Forty Drunk Santas

Paul works on Saturdays which makes it impossible to have weekend getaways. But we were both feeling frazzled lately, so I decided it might be fun to have a Saturday night getaway in downtown Denver. As usual, we are on the tightest of budgets, but travelling on the cheap is practically a game for me. I thought a nice hotel, a quiet dinner, and maybe a smart cocktail would be fun. I thought we could enjoy the holiday lights and maybe even do a little window shopping. Oh, the best laid plans.

The weekend started off with a successful bid on Priceline for a 4-star hotel in the downtown area for $59.00 - score! We were booked at the Hyatt Regency. While Paul worked, I took the light rail to the Hyatt on Saturday afternoon and checked in. But all they had were rooms with two double beds. I started negotiating with the front desk, but after checking in and out of two different rooms, I succumbed to paying an upcharge for a junior suite. My $59.00 room just became $109.00, plus tax. Cha-ching. Oh well, it was a nice room.

I found that the Hyatt has a bar on the 27th floor and it sounded like the perfect place to unwind. As Paul rode into town on the train from his job, I grabbed a table by the window and ordered some sort of espresso martini concoction and settled in to wait. $12.00. Cha-ching.

His train was running late and my drink was empty, so I ordered a scotch and continued waiting. $12.00 Cha-ching.

Shortly before he arrived, I had the server bring another scotch for me a and a glass of wine for him. $23.00. Cha-ching. Oh well, I've been holding this table for almost two hours and I'm not going to leave before he gets here. Besides, it was a such a serene place to relax and enjoy the view as the sun went down.

About two minutes before Paul arrived, approximately forty drunken revelers dressed like Santa Claus invaded the bar - some carrying signs reading "Less Cookies - More Ho's"! Apparently it was a group of bar-hopping Santas that grew larger as the night went on. Imagine the scene from Trading Places where Dan Akroyd, dressed as Santa, gets drunk and crashes the Christmas party of the company that fired him, but multiply it times forty. Hotel security swarmed in to monitor the situation, but how could they evict Santa Claus - especially when Santa is wearing fishnet stockings? While we tried to talk over the drunken Santas, Paul had a second glass of wine. $11.00. Cha-ching.

Next we decided to have dinner. With the budget fairly blown, we decided to settle for hamburgers at Johnny Rockets. So much for the quiet dinner.

After dinner, we found a nice bar where we spent another small fortune. While inside, the temperatures outside plummeted so low, that any television weather personality would just simply have given the temperature as "damn cold". I mean at some point, does it really matter what the number is? We high-tailed it back to the Hyatt where we each had a cup of coffee with a splash of Baileys before bed. $24.00. Cha-ching.

This morning it was so cold outside that our plans to spend the day window shopping and soaking up the holiday cheer were dashed. We had a terrific breakfast at a little coffee shop, but then caught the train straight home.

All in all it was still fun, but things just never turn out the way we plan them do they? Hey, at least one of the drunk Santas gave me a handful of Hershey's Kisses - no charge.