Water, with prepositions

 

This morning's adventure was kayaking. We drove to the Wheeler Marina and rented two kayaks, then paddled upstream for an hour or so. (On the water) We didn’t turn on any of our trackers so we don’t know how far we went (according to google maps it was about 4 miles round trip), but it felt like a long way, especially paddling upstream. Of course you don’t get any steps for paddling, so I’m probably not going to beat yesterday’s 22,600 steps – or Dave’s 80 floors. The river is tidal where we were, which means that if we went at a different time of day it would be flowing the other way.

We came back to the hotel to get changed, then headed out for lunch. We parked at Tolovana and ate at Warren House, on the sunny front deck. We learned that Mo’s has been bought by a large corporation, which explains why their food isn’t as good, and that Wayfarer’s good chef got so good that he priced himself out of a job, which is why their food isn’t as good either. Fortunately Warren House is still good, and they have Bill’s beer. Dave learned that you shouldn’t put a lime in the Pfriem Mexican Lager. So much learning!

We’d parked in the Tolovana lot (where we got one of the last spots) because the tide was all the way out at lunchtime, so it would be good for a walk after. And walk we did, down to the Rock Wahii, which was exhibiting high sands. (Next to the water) The tide had come in enough so we could only be in front, but it was fun to see. The walk back was almost a walk too far – the wind was blowing strongly against us, and even though we didn’t use our legs in the kayaks we did use a lot of energy! We were glad to get back to the hotel for resting. The beach was even more crowded with people than yesterday, although there were significantly fewer pelicans. It was hot on the beach and a little warm in our hotel room.

After resting a while I decided to go down and get in the water, which I managed to do up to mid-chest. It took a while to get numb, but once I did I had fun walking back and forth across Ecola creek, which ranges from hip to chest high in the center at high tide. There was one woman who was having a great time floating around with just her head out of the water, but when I tried putting my arms in it was too cold! The pelicans had returned with the tide. When I came up I had a nice warm shower, and then it was pretty much time to head over to the Bistro.

The Bistro’s slogan used to be “memorable meals of honorable mention”, but then it burned down and was rebuilt and now it got new owners who changed it to “food without confusion”. Either way it’s a place where locals hang out with interesting food and a fun wine list. Since Dave is preparing to re-take his D3 tasting exam we are having some fun in restaurants. In this case I took our server aside (there’s a curtain that separates the bar/entrance from the main dining room, so we stepped behind it) and ordered glasses of wine for Dave to reason out. He correctly identified the house Chardonnay and the Sinean (Oregon) Pinot Gris, but I was able to stump him with the Tempraniiillllo from Spain. Dessert was a very strange pie with a graham cracker crust filled with a thin layer of chocolate mousse, a thick layer of Swedish cream, and layer of apple gelee with pie spices that was slightly thicker than the chocolate mousse layer. They were three great tastes, but we weren’t sure they tasted great together – in fact they were a little confusing. The side of salted caramel icecream with pralines was not confusing, just flat out delicious.

Back to the hotel afterwards for relaxing and a clear-to-the-horizon sunset with no green flash (over the water). We took a short post sunset walk down to the beach. Between all the walking we did on Monday and Tuesday and the kayaking and walking we did today, we’re pretty tired. There was a moment where I wasn’t sure I’d make it off the beach. What a lovely time we’ve had!