My Birthday Celebration....

We arrived to Jen and Randy's around 5 pm on Tuesday, which was my birthday.  I still wasn't feeling well and I felt worse as the day wore on.  We toured their new store, Blue Vase Books and More, and then went to the house to visit while we waited for Lili to get back from her appointment with the college advisor.  Lili is a senior in high school this year but will be taking all of her classes at Northwestern College in Traverse City.

We went out for pizza at Dick's Pour House, which was good but I was only able to swallow down half a piece and half a beer before calling it quits.  We went home, I took a glug of Nyquil and was out for the count by 9 pm.

I felt better when I awoke.  We had planned on going hiking and out to lunch but the weather had different plans with scattered thunderstorms throughout the day.  Jen and Lili headed down to our neck of the woods so Lili could tour Wayne State University to see if she wants to attend there next year.  They are staying at Amy's for the next couple of days.  Then Lili is staying with friends and Jen is staying with us for the weekend.  Randy went off to work and Spence, Frank and I went to breakfast.  I was feeling a better so after breakfast we did a little shopping.  I came home, took another glug of Nyquil and had a nap.  When I awoke we dropped Spence off in Empire for his Cross Country practice and headed to Traverse City to check into our hotel.  We changed and headed out to dinner at The Boathouse, which is one of my very favorite restaurants.

The views from the boathouse are lovely.

It is breathtaking even on stormy, blustery days.

We started out with a bottle of Charles Krug Cabernet from Napa Valley.

The Boathouse is a Farm to Table restaurant that prides itself on using local ingredients.

They have a large selection of wines from the local wineries.

Michigan makes some wonderful white wines but our weather is not conducive to reds.

We wanted a hearty California, Cabernet with our dinner.

Dinner started with locally grown heirloom tomatoes and roasted beets over arugula.

This was topped with burata cheese and pesto.

It was the perfect start to the meal and the tomatoes were just what tomatoes should be.

They were juicy and sweet, firm to the bite. not that mealy texture of tomatoes bought at the market.

For our entrees Frank chose the Kobe Strip Steak and I chose a 1/2 rack of Lamb.

OH MY YUM.....

For entertainment we watched this poor couple limp their boat up onto the beach.

They had it beached, she remained behind and he left for a bit.

When he came back they pushed the boat back into the water and he started it up.

It appears he was trying to move it to the other side of the docks but it died.  

They then tried pulling it to the other side of the docks but it began filling with water.

They pulled it back to where they started.

 Before they could get it back to the beach it started filling up and sinking.

It was a very sad thing to watch but it kept us all enthralled for over an hour and a half.

We finished off the meal sharing this decadent chocolate plate.

I was electrified with deliciousness.

We were driving back to the city along the bay, enjoying the view and listening to a wonderful easy listening station they have up here WQEZ.  Eric Clapton came on and suddenly Frank pulled the car to the side of the road, turned the music loud, got out of the car, opened my door and asked me to dance.  There we were on the side of the road, overlooking the bay and dancing under the sunset.  It was the perfect ending to an exquisite birthday celebration.  

We returned to the hotel and met up with the other conference attendees at the Beach Side Cocktail Party provided by Frank's employer.  These conferences have been an event that we have enjoyed for the fifteen years that Frank was in the employ of POLC and we are delighted they invited us back to attend this year's.  Frank will be announced and awarded a plaque tomorrow morning before the conference ends.  We will attend some of the conference this morning and join everyone for lunch before part of the group goes to the golf outing while the rest of us go on a libations tour.  I will tell you all about that very soon.

Have a wonderful day.