The Suite Life with Zander and Zella

Usually on our biannual Colorado trip we take two days to get there and grit it out in one on the way home. This time around we got the kids from my parents and did not get away from Fort Collins until after noon. So, we did what any reasonable parent would do and traded heavily on the reward of a hotel with a swimming pool to get the kids to behave on the first six hours of the ride home.
The plan was to stay the night in Hays, Kansas. This is about the halfway point between Denver and OKC if you are taking I 70. We pulled into the Hays Applebee's for some grub and then rolled out to the cluster of hotels we usually stay in. Randomly they were all booked up. Yikes! We continued to the other side of the highway overpass and found one hotel with no pool (totally unacceptable after the day of bribery) and one with a pool but very questionable air conditioning status (also totally unacceptable). So, we hit the highway for the next town down the road and I put my internet accessible phone to work.
Russell, Kansas is not a big town by any stretch, but they do have and AmericInn- generally a clean, nice hotel chain with good pool facilities. I called and made a reservation with the national booking center and we rolled on down the road. When I arrived to check in the sweet lady at the desk asks me, "Do you really need a room with two beds?" Uh-Oh. I reply that yes, I most definitely do not want to sleep all four of us in the same bed. They made a clerical error and have no more two queen rooms. So, we got the upgrade!
In case you are not aware (read- in case you do not travel I70 excessively like our family) Russell is the childhood home of Arlen Specter and Bob Dole. So, we got upgraded to the very prestigious Arlen Specter suite. This wonderful room had 3 sinks! and 2 tubs! one a whirlpool! and 2 tv's! It was sooo Cool! You would have thought my kids had won the lottery they were so excited about this room. So Zander and Zella had one night of the Suite Life. They swam in the pool and came back to take a bath in the huge jacuzzi tub. We put them to bed on the pull out couch, closed the double doors to our king bed room, and watched TV! What a glorious night- for a six and four year old!