Monday, August 27, 2012

0 miles driven, 3 +/- walked

Monday was perhaps even more relaxing than Sunday… probably because we are getting the hang of it?  It takes some training to be good at relaxing.  We woke up 6ish and I dozed while Bob turned on the news, weather.  Thunder storms are in the forecast every afternoon and evening through next Saturday when we leave.  Monday morning was clear and still and 48* when I went next door for my cafe au lait just before 7am.  Brought it back and we read, emailed, worked for an hour or so in bed (how fantastic on a Monday morning!!!) then showered up and went back next door with newspapers.  I brought one of the juicy peaches from the market yesterday and got a sausage roll (two little bites of warm, spicy, flakey,buttery goodness; could have eaten a few of them but ……).  Bob got a hot croissant with ham and cheese and  an OJ.  We sat there for an hour, more? reading and enjoying the sunshine.   Went back to the room and re-arranged clothing layers; Bob took off to talk fly fishing and I read outside (Tana French’s new book, Broken Harbor.  I have been dying to read it as her first three — In The Woods, Faithful Place, The Likeness — are all fantastic. I saved Broken Harbor for this trip.  If you haven’t read these, read them in order.)  At about 10:45 we met up and decided to walk/hike.  Started out from the Hyatt and headed up under the lift a bit then followed a path along a really pretty little creek.

We eventually came out into a neighborhood that bordered the creek.. we ended up walking the whole town for almost three hours…. we went in and out of some stores and watched the sky darken up.   It started raining about two blocks short of our destination: Empire Burger!  We sat down just before 2pm in two seats at the bar and ordered two margarita’s (Magave Tequila, 100% agave syrup, fresh lime juice — shout out to Debbie Patane a Godmother whose son is CEO of Magave).  Yum and slurp.  So refreshing.

Bob had a regular beef burger and fries with a side of ranch; I had the buffalo burger with everything but mayo.  Delicious!  Bob’s fries were really good — crispy with the skin on.  I ate all my burger but not the bun, Bob hate about half his burger and most of the fries.   We watched the rain until we could scamper across the street to the hotel.  We hoped for a big thunderstorm because the sky was black but except for a few claps of thunder (no lightening that we could see) it sort of fizzled as a noisemaker though there was a fair amount of rain.  We sat in the room reading, working, Bob flipping the channels between ESPN, the weather channel, food…. he dozed a little bit.  And all of a sudden it was…..  HAPPY HOUR.  haha.  We need more training….. We put on jeans and sweaters, borrowed an umbrella from the front desk and walked the 6 or so blocks to Hearthstone, an old Victorian with a small bar on the top floor that has good cocktails and wine plus small plates during happy hour.   They also have a wonderful dinner menu but tonight we are trolling happy hours.

We got two seats at the bar at 5p sharp and we both ordered the Barrel Aged Manhattans (Breckenridge distillery bourbon, sweet vermouth, oak cask aged bitters in house $6 for happy hour, regularly $9).  It was perfect for a rainy vacation evening!  We got an order of the beef tenderloin tacos ($5) —  three small soft corn tortillas filled with spicy (!) shredded beef accompanied by spicy, fresh pico de gallo and a chipolte mayo.  Really really good.  A bit too hot for Bob so I ate both 🙂

We decided to go back to the Briar Rose on our way to a piece of pizza at Giampietro’s.  It was raining very lightly (so different than at home where it’s either raining or drizzly; here there are actual rain drops just few and far between) and the air smelled so fresh.  We landed two seats at the bar — crowded for a Monday with no Monday Night Football.  Really nice bartender named MJ who poured Bob the same hefty Chivas as Henry, the bartender on Saturday.  So she is his favorite bartender in the world.  I had the Predator’s Zin again since I left half of it the other night.

We were watching the US Open opening ceremonies .. I think?  It looked like a Super Bowl halftime.  There was no sound so hard to tell but quite the extravaganza.  It looked like they had breakdancing and stuff before the color guard and the National Anthem which seems strange but whatever.

A man and woman came in and sat next to us, the woman next to Bob.  All of a sudden Bob is going “honey honey honey” with his mouth barely open.  He was (not subtley) motioning to the woman and saying something… finally I got “Hitler”.  He thought her nose in profile looked like Hitler.  I was laughing so hard I was crying.  And I had to agree.  Of course while he was noticing that I was noticing that the woman was wearing a brown jersey knit dress and platform sandals; she hung a linen jacket on the back of her chair.  The man had on plaid madras shorts, Docksiders with no socks, a long sleeve polo, a baseball cap and a windbreaker on the back of the chair.  How often does it look like each half of a couple dresses for a totally different *date*? haha.

Meanwhile Bob is chatting up MJ and she tells him that their happy hour entails two-for-one cocktails… and it can be two different cocktails.  I thought he was going to fly across the bar and hug her.  “You mean, my wife can have a martini and I can have a scotch?!?!?”  He gets a big grin on his face and tells her we’ll be back tomorrow.

Then we cross the street to Giampietro’s and get the last table, smack in the center of the restaurant.  Bob ordered the same salad as he had last night, tomato and mozzarella and a slice of pepperoni.  I had the arugula salad with big shavings of parmesan and a slice with fresh tomatoes.  This would have been perfect.  Bob ordered a side of garlic bread.  Behold….

 

I must say that garlic bread was fantastic!!  Especially loaded with my salad.  My salad was equally wonderful on my pizza which was covered edge to edge up and down with fresh tomato slices.  I added hot pepper flakes and vrooom.  Gone.  We each had a glass of the house special Malbec ($5).  Perfect.  Walked home in cool, clean air NOT stopping for cookies.