Two Beach Days (and...food porn)

 Hey y'all,

It is Thursday, the day before the last day, and there's stuff to catch up on. 

Let's start with yesterday morning when I hit the local (it's .3 of a mile) donut joint, the Fractured Prune (is that really a good name for anything?!?!?).  Here's the photo of the box:

And then to the beach. 

It was like this:

(is dad having fun there? One wonders)

As we sat there a woman wondered in with her young son and sat down in front of us.  She was soon followed by what my mother would have called the mongrel horde (a play on Mongol, but maybe just a spoonerism).  I could not keep track of exactly how many there were (8? 10?) but they were with the first woman and child.  Here is why it was notable: half of them had red hair.  I kid you not.  That gene runs strong in their family (in Star Wars voice).  The second thing was the two "moms" were participating in a "I want to be the tattooed lady at the fair" competition. :). Both had leg sleeves.  Both had arm sleeves, but the one seemed to have tats from ankle to neck on the one side.  Not surprisingly, when what I took as their mom showed up, the last to arrive, she had a couple smaller tats on her.  The ink industry did well from that group. 

Then back to the cottage for rest and showers before dinner. 

BTW, coming back from the donut shop I heard the neighbor on his porch ranting about downtrodden white men.  Part of the rant started "ever since Obama came and stirred things up..."  I hurried inside, knowing we weren't going to be besties.  :)

K asked for a place on the water one night for dinner and this was it.  The Lighthouse was delightful, starting with this view. 

And here's the food:

This was the empanada app.  They were a bit spicy.  We discussed whether the pastry was quite right, but...

I had the filet (and so did EH) that was covered with scallion butter.  

K had the pork chop, which she really liked. 

We were waited on by Stephen, who was not young (we couldn't agree on his age, somewhere over 60, easily).  In the end, we were the only ones there.  So, he chatted.  A lot.  Showed pictures of his kids, one of whom served in Afghanistan and was wounded.  He had to tell why his name was Stephen and I, of course, had to tell him about my being Stephen (we were both named after the saint in the Bible) was my mother's second choice.  He asked if I saw a lot of red for my birthday.  Funny guy.  

Today began with a walk over to the Decatur Diner for breakfast.  It is a lot less than .3 of a mile away.  We were disappointed since one reviewer said it was the best crab benedict they'd ever had.  How many crab benedicts do we think they'd had? 🤔  Neither of us tried it, but my cinnamon raisin French toast was a bust (not soaked enough in the batter) and K's biscuits and gravy didn't have much sausage.  A bust.  Worst meal of the trip (knock wood)

To the beach. Another nice day.  EH and I took a mid-fry break to get an ice cream at Dumser's on the boardwalk. There are like 10 Dumser's Dairyland stores around here, and two across from each other on the boardwalk.  We approved of our shakes, which counted as lunch.  :)

Then back, nap, shower, yada di yada di...

Dinner, after some "discussion", was at Pancho and Lefty's.  They claimed to the "authentic Mexican."  How does one define that?  Well, they did make guacamole at the table.  And they had a nice assortment on the menu. 

Desert bloom margarita.  

EH had the quesadilla.

K had the "three amigos" -- a steak chimi, a chicken taco, and beef chalupa. 

Chicken burrito. 

Then we went to the boardwalk for a walk.   It was a bit chilly, with a strong breeze, and there were A LOT of people.  Given how empty the beach has been, it was rather surprising. 

It is amazing there are so many ice cream joints.  And how many burger and popcorn joints.  And tee shirt joints.  Not exactly a diverse business environment.  

Now back to watch the US soccer team try to win their third straight game.  Go USA!  

Till next time...