A weekend in....Sacramento

The VBM and I are holed up in a Chain Hotel By The Freeway this weekend in Sacramento. Our friend Pooky done got hitched. The wedding was sweet and simple. Pooky didn't hire a photographer so he assigned a few of us to "get in the bushes and take pictures." Pooky has the camera equivalent to a penis truck, and I must say: my heart, oh it is now aching with about 3,000$ worth of lens and flash equipment. When I get home I'll upload some of the spoils.
We met some very smart and friendly folk at the reception, where the favour was lottery tickets!
When we were planning our trip here, I was assigned to find lodging. We are at a place in our development where we cannot stand a crappy hotel with chemical smells and strange-appearing tile.
In other cities we have stayed at lovely B&Bs, where we have been consistently way happy with the accommodations and the value. Here in Sacto, there are only two or three bed and breakfasts. Two of them cost 259$ per night. Even the chemtels where we won't stay are 200$ a night. WTF, we mused. So we took a chance and booked a room at a place in Freeport that was the right price, but we had no idea what it would be like since there were no pictures on the internet. Also, it happened to be right next door to the golf course where the groom and his cronies, VBM included, would be golfing on the day of the wedding. This hotel boasted a jacuuzzi tub in each room, which excited me, because I love baths. The tub was literally in the room. Right next to the bed.
The feng shui was so fucked up that I had dreams of running and getting killed all night. I decided I couldn't deal with the place--it was clean but the carpets were stained. You could smell the fried from the kitchen, and they had budweiser banners all over everything. And the tub. Next to the bed. So VBM came up with a plausible story that we figured might get us out of our reservation without having to pay for the second night. I would tell them my little daughter is sick with an ear infection and we had to go home early.
I did it. I had to have a conversation with the waitress about ear infections and toddlers but I must have been believable because no one seemed to question the story. I felt a twinge of guilt when the hotel guy said, " You gotta take care of your kids." Also: passing myself off as a mom was, well, just wrong.
Our new digs is between a mall and a freeway and there are only two entrances/exits to this huge mall. The room is chemmy but not terribly so. We hate hotels. Tub. Next to the bed. Ew.