Another Itty Bitty Motel

Last weekend we headed further upstate for a dear friend’s wedding and stayed at The Brentwood in Saratoga Springs. It was so cute and and SO MUCH FUN to sit on the other side of their itty bitt bar and talk shop.

We’ve stayed in plenty of other hotels since opening our own, but not one that was this similar in size, spirit, and style. They’re 12 rooms to our 9, a 6 seat bar to our 3. After the wedding festivities, we put Amina down for the night and snuck over to the bar for a sip of something and talked with the Innkeeper/bartender about all the funny, strange, and particular things that go into running places like ours. It was really a delight.

Before we arrived I told Steven that he was going to have shut down any comparison whining I began immediately. I was worried I’d arrive and be like, “Ugh, look how much nicer their XYZ is and how much better their ABC is.” But maybe because I’d expelled the worry aloud already, or because the wedding was so dang lovely, or who knows— either way, I truly just enjoyed myself there and was able to share tales without being tempted to compare what we were up to in any kind of toxic/bummer way.

The next day we took our time heading home, stopping at the Asian Supermarket in Albany we’d heard so much about—

JOY OF DUMPLING JOYS! We bought so much.

Then we stopped in the town of Catskill where I honestly don’t think I’ve been in a few years despite it being only an hour-ish away. We stopped in lots of sweet little shops and caught the tail end of some live piano to Charlie Brown Christmas at the Hi-Lo.

Then of course we had a dumpling feast once home.

Sometimes it can feel like a lot of effort to get it together to leave for a quick trip— setting the hotel up, arranging Waldo care, getting all our stuff packed, staying flexible but reasonable with Amina’s sleep schedule etc… but it’s always worth it.

Where should we head to next?