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I’m in a slightly overheated room in a Marriott hotel…

… where?

Hold on.

Newburgh, New York.

UD regulars know we drive – slowly – to Cambridge, Massachusetts, every Christmas. UD‘s sitting up in bed at the moment, looking at an out of commission swimming pool and Route … 81? 83? Lots of sun, lots of trucks.

She could swear she saw two big trucks last night loaded with hay. Is hay a commodity? Don’t you just have hay if you’re a farmer and then… I dunno… keep it at home?

She also saw an even bigger truck which was bilingual, French and English. It advertised the Canadian armed forces. Huge color photos of happy uniformed Canadian women and men. What was it doing here? Les UDs discussed this question at length. “How did it even get here?” one them asked.

UD urged that of all the off-road restaurants, they should choose Perkins. Mr. UD and La Kid were skeptical.

“It’s exactly like Denny’s,” said UD, knowing how much both of them love Denny’s.

“Okay!”

“But,” Mr. UD added, looking at La Kid, “if it’s not exactly like Denny’s, your mother is in trouble.”

When it came to it, they agreed that it was exactly like Denny’s, only cleaner, with better food.

Margaret Soltan, December 23, 2009 10:23AM
Posted in: snapshots from home

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4 Responses to “I’m in a slightly overheated room in a Marriott hotel…”

  1. GTWMA Says:

    Excellent choice! My kids love Perkins, and your description is dead-on.

  2. Eric the Read Says:

    Hay is most definitely a commodity. A family friend lost tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of hay when some teenagers on meth torched his hay barn several years ago. Many farmers don’t grow their own because it means you can’t do anything else with the land, like grow soybeans or corn.

    Also, unlike Denny’s, Perkins has some pretty decent pies. They’re not homemade pies, but they’re better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, especially when you’re traveling.

  3. Chas S. Clifton Says:

    Hay is a major “export” crop in my county, mostly in the smaller rectangular bales (not the big cylindrical ones) for purchase by horse owners.

  4. Adam Says:

    How interesting. At the Breezewood interchange (half-way between DC and Pittsburgh) the Denny’s is cleaner and nicer than the Perkins.

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