The Clarion and Pancakes in Sandusky

I drove home on Wednesday.  Well, that's when I started.  Things in Maine wrapped up quickly and I was on my way around noon.  I drove for six hours straight before stopping for supper.  That's the longest non-stop stretch for me so far.  Then I drove until midnight, with a stop for gas somewhere in their.  Mom called and asked if I would call back and let them know where I was staying for the night.  I told her I'd be stopping in Jamestown, New York, but I sneakily avoided mentioning the hotel.

When I got there, I pulled into the parking lot of the Hampton Inn.  When I parked, my headlights shown on a couple guys enjoying a smoke in the woods.  They were wearing nice clothes, but they'd seen me.  I didn't want witnesses.  After a moment, I pulled out and headed across the street to the Clarion Hotel parking lot.  I parked in the back and peed behind a big trailer truck that was parked across like ten parking spaces.  Then I grabbed my pillow and jackets from the trunk and got comfortable in the front seat of my luxurious, spacious, and somehow affordable Elantra.  Five hours of decent sleep and then I even got a free breakfast in the morning from the bag in my back seat.

When I called Mom at 6, she asked if maybe we could meet up later for breakfast.  My parents were driving down to Maryland.  It turns out we were passing each other right around Sandusky, Ohio, a little coastal city that has a Cracker Barrel just a few miles from the highway.  We met for pancakes.  My dad ordered Wild Maine Blueberry pancakes.  I did, too.  Because I had just ben in Wild Maine and wanted to see what their blueberries tasted like.  I think their taste gets lost somewhere between Wild Maine and Sandusky, Ohio.  Cracker Barrel seemed to cover that up by making sure to include plenty of oil in their pancakes.  I didn't even finish them, and that's saying something, if you know what I mean.

When Mom asked which hotel I eventually stayed at and how it was, I told her I stayed at a Clarion and it was... nice.  Free, I said.  Free??  She was confused.  I slept in the parking lot, I said.  She laughed.  Better to ask forgiveness than permission, in some cases.  Or however that saying goes.  I was driving mostly on non-toll roads back, too, so I figured I'd be saving at least $50 of my parents money since they had offered to pay for the hotel and probably would've paid for the tolls too if I'd asked.  They figured it was more like $80.  Great.  Even better.  I think some people take me as someone who is afraid to enjoy things if I have to pay for them.  That's okay.  It's not my fault that we don't all understand everything.  Plus, sometimes it's true.  But I just have to say this:  I paid $2.49 for some lemon-drops and candy sticks (?) for my brother, sister, and I to enjoy when I got home.  And, Mom and Dad and other critics, I didn't sleep too bad either and would've relished the hotel's comfort under other circumstances.  Okay, that's all.

Except, Mom's hashbrowns were really greasy too.  I'm just glad we didn't order anything fried.

I got home Thursday at 2:15.  My brother and sister and I enjoyed our candy while watching a movie from the library called Riverworld.  What a joke.  The movie, that is.  But we knew it would be, don't worry.

And that's the story of Clarion and Pancakes in Sandusky.



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Also, could you please check this out.  It may be my life's purpose to own one of these shops.