Off to Newport ....

We are off to Newport for the weekend.  Paul will be doing some rugby evaluation at the New England Championships and Katy will be touring the city, seeing the mansions, shopping and hanging out with her friends. 

If the first night is any sign, we'll have a great time.after a spooky drive across the fog-covered Narragansett Bay bridge we arrived at the beautiful Francis Malbone House where we will spend the next 4 nights.  It was late, but we still enjoyed a dinner at the Clarke Cooke House Restaurant where we shared a 1/2 bottle of Sancere and had some great fresh cooked fish (Halibut for Paul; Sole for Katy) along with fresh beet salad.  Nice way to start the long weekend.

Seattle -- Rugby and Friends

Paul took a short trip to Seattle this weekend. His main reason for going was to watch a rugby game. It was quite an exciting match. Seattle beat Denver by 2 points, and the match ended literally with Denver on the 1 yard line trying to score. The weather was surprisingly delightful -- high around 55, crisp clear and sunny.

That made the vistas just stunning. As always in Seattle, when the weather is good you can look west across Puget Sound to the Olympics and then a few seconds later, you can look east to the Cascades. This was one of those days when you really couldn't ask for better views than this. Plus a nice look at Seattle's iconic skyline and "bingo" you have near perfection.

By far the highlight of the trip, however, was getting to see an old friend, Kevin Wood, his wife, Kelly and their two young boys, Ryan and Galen. You know it is going to be a good visit when the door opens and Ryan greets you with "I have a surprise." You ask "what is it?" and he says "two worms." Perfect.

Ryan is, indeed, a 4 year old pistol -- all boy with energy to match. He looks particularly good in the Batman costume that he wears. Galen, at age 1, is less well defined, but he seems to like laughing. It was a special pleasure to meet Kelly, whom I had not met before. She seems like a perfect fit with Kevin (but I guess they know that already!). They were kind enough to host a dinner at a local restaurant, St. Clouds, where I had a wonderful fish entree. And I highly highly recommend the coconut, chocolate chunk ice cream.

On the whole, a grand time was had.

Sacramento -- Old Town

So, this weekend I was in Sacramento to watch a rugby match. It was a beautiful day in the Bay Area -- temperature in the mid-60s, a cloudless sky, and a beautiful new rugby pitch. The game itself left something to be desired (the final score was 106-0 which even people who don't know any rugby at all will understand is a wipeout), but we can't have perfection can we.

Afterwards, the referee Aruna Ranaweera, and I used Yelp to find the "best bar" in Sacramento. We were directed to the Back Door Lounge in Old Town. I'd never been to Old Town before but the city has a "cowboy" theme to the old town, complete with horses, carriages, hitching posts and a bunch of tourists. It was a hoot and a half.

The Back Door is a "perfect" dive bar. And I do mean perfect. When we wandered in, we were caught up in a "pub crawl" to celebrate St. Patrick's day, amidst a crowd of drunken, singing Irishmen all wearing the green. Great fun.

Aruna and I were joined by two other rugby folks -- Kat Todd-Schwartz and her husband Ray Schwartz, both of whom are larger than life characters. At Ray's urging, I tried a Golden Cadillac, which is a wicked drink made with Galliano, Creme de Cacao (?) and some other stuff. Tasted yummy, but watch the kick. In any event, a joyous albeit slightly inebriated time was had by all.