bathrooms and goblets

So, about the photo on the home page… 

On the way back to our home in Hayfork, we stopped at the Madonna Inn.  Oh my!  I had never seen anything so fancy in my whole life.  There were mechanical moving dolls and decorations all over the place.  And when we went into the bathroom!  Seriously, I almost fainted, because even the bathroom was gorgeous.  It had red velvet embossed wall paper, that felt so pretty when I slid my fingers over it.  And the bathroom stall doors were made of what looked to be leather with gold studs punched in to make it puffy like the back of a fancy sofa.  There were oval ornate gold framed mirrors over the sinks that looked like they just stepped out of a real-live fairytale.  I can’t remember for sure, but I think the sinks were marble.  I know the faucets and water taps were gold.  Because I daydreamed about those faucets for a very long time.  Wondering if they were just gold plated or if they were solid gold, through and through. 

Now…our bathroom was gorgeous, but that was nothing compared to the men’s bathroom.  The men’s bathroom had a entire rock wall for a urinal, and when the men peed this waterfall came rushing down.  I don’t remember how we found this out.  I think maybe my step-daddy, John was on the trip.  Although I don’t remember him being there.  Selective memory, I guess.  Anyway, my Mama stood guard outside the men’s bathroom and sent me and my sister in to see for ourselves, and it was true.  My heart was pounding, sneaking into the mens bathroom.  I hoped nobody would find out and we would get arrested.  We pushed open the door and walked in and sure enough, there was a rock wall, still slick with water from the last guy who peed, and I was filled with amazement and lust and envy.  What I wouldn’t have given at that moment, to have had a penis and been able to activate that waterfall urinal.

After we gazed in awe at the men’s urinal, we took a quick scout around the rest of the bathroom and then hurried out.  Cheeks flushed with our daring.  Mama was outside waiting.  Happy that she could have delivered this special treat.  And I was glad.  I felt like I had some hidden knowledge that all the other females in the Madonna Inn didn’t have.  I knew, by first hand observation, what the inside of the men’s bathroom looked like.  I knew about the magical waterfall. 

We met up with Grandmother by the mechanical doll display.  She was sitting on a red cushioned bench.  She wasn’t interested in visiting the men’s bathroom.  There was a restaurant there for the fancy people and oh-my-god it was amazing.  Everybody was drinking out of jewel coloured water goblets.  I’d never seen anything so wonderful in all my life.  And my Mama saw the expression on my face and so she asked the waitress if it would be okay for me to sit at the table for a picture and the waitress said, okay.  And I was sitting at that table set with real napkins and silverware but most exciting of all were these beautiful goblets.  I asked the waitress if it would be okay to touch it?  Put my hand on it, so it would look like I was drinking it.  AND she said, I COULD DRINK OUT OF IT!!! AND I DID!  It was one of the best days of my life.  I felt so lucky.  Like I had this lucky charmed life.  And my mum was brave to ask if we could take a picture and that waitress was so nice to me.  Even though I wasn’t a paying customer and she had work to do.  She let me drink out of that ruby red goblet with my own lips!  Now that was special.

Years later, when I was grown and had children of my own, I visited the Madonna Inn again.  We were driving from Canada down to L.A. and I added an extra 500 or so miles onto our trip to swing by the Madonna Inn, because I wanted my children to be able to experience the magic of the place. 

It wasn’t as fancy as I remember.  Now, I don’t know if it used to be fancy in the old days and it has just slid into disrepair?  Or if it was always this way and I was looking at it with a different yardstick.  I took my young daughter to see the woman’s bathroom and the wall paper was still the embossed red velvet, but there were all these dark bits that I didn’t remember and looking closer, I saw that it was a million names written on the wall in ink.  All these people had come here and taken out their pens and scrawled their names on the walls.  Millions of names.  Which meant millions of people saw nothing wrong with doing that.  It hurt my heart so bad.  They still had the mechanical dolls.  I don’t know about the waterfall.  There were a lot of rough and tumble looking people there.  It was so different.  Or was it? 

I did however, go to the gift shop and buy one of every color of goblet.  And we still have a few of those goblets now.  The ones that didn’t get broken.  And for many years, until they out grew it, my children got to drink out of jewel coloured goblets at every single meal, and in between meals too!

Posted by Meg Tilly on Friday, January 18, 2008 in Chewing the Fat

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