We are traveling across the country to get out of the house!
I had never stayed somewhere with a window-unit before, and the HVAC was a transformer-like dream for two kids
Growing up, my family and I didn’t have the opportunity to go on a lot of big vacations. However, one time, when I was about 10 and my younger sister 6, we took a cross-state road trip, stopping in different towns along the way to see all that America had to offer. One of the towns we stopped in, my mother and grandmother who had taken my sister and I on this trip decided to splurge, and booked us a room in the fanciest hotel my sister and I had ever seen- the Marriott. It was like the Disney show where the kids lived in the hotel- there were bellboys, and a front desk, and this building had the single coolest architectural feature my decade-old eyes had ever seen- a spinning door. My sister and I spun around in that thing for the half-hour it took to sign in, and spinning in 360 degrees for that long is something I might’ve cherished then, but thinking back on now makes me nauseous even thinking of it. When we finally got to our room, having gotten lost on the wrong floor along the way, my sister and I were once again astonished at the luxury surrounding us. There was a little kitchenette area, with a sink and its own miniature appliances. A whole living room section with a big tv, the two huge beds, and possibly the coolest thing of all- a gigantic HVAC window unit. I had never stayed somewhere with a window-unit before, and the HVAC was a transformer-like dream for two kids. We sat in front of it for hours, taking turns switching the heating settings to air conditioning, sliding the temperature gauge up and down, placing our hands on the side to feel them get warm as it heated up; I think if my mom had known how silent we would be in the face of an HVAC unit, she would have gotten us one ages ago. It wasn’t even the fanciest of all air conditioners in the world- but the different settings, dials, switches- it was so entertaining to young eyes. I remember tracing the little sticker with the HVAC business’ name and technician on it, admiring the little machine.