Don't Fight The Bike

The Wilburys stayed the night, and even though we didn’t get to bed until after midnight the girls and I got up early and were out the door at 7:40 to start our day with some yoga. Christen always seems to remember me and it was nice to bring friends to class. There were five students total, and the class was very enjoyable. We spent a lot of time on our bellies doing variations on cobra, which felt really good and was a good balance to all the spinal flexion I usually do. As always, I was surprised when it was time for class to be over. Jen and Tabetha seemed to enjoy it too. After class we went across the street to the Cannon Beach bakery to get muffins for them and chai all around. I don’t know about the muffins but the chai was way too sweet.

It's the Rock With A Hole In It, And Dave.

Meanwhile Dave had gotten up and walked to the Rock Wahii. He had a very nice walk except that he did it in his bare feet, which turned out not to be a great idea. Also meanwhile Josh and Tim had gotten up and headed in to town to meet us at the funcycles at 9:30. We didn’t get there until more like 9:40 because the bakery was very slow, but we there was no line and we were on the beach a little before 10 – the reciting of the rules and instructions on using the bike always take a long time. I had figured that Josh and Tim would take off and zoom down the beach while Jen & Tab & I came at a more leisurely pace, but as it turned out it was Tim and I who zipped out in front. I had brought my little purse with my camera in it and also my Bluetooth headset, so while we rode I placed a call to Bubby, AKA my original beach bike partner. Tim wasn’t sure it was ok to talk and drive, given that the beach is part of the Oregon highway system, but I figured I was hands free and good to go. Bubby and I were both impressed that I could talk and ride, given that the first time we rented the bikes all we could do was go in little circles. Now we all know not to fight the bike.

When Selfies Go Bad

Tim and I made it all the way down to the north end of the carriage road, but the tide was already too high to even try to get the bikes over. It had been too high a half an hour earlier when Dave had come through on his way back from the Rock Wahii so he’d had to wade a bit to get home. I tried to take a selfie of us on the bikes with the carriage road in the background but mostly it looks like I am photobombing myself. Oh well. We turned to head back and the rest of the gang caught up with us about 1/2 way down Arcadia Beach, and we had a nice ride back together. Josh and Tim alternated between calmly riding with us and riding very fast in circles around us.  I was very pleased to notice that I wasn’t at all tired at the end of the ride, and nothing hurt – in fact I could have gone on for another hour, except that the bowl of cacklin’ I ate before yoga was long gone and I was starving.

Fortunately we’d made a plan to meet Dave at Warren House for lunch, so I knew I wouldn’t be starving for long. Unfortunately in all of the taking out of the headset and camera from my purse my car key had made a leap for freedom and was gone. So I called Dave to bring the other key (which was the one with all my house, work, and exercise keys on it – I’d thought I might lose the one I brought) with him, and we all piled in to Jen’s car for the short ride to Warren House.

Warren House is my second favorite lunch spot – the mystique of the Bill’s burger eludes me, so it’s great that there’s another place in town to get Bill’s beer with a much larger and tastier menu. I tried the clams steamed in ale and they were very good, and almost everybody else got the beer cheese soup which was also very good – Jen had the Manhattan clam chowder which was good but not excellent. Then we ate in pairs – Rubens for Tim & Tabetha, smoked salmon salads for Jen and I, and tacos and nachos for Dave and Josh respectively.

We’d all made plans to go back in to town and do some window shopping, but after lunch the desire to nap was just too strong, so everybody ended up back at the house. The Wilburys left not long after, and the rest of us got into some reading and napping. While I was reading I saw something out of the corner of my eye and when I looked out the window it was a huge bubble. Dave and I spent some time looking for the source, because our whole beach seemed to be sending up bubbles. Eventually we figured out that they were coming from the next cove to the north, and the wind was carrying them around the corner and across the beach and up over the house. They were very big – some were a foot in diameter – and there were very many of them. It would have been really cool if it had been sunny, but it was pretty cool anyway. It went on for a very long time, because we all took naps and it was still happening when we woke up.

Tonight was the night when Dave and I went to the Stephanie Inn and Tim was supposed to have his home alone night. Which happened, except that he slept through it – he was asleep when we left, and asleep when we got back. He doesn’t seem to mind. The Stephanie Inn was very interesting. For starters, when we walked in at 7 it looked like a retirement home, both in décor and in the number of white-haired people there. Not necessarily a bad thing, but surprising. We got seated with menus, and then got left completely alone for about 15 minutes – no one came to take our order or offer us bread or anything. They used to use a team approach, where everybody waited on all the tables, and they seemed to sort of be doing that and sort of not. Eventually I caught someone’s eye and she apologized and sent our server over, who took our orders but didn’t apologize for the delay. Then the person whose eye I’d caught came by and whispered, “sorry for the delay”. The service was fairly attentive from that point on, and the food was very good. My asparagus en croute was especially memorable, although I would have called is asparagus eggs benedict on toast. I always come away a little confused from the Stephanie Inn – like I should have enjoyed it more than I did, or something.

It’s very odd to get home at 9 and have it still be light, but that’s what happened. We woke Tim up and he ate the leftover jambalaya from last night and half a package of oreos. The weather continues to be very cloudy, so no sunset tonight, but Dave used a sissy fire starter and made a nice fire. Oh, that reminds me of one big change – the axe is gone! I guess they’re worried about people cutting off their feet, or maybe someone already did. Anyway, tonight Tim decided it was time to build the trebuchet that Dave bought when we came to Bill’s for lunch on Father’s Day, so that gives me a whole day more to bask in the glow of my two wins at pepper last night. It is very quiet without the Wilburys.