My Very Own Wigwam

I can finally say that I have slept in a tepee!  Sure, it was a concrete tepee with an air conditioner, a full bathroom, and place to park your car at the door, but I think it still counts.  I've always wanted to stay overnight in the historic Wigwam Hotel in Cave City, Kentucky and finally found someone willing to give it a try with me.  Jamie and I were working in the area for a few days and took a chance on the tepees.   I'm not sure if he really understood what I was asking him to do until we got there, but I called ahead and made reservations so he couldn't back out.  We got two tepees for $45 each.  What a deal!  

Of course, when it comes to hotels you get what you pay for, so I was a little nervous.  After years of staying in hotels in small towns my philosophy on bed bugs is - just don't look for them and pretend they don't exist.  Don't put your luggage on the bed and think happy thoughts if something itches.  Fortunately there was no itching in the tepee, so I give it 5 stars!  

The dozen or so wigwams, built in 1937, are arranged in a semi circle around a grassy area with some very antiquated play ground equipment in the center.  Seriously, kids that played on this stuff would be advised to get tetanus shots, I'm sure.   One big wigwam in the center is the lobby and gift shop.  It was closed when we were there, which I assumed was because we were there in the off season.  I'm not sure what season is wigwam season, but since we were the only people there our entire stay, I'm hopeful there are more prosperous times for the old wigwams. 

  

There was a hand written note on the big wigwam lobby that said to check in at the building behind the hotel.  It looked sort of like a house, I guess.  Thinking I was walking into an office, I just opened the door and walked in to a living room where a little girl was sitting on the couch watching Kung Fu Panda.  I could hear someone in the back of the house vacuuming and since the little girl wasn't very responsive when I asked her if her parents were home (in her defense, Kung Fu Panda is riveting) and no one could hear me calling over the vacuum I just wondered back to the bedroom and found a woman.  She graciously offered me a seat on the couch with her daughter while she scrounged around for some tepee keys. It was a very homey experience.  

And, can you believe it, the woman who checked me in was dressed like an honest-to-goodness Indian, and even had an Indian accent!  It would be a little more in keeping with the wigwam theme if she had been native American, but I'm not complaining. 

Not that I was worried, but the inside of the wigwam was cute and as comfortable as I would expect a concrete tepee built in 1937 to be for the price of $45. There weren't any buffalo robes or smoke holes, but they did leave a small electric space heater for me, to keep my tepee warm.