Hotel Planter, WA – April 2, 2021

[Martin Hash]

Entrance.JPG

My wife, Gwynne, and I were going to spend the night in La Connor, Washington, just because we’d never been that way. It looks like any little tourist town anywhere, however the Lockdown has decimated that business. The only positive side is there was no problem finding a quality last-minute room right on S. First Street, the main street through the quaint little antique shops, bars & restaurants. At any other time the Planar hotel would be booked out for months but it turned out we were the only guests that night. The receptionist seemed surprised to see us; she must have heard us come in because she was squeezing behind the desk when she greeted us. As we walked to our room at the very end of the hall next to the emergency exit, we passed all the other rooms, their doors open for inspection, sad & forlorn.

In our room we read that the hotel was built in 1907, originally with 22 rooms, but remodeled down to 12 so as to include bathrooms. The bathrooms were tiny but not much smaller than the bedroom itself. We appreciated that the decor was of the proper era even if it was uncomfortable. We were exhausted & hungry but all the restaurants along the street were closed; we ended up not eating the inedible “Captain’s Plate” of frozen seafood deepfried in old grease. When the surprised waitress saw that we hadn’t more than touched our plate between us, she was even more surprised when we declined. We walked back to our vintage room and went immediately to bed.

Room.JPG

That would normally have been the end of it but we were jolted awake at midnight by an ear-shattering alarm warbling in from the hallway.
“What’s that?” Gwynne asked, still half-asleep.
“I think it’s an old-fashioned fire alarm.”
“What should we do?” She asked, concerned.
“Nothing. Seems fishy to me; we’re the only ones here and a fire alarm goes off. I’m not leaving until I smell smoke.”
So we waited anxiously for the ear-shattering noise to stop, which eventually it did. We went back to sleep without giving it a second thought. In the morning, we didn’t see or hear anybody on the way out, and there was nothing explaining what happened the previous night. I had noticed the alarm’s pull-handle was right next to the emergency exit; it wouldn’t be anything for a prankster to crack open the door, reach inside, and take the hapless guests for a ride. Whatever; we’re never going back.

Fire Alarm.JPG

[DBTrek]

Sounds like you unintentionally wandered into a shell business that launders money for drug cartels.

"Feed them the frozen seafood shit plate, go back and pull the fire alarm around midnight, find out how they found us and make sure it doesn't happen again! I'm weighing grams and trying to run numbers here."