The end of a long weekend…
Ahhhhhh. Now that was a nice break. In gratitude for all the long hours he’s been pulling, the Snook’s boss arranged for us to have a swanky night out (on the company). So we filled the automatic cat feeder and headed off Sunday afternoon for the Observatory Hotel down in the Rocks. Check-in was at 3:00 and we wanted to take advantage of every minute. Our room was huge and we had a lot of fun checking out all the features (including a dual-spout shower!). Then we headed out for a beer at the Lord Nelson and a perusal of the Sunday paper. Later we went back to the hotel for a wash – check out us in our fluffy robes! – before setting off for Wildfire. We tried it last year but weren’t really impressed with the service. The experience this year wasn’t a lot better. We tried the “churrasco”, which is basically an “all-you-can-eat” kind of thing where they bring lots of grilled chunks of meat to your table on skewers. Snookums thought that the squid was way too raw, while I couldn’t detect any hint of fancy Brazilian spice at all. But whatever. We weren’t paying for it, so we didn’t care too much. The wine was excellent, at least. We headed back to the hotel for a much deserved sleep. Unfortunately we didn’t really get it. The bed, which seemed nice at first, was way too soft and I was tossing and turning all night. The Snook found the air incredibly dry and kept waking up and gasping for the water glass. I wouldn’t say we were incredibly well-rested when the breakfast tray came this morning. The food was good though, and we took turns having long soaks in the extra-long bathtub. By the time we checked out at 11:00, we felt refreshed and happy. Dr. Amy Jones survived her first night alone and seemed really happy to see us. That is, until I let my newfound energy go to my head and – in a fit of spring cleaning fervor – dragged out the vacuum cleaner… But she’ll recover. I’ve got a couple more pictures from the hotel if you’re interested.