At the train station in Santa Margherita, as we were waiting for the train to Cinque Terre, Lis wondered if Roger’s government minder would be there. While we were talking, Iris said “Look! Those are police peeping over the wall! I think they’re keeping an eye out for pick pockets.” Lis said, “No, those are Dad’s new government minders.” And I pretended to take a selfie so I could get a (blurry) pic of them – someone needs to document all this government minding 🙂
Cinque Terre is a collection of five little villages (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore) perched on rocks overlooking the sea. They are extravagantly picaresque – at one point, on the train back to Santa Margherita, we looked back at one (Corniglia, I think), glimmering in the weak afternoon light against a stormy sky above a stormy sea, and it looked like a still from an animated Disney movie. Unbelievable.
Our original plan was to take the train to Monterosso (the closest one), and then visit each village via the ferry that plies them, and then take the train back to Santa Margherita from Riomaggiore (the furthest one). Roger and Iris wanted us to experience the villages from the sea – they say it is amazing getting to the towns that way. Riomaggiore, in particular, says Roger, is exhilarating because it is both stunning and scary, as the boat basically docks at a big rock, and then you walk a gangplank type thing to the top of the rock and up some stone steps (we went and looked at where this takes place once we were in that town – it looks like it would indeed get your blood pumping!).
But, alas – the seas were too rough, and the ferry wasn’t running. So, we walked along the (tiny) main drag of Monterosso for a while, enjoying the sights and formulating a plan B. We decided we didn’t have time to visit each village by train, as we had dinner reservations back at the hotel for our anniversary (Happy Anniversary to us!!), and didn’t want to worry about being late. Eventually we decided to take the train to Riomaggiore (I don’t know/remember the rationale for picking that one), and then go back.
At the train station in Riomaggiore, there’s this great stone wall full of pigeons fighting each other for roosting space on the occasional hooks jutting from the wall or small slits recessed in to it. We watched a few of these contests, and then headed in to the tunnel that lead under the hill to the main drag on the other side. These tunnels (there was another one in one of the other towns we visited – I forget which one) have fantastic acoustics, and so street musicians set up in them. This musician was a woman playing a flute, and she was playing “My Way.”
There were lots of people coming and going, and the music echoed through the tunnel, and Iris started singing, and then Roger joined her, and they sounded great in the tunnel, too. And then other people joined in, and then more, and then more, and so by the time we reached the climax of the song, practically the whole tunnel was belting “I did it myyyyyyy wayyyyyyy!” It was really a fun little spontaneous moment, courtesy of Roger and Iris and their lovely public singing 🙂
Once we got to Riomaggiore, we found a gelato place (of course!) and then wandered for a bit until it was time for the train back to Santa Margherita. For those of you dying to know – I prefer the chocolate (cioccolato) and hazelnut (nocciole) combo, especially if the chocolate is of the dark variety. Lis, on the other hand, is partial to coconut (cocco).
Once back in the hotel, we rested for a while, and then met Roger and Iris in the hotel bar half an hour before dinner, for aperitivi. The bar lays out a huge spread of nuts, home made cheese-it type things, olives, potato and tortilla chips, etc, when you get drinks. So we munched on those and then went in to dinner. The wait staff were very attentive, we had a lovely anniversary dinner, and then it was time for bed. A most pleasant anniversary and last full day in Italy!
It is now 2am in Santa Margherita, and, as I feared it might, my long lie in this morning has lead to insomnia tonight. So, I might as well put my sleeplessness to good use, and jump back to our day in Camogli.
We walked to the bus station, wending our way past hoards of people from a Costa cruise ship anchored somewhere out of sight, and boarded a bus for Camogli. Lis thought it was strange that we headed up in to the hills, since she’d thought we were headed to a fishing village, but then we started to go down the other side towards the water, and it all made sense.
We got off the bus and walked down a cobble stoned hill toward the harbor and a sort of quay with lots of shops and galleries and restaurants. Along the way we saw more of the wonderful old-world architecture that we’ve been seeing in Santa Margherita. What is great about this architecture, though, is that it is faux. When you look close, you can see that the buildings are flat, and that all the curliques and falderols are painted on. Usually, only the shutters and an occasional balcony are real – everything else is a paint job. They look great, though, and it strikes me as very efficient – simple to execute, easy to change the entire architectual style of a building. I approve. You can see some examples from Camogli and Santa Margherita here.
After wandering for a bit, we stopped at an open air restaurant, Xodo, for lunch. Iris and I shared a pizza, Roger had gnocchi with pesto, and Lis had a chicken schnitzel. Schnitzel is a big thing here, it seems, as I’ve seen it on almost every menu – once, I saw it described as Milanese style schnitzel, so I suppose that means schnitzel with an Italian twist…? Anyway, Lis seemed happy with her chicken, Iris and I enjoyed the pizza (though they brought it to us uncut, and with only regular butter knives available at the table, so we had a bit of a time wrestling with it), and Roger’s pesto gnocchi was the best gnocchi I’ve ever had anywhere, by far.
Soon after we sat down, Lis said, “Oh, look, there’s that same guy from yesterday.” Iris looked, and agreed that the man sitting on the sea wall in orange shirt and orange scarf was the same man they’d seen the day before in Portofino. “Maybe he’s your government minder, Dad” Lis said.
He stayed there the whole time we were at the restaurant, pretending to “read” his “book”, acting like he was taking no notice of us at all (as if). Then, near the end of the meal, Roger got up and left to use the restroom. Lis said “Look, he’s wondering where Dad went.” And, indeed, he had stopped “reading” and was craning his neck, looking around. He even looked a little anxious (as I suppose you would, if you’d lost your target).
After lunch we got up and walked off past our minder, who had returned to his “reading”, and I wondered if he would casually follow us. But, no – maybe he was afraid we had made him.
We wandered along the quay for a while. The great thing is that it wasn’t very touristy – we were mostly hanging out with Italian families enjoying their Sunday afternoon. There were lots of kids running around and playing, and lots of parents chatting and hanging out. It was really fun.
We stopped in a small art gallery, and while I imagine you are getting tired by now of our “We spoke Italian, we are so awesome, blah blah blah,” I must try your patience with one more story, because we are just so pleased with ourselves we can hardly stand it 🙂
We were looking at the paintings when a woman came in, and by the way she was attending to us, I could tell she was the artist. Now, normally, I get nervous about trying to speak another language, and I hem and haw and stumble. But, for some reason, this time I felt all confident and just launched myself in to conversation. I had no real idea of the proper gender of the words I was using, or which definite article to use with them. But I also didn’t care, figuring it was close enough and she would understand me, which she did. The other effect of this is that she could tell I wasn’t a native speaker, and so spoke slowly and used the few English words that she knew.
And so we had a whole conversation, where I asked if she was the artist, and she said she had painted all the paintings we were looking at, and I said I liked her work, and she said thank you, and I pointed to a particular painting and said I liked the colors, and she said (deploying her English here) that she had painted that one “softer”, and then I asked if she had painted another one I’d seen outside, and she said no, all those on that side were done by her friend (this one involved some sign language), and I said again I liked her work very much, and then we said goodbye. I think the fact I really did want to talk to her about her paintings accounted for my wild abandon, but it was great fun, and she seemed very pleased by both the compliments and the fact that we spoke in her language. I highly recommend learning some of the language any time you travel.
After this, it was time for some gelato, of course, and then time to head back. We took the train back, which wasn’t nearly as scenic, as the bulk of the route was a tunnel bored through the hills that separate the two towns. But, it also wasn’t windy, and was way faster, which was nice, as I was tired and wanted to rest for a while before dinner.
For dinner we headed out to La Paranza, the Michelin rated restaurant we had been unable to eat in the night before. This time, it was uncrowded and we got a table easily, and the proprietress made a big fuss over us. Roger and Iris had fish, I had pesto (lots of pesto on this trip, all of it molto bene), and I can’t remember what Lis had. Then we all had dessert, and I had a cappucino, and we were full to bursting and headed back to the hotel to call it a night. I will say, though, that Michelin rating or no, I didn’t find it any better than any other place we’ve eaten. Which I suppose is a testament to the other places, rather than a knock on the Michelin place…
Mass this morning was molto bene – it was really interesting attending a mass in a foreign language. The readings and homily were a bit hard, as I don’t know enough Italian to have any real idea of the substance of them. But Italian is a lovely language to listen to, and the priest had a mellifluous voice, so it was still very pleasant. And even though I couldn’t do my part of the call and response, I always knew where we were (profession of faith, Lord’s prayer, etc). A morning well spent, indeed 🙂
Here are some links. The first is to a wikipedia page about the church. The page is in Italian – I looked for but couldn’t find an English version. However, if you open it in Chrome, it will ask if you want to translate the page. And the next is to some pics of our day in Camogli, a small fishing village about a half hour bus ride from here.
Lis wrote up and posted a lengthy entry about our flight to London and one night’s stay at the Sofitel Gatwick, and then lost the bulk of it. Poor Lis! So, if you happened to see a post, and then wondered where it went – that’s where; Lis took it down until she can re-create
what was lost.
In the meantime, I thought maybe we should say something about Italy itself, since up to now we’ve mostly talked about getting here. We’ve been here a bit over 24 hours now – we’ve had two lunches, two dinners, and one breakfast in Santa Margherita.
Our first lunch was at the hotel shortly after arrival, and it was great. It was a sunny day, and we sat out by the pool. Roger and Iris, who have been coming to this hotel every year for over twenty years, were a bit put out by a new girl working the front desk, who kept insisting to them that they couldn’t sit by the pool for lunch this early in the season. “We should take a picture of ourselves out here and show it to her,” Roger said. Just to be sure, they confirmed with the waiter that we were allowed to be there. “Yes, of course, it is set up for dining.” Take that, New Girl!
After lunch, Roger and Iris walked to Portofino, and we unpacked and got settled. After that, Lis thought it might be fun to swim, since it was so nice. However, once we were settled in the room, that was it until dinner time.
For dinner we went to a small restaurant called Trattoria da Pino, a family run hole in the wall where the proprietress greets you with a hearty “Buona Sera!” (good evening) as you walk in the door. Roger says the region is famous for its pesto, so we had that, along with the house wine (red for me, white for everyone else). It was good, though I thought the version of it Roger had for lunch at the hotel was better. For dessert Lis and I split a slice of apple pie (was more like a torte), and a chocolate mousse amaretto thing. The pie was really good – not very sweet, so you could really taste the apples. And the mousse was divine.
Also, there are about a million gelato shops here, and we are making decent headway in our goal of trying all of them. No clunckers so far 🙂
I’ve been doing pretty well adjusting to all the time changes, but last night a combination of jet lag, hard bed, and stuffy room (and maybe rich food and wine…?) caught up with me. I couldn’t get to sleep, then eventually did, only to snap awake at 3am and stay that way.
Then, the free buffet breakfast at the hotel didn’t sit right, and I was nauseous and unhappy. This combined with my lack of sleep meant that I bailed on the day’s plan of taking the bus to Portofino for lunch and the ferry home – Lis and Roger and Iris went on without me. I was bummed, but it was also nice to rest and relax at the hotel.
There were some sailboats in the bay (it had been listed as a regatta, but it didn’t look all that impressive – just some small boats), and I walked over and sat in a chair overlooking the beach and watched them for a while. Then I sat on the balcony and finished a drawing that I had started yesterday. I’m not an artist by any means (meaning I have minimal natural talent), but it was nice to be able to apply some of the lessons on perspective Jane and I learned in the drawing class we took a few weeks ago (Holla, Jane!!). I’ll try to post my masterpiece here soon.
Update: here it is…
Lis texted me when they were on the ferry coming back – said they were going to be coming by the hotel and I should be out on the balcony to see them. I was, and they saw me wave to them, but, alas, I didn’t see them wave back. Lis texted that she could see me, though, so I knew that they probably were waving. How did we ever manage such transactions pre-mobile phone??
For dinner we walked to a restaurant that Roger and Iris were wanting to take us to. It has a Michelin rating and is a favorite of theirs. Earlier in the week, they had stopped in to make reservations for tonight (Saturday night), and the proprietress had told them “Oh, you don’t need a reservation!” Tonight, though, she said “Oh, I’m so sorry – we’re completely booked.” She looked genuinely sorry, but it was irritating all the same.
The good news, though, is that the restaurant we eventually landed in, Ristorante da Gennaro, was really good, and pretty inexpensive. So who needs a Michelin rating, anyway?
We walked back to the hotel through a rather raucous Saturday evening, stopping for gelato along the way. The weather, which had been cloudy but warmish all day, was perfect. It was a really pleasant meal and stroll.
Tomorrow Iris and I (and maybe Lis) are going to go to mass at the ornate basilica in town. I don’t go to church a lot these days, but didn’t want to pass up the chance to go to mass in Italy. I’m looking forward to it. Maybe since I’m going to church tomorrow, God will grant me a good night’s sleep tonight 🙂
Update: She did – praise be!
Well, after several plane, train, and car rides, here we are in Santa Margherita! It is beautiful here. We are at the Grand Hotel Miramare for a 5 night stay with Lis’ dad and stepmom, with whom we had lunch today, and with whom we will walk in to town for dinner in about an hour.
Lis is working on some blog posts cataloging some of our transit misadventures, and I don’t have it in me after all of our traveling to do much but post this picture. I will say that one of my favorite things so far, is that we were able to converse a bit with the driver who brought us from the Genoa airport, and who spoke minimal English. This, because we’ve been diligently practicing our Italian, via the Pimsleur CD’s we checked out from the library, and our Duolingo Android app. So Lis was able to thank him for waiting for us (we needed to stop to get Euros), and he said something to the effect of “Oh, at the airport you always have to wait,” and I understood him! I couldn’t really say anything but “Ah, si” in response, but I understood. Later, when the traffic was heavy, I said “molte macchine” (many cars), and he said, “Si, multe, multe” and then talked about how bad the traffic is, especially on the weekends. He interspersed this with the occasional English word, so I was able to follow most of it, I think. Very cool.
Addendum: We just walked in to town (not for dinner, as said above, as dinner won’t be until 7:30pm, now that we’re in Europe), and conducted a transaction in a hardware store, where I asked “How much” in Italian, and, again, understood the answer! So exciting. But, the item I purchased, duct tape, wasn’t duct tape at all, which I didn’t know because I couldn’t read the Italian on the packaging. So, can’t win ’em all, I guess.
(The duct tape is to fix a tear in my AyeGear 23 pocket travel vest, which I still love with all my heart despite the great rent in the back panel)
Addendum #2: Some pics
Yesterday we went snorkeling at Maluaka beach, which is another of our favorites. But, we were too nervous to enjoy it, for different reasons, both stemming from the fact that the swells were moderate. What made me nervous is that I didn’t want to be directly over the coral because I was afraid of being slammed in to it on a downdraft (probably not the right word). What made Lis nervous is that the swells kicked up sand and made the water murky, which are the conditions that are more conducive to shark attacks. Plus this beach is the site of a few shark attacks over the last several years, plus we learned that Makena Landing, just up the coast, is home to some reef sharks (no idea if these are the same sharks that did the attacking – probably not, as their presence seems to be a draw for divers). So I kept wanting to go farther out to avoid the coral, and Lis kept wanting to stay close in to avoid the sharks. Too bad, because on good days we’ve had some amazing snorkeling here. Ah, well.
It was a beautiful day, though, and standing in the water looking at the sea and other islands, I got the idea to do a picnic lunch at one of the easily accessible Kihei beaches so Mom could experience it, too. So we grabbed some burgers at Stewart’s Burgers, then sat at a picnic table at Kalama Beach Park and watched some surfers. It was a bit windy, but otherwise very pleasant, and the burgers were good.
After lunch we went back to the condo to rest up for the evening’s activity, which was the hula show in the lounge at the Four Seasons, which we try to get to whenever we’re on Maui. It is a very low key affair – just a single, modestly attired hula dancer, accompanied by a couple guys on guitar. They used to include a torch lighting ceremony as part of the hula show, but now it takes place separately, with even less fanfare than the hula show. I miss it being more featured.
We sat in the lounge and ordered pupus and drinks and enjoyed the show and the open air lounge. When the band took their first break, we headed home. It felt like we had been out late, but when we looked at the clock, it was only 7:30pm! We didn’t last much longer than that – I think we were all in bed by 10.
This morning we were all up early, and Lis and I hit the snorkel beach early. We went back to Ulua beach this time, as we figured we’d be less likely to freak out about sharks there. The surf was a little lower, so visibility was good, and soon after entering the water, Lis spotted an octopus. In getting my attention so she could show it to me, she lost sight of it. But soon thereafter, I spotted it, too. He looked just like the surrounding coral when he was on it. Then he would take off and swim, turning a deep reddish-purple. Then he would land on some coral and immediately assume the color and texture of his surroundings. Once I saw a YouTube video showing an octopus doing this and wondered if it was doctored, it was so unreal.
Then our sea turtle came by again, and he was moving slowly enough that we were able to swim with him for a long time – really one of the best things on earth, swimming (at a respectful distance, of course) with a sea turtle. Eventually, though, he started heading out to sea, and we decided we’d best not go with him, so we headed back to the coral and the fishies.
We’d noticed before, and noticed again today, that there were a ton of what seemed to be baby fish at this reef. At Ulua beach there is often a person from a local society whose aim is to protect the reefs, and we asked her about it. She said yes, there are a lot of juvenile fish here. (She also said the reef is having a small bleaching problem due to El Nino (or maybe La Nina? I forget), but it should bounce back when (if?) the weather goes back to normal.) When we were de-sanding at the beach’s showers, another woman there said that the vast numbers of juvenile butterfly fish (literally hundreds of them) only happens every 15 years. Who knows if this is true, but it’s a fun story and we decided to believe it.
For lunch today we went to Pita Paradise in Wailea. The owner is Greek/Sicilian, and a fisherman who in the morning personally catches the fish served that day in the restaurant. So there are Greek and Sicilian family recipes and incredibly fresh fish. It was super good and not too expensive – we might go back.
After lunch we went upcountry. We wanted to check out the Surfing Goat Dairy, and we wanted to check out some of the art galleries in Makawao, particularly the Jordanne Gallery, as we had bought some of the artist’s work on a previous trip to Maui and thought it would be fun to check in with her.
It was a pleasant drive up the mountain, and we went to the goat farm first. Lis had her heart set on taking the every-half-hour tour of the farm, where they let you pet goats and taste cheeses. Alas, they only do the tour if at least 2 people sign up, and no one had, and neither Mom nor I could be talked in to traipsing around a farm in the heat of the day (it was about 2pm and about 85 degrees). Poor Lis! She did manage to talk one of the guys there in to a mini tour where he took her over to a goat pen and she petted a goat. Mom and I ate passion fruit gelato in the shade while we waited.
Then on to Makawao, which is a cute little town. Our artist’s gallery was closed, though – we could only peer through the glass at some of her artwork. Plus the general store no longer had the vegan pineapple upside down cake we’ve gotten there before. We went home through Pa’ia, with the intention of stopping at Pa’ia Gelato – but traffic was jammed and we couldn’t find parking. All in all, then, except for the drive itself, which was scenic, upcountry was a bit of a bust.
We had leftovers from lunch, and some wine in the fridge, which made for a lovely dinner on the lanai. And so another great day in Maui comes to an end.
On Tuesday Lis and my mom and I arrived on Maui. Our friend Jane was supposed to be coming, too, but she had a bunch of stuff come up at the last minute and had to cancel. This made us all very sad, but it was still exciting to be headed to Hawai’i (Miss you, Jane!).
Mom was last in Hawai’i in 1972, and has been wanting to come back since then, so Lis and I are pleased to be taking her. She (Mom) is a little bit trepidatious (word?) about Maui, because when she was here before it was stormy and miserable, but it’s the island we’re most familiar with, so we thought it would be best to come here so we’d have a better idea of how things are laid out and which things might be more taxing, as Mom doesn’t get around as well as she used to. (Aside: she does have a walker, which I made her get and which she hates, and which we were going to make her bring so she’d have more options. But she sneakily refrained from reminding me about it when I picked her up, and I didn’t remember it until we were at the airport and it was too late, and she had a slight but unmistakably triumphant smile. So, Mom 1, Lis & Mary 0.)
The flight was pleasant, and soon enough we were on the ground in Maui. We were at the back of the plane, and as we were waiting to get off, Lis said “What’s that smell?” It was Maui – the doors were open and all the scents of all the flowers were wafting in. Gotta love it.
We are staying in a two bedroom condo in the Grand Champions in Wailea. It’s comfortable and well laid out, and includes all the local guides that you would expect, and also an English-Hawaiian dictionary, which is fun. Mom and I have been looking up all the Hawaiian place names. For instance – kama’ole means ‘childless’ or ‘barren’, and kaiwahine literally means ‘sea’ (kai) ‘woman’ (wahine) but idiomatically means a feminine or gentle sea. Gotta love that, too 🙂
Yesterday I got up early and came and sat on the lanai and listened to all the birds (which is what I’m doing right now, too), and also all the power mowers and leaf blowers from the adjacent tennis courts and golf course. But on the whole, the birds outnumber the grounds crew, so it is mostly great. Then we all got up and had some breakfast, and then Lis and I went snorkeling while Mom stayed in and caught up on the news.
We went to Ulua beach, which is my favorite. But the surf was up a little – nothing scary, but enough to stir up the sand and make for somewhat poor visibility. Still, it’s just so great to be in the water, and we did see lots of fish. I thought some of the coral looked white and wondered if it was sick, but when I Googled it back at the condo nothing came up, so I’ll hope that all is well.
We snorkeled for about an hour or so, and then decided to head back in. As we were heading back to shore, a huge male sea turtle came lazily by in the other direction. He swam directly under us, I’d say about 5 feet below. And, because of the limited visibility, we didn’t see him coming – it was normal, normal, then BOOM! sea turtle. So exciting! We followed him for a bit, then headed in. I’ve decided to think that having a sea turtle materialized before your very eyes on your first snorkel is a good sign.
Back at the condo, we got dressed and headed out for lunch. The previous evening, we had eaten at the Maui Coast Hotel’s Kama’ole Poolside Cafe and Bar. We chose this because Lis had called one of our favorite restaurants, Cafe O’Lai, and asked if they had a happy hour. They said no, but their sister restaurant at the hotel pool did. It was nice to be all tropical and poolside, plus the food was affordable and excellent – we definitely recommend it.
For lunch, we went to Maui Tacos in Kihei, which we read about in one of the condo guides. It was cheap but good, and in the same strip mall as Snorkel Bob’s, where I wanted to pick up some sun protection shorts if they had any (I forgot mine at home, dangit!), and as Hawaiian Moons Natural Foods, where we wanted to get some ezekial bread and almond butter. The natural foods store trip was a success, but I struck out at Snorkel Bob’s, so still on my quest for shorts.
Then we went off in search of Hawaiian Shave Ice. We had never tried this before, or even been tempted to, but our friend Louise (hey, Louise!) came back from a recent trip to Maui raving about it, so we decided we better try it. Lis’ research said the best shave ice was Ululani’s, so off we went. Lis and I each got a micro shave ice (which was still huge), with optional ice cream at the bottom – Lis chose coconut, I chose macadamia. Mom was dubious and just sampled ours. Lis LOVED her shave ice and can’t wait to go back. I liked mine, and Mom remained dubious.
Ululani’s is next to a bakery, which is next to an ABC store – trifecta! We got some banana bread at the bakery and some booze at the ABC store, and then, with our basic food groups covered, headed back to the condo, where Lis took a nap and Mom and I watched game 7. I was disappointed that KC couldn’t pull it out (sorry, Rosemary!), but it was fun watching a historic pitching performance.
For dinner we went to happy hour at Manoli’s Pizza in Wailea, which was also affordable and good. So far, we are doing very well with our cheap happy hours ways! We watched the end of the game there, which was fun, except for the one sad lady in the KC shirt, sitting right behind the cheering ladies in SF shirts. But soon after the game ended, they were all chatting and laughing together – so there was a happy ending after all.
For years, we’ve had this plan – go to Scottsdale in the summer when it’s a zillion degrees, and get cheap rates at the Four Seasons. Then, just hole up in the air-conditioned resort. Last year, we finally did it, and it was great. And, we found that we didn’t even need to hole up all that much – the Four Seasons provides lots of shade and misters, so it’s quite comfortable to be outside even in the heat of the day. And the desert landscaping is beautiful and the food is great (though spendy) – our plan was a rousing success. We did wonder, though, if it would have been as successful if it had been more scorching hot. Only the first day or two was in the 100’s – the rest of the days were in the 90’s, and one day it only got up to about 87. What would it be like on those 112 degree days we’ve heard tell of?
This year, we were able to find out. As we flew in late on Saturday afternoon, the pilot announced that the temperature in Phoenix was 110 degrees. It was definitely hot, but as we were mostly moving from air-conditioned airport to air-conditioned rental car center to air-conditioned car, we were pretty comfortable. We stopped at a mall on the way to Scottsdale to get something to eat and a few things at a supermarket, but by then it was evening and, while definitely hot, there was no sun beating down from directly over head. (I guess being farther south affects this, too – by 7:30 pm it was full-on dusk – don’t usually see that in Portland until around 9pm.) We got to the hotel around 8pm and were comfortable ensconsed in our room by 8:30.
Sandra, our travel agent extraordinaire, had arranged for us to have a DYI sangria kit and chips and salsa awaiting for us on arrival, and it was all laid out in the room. It was a great little spread – they really pay attention to details here! But we weren’t hungry and decided to save it for later. We called down to the front desk and asked for a refrigerator for the room, which the poor maintenance guy had to lug up to us on his shoulder (we’re on the second floor of a building on a hill, so he had to climb lots of steps, plus it was still over 100 degrees out) – big tip for him! We plugged in the fridge and put away our sangria fixin’s for later.
So now to the heat part. Sunday and Monday were both 110-plus degree days, and we spent the bulk of both of them outside: meals on covered patios with misters going, and several hours of each day in a cabana by the pool. Both days were awesome, and the only time I felt really hot was in the walk from our room (which is at the edge of the property) to or from the lobby/restaurant area. But even then, the desert landscape is so gorgeous and so full of little critters (birds, lizards, even little bunnies) that you don’t care (or we don’t, anyway). It’s just so nice – I love it here so much that sometimes I even get a bit teary!
Sometimes I start to feel guilty about the misters, and the water being used. But, unlike other desert resorts, there isn’t much greenery here that requires watering – the vast majority of the landscaping is desert plants. So I figure they are probably using less water than comperable properties, and I’ve decided that that is going to be good enough for me 🙂
The pool area has a large upper pool, with a lower adult-only pool and a separate kids’ wading pool. I prefer the larger all-access pool to the smaller adult-only pool; the kids in the all-skate pool can be fun, while there are sometimes gross PDA’s in the adult pool. The best thing about the pool area is that it is ringed with cabanas. These are free of charge (except, I guess, the couple three that are really big and have ceiling fans and TV’s in them – thankfully, no one is ever watching the TV’s, or if they are, you can’t hear them) and even on Saturday, when the resort was at 80% occupancy, we were able to find one.
I’m not usually much of a hang-out-at-the-pool vacationer, but I really like hanging out at this pool. I think maybe it’s the cabana – makes it feel a bit like being in a tent; I can pretend I’m camping. Because it’s so hot, we have to get in the pool about every 20 minutes or so, but that is all it takes to be perfectly comfortable.
The staff at the pool are very attentive (more so at the upper pool – the lower adult pool I think is a little more out of the way and they don’t seem to make as many trips there) and regularly bring around complementary things like Otter pops and corn nuts. I feel for them, having to work in this heat, but there are misters all around the pool so hopefully they benefit from these, too.
When we arrived on Sunday afternoon, the attendant was taking Otter pops around, but stopped to help us get set up in a cabana with fresh towels and ice water. In so doing, of course, she had to set her bucket of Otter pops down, and they weren’t going to be long for this world in the heat, so Lis finished taking them around while the attendant helped us. The other patrons were amused by this, and the attendant was bemused by this. She said to me “I’ve never had anyone do that before”, but I couldn’t tell if she meant this in a “that’s so nice” way or in a “maybe she needs her medication adjusted” way.
Last night after our pool day, we came back to the room and had room service out on the balcony. We split a club sandwich and a salad, and broke out our sangria mix, and even though it was still over 100 degrees, we were in the shade and there was a breeze and the sun was going down and the sky was purple and the hills were pink-ish and it was awesome. No misters on the balcony, either, but still perfectly comfortable – I’m a little afraid that once we get back home I’m going to be cold for the rest of the summer, but Lis says she doesn’t think that will happen.
As we sat on the balcony sipping our Sangria, I heard a soft rustle and looked down just in time to see a bobcat walk by right below our balcony. Have I mentioned that I love it here?
It’s our 14th anniversary (yay!) and we are at a lovely beach house in Manzanita, OR. Mostly lazy lying about and reading, or beach walks, so not much to say. But, I wanted to remember the two adorable birds that we saw out the window here, that I don’t see out my window at home.
First, an American Pipit. This was a cute little guy I heard singing in the shrubbery just outside the window. I located him and then watched him through the beach house binoculars. He would make two or three little chirps, and then throw his head back and his mouth open and do an extended trill, which vibrated his whole throat. It looked like the incarnation of joy to me. One of the online bird sites I saw when looking for a link described him as drab. Hmmph! The very idea!
Then I saw a White Crowned Sparrow. I was sitting on the window seat and he came walking down the path directly outside the window, like 2 feet from me. He looked just like an ordinary house sparrow but with a crazy grey-and-white-striped hat.
So, as long as I’m listing things, I’ll mention the 2 places we’ve eaten so far that we thought were really great: