Day 2, lounging

What Oregonians think is a crowded beach

Woke up, ate breakfast, drank tea. Spent some time with Samsung support trying to figure out how to schedule multiple times for do not disturb, and eventually got referred to the next level of support. I suspect they can’t help either, but when I have a couple of hours to spend getting nowhere, I’ll give them a call. I also discovered that the old geocaching app has been superseded by a new one, so  we both installed it. Don’t worry BOS, no geocaching occurred today.

Usually Dave is champing at the bit to go for a hike or some activity, but after two weeks on the road he has a major lounging deficit. So we hung out around the house until 10, then headed to town for some shopping (quite successful) and lunch at Bill’s (ditto). Town was quite reasonable when we got there, and now that we have no minors and can sit in the over 21 section at Bill’s, we really only need to be sure to get there before noon, not right when they open. It’s possible that the two other brewpubs opening – Pelican and Public Coast – have also taken some of the pressure off. Speaking of things opening, a new restaurant has opened at the north end of town called Harding Trading Company. I tried calling them on the way home last night and got their answering machine which says they don’t take reservations and they don’t seat groups larger than 6 people and they don’t answer their phone during business hours. It gets great yelp reviews but it may take a while for me to get over the don’ts.

Also just before lunch we were at Dragonfire and suddenly a woman looks at me and says “are you following us?” Turns out they were two of the people from the big table last night and we had a very nice chat. I was surprised that they recognized me, but I was made memorable by having left my sunglasses on the table (I realized it moments after we got in the car and we went back and got them).

After lunch we went to Bruce’s and Mariner and then came home for major napping and reading. I suspect that will be the big activity this trip. After my nap I headed down to the beach as it was halfway to low tide, and the high sands make the tide seem even lower. I didn’t see any starfish, even though I walked all the way around hug point in the water – sandbars are very handy.  The waterfall at Hug Point and the little stream that runs by our path are the lowest I think I’ve ever seen them.  Another consequence of the high sands is that our cove doesn’t get cut off, and with the high temps in Portland the beach is very crowded. Some of them are even on our beach – in fact, one family set up a shelter in the cave to the south.

When I got back Dave was still reading on the deck, although I know he’d moved around a couple of times. We got ready to go to dinner at Blackbird in Manzanita. Dinner was wonderful – the green chickpea/quinoa/barley salad and the radicchio Caesar were standouts; the cauliflower which last year was so good that Tim had to have a second plate of it for dessert was slightly undercooked so not as overwhelmingly good. One thing they do especially well there is use finishing salt – both the flavor and the crunch elevate the dishes. A worry is that the menu really hasn’t changed in the 3 years we’ve been going there, which might eventually lead to Newman’s at 988 syndrome, where the dishes, while still well prepared, have a certain tiredness.

 

The floor to ceiling windows in the house are wonderful, but it does get really hot in the afternoon, even with the shades drawn. When we got back from dinner it was too hot in the house for a fire, so we sat on the deck and had some tea while the stars came out. It was fun to find the big dipper by arcing from Arcturus, and things like that. I made a pot of tea and we stayed on the deck while the sunset faded from the sky and the moon slowly rose over the house. Eventually it was cool enough in the house to come in and have a fire.

Last night after I finished the blog we went into the bedroom and watched our eclipse video (of the 1991 eclipse over Mexico) – well, Dave watched, and I dozed until totality. Who knows what will happen tonight?