Lessons About Life From An Aging Motel

Some things and people age well. Some don’t

Today is my last day of a week on the Coast. The morning dawned grey-green, the Pacific moody and receding. The bent tree just outside my motel window is full of birds. The view is spectacular; there are jagged rocks just off the coast, and the angle of the building sets the viewer up for perfect sunsets every single night.

At one point, this motel was primo. The setting alone is magnificent.

The owners, Ester and Lee, named the place the Esterlee. The cottages and motel rooms have provided a playground for kids and families and their pets since 1949.

Five years ago my friend JC clued me in to this place, and I began coming for five to seven days at a time. Fell in love with the staff, didn’t mind the aging wood, the creaking floors or the fireplaces that groaned when you turned on the gas flames.

You could sit with your feet at the fire, your chair angled west, and you could just watch sunset after sunset. You could just think, surrounded by so much beauty. It was a solid 2. 5+ star place made spectacular by the location and the fact that there are fireplaces in all the rooms.

The warm reception, the nice housekeeping staff all went a long way towards making any blemishes or…