Last week, we accomplished something that is easy to do, but that almost nobody ever does. In the Panoply of Great Achievements, such as Putting A Man On The Moon, The Invention Of The Printing Press, or Creation Of In-N-Out Burger, this doesn’t rank exceptionally high, but I’m proud of it.
Last Monday, we drove down to Monterey to attempt finding the Yellow-green Vireo that had been reported there on Saturday and Sunday. They typically stay in one place for only a few days so re-finding it was a long shot, but we were/are getting desperate to find something new.
We arrived in the early afternoon, and walked back and forth and back and forth and forth again until sunset. Several other hopeful birders came and went during the course of the day, helping with the search, but to no avail.
At dusk, we needed to make a decision about what to do next. Should we stay the night in the area and try again in the morning, or just give up and drive home? Given the likelihood of finding the bird again in the future (low) and how far we had driven (far), we decided to stay the night.
The catch? We hadn’t planned to stay the night, so we had no extra clothes or toiletries, nothing but what we were wearing. Now, we’re not the type to let details like that get in the way of finding a bird, so we whipped out our phone, made a reservation, and drove to the hotel.
Striding confidently into the lobby, past the family pushing a cart loaded with suitcases and around the couple with their color-matched roller bags, we presented our ID and credit card. The Desk Agent checked us in, and then asked the inevitable:
“Do you need any assistance with your luggage?”
Ummm, no. We got that covered.
And, that’s how we unlocked the, “Checked Into A Hotel Without a Suitcase” achievement.
Of course, we never found the bird, but at least we got a good story out of it.
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