There’s nothing quite like the excitement of checking into a hotel you’ve never been before. I still recall a Howard Johnson’s, decades ago, and how exciting it was. I’m not sure why it stood out to my then ten year old mind. Probably for the slimmest of reasons, like it had a nice pool or a decent continental breakfast. My memory says we were on our way back home from a trip and were looking for a place to stay and finally found one and so were relieved to be done (for the day) traveling.
So today we drove a half-hour to Canal Winchester, perhaps the most unremarkable looking suburb of the many unremarkable suburbs that surround Columbus. Still, even a town of 7,000 souls has history and mystery:
Canal Winchester was founded in 1828 by Reuben Dove and John Colman. When construction of the Ohio & Erie Canal came through Dove's wheat field, he wanted to sue the state. The canal workmen instead convinced him that he would be better off laying out a town, because the area was midway between Columbus and Lancaster. On November 4, 1828, Reuben Dove recorded the first plat for Winchester, Ohio, named after Dove’s father's hometown of Winchester, Virginia.
Winchester flourished because of agriculture and transportation. The Ohio and Erie Canal brought passengers, freight and a means to transport grain to market. The first canal boat floated through Winchester in 1831. The village was named Canal Winchester when the post office was established in 1841, because there were five other locations in the state named Winchester.
The reason for the destination was Brewdog brewery and the hotel Doghouse. (Dog-friendly, naturally).
Check-in wasn’t easy as canine Max was going nuts, barking so hard I couldn’t hear the lady at the counter. I said “act like you’ve been to a hotel before” without effect. No manners. In fairness, they don’t get out much.
The dogs and I walked in high summer weather along the pond outside our patio with Maris sniffing things like me inhaling the scent of old books and Nordic Max mainly looking for other dogs and trying not to overheat. I carried and drank from my “free” beer (free for the price of a share of Brewdog stock). My wife begged off the hike saying it was far too hot (which it was).
Now I’m sitting in an Adirondack chair on our private patio overlooking the pond. Ahhhh... and drinking from essentially limitless beer tap, an 11-pint in-room number featuring the dependably delicious Brewdog Hazy Jane. (Surprisingly my wife likes it but she’s got two freebies as it is, a Clockwork Tangerine and a Lost Lager. )
We ordered room service and while waiting I picked up a flight of four beers from the bar including a fine Jet Expresso Nitro Stout (9), an Ace Mandarin (7), an Indolence (1; a sour beer and undrinkable), and an East Coast Crush (9). This is the adult equivalent of a kid in a candy shop.
They have a small refrigerator in the main room and another in the bathroom called “shower beer”, complete with a huggie mounted above the sink to keep your beer cold while brushing your teeth or going to the bathroom. Not that you could drink a beer while going to the bathroom or brushing your teeth although the latter might be hard.
The hotel lobby was empty when I went out to order my flight so I let Max run wild and free they said dogs had to be on a leash. Surprisingly he responded to my whistles like I was a trainer at the Westminster dog show.
This is my kind of vacation: sitting around drinking beer. It’s funny how factories seem so boring except for the factory that makes something you really, really like - be it beer or books or church cardinals. Then you might actually want to tour that factory even at the risk of taking the mystery out of it.
It’s neat they also offer to deliver to you room any of a dozen books on beer and brewing. I assume it’s only to borrow, not keep.... Unless you have to pay for them.
Unfortunately it’s going to storm any minute so the three short dog walks I did in the 90-degree weather since getting here will swiftly come to an end, as will my sitting on this patio. But we had full sun for almost two hours. According to my rain app, I have just five minutes, and severe weather sirens just went off so, on paper at least, I should go in. No time for a cigar.
(The sirens were tornado warnings; a Doghouse employee came to our door not with our room service order but to ask us to shelter in the bathroom away from the windows - my wife thought it was funny that I asked her if she got our food order while a tornado was happening. Priorities...).
Day 2
At first light Max felt it was time to get up (around 6am). In part probably because the door shade wouldn’t close (there was a remote for it but it didn’t work, alas) so we had a flood of light coming in at dawn.
The other less-than-ideal thing about the place is that the door to the patio automatically locks and you can’t get in even with your room key. So that led to a lot of awkward propping of door, often with dogs in tow. Pirouettes worthy of Bill Luse’s daughter, one-footed movements of carpet desperately pulled towards the crack of the door to save lock-out disaster. If I’d been smarter I'd have just found something to prop it an inch and left it open full-time.
I took the dogs on a tiny 6:30am walk. Enjoyed coffees delivered to our room out on patio; slightly cool for this time of year at 63 degrees! Max went nuts went someone walked by and a full cup of coffee spilled. Right on time, at 9:30, our complimentary breakfast arrived and it was awesome: bacon, eggs, toast and fruit cup. And another coffee.
I’m surprised this turned out to be as “pastoral” a vacation as it was. Helped by going mid-week no doubt, which cut down on the crowds. But I didn’t realize there’d be a pond with frogs, an egret, ducks, geese and and a tannin colored ground hog.
Felt a bit lethargic after all that beer the night before and still our tap runneth over. Ended up filling a jug, and about 8 additional cups worth this morning. Poured them into cups with lids and then placed them carefully in a Tupperware-type case. So I should drink for “free” tonight as well, assuming the beer isn’t terribly flat.
So nice mini-vocational. We didn’t even take time to do the brewery tour but I figure I can do that next time.