An extra day - and a lost menorah

We were up early – Dave and I especially early because the folks next door started moving their car and loading up around 4:15. We had planned a pig’n breakfast as our before we leave tradition, although last night we had second thoughts given that we finished stuffing ourselves with pie after 10. It worked well for Josh and Jen to have a big breakfast before they left so they could drive non-stop to Medford, so we all accompanied them – after all, a little overeatin’ never did us any harm. Early Pig’n works well as there are no lines and the service is fast, and the food is delicious as always (although Sam’s apple crepes were a disappointment). It wasn’t scheduled to rain for a while so we walked there and back, which was nice.

The rest of the day was quiet – the three of us headed out for a walk, but it was very windy and I just didn’t have a windy walk in me. So I went back to the house while Sam and Dave kept going, and put on a little Nia and danced. By the time Dave and Sam got back it had started to rain, so I was glad I’d turned around.

For the rest of the afternoon we read and relaxed and Sam worked on school assignments. I finished A Gentleman in Moscow, which I enjoyed very much except I’m not sure I liked the ending. I also mostly finished (1 row left!) the banded bottom section of the sweater I’m working on, which was exciting.

We headed out for an early dinner at Mi Corazon, probably for the last time. Their ceviche is delicious, but everything else is overpriced and underwhelming. They also have a minimum amount of money for each person to spend, plus no splitting checks, no this, no that, and even though there are 3 tacos in an order of seafood tacos, and 3 different kinds of seafood, you can’t get one of each. I like the art, and the space is bright and pretty, but the overall vibe is not welcoming. Also maybe the heart theme is a tad overdone – is it really necessary to make the rice into heart shapes and even cut the cheese and cactus slices to match?

We’re still working on separating the house from the weather, since we’ve driven to most meals. It’s hard to remember that the house is really centrally located and all of Cannon Beach is in easy walking distance. The house is really great and it’s fun to walk around the slanty floors and look at the uneven beams and imagine how the house has settled over the years.

Bonus: We got packed up and home easily (no traffic on a foggy Monday morning!) and Dave took Sam to the airport while I laundered and did the grocery shopping. Since we spent the extra night at the coast, we missed the first night of Hanukah. When I went to get out the menorah it was nowhere to be found. We spent half an hour searching through closets and cabinets. We both remember putting it away last year and thinking "it's early next year, we should put it where it's easy to get at". After much fruitless searching (and by the way, the earliest Amazon can get a menorah here is Saturday) and several DIY ideas (birthday candles stuck to a plate; votive candles on blocks) we were in Josh's room about to go through the closet (it wasn't in Tim's closet or under his bed) when I remembered the three drawers full of seasonal apparel in his dresser - and there they were, right next to my chanukah leggings, tank tops, and sweaters. If I hadn't retired. I would have gotten them out right after Thanksgiving. Don't put things away where you'll remember them, folks. Put them away where they've always been.

Recovery & relaxation

Today started with a nice walk on the beach for me and Dave – we walked down to Mo’s and back and only got drizzled on a little. The weather has not been great, but that doesn’t seem to have much effect on the number of people walking on the beach, at least when it’s just a heavy drizzle. While we were walking we were having the usual last-full-day, don’t want to leave feeling when it it us – we’re retired! We might not have to go home! So when we got back to the house Dave e-mailed the rental people and we were able to extend for one more day, hooray! Meanwhile Sam headed to Sleepy Monk for coffee, and Josh and Jen went to Lazy Susan for real breakfast. Jen had gingerbread waffles, which sound delicious.

I decided to start a new, smaller and easier puzzle, which Sam joined in putting together. The weather got steadily worse once we got back from our walk, turning into real rain with a strong wind. It makes it especially nice to sit in the house with the fire turned on and the grass waving on the dunes. But eventually it was time to head to yoga. Yes, yoga – a dream come true for me to have a private yoga class with my long time teacher Christen with my family. She did a lovely slow steady class with lots of hip opening stretches that left us all feeling stretched and calm – it was just wonderful. I thought it was cool when I was the person whose husband came to yoga – class with husband and kids and niece is just fantastic.

Continuing on in the same excellent vein, we walked through the storm over to Bills where we immediately found a table on the minor’s side. We had delicious Bill’s food and beer and watched people’s umbrellas turn inside out. After lunch Dave drove home while the rest of us walked to Bruce’s, where they had restocked the licorice wheels and salted caramels. We all then made our way home through the gale (turns out my warm waterproof boots are only mostly waterproof). A nice feature of this house is a mudroom, which we made full use of – we were 4 drowned rats! We threw all the wet clothes in the dryer and turned on the fire and got back to some serious relaxing.

I had the perfect relaxing garment!

Since we’re a party of 5, reservations were a little tricky – for Stephanie Inn the choice was 5:30 or 8, for Bistro, 5:30 or 7:15. We went with the earlier for Stephanie and the later for Bistro, so we had a nice long afternoon. I had the idea that everyone would puzzle with me but it turned out pretty much nobody did – Sam gave up pretty quickly and Dave ended up helping for a few pieces at the end. So that’s what I did all afternoon. Dave finished the book we’re reading (A Gentleman in Moscow) and everyone else read or played on their switches. Jen did epic napping. Meanwhile it rained and rained. We had a short intermission for some more fortified wine tasting – sherry this time. We had an amontillado (just a glass, not a cask) which was in my opinion absolutely terrible – it was so acid and rotten that my jaws clamped together and I had to work to loosen my cheek muscles. We also had a px, which everyone but me thought was very nice. I’m just not a fan of fortifieds so far,

Eventually we headed out to Bistro – my boots were still soaked through – and had a very nice meal. I would say that Josh’s pork porterhouse was probably my favorite. Sam continues to enjoy ordering a bartender’s choice non-alcoholic beverage and had a very pretty red-orange drink. Bistro (memorable meals of honorable mention) is another of those restaurants that flies a little under the radar – consistently very good, sometimes amazing.

A note about the location of Capt. Kellogg’s house – it is centrally located, almost exactly halfway between midtown and downtown, but it’s not actually close to anything. And because it’s been rainy, we’ve been driving pretty much everywhere. That makes it feel like it’s not really conveniently located at all, although the drives are all very short. So it’s hard to tell how we feel about it.

After dinner we had to sit around and rub our full bellies for a while, and then it was time for the final wine tasting and pie extravaganza. Dave had saved the best for last, so it was port – a young vintage port and a 20 year tawny, representing the two main styles of post. They were both appreciated by most people – once again I was not impressed. After tasting both I got out the madeira which is still my favorite, and we finished off all of the pumpkin and most of the pecan pie. We finished out our evening with that old favorite, Garfield’s Christmas, and headed off to be singing “a little overeatin’ never did you any harm”. 

Much eating!

 A slow day in general, not much to write about. Rainy and foggy, with Haystack Rock appearing and disappearing as the day went by. I started my day with Pilates in the bedroom, which involved lying with my head under the table for the side kick series and was a nice start to the day. Reading and knitting until 10:30, when we headed to Astoria for lunch at Bridgewater. Lunch at Bridgewater goes on my list of things that are good to do; not having to drive there and back in the dark is a big plus and the only downside is that the crab cheesecake is not on the menu.

We took two cars, even though it’s not the tool museum, so that Jen and Sam could stay in Astoria and do some shopping. Josh drove home which was nice, especially since he got the car backed in to the parking area in the house in a way that made it easy to get out. It cleared up for a short time at 3, so Dave and I went for a walk on the beach to Necus’ park and then through town. Town was busy but not crowded and we had a nice walk. The thing is most of the shops we love have closed and been replaced by more touristy young people shops, so there’s not as much shopping for us. There was a moment when a car drove by and a man said loudly out the window “Look! They have a soap and candle store!” which of course is such a touristy place thing to have and that made me laugh very hard.

Dave headed home at Madison St, and I continued on to Icefire where they have gotten much more kitschy, but still had many interesting things to look at. The woman who has been blowing glass there since the boys were little will be retiring soon and they are thinking about expanding the studio and having more glass blowers working there.

I got back to the house at about the same time as Sam and Jen, and there was more reading and playing on Nintendo switches and knitting until it was time to head out to the Stephanie Inn. They have gone back to their 2 seating, 5 course prix fixe menu, which is what they had the very first time Dave and I went there. We were seated in front of the fire, which is also what I remember from our first visit. (An aside here – the gas fireplace here is called a heat & glow, and the logs look like wood and actually glow like burning wood, which makes it the nicest gas fireplace we’ve ever seen). The food, drinks and the service were delightful. Highlights included Sam ordering a non-alcoholic cocktail – “Bartender’s choice” and getting a delicious version of the pear martini and the atomic tomatoes. Dave ordered the wine pairings and when our server brought the first one (Argyle brut) she asked if he was “familiar with Oregon wines”, which made us all laugh and led to some nice conversations about wine and also her bringing a list of the grapes in the port. It was a good time.

 

We got home and decided to do our escape room. It was a level 3, which is too hard for us to do without looking at the help cards. With the hints we identified the perpetrator, but the game ends with the missing papers not located and the perpetrator handed over to the police, which is not a satisfactory ending. There was a lot of good collaboration and many aha moments, but by the end of the two hours (!) everyone was ready to be done – and we didn’t get our fortified wine tasting taken care of. So we have much work to do tomorrow.

Today was not very photogenic, so here are some pix from yesterday.

And a video

Thanksgiving at the Cap'ns house

The rest of today...

When Josh was in college he went to Ira & Shelly’s for Thanksgiving several times, and after the first year Jen went with him. Apparently they have a traditional breakfast that they make, and Josh and Jen made it for us today – it’s called Stromboli and this one was made from Pillsbury crescent rolls, deli meat, eggs and roasted red peppers. It was very yummy and we nommed it down. We think it is a good Thanksgiving tradition, especially with a green salad with a simple oil & vinegar dressing.

After we got that cleaned up we had relaxing and Dave telling us about the history of Cap’n Kellogg (turns out he was a river boat captain, which is not as exciting) and the house (it was built when Cannon Beach was just becoming a vacation destination, and remodeled and expanded in the 60s) and working on the puzzle until it was time to get the turkey in the oven – Jen and Sam got called in to make the stuffing just as we were putting the last pieces in the puzzle. Once the turkey was in the oven there was even more relaxing and also Dave and I went for a walk through the empty downtown. When we got back everyone was still relaxing. I did some knitting, and Dave walked back to the Mariner market to get an analog probe thermometer – we forgot the digital one.

At one point during the afternoon the fire turned itself off, which made us all very nervous since we like having a fire. Fortunately after it had cooled off we were able to push the button and start it again. And I used a size one needle to fix the whistle cap of the tea kettle, which someone had put on upside down, although even after I fixed it it still doesn’t whistle.

Everyone but me helped with getting the table set and the rest of the side dishes done, and then we had our festive meal. It was all very yummy, and the oaky, buttery Stag’s Leap Kalia chardonnay went very well with it. The 2011 Shea Homer was no slouch, either. All in all dinner got done very smoothly – Dave loved the convection oven – and nobody had to do too much work. Cleanup went smoothly afterwards since Dave had thought to bring a large collection of leftover containers.

After dinner we played games for a while, then it was time for pie (pumpkin and pecan) and 2 of the 6 fortified wines we brought. We decided on a malmsey style madeira and a ruther glen muscat from Australia. We all liked the madeira (more madera m’dear?) but the muscat was just a sweet syrup bomb. Good for putting on or in things, we decided, but not to drink.

The house is working very well.

Crab Shack Part 1

 

We slogged through the afternoon-before-Thanksgiving traffic and picked Sam up at the airport (after a UPS miracle in which we needed to leave the house at noon and the delivery which was scheduled for “before noon” actually happened), then drove to our Cannon Beach rental, the historic Captain Kellogg house (1905) currently DBA the Crab Shack. Oh my goodness is it a sweet little house. It sits on Ocean Avenue, which is the gravel drive that runs along the dunes between midtown and downtown, and has huge windows that look out on the ocean and the dunes, and a lovely view of Haystack rock. Inside it has 3 bedrooms, 1 down 2 up. We’ve taken the 1 down because it has the en suite bathroom (although the bed is so close to the wall that you have to turn your feet sideways to get in and out) and Josh and Jen have the other kingsize bed in the front room upstairs, where the view is breathtaking. Sam kindly took the room with the queen bed.

We unpacked and headed over to Castaways for dinner (Castaways is my favorite!, says Sam). As we were leaving I looked back at the picture windows and thought they weren’t level. We decided it was just that the shades weren’t pulled up correctly. Josh and Jen met us there. We did excellent ordering (covering 5 of the 7 entrees) and enjoyed our food and drink very much. Dave’s oaxacan style pork cheeks were the definite winner; I should have gotten the jerk chicken instead of the beef stroganoff.

Back to the house to sample the pies (what if they needed to be replaced?) and watch Garfield Thanksgiving, then time to hang out.I got out the Boynton Hidden Cows puzzle which is way harder than I thought it would be, but we worked on it and got much of it done. Jen is a very good puzzler so we let her do the hard parts.

Our bed has a memory foam mattress. It feels so weird when you sit on it and it just… subsides.

Things we forgot, or thought about but didn’t bring: Dave’s pirate flag, a jacket for Sam, long underwear, the hat Lynn made for Rachel, canned cranberry sauce.

Thanksgiving morning: 

Dave and I were up first, of course, which is another good reason for us being downstairs.  We went out to the living room and turned on the fire, then spent some time looking out the windows. In the light it is obvious that the house is, in fact, on a tilt – the line of the windows isn’t parallel to the horizon. Which explains why most of the doors, including the cabinet doors, have latches on them – it’s not to make it seem more nautical, it’s because none of them would stay closed otherwise.

We had a little breakfast and went for a walk on the beach. We were able to find the beach thanks to the very good directions in the house how-to book: Go out the living room door. Head west. It’s supposed to rain, but it was partly cloudy and very windy. The sun was peeking out from between the clouds on and off, and the tide was about halfway out. No sand report due to the height of the tide. We walked along the beach down to Tolovana with the wind blowing fiercely into our faces. When we turned around it was like having a gentle hand pushing you from behind, which was nice. Meanwhile Sam walked over to Sleepy Monk for some coffee and then got a little lost coming home, but found her way after we sent her the address. We found out later that Josh had seen her walk past, and then when she walked by again he opened the window and called out “Are you looking for this house?”

I want to pause here a moment and talk about the loss of wolves, the apex predator who would normally keep mammals of the order Artiodactyla- the hoofed mammals with an even number of toes on each foot, and the suborder Ruminanti (cud chewers) such as cows, deer, and elk – in check. Because this year we’ve had a tough time with them – the drive to Lava Beds in August, when both cows and deer tried to crash into our car; my car’s unfortunate encounter with one in September, and seeing herds of elk when we stayed at Schooner’s Cove. I mention this because we had a very close encounter with a small herd this morning as they were out for a morning run on the beach. It’s one thing to see them in the distance or from a car; it’s a completely other thing when you’re on the beach and they thunder past.

We got back from our walk and the kids were out on a quest for canned cranberry sauce and ingredients for grandma salad. It turns out that neither the sauce nor the mini-marshmallows for the salad are available in Cannon Beach. Josh says he’ll be ok. The view from the chairs in front of the window is enchanting, and the people (and dog) watching is the best. Dave says I shouldn’t wave at people but I think it’s like being on a boat.