In Praise of Old Hotels #1

While I'm waiting for my next trip I decided to reflect a little on past trips and it occurred to me that I seem to have an enduring fondness for old hotels.  I've purposefully sought them out over the years while on the road and I almost always enjoyed the experience. Some were more of an bed and breakfast operation wrapped in the  ambiance of an old historic hotel, but that's fine and it adds to the variety of the experience.  So I decided to post some of those experiences in a series of intermittent blog posts covering one or two hotels at a time.

I once worked as a travelling auditor (sort of) and stayed in Holiday Inns and other similar motels while on assignment. That may be why I enjoyed the novelty of staying in older places that were not as new and shiny.  So here is the first installment with several more to follow.

HOTEL WASHAKIE, WORLAND, WY

Way back in 1975, Joanne and I went on a two week backpacking trip to the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. We were on a tight budget and camped almost every night, which was common back in those days. Our actual trek through the mountains was only about four of five days but we had spent a lot of time sleeping on the ground and   had not used a real shower for many days.  Joanne agreed to the backpacking and the camping if we could stay in a real hotel once we came out of the mountains, which was fine with me...sounded like a great idea.

Coming out of the mountains after our trek we headed west to the town of Worland, Wyoming. We had heard several good recommendations for the Hotel Washakie in Worland. The steak dinner in the restaurant was also recommended and that sounded great after eating beans and freeze-dried Turkey Tetrazzini cooked over a tiny white gas stove that was trying to blow up.

As I recall, the room was adequate but not fancy. This was sort of a cowboy hotel. The real bed was welcome after so many nights on the ground. The bathroom and shower were much appreciated. The steak dinner was wonderful.  Breakfast was great. We really needed that hotel stay and it could have been much worse but we still would have enjoyed it.  As I recall we had a good night's rest and headed west toward Thermopolis and the Wind River the next day.

As I was preparing to write up this short blog entry I began to wonder what happened to the Hotel Washakie. I tried searching the Internet...nothing showed up. I searched on Google Earth and Google maps....nothing. I looked at a map of Worland thinking that I might recognize the hotel location but there was nothing.  Finally, I sent a short email to the "lifestyle" editor of the local newspaper in Worland. He wrote me back that the hotel had been demolished many years ago and replaced by a Mexican restaurant. Ugh. Wow...that made me feel really old. It wasn't especially a cherished landmark of my youth but still it pained me a little to realize that "my places" were being torn down to make room for Mexican restaurants....progress, I guess.

So this was my first encounter with an older hotel. The Hotel Washakie was probably the premier stopping point for travelers on the railroad and cowboys coming in to town on weekends. Now they have Comfort Inns and Motel 6 and the train doesn't stop here anymore...progress, I guess.


THE EL REY INN, SANTA FE, NM

Sometime back in the late 1970s...I don't recall the year...Joanne and I went on a cross country trip to California. Our route took us through New Mexico -- Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Abiquiu, Chama and on into Colorado. We camped at a few places but stayed in motels about half the time.

In Santa Fe we decided to camp one night in the mountains and stay another night in a motel.  Driving into town we picked out the El Rey Motel, a 1940ish "tourist court" style motel with adobe-looking cabins. This was before Santa Fe was "discovered" and became upscale. I don't think we paid much more than $35.00 for the room.  The motel was conveniently located and we went out and visited the town and the plaza. The neighborhood was still a little outside of the congested old part of town. Santa Fe's early streets are narrow and seem to follow old cow paths.

The motel was distinctive because the rooms were very southwestern in style with tile floors and adobe walls. Our room had a kiva fireplace and wood beams and carved corbels.

Today this place is operated as the El Rey Inn and has moved upscale. A room like ours would be considered deluxe and would run $155.00 a night. There are other similar places from the same era along that stretch of the highway (Cerillos Road) including the Thunderbird and Kings Rest. The neighborhood and the road are very congested. Car dealerships and the Teriyaki Bowl restaurant are now across the street.

We returned to Santa Fe several times after that but enjoyed Santa Fe more on that first trip than our other visits. We camped up in the national forest among the Aspen trees.

Next: Railroad hotels

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