I happened to bring up the Renaissance Concourse hotel during a conversation about hotels near the airport on Friday night. In an interesting coincidence, this exact weekend last year (President’s Day) was the weekend I stayed there and took pictures of airplanes.

Since it had been on my mind, it didn’t surprise me at all when I ended up there on Sunday as a result of a drive that was solely intended to get me out of the house. The recent snow has been pretty, but it has also given me a serious case of cabin fever.

The Concorde Bar & Grill at the Renaissance is open to the public and I’ve gone down there once or twice since the lock-in to have a quiet drink and watch airplanes. It hasn’t been anywhere near enough for me to get acquainted with the staff though, and that led to a pretty fun experience this afternoon.

I asked for a sloe gin fizz — which is one of my standbys — and the bartender had to check to see if they had any sloe gin. They did, and when she brought it out she was visibly excited. “This is so cool! I’ve never had a chance to make one of these before!”

After I took it to a table by the window she came by to check on me several times. “If you need anything, just ask. That made my night.”

She did such a good job that I didn’t have the heart to tell her she’d forgotten the lemon juice.