Thursday, September 29 and Friday, September 30, 2011

0 miles driven, 1-2, maybe less? walked

Total. Relaxation.

By Thursday, the fifth day here, we perfected the technique that so many people here seem to have already mastered:  How To Relax, mind and body.  We did such a good job at it on Thursday that we had almost the identical day on Friday.

On Thursday, we woke up at 6ish, our more usual time.  Managed to linger even longer over the papers and breakfast.  Spent an hour or so with our email duties then took the dominoes to the pool. Our preferred table is above. Played a couple of hours til we went searching for lunch.  We walked further north than we have been before, behind the courthouse on the other side of Hwy 82.   Another perfect day, clear, sunny, mid-70s.   We ended up back at the 529 Grill where we had exactly the same thing that we had had earlier in the week; hot dog, fries and a pepsi for Bob and kale and quinoa salad with grilled chicken and iced tea for me.  I ate the whole thing.  Again.

We changed in to swimsuits and spent the afternoon reading at the pool, sipping the lemon water they provide, dunking in the pool and occasionally sitting in the Jacuzzi.  R E L A X I N G.  The pool is so quiet with a handful of couples like us (mostly old…) reading, quietly talking and jumping in and out of the pool or one of the two Jacuzzis.

After showers, we took our dominoes to the breakfast room which in the evenings turns into the Grape Bar, a wine bar and cocktail lounge.   The tides turned and I started kicking Bob’s ass in dominoes.  Maybe as a result, he had two Chivas, I had a Lockwood (Monterey) Pinot and a Lange (Oregon) Pinot which were both very good.  We decided to get Mezzaluna take out again and eat in our room.  We really are boring and both had what we had before:  Bob had the chicken parmesan with pasta and I had the spaghettini with fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil and chicken.  And a glass of C Donatiello Pinot.

Friday was more of the same — dominoes, reading, pool, Jacuzzi — except Bob picked up lunch from City Market (chicken sandwich for him, chicken salad for me) that we ate at the pool.   There is a new group of people who arrived last night – maybe for a wedding? And they are LOUD.  In the breakfast room this morning a twenty-something man and his sibling or cousin were at the table next to us with absolutely no filters or concern for others; arguing, swearing, talking on the phone.  We ended up taking the papers back to our room.

This group arrived en masse at the pool about 10am, about a dozen of them.  Very loud and disruptive to us ‘regulars.’  Amazing how territorial I felt!  Haha.  They were invading our private, quiet space!  After a couple of hours they left and, not surprisingly, left their used towels, empty cups, and half-drunk Gatorade bottles all over.  It wasn’t five minutes after they left this mess that one of the Hyatt people was out cleaning it all up.  Every single one of the people on staff here is terrific.   The pristine pool atmosphere was restored.   Could I be more of a snob??

This is Bob not winning.

That night we went to the J-Bar at the Hotel Jerome for a cocktail.   Chivas for Bob and Absolut Pepper dirty martini for me.  We were watching baseball and eavesdropping on the locals’ conversations.  A biker walked in with a Samoyed puppy in his backpack that melted every heart in the bar, from the drunk guys in cowboy hats to the bachelorette party girls.

We went back to Rustique Bistro for dinner – at the bar, of course.  It was really quiet even though it was after 6:30 on a Friday night.  Bob had another Chivas and I had a glass of Chardonnay from Burgundy which was fantastic; Bob took a sip and liked it too.  He had the onion soup again (just as good as the other evening) and the steak frites; I had smoked salmon tartar with cucumbers, capers and a dollop of caviar.  Delicious! I had the trout again which was even better than last time.  We had a bottle of Kunin Zinfandel from Paso Robles that neither of us had had and we both really liked.  We brought half of it back to the room and started packing up to leave early on Saturday.

We are both very sad to leave.  It is the first time we have been any one place for this many days in a row.  And never, even in the mountains, have I seen Bob this relaxed for so many days.