Friday - The Last Supper

It was a good day with lots of beach.  Dave and I woke up early (as always) and went to yoga. It was a good class as always. I do miss the longer 90 minute classes Christen used to do, especially all the hip-opening on the floor exercises. We did get a little more twisting in today than Monday and Wednesday, which was nice. After class we drove to Tolovana and walked home from there, including a visit to the Rock Wahii. Who knows when conditions will be this perfect again?

Meanwhile the girls had driven to Arcadia Beach and done their own trip to the Rock, so when we got home everyone was up and about. There was time for a quick shower for Dave and then it was off to Bill’s for lunch. The tyranny of the high season has made this vacation sometimes seem a little rushed as we try to get to places while there is still parking and no line.  Bill’s was its usual fine self, although our waiter was a stickler for politeness. After he took our beer order he was heading off and I called out “we need onion rings!” and he stopped and said, “We need onion rings what?” We were all very careful with our ordering from that point on.

After lunch Dave and I headed to Osborn’s (they were open!) for the annual haystack sundae. We replaced one of the two scoops of vanilla ice cream with a scoop of coconut almond pecan, which was really delicious. I might even go so far as replacing both scoops, but I suspect Dave would not. While we were ordering and eating the girls went to Bruce’s, then came back and got some ice cream. They are headed up to Astoria for shopping and dinner.

Dave and I walked back to the car via Spruce Street and got on the beach at midtown. The tide was almost all the way high, but that doesn’t really matter between midtown and Tolovana. We’d been thinking about maybe going for a hike, but by the time we got back to the car I was over 15,000 steps and we were both ready for a nap.

We both did good napping – Dave on the deck and me on the couch. It was odd and kind of pleasant having the house to ourselves. Sadly, when you nap in the afternoon it goes by all too quickly. I did get the first song to Aya barred at least. This vacation we’ve had early dinners pretty much every night – 5:30 or 6. There have been good reasons to do it, but we both feel like it makes the afternoon too short. So, a note for next year: we prefer a 6:30 or 7:00 dinner.

Dave got whiskey in honor of Josh

Dinner tonight was just the two of us at the Stephanie Inn, also known (to us) as “The Club” (as in, let’s have dinner at the club”) or “Your fussy great grandma’s house”. The décor is stodgy at best, and the service is just… off. We like to think about what we’d do to make it better – replace the giant heavy brown chairs; teach the hostess not to try to hand you your menu until you’ve come to a full and complete stop in your chair, that sort of thing. Also, it’s really expensive and they have this weird thing where they offer a prix fixe menu where you choose an appetizer, a main, and a desert, and it costs more than if you bought them separately. To be fair, you do get a small scoop of palette-cleansing sorbet and a caprese salad composed of one slice of mozzarella and a slice of tomato. You may be wondering why we go there at all, but here’s the thing: the food is really, really good. They have old standbys perfectly prepared (Dave’s lamb osso bucco) or interesting food perfectly prepared (my berry, goat cheese and micro-green salad, with onions). The serving sizes are perfect, so you are pleasantly full at the end but not stuffed. So every year while we wait for our food we wonder why we keep coming back, and every year we are glad we went.

The girls came back from Astoria with lots of goodies and smiles. And we played trouble and I won.

Things to remember:

It was very warm this year, so I brought a lot of sweaters and long sleeved shirts that I didn’t need. Dave enjoyed having his bathrobe. Most days I stayed in my yoga pants and tank tops until dinner. If we have bread for the fruit salad, we should bring butter. I should bring regular sneakers along with my zee alexis, and also light colored dressier sandals. Also, let’s be honest here: I won’t do work stuff, so I don’t need to bring it. And dinner at 6:30 or 7.