Destination: staying put at Best Western, Long Beach, WA
Monday was a low key day. Van took a walk in the rain with Quinnbo to discover the place. He came back to report of a boardwalk and many bike trails. Quinnbo was getting acclimated to hotel life. He was initially hesitant to enter the elevator, but soon learned that it was a quick ride with minimal bumps and jolts.
There was a Thai restaurant 220 ft away from the hotel and thought we could order takeout for supper tonight while watching MNF and Tom Brady. (New Englanders are less and less mourning the the loss of the GOAT, with the new QB Mac Jones. I am not, but I still like to watch him and cheer for the other team. I like underdogs.)
Our stay here in Long Beach was just what we needed. A low key, comfortable place to sit out the next four days of coastal rain. We had not seen the weather report before booking this comfy Best Western, but I thank God that we did.
In between rain showers and downpours, we had breakfast at Benson's across the street.
After breakfast, our first attempt at taking an extended walk in the rain was a bust. The rain was a constant, heavy mist being sprayed into our faces. After checking radar, we decided to try again in a half hour.
We had a beautiful walk on the boardwalk and learned that this coast was notorious for shipwrecks.
Swimming on the beach is prohibited, something you do not see on east coast beaches.
The goal of the time here in Long Beach was to take it easy. Walks on the boardwalk with Quinnbo, using hotel wifi to meet with Jon the builder (good news-house buildingmay start next weekand heat is on in the studio), knitting, reading and catching up on my blog.
We had a visit to Spendthrift Distillers, a short walk toward the beach. We sampled and bought their holiday cranberry spiced liqueur. I was confident we could come up with a festive cocktail at the holidays at Lake Quinault or Silver City.
I was disappointed that the World Kite Museum was closed for the season. With swimming prohibited, I'd imagined the beach would be perfect for kite flying.
We had a unique and tasty dinner at The Pickled Fish, where we looked out onto the beach and tracked vehicle headlights driving close to the surf. We enjoyed pasta with clams, pork schnitzel, and German chocolate cake in a cast iron pan.
The Cranberry and Bubbles cocktail made with the cranberry liqueur from Spendthrift was special.
I proceeded to ask the waitress for the bar menu so I could try to replicate it for Thanksgiving, with Uncle Cranberry (Chris's nickname when he was a food scientist at Ocean Spray. Turns out there was a plant close by, where Chris visited many times).
We enjoyed music by a talented acoustic guitar/vocalist who began playing just as we finished our meal. Perfect timing.
The restaurant was one of the most unique lobbies I'd seen. Was it very hipster Washingtonian? You tell me....
We had a restful visit here. It definitely was a place to revisit in the height of the summer season, with advance reservations, of course.
