Our special weekend in Cambridge, NY (Hotel Hell)

Being involved with the Hotel Hell/Gordon Ramsay taping made me aware of some special things in the town of Cambridge, NY. When I read about Steve Barnes’s “Remarkable” experience at the remodeled and redesigned hotel, it occurred to me that it could provide the perfect venue to propose to Cassie. It’s something that I was planning on doing but really couldn’t figure something big enough that would align with our interests and values. Since she was there with me when I went for the taping, I figured that making our second trip a getaway, where we would stay in one of the remodeled rooms, would be an unforgettable experience, especially since there would always be the television show to remind us of our experience.

So I called the hotel to make a reservation. I had to leave a message on the answering machine, which was recorded by a woman with a British accent. Brittany, the general manager who is clearly not from the UK, promptly called me back to help me make the reservation. I wasn’t looking at a calendar when I did it, so I unintentionally made the reservation for the weekend before Valentines Day.

But I booked us for the nicest remodeled room. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of $220 for the night.

We arrived at our room, room 102, in the middle of the afternoon.

The special thing about room 102 is that it had a patio and was the room that overlooked main street.

When we got into the room, the first thing I did was bring Cassie out to the patio and ask her a special question with a special ring.

She said, “yes!”

She was really excited, and so was I.

We took some more pictures of the room as received.

The floor was uneven, and that detail added to the rustic feeling of the town and of the weekend. Also, the walls had clearly been wallpapered and then painted over.

The funny thing about the television was that, when we turned it on, the picture was black and white, and there was only one channel set. Then the TV started cycling through the automatic recognition cycle, where it limits the channels you can tune to by going to each and detecting snow. At that point, we seemed to have most of the Time Warner basic cable channels. (Also, there was no remote.)

While this is totally conjecture, all evidence was pointing to the fact that we were the first people to rent the room since the makeover two weeks earlier.

There were fresh red roses waiting for us on a counter. I’m not sure if this is part of the normal treatment, or if it’s because Brittany remembered that I told her I was going to propose, or what, but it definitely added to the ambiance.

We had a little fun with a book that was just sitting on a coffee table. It was called “Walkin’ the Dog”…

…and when I flipped it open to a random page, this is the page we saw.

There was a binder with some of the usual legalities that you find in hotel rooms. The binder also included a copy of the menu that Gordon Ramsay helped overhaul.

It also had a hideous looking, special Valentines Day menu, that was in such an eyesore of a font! (These types of details are VERY important!)

The binder also had the history of pie a la mode.

We took a walk through the town of Cambridge and peeked into some of the special shops there, including the cool coop right across the street and Battenkill Books. Cassie enjoyed looking in the antique shops that we found along main street. It was a very serene and relaxing afternoon even though it was incredibly cold.

When the sun started to set, we took some more pictures from the balcony.

After our dinner, we relaxed in our room. We were in love with the bedding on the bed. It sounds like something totally random, and I’m sure the Imhofs and Brittany thought I was crazy when I contacted them to find out the manufacturer and model numbers of the components of the bedding. Apparently, the bedding was part of the Hotel Hell overhaul and was not a normal offering at the Cambridge Hotel, so they didn’t know. I contacted the TV producer I was in contact with, and she let me know that the bedding and the towels in the bathroom were from The Company Store. Weeks later, Brittany emailed me with specific model numbers, and they’re on a list of things I need to buy when I have some money. The bedding and the towels were absolutely heavenly.

[Random side note: We tried to stay off the social media, but, after checking, I found out that Whitney Houston had died that evening. It made me a little sad. It’s totally random, but it definitely fills one of those “where were you when ___” things.]

The next morning, we treated ourselves to a special breakfast (which you’ll soon read about) before we checked out.

I am sad that the hotel has closed, but I’m really glad that it was there to become a venue for a significant event in our lives.

Our stay was really beautiful.