Busy day off

August 28 – Ah time off again.  Our last 5 day stint!  Nothing much planned for the week, just our grocery trip and Bill has to have blood drawn.  I made a nice breakfast and then we got to the cleaning ritual that has become the norm for our first day off.  It’s warmer this week than it has been most of the summer. 

Once I got my “work” done I measured our big compartment to get an idea of how much siding I can get in there if we find it.  It should be enough for my current repair needs as well as some for the next go ‘round.

The birds and chipmunks had emptied the bird feeder I set on the ground so I put a few inches of food in it for them.  I had put some in the hummingbird feeder earlier so that might be it for the “pets”.  I have some sugar water left that I might put out further south if we see any hummers.

I made a blueberry crisp for tonight.  It will be for dessert after we get back from dinner, wherever that might be.  I’m using the oven thermometer every time I use the convection oven to see how much it is consistently off.  Today, may be due to altitude, who knows, at 350 it only pre-heated to 300.  Took 375 to get it finally to 350 and seems to be holding at that temp.

I also called Carefree and ordered two slide topper end caps to be sent to Bill’s sister so once we get to Tucson we’ll have a little project. 

Eventually we got showered and went to West Yellowstone for dinner.  We ate at Three Bears Restaurant.  I was disappointed at the menu.  They all seem to have the same things unless you eat at a Pizza place.  There were the typical for the area bison, elk, etc. along with a selection of pasta dishes, a couple of chicken dishes and fish.  Bill had the bison, elk and beef meatloaf with a side of mashed potatoes and a salad.  I had salmon with mixed veggies and a salad.  Our server was the worst we’ve had this trip.  I asked for lemon for my water if they had it and he didn’t reply, just left.  I asked if the trout was fresh or frozen and he really didn’t know and didn’t offer to find out. Never brought back any lemon. I asked if the salmon was fresh when he came back to get our order, as the icon by it indicated it was hand cut, which I took to mean fresh and they portion it here.  He didn’t know but said it probably was.  When he delivered our meals he literally just sat them down and walked away.  No asking if we needed anything else or any other pleasantry.  We ended up asking another server if she could get us some lemon and she did.  The meal was OK, but I won’t go back and am writing an unpleasant review for them.  Every waiter should know what is fresh and what is not.  They certainly should bring lemon when asked and to check that your meal came out OK or if you need anything.  You’d think he never ate out anywhere before!

We walked our dinner off visiting the shops in which the shoppers have thinned out in the last couple of weeks.  It was nice not constantly dodging passers by or being too cramped to move around in the shops.  Bill bought some magnets and I got a Christmas gift but mostly we just looked.  That saves us a lot of money, the looking part!

When we decided we had looked enough, Bill walked back to the car while I walked to the outlet store where you get .50 soft serve, huckleberry to be exact.  He picked me up, ice cream cones in hand, and we headed home.  There was a young couple along the entrance road to Yellowstone holding a sign that said “Old Faithful”.  I think they were foreign summer help that had no transportation and had caught a ride in on their day off and now needed to get back.  Then Bill told me a guy asked him how to get to California.  When Bill opened his car he asked if he was leaving and he told him he had to pick his wife up. We saw him along the last road out of West Yellowstone. It was getting to be twilight and I was zeroed in on the road watching for any leapers along the way.  Luckily there were NO leapers on the way home and we arrived no worse for wear!

Hank and Sue were sitting out so we went over and sat and chatted with them for a while.  He started his propane firepit and that helped but it was getting cooler as it got darker so we headed inside.  Bill watched some TV while I read and crocheted.