacation suddenly did not feel like a vacation at all. Luckily, there was a Target store very close by. We picked up two movies. Although we had to play them on my laptop since hotel rooms no longer have dvd players (not a great trend I must say). Huddled up on the bed watching movies was a nice way to relax. We also picked up two board games and had a fun time playing together. Of course, there was plenty of basketball to watch as well. I just kept praying we would not lose power.
Since we always travel with our Kuerig (I am NOT a morning person and need coffee immediately) and our crockpot we really did not have to worry about food at all. I packed lunches, dinners, and snacks. We always bring the cooler with water and other drinks. So I guess since we spent the entire day enjoying each other’s company with good movies, great games, and good food we still had a great vacation. Maybe not the vacation I had planned but still a vacation? Maybe?
Other great ideas to entertain kids while traveling:
How to avoid a major metltdown