*picture is the property of Hyatt Regency Rochester* 

Happy Tuesday friends! I hope that you are having a wonderful week so far! Today I am excited to share a bit about our stay at the Hyatt Regency Rochester in Rochester, New York that we stayed at for our first night of our 2023 Fall Road Trip. 

As a reminder- this picture shows are course that we took during our fall road trip earlier in October. We had such an amazing time doing so many different things and it was great to start out with this as part of our opening trip time.

If you have been around the blog for a while then you know that I have worked with Hyatt in the past and have stayed at different Hyatt properties around the world. We stayed for a total of 1 night here and for the brief time we were there it definitely fit our needs. 

We arrived in a hurry (traffic and some delays had put us later at arriving then we originally planned) and had to leave for the concert we were going to with about 20 minutes to spare. I will admit that getting into the hotel was a bit of a unique adventure as the entrance was originally blocked off and with needing to park our car, it took us having to circle a couple of times. I heard from another patron that they had had the issue multiple times so as a warning this might happen and just allow some extra time to work through that! 

For our stay when we arrived we pulled up and I went to check in and had the nicest guy that not only checked us in but ended up helping us with our bags after the bell man informed me that he was leaving. Now granted it was about 10 minutes to 6 and he probably didn't want to stay past his shift so I understand, but it was a little odd for him to just announce it and we couldn't use a cart on our own we were informed so I wasn't sure what we were going to do. Imagine the kindness then of this amazing guy at the front coming over and volunteering his own time to help us. It was incredibly nice. He helped us up to our room, and it was just the kindest thing. 

*picture is the property of Hyatt Regency Rochester* 

I had booked a room that had 2 queen beds which was actually cheaper than just a king bed room. The room was fine and fit our needs. It was pretty quiet and the beds were comfortable so we had a lovely night sleep.

Hyatt Regency Rochester is located in downtown Rochester. Now, I feel like I would be remiss to not point out that honestly, it didn't seem like the best area of town. At night arriving as two women, it was a little... sketchy. I never felt unsafe in the hotel property, but I do admit that because we came back after a concert that was later and that we arrived in the early evening as the sun was setting it didn't feel the safest as I usually feel at a Hyatt Property. 

And unfortunately, while overall our stay was very nice, but I do have some reservations. 

First, As far as being a "regency" property I wouldn't have described it like that at all. I felt like the property was very nice inside, but the location did give me pause and despite people being nice (like the guy at the front desk), my reservations solely revolve around safety. Arriving at night, I just didn't feel like it was completely safe for us as women. And then when we arrived back after the concert, it was extremely late and I didn't feel like I wanted my mom walking with me from the parking garage into the hotel. I dropped her off at the Valet spot and then went to find a parking space. To be frank it was not a comforting or safe feeling experience. The garage was dark, the lights didn't all work, and I was thankful to find a space open up right by a door... or so I thought. It turned out that the door led to a walkway that was NOT lit at all and there were a lot of people just "hanging around" up there. As a single woman I did not feel safe with this at all. 

Second, at the Valet spot there wasn't a way for someone who needed accessible accommodations to access this without a valet there at the front to use the lever and button. Thankfully my mom has healed with her knee surgery to the point that she could walk up the stairs just fine, but we are both extremely sensitive to this with my health background and years of needing accommodations and our experience with my mom. My mom checked on this to see if there was anyone around while I went and parked the car and discovered that there was noone around to ask. She waited about 10 minutes and then went up to the front desk (got a different person then who had helped us) and was told that they would have to "call someone" and it could take a while. She explained that she didn't need it but was just inquiring about it and then was informed (a bit rudely) that she shouldn't be asking those things. This was honestly odd to us. I have NEVER experienced that at a Hyatt Property and NEVER had an issue like this. It was a shame that this was the experience as I couldn't recommend this property to someone who needed accommodations because sometimes you just can't "wait around" to see if someone could help. 

Like I have shared, I have stayed at Hyatt properties around the world and never had these types of situations happen. These were extremely concerning and I have shared my concerns with the hotel property and I appreciate that they will be looking into how make this a safer environment, because honestly during the day it was fine, and our room felt safe, but these experiences were very concerning.

Happy Tuesday friends! I hope that you are having a wonderful week! I am so excited to share my Tuesday travel post today and highlight the incredible experience that we had on our winter sleigh ride at Lake Clear Lodge in December! If you missed it, check out the fun reel that I posted on Instagram HERE!

We have been talking about doing a sleigh ride for over a decade. Honestly, there were a lot of reasons that it just didn't happen, but this year we decided that we wanted to do this- and it held a lot of emotions as I know some of you can well understand. 

 

Last Sunday mom felt well enough to get out of the hotel room so we took a little drive over to the area of Fort Lee to view the George Washington Bridge from afar. Over the last year, but especially these last several weeks we have driven back and forth over this bridge countless times. I had never explored the history of the bridge and when I did it was truly so fascinating to learn. I hope you enjoy these pictures and the history behind the bridge! 

The George Washington Bridge spans over the Hudson River connecting New Jersey and New York City. At the time it was built it was twice as long as any other suspension bridge and is still considered by many to be the marvel of suspension bridges. 

The building of the bridge presented quite a challenge to those who worked on it as it was difficult to find out a way to span the Hudson River. For over a 100 years this was the challenge. Finally Othmar Ammann, a Swiss born architect and engineer, proposed a design that was ultimately chosen. Nearly a hundred years ago (he proposed the bridge design in 1923) what seemed like an impossibility was going to become a reality that would help millions of people each year, including us. 

Construction on the bridge was started in 1927 and was opened to traffic in 1931. In 1932 (the first full year of use) more than 5.5 million vehicles used the bridge and in 1962 the lower level was finalized. 

It is amazing to think about how this design that was created in 1923 has stood the test of time, been added to, and continues to be a main point of crossing each day for so many people!

I shared a reel on instagram about the bridge that you can see HERE!

Interested in reading about other bridges that I have shared about on the blog? Click on the links below:

Confederation Bridge (Prince Edward Island)

Information on the George Washington Bridge was taken from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Website.