Road Trip: Best Western Breakfast

Images of breakfast at two Best Western motels where we stayed

All that driving! As we came from Michigan to California we spent three nights in Best Western motels. Two of them offered the standard Best Western breakfast including dry cereal with milk, make-it-yourself waffles, yogurt, juice, fruit, coffee, bagels, muffins, and some hot items. Our third Best Western had a full-service restaurant that looked very slow, so we went next door for coffee at a Starbucks and got on the road. (We also stayed with family for four nights and in the Grand Canyon lodge two nights.)

This is the kind of food that seems to be overlooked from the point of view of food writers or food bloggers. It's so ordinary, so predictable, so unworthy of description. We've eaten Best Western breakfasts (or equivalents in other chains) numerous times on other trips as well, and this is the first time I've ever thought of mentioning it.

The point of a motel breakfast buffet, I think, is to help travelers get on the road, to help business people get to their appointments, or to help tourists get to a museum or a mall, a beach or a hike, whatever they have planned. No formalities, no waiting, nothing to sign. Most of the guests seem to enjoy the selection, especially kids. Plentiful choices of very familiar food are just what people want -- and the fact that it's included in the price of the motel is a powerful attraction.