2010.03.06 : SATURDAY
In the morning Amanda, her mom, and LK went to the Rainier Community Center’s playground to meet up with Ann and Connor. I did some errands (went to the library,picked up some dry cleaning, etc.) before meeting up with them. It was sunny but a bit cold at the playground. Amanda took Ann to check out some houses that she and I had toured previously before we all headed back home for LK’s naptime.

Amanda later worked a housecall shift in the evening. I am unsure of what I did.

2010.03.07 : SUNDAY
We had bfast at Geraldine’s Counter. Fortunately, we got there early enough to get one of the last tables as otherwise we probably would have had to wait a long time. We managed to keep the Kai away from the strawberry perserves on the table this time, but he did squeeze out a lot of butter.

After some packing, we left the Kai in the care of his grandmother and took off on our 24 hour vacation to Alderbrook Resort. It is basically on the other side of Elliot Bay from Seattle, so we could either drive around the bottom of the bay or take a ferry to Bremerton. Time wise, it would be slightly faster driving, but since the weather was OK we decided to take the ferry as neither of us had been on the Seattle/Bremerton route.

We got to the downtown ferry terminal just as one was leaving, so we ended up being the second in line for the next one. Amanda and I hung got out of the car and hung out in the passenger terminal where she knitted and I wandered about.

I wanted to get back to the car early to avoid holding up the departure line, but Amanda was unconcerned and said “the ferry isn’t going to leave without us” and chastised me for rushing back. As it turned out we got to the car right as the vehicles began tearing out of the ferry, so she seemed vindicated that we had plenty of time. Of course, from my perspective we got to the car right on time as had we not rushed all the people behind us in line would have been really annoyed.

The ferry ride was nice. It was a bit too cold to hang out outside, though. Just like at the terminal, Amanda spent the time knitting while I alternately chatted with her and walked about. Neither of us had anything to eat for lunch, so we got popcorn and an apple fritter at the cafeteria.

We did not see much of Bremerton, but perhaps there is not much to see. The tunnel from the ferry terminal out of the city was really cool; the walls were covered with carved stone trees.

The resort itself was about a 35 minute drive from Bremerton. It was easy enough to find. We got our car valet parked even though the parking lot was steps away because it was free and we could. We basically checked and relaxed in our room for a couple of hours before dinner at the hotel/resort’s restaurant… I guess it’s called a resort because it has a spa and golf course. They gave us a free bottle of wine; but that was probably part of our room fee.

The restaurant was nice enough. The bar appears to specialize in vodkas as there were many on the menu and the bottles were prominently displayed on ice in the front. The table where we were sitting were too close together, though.

While perusing the wine list, we wolfed down their quite delicious bread. It was very good; it had roasted garlicks embedded inside and came with some compound butter. We decided to order a pinot noir from Cooper Mountain Vineyards. Amanda and I had actually been to the vineyard when we went on a wine tasting jaunt a few years ago (I don’t think I wrote an entry about that trip curiously). It was good.

Otherwise, we ordered:

• cheese, fruit, almond, and cracker plate: fine, but very parsimonious with the almonds
• rare ahi tuna, wild rice, spinach: good, but not really remarkable
• wild mushroom risotto: good, but too subtle for Amanda since she had a bit of a cold
• side of grilled corn
• chocolate cake: amanda seemed to think it was good
• pear in merlot sauce with this cracker thing: alright

The food was fine, but not really remarkable, and as such not really worth the price. But, hey, we were on vacation.

It was raining, so we did not stroll about the grounds. We should have brought swimming stuff to hang out in the pool or sauna, but we weren’t on top of things when we packed. But relaxing in the room was fine, too, and Amanda said it was good to get away from the Kai for a while and not have to be “on” as parent all of the time.

2010.03.08 : MONDAY

We walked about the grounds a bit before having bfast in the restaurant. We briefly thought about exploring the area, but I don’t think there is much nearby. Bfast consisted of garden omelette, hash browns, toast, and tea for me, and bfast burrito, hashbrowns, and coffee for Amanda. Curiously, they did not have caffeinated english bfast tea… only decaf. Bfast turned out to be pretty good, though, and since we did not have anywhere to go really we lingered at the table and talked.

We eventually did pack up and headed back home. We again took the ferry.

Back home Amanda’s mom had made cupcakes for LK’s schoolmates to celebrate his birthday a week ago. He had not really been at school while my mom was here, so his school celebration was delayed.

Amanda had another housecall shift in the evening, but stayed home for the first few hours as there was no one in the queue. Mike and Connor came over for a short playdate and more cupcakes. Amanda eventually had to leave, but came back after only seeing one patient because she was coughing too much and was having a hard time talking. She felt fine otherwise, but felt it better to bail out of the rest of her shift.