Belated F&B Report

Sorry (not really!) for filing this so late, but we had to re-schedule our wrap and massage to an earlier time today, and I didn't have time to get it done before.

So... back to Wednesday, the true anniversary day.  We headed down to the deck at the waterfront, where I logged the previous day's Food & Beverage report.  Mother Nature decided to provide us with some entertainment.  For some reason -- we're guessing territorial -- a loon was not too impressed that a duck and her 5 almost-grown ducklings were hanging out at the end of the boat dock.  It wound up and TORPEDOED itself into the group, sending one duckling and mother to safety on one side, and the four other ducklings to the other.

Four lost ducklings

Then, of course, they couldn't find each other, because a bunch of boats were in the way and, apparently, ducks are about as smart as sheep.  Or at least this particular family of ducks.

Mama and Bubba duck

After much pathetic quacking, Max, the waterfront guy, decided to try and steer the babies towards the mother -- because the mother was quacking and looking in the complete opposite direction (Darwin in action?).  Apparently the four ducklings are a bit more intelligent than Mama and their one sibling, because once he started them in the right direction, they happily swam, walked, and then swam again to their family -- who were still looking in the opposite direction when they arrived.  These four obviously got Dad Duck's intelligence...

The loon continued to hover for a while, but eventually decided to leave them alone again.

And so, with that little adventure over, Don decided to try another one -- Waterskiing!  As he "warned" Max and I, he hadn't been on waterskis for about 35 years, so he hoped he still remembered how to do it.  Max said he'd go easy on him, and got him all suited up, and asked me into the boat to take pictures and be a spotter.  I mistakenly said yes (more on that later...).

Don getting ready to waterski, Max jumping in the boat

Getting in!

Don wanted to do a dock start, but Max didn't trust the dock to not give slivers where you don't want slivers, so the water start seemed the better choice.

Here he goes!

The sun was so bright, I couldn't see a darned thing through the camera, so just shot a bunch of pictures and hoped Don was somewhere in some of them.  As you can see, he was!

Max was laughing at Don's whole "I wonder if I'll remember how to do it?" statement, and said he was lasting twice as long as guys half his age.  In fact, he used Don as an example of how to do it properly with a young guy he was trying to teach!

After about 5 minutes, he did start to look tired, though and signalled to head back to the dock.  At which he did a perfect "dismount" (or whatever the heck you call it), and the crowd went wild.  :)  Waterski star!!!

What Don *HADN'T* told us before was that he had only been waterskiing THREE TIMES before in his entire life.  What the heck is such a natural-born athlete doing with me?  I have no clue...

Happy Waterskiing Star!!!

He was happy to do it, though, despite feeling a wee bit (!) on the sore side today.  Good thing we had massages booked!  (Cindy admonished him to do more stretching and take care of himself.)

I, on the other hand, didn't fare so well.  But I now have a really great retort for the people who tease me for staying in the sun all day.  Less than ten minutes spent NOT in the shade all day, and this is what happened in those less-than-ten minutes to my damned Celtic skin:

Curse you, Celtic heritage!!!  Less than ten minutes ALL DAY, and this is what happens...

I went back to the damned shade.

Although we had planned to have a nice anniversary Jacuzzi, we just couldn't fathom the idea of adding any more humidity to our already-boiling room (although the housekeeping staff had, unasked, brought us in a second fan -- THANK YOU!!!).  So we decided to hop into the air-conditioned (!) car and head out for an anniversary ice cream cone instead.  Which we ate inside the air-conditioned car, because it started to melt immediately...  (For those of you who would like to compare us to Mayor Ford, let us reassure you that we don't have an SUV, it's a hybrid, and was on eco battery power the whole time, plus... ICE CREAM.)

Back at the Inn, Don presented me with a beautiful blue dress he'd bought as an anniversary present.  And promptly fell asleep, because the waterskiing had completely done him in.  I read a bit, puttered a bit, and then... damn it, I was hot and the pub is air conditioned, so...  I left him a note and went to the pub without him.  :)

It didn't take too long for him to join me -- I guess he has a spidey-sense about beer or something.

And then -- anniversary dinner!

Shelby seated us and brought our water and bread, but Stephanie was our waiter -- in fact, we pretty much had her to ourselves, as the other two tables left pretty quickly after we arrived!  (Pays to eat late...)

We had been starting at a particular bottle of wine all week, and decided to take the splurge for our anniversary.  We joked that the most expensive bottle we bought might turn out to be the one we liked least, but it was definitely worth the splurge!  AND it's a Canadian wine:  The Laughing Stock Vineyard's "Blind Trust" 2010:

Our Blind Trust was well rewarded!

For appetizers, Don got the Mushroom Bisque garnished with Mushroom Croutons.  I forgot to take a picture of it in time, but this is what it looked like when he'd practically licked the bowl, it was that good:

The final remains of the Mushroom Bisque

I opted for the Warm Woolwich Goat Cheese with Sambuca Macerated Strawberries.  I assumed macerated meant mushed up, but it actually means soaked in booze.  I like macerated strawberries.  :)  Did manage to get a better picture of that, because I eat even more slowly than usual when it's too hot outside:

Not-quite-finished goat cheese salad

For main course, we both chose the Bourbon & Pecan Glazed Atlantic Salmon with a Salsa of Peaches & Pickled Cucumbers.  Didn't manage a photo...  I do have a box of leftovers, but I don't think the chef, after all his hard work, would appreciate the presentation in a cardboard box after we'd waddled up the stairs and left in in the fridge all night...

Here's another picture of a beautiful sunset, instead:

The second-last beautiful sunset picture we'll make you look at this trip...

Suffice it to say, the salmon was delicious, and the unbearable weather was the only reason I couldn't finish it all.

That and dessert, of course.  :)

As mentioned, it was unbearably hot, so we asked Stephanie to bring our dessert to us in the (did I mention air-conditioned) pub instead of staying in the dining room.  We had, of course, fresh strawberries and blueberries with whipped cream.  We also brought the remaining wine in with us to sip as we munched.  In air conditioning.  :)

In case you've forgotten what strawberries and blueberries with whipped cream look like, I did remember to take a photo of that...

You can also see my environmentally-friendly take-home box of leftovers.  :)

There's a wall in the pub full of paddles that returning guests have painted and/or decorated -- the top one, you'll see they've been honeymooning / anniversary-ing since 1999, and have a penny from each year embedded in the paddle.  Each one tells a story -- including that red one, with a ski binding, so I'm guessing those folks usually come in winter!

Guest Paddles

For our anniversary, Chris the General Manager (and bartender for the night) treated us to some sparkling wine.  Thanks Chris!  We are definitely spoiled here...

Then we played two of the longest pool games we've ever played...  Dunno what was wrong with us (sparkling wine, perhaps...), but we were alone in the pub, so didn't feel bad.

Better waterskier than pool shark

On our first game, I was pretty darned pleased with myself that I'd sunk all my solids before Don sunk his stripes, but then I was so incapable of getting the damned 8-ball in that he still beat me.  This was before my defeat, just to prove I had a brief moment of glory:

Look!  I'm winning!

In our second game, I managed to sink three in a row, but then my total incompetence returned, and another couple had arrived and seemed to be waiting for the pool table, so we invented a new game that is part pool, part curling, and swept the damned balls into the holes so they could have the table  :)

A couple of single malts to take up to our room, creative positioning of the second fan, prayers that cool air would come through the wide-open windows, and it was time for some shut-eye.

For some crazy reason (probably the heat, really), Don was awake and up by 7am.  Again, how are we together?!?

He opted for the usual for breakfast, while I had a tomato, green onion and sharp cheddar cheese omelette.  I'll let you know about the rest of our day tomorrow!  Still not sure why you folks read this, but thanks for doing so.  :)