A Good Day with Good News

Dave and I started with a nice walk on the beach and through town, then there was relaxing until it was time to walk down to Pelican for lunch. Today was supposed to be an even kinglier tide than yesterday, but during our morning walk which was at about the same relative time as yesterday the waves were much further out, and the breaking waves far out seemed smaller. We were able to walk on the beach all the way to the beach bike ramp, which again we wouldn’t have been able to do. We were too early for lunch, so Dave and Josh stayed at the ramp to see if things would get more royal while Jen and I walked up to Miska to visit the angry chicken paintings, which I should have bought several years ago when they were merely expensive. Oh well. We got to Pelican before they did, and told the servers that the other two in our party were delayed because they were doing manly things in honor of the king tides.

Lunch at Pelican was good – Jen says their clam chowder wins for best tasting, but it’s thicker than I like. I had a banh mi sandwich which was quite good. Dave managed to be happy there, resigned to both their prices and their ABVs being higher than he thinks is necessary. We split up after lunch, and I stopped at the gallery next to Bald Eagle where I found many mugs I liked. I had choice paralysis and ended up not getting any. I also stopped at Icefire and saw them blow one of the gin and tonic glasses start to finish – it’s a nice short project.

When I got home everybody was there. We relaxed a bit and then Dave and I headed out to do some shopping for him in town. There used to be a shop called “El Mundo for Men”, and every year he’d get his casual clothes for the year there. They closed, but a new shop called Maggie & Henry’s opened, and then he got his yearly casual (and cotton oxford shirts) there. Now they have closed and it turns out there is nowhere in town for him to get his casual clothes, so when the ones he has wear out he will have to go naked.

We were going to head home but I hadn’t been to Dragon Fire yet, so we went through there, where we saw a lot of things we liked. A Willamette View resident used to have some of her (wildly expensive) abstract art for sale there, so I always like to visit it. This year they had what looked like the same kind of pictures in that spot but it’s a completely different artist. Still expensive.

The house is between Taft and 1^st, so we went up to Taft to avoid unnecessary elevation loss. EVOO restaurant used to be on the corner there – it was sold at the beginning of this month. So Dave went to look in the window to see if he could see anything happening, and the new owners were in there working and came out to chat. In a true Miracle on Taft Avenue, it turns out that they are the previous chef/owners of Calypso, one of the restaurants whose name is recited on the list of Restaurants of Blessed Memory. Hooray! They plan on opening in January, so we are excited to come see them. There’s also a possibility of Dave teaching wine classes there, which would be totally cool.

Then it was relaxing until almost time for dinner, with a short break for our 4th sunset of the trip. No green flash tonight, but we still can't believe how clear it's been. Josh has to work on Monday so he would be leaving after dinner, and in order to fit Jen in our car we needed to send a bunch of stuff home with him. So we got that stuff packed up and had our last showers (excellent water pressure, not a big enough hot water tank) and took two cars to the Stephanie Inn for our goodbye dinner.

The building was very nicely decorated for Christmas with white icicle lights outlining all the edges; it looks a lot like a classy wedding cake. The multi-colored net lighting on the bushes is a little out of place but very cheery.  The dining room was redecorated last year as well and no longer looks quite so much like your grandfather’s dining room at the Club. It had a big Christmas tree with all-white decorations set up against the front window and felt very festive. Dinner was very good, and both the pork and sole entrees were equally good, which is unusual. The Pavlova for dessert was weird, but everyone had a good time.

We all ended up coming back to the house as the restrooms were occupied at the Stephanie Inn. Then Josh headed home (he got there around 8:40, as predicted) and we watched the original Miracle on 34^th Street movie which was very good but we missed the singing. And then it was bedtime of our last night.

Yes, we did end up falling in love with the house, mostly because of the location, but also because it’s a nice, comfortable place. Would recommend.

Here are two pictures I like very much from the Miska Gallery