The shortest month of the year always seems like a blink, so I’m glad we were able to pack it with some fun. During President’s Day Weekend, we took a short trip to the beach, our first-ever school year weekend getaway thanks to Phil’s new work schedule.
So, this month, some of the categories will have a special section of What We (Did, Ate, Watched, Read) … On Our Getaway. Let’s get to it!
What We Did On Our Getaway
Months ago, we had hoped our getaway would be to a city like New York or D.C. but with COVID cases being high when we started our planning, we opted for something less metropolitan and took ourselves to the beach for the weekend. Destination: Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. We do not often go to the beach in the summer because we have other summer plans, so this was our chance to see the ocean for the first time in years. (It didn’t disappoint.)
Phil planned our weekend because I have decision fatigue right now. And he’d been to a couple of places in Delaware in the fall that he wanted to show us. Our first stop was a Trader Joe’s in Delaware. We don’t have one nearby and we thought that would give us some unique grocery options for our condo meals. (It did. Our family has been introduced to cookie butter and now we will never be the same.) Then we stopped for “brunch” at Helen’s Sausage House. (More on this later.) Our first adventure stop was Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.
Phil took himself to this refuge for his birthday in August. He is big into birding, and I just want to be outside and away from people.
This was perfect. We spent more than 3 hours driving through the refuge, and getting out to hike (sorry, they were “short walks”; our son has less opposition to them if they are walks rather than hikes).
One path led to an old tree that mesmerized me with its root system.
That same path passes some ruins for a World War 2 era radio headquarters building. Our daughter is a WW2 nerd and loved it.
It was so refreshing to be outside. We climbed two towers, which was monumental for me. Usually I’m a little bit woozy climbing to the top of things on windy days but I felt perfectly secure. I credit my anxiety and blood pressure meds for doing their jobs.
The light of the day was perfect for pictures, and I could probably post them all here, but you might get bored. Just know that it is well worth the drive if you are within driving distance and into birds and outdoor things.
By the time we got to the condo it was dinner time. After dinner we played two games of Sushi Go and one game of Clue.
The next day, Saturday, we went to Cape Henlopen State Park to walk the Point, a stretch of the Delaware seashore where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It’s not open to walk during the summer because it’s a nesting ground. It took us an hour but we walked next to the ocean with the wind stinging our faces and the waves crashing around us. I’ve never felt so alive.
We saw horseshoe crab carcasses and thousands of shells, a couple of lighthouses and the wreckage of a 19th century ship that’s just stuck in the water near the beach with some informational signage.
After our walk, we stopped at the nature center to look at a few aquarium and reptile exhibits.
Then it was on to Fort Miles, which is also in the park. It was a World War 2 base. First, we went to the observation tower and climbed the spiral staircase to the very tope. Amazing views and still low anxiety on my part. I’m so proud of myself!
We walked around the rest of the site and into the museum. Our son is obsessed with cannons and large guns.
One of the large guns that was on the USS Missouri when the Japanese surrounded lives at the historical slte. The museum also has a piece of the USS Arizona from Pearl Harbor. (Another trip, another time.)
Our after-lunch adventure was to downtown or city center Rehoboth. I wanted to visit Browseabout Books (we did; we bought books).
We also walked a portion of the boardwalk. This was the busiest area we’d encountered on our entire weekend, so it was a little bit overwhelming.
But we found a Zoltar! And explained to the kids why that was important.
The next day was our travel day back to Lancaster.
What We Did The Rest of the Month
Jigsaw puzzle. We had an early dismissal on a Friday because icy conditions were forecasted so I opened up a Travel the World puzzle to torture myself (with dreams of travel; the puzzle wasn’t hard).
More basketball games. More wins. Our son is a beast under the basket, and we’re just so proud of his effort on the court. We had a tough loss to end the season. (Playoffs were technically in March, so you’ll have to wait to find out about that!)
Axe-throwing! I went out with some book club friends to a movie (see below) and axe-throwing afterward.
It was more fun than I thought it would be, and I landed two bullseyes in the half hour we were throwing. Would do again!
Our daughter volunteered with a group from school to help with a local fire company’s ox roast fundraiser.
Super Bowl parties. Our son went to one; the rest of us went to another.
Yahtzee with family via FaceTime. I love board games via video call.
What We Ate On Our Getaway
On the way to Rehoboth, we stopped at Helen’s Sausage House, this little restaurant Phil came across in his research for his fall day trip.
It’s the kind of place that stays in its lane and does it really well. We had numerous single sausages with egg and cheese on a roll, a bacon/egg/cheese sandwich, and a bacon sandwich.
Simple and delicious. If you’re ever passing through Delaware before noon, look it up.
Our dinner at the condo was three kinds of ravioli from Trader Joes: lobster, cauliflower-cheese and mushroom truffle. We also had a Mediterranean salad and bread with garlic butter.
Our first breakfast of the getaway started with decaf Trader Joe’s single-use coffees (because that was the easy thing to buy for my coffee needs) and frozen Belgian waffles topped with the aforementioned cookie butter, whipped cream and fresh raspberries and blackberries.
Lunch was a smorgasbord of frozen fried foods (hey! we’re on vacation!): mozzarella sticks, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese bites and Impossible nuggets (which I liked better than chicken nuggets) alone with a jalapeño sauce for dipping. That was spicy!
We planned for dinner out on Saturday night and Phil enjoys Dogfish Head beer, so we headed to the brewery in Rehoboth. Our wait was close to 45 minutes, but we listened to live music as we ate. Again, too much food, but whatever. Pickle chips, “dog pile” nachos (tortilla chips slathered in beer chili, spinach and artichoke dip and other nacho toppings) and pretzel bites for appetizers.
The kids both had burgers.
Phil and I split a crab dip pizza.
There were leftovers.
Our Sunday breakfast was another smorgasbord: hash browns, vanilla bean scones, iced raspberry danish, pancake bread and yogurt.
We stopped for lunch in Middletown, Delaware, at a place called Capriotti’s which boasts the greatest sandwich in America. It’s called The Bobbie and has turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce on it.
I ate it and didn’t hate it, but saying it’s the greatest might be a stretch. Other sandwiches consumed: capastrami; roast beef with cole slaw, provolone and thousand island; chicken parm cheesesteak.
What We Ate the Rest of the Month
You guessed it! Soups! Hubbard squash soup (hubbard squash is a giant grayish looking squash with a dark orange middle); potato leek soup; creamy mushroom soup; chicken tortilla soup.
On the Olympic Opening Ceremony night, we ordered takeout from Chili Szechuan, a local Chinese restaurant inside an Asian market. We like to have food that represents the country where the Olympics are being held, and this was a good choice (thanks Reddit!) for Chinese food that was not the completely Americanized version.
Ice cream for breakfast for National Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day on Feb. 5. Waffles with ice cream and sauces and fruit and other toppings.
Popeye’s. This was our Valentine’s Day meal after a long week of work for both Phil and me.
White chocolate truffles and custard creams (cookies). Our daughter made these from her Harry Potter cookbook for the Super Bowl party we attended.
What We Watched
Winter Olympics! All day every day. This was our viewing on our getaway as well.
Redeeming Love. I have A LOT of thoughts and feelings about this that may be too long for this particular space. I’ve read this book twice, and many of my feelings and beliefs have changed since the last time I read it, so I was skeptical about the movie. I liked it, though, and I will write more about why this was so difficult for me.
Kim’s Convenience. We finished it. It was not a satisfying ending like Schitt’s Creek, but overall it was a series that made me laugh and think and laugh some more.
Big. After seeing the Zoltar machine on Rehoboth Beach, we told the kids about this movie and watched it with them. We had to fast forward through one scene because 1980s PG is a whole different rating system!
Murderville. Netflix. Will Arnett and guest “detectives” who have no script, improv-ing the whole thing. Pretty hilarious.
The news. Because of the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
What We Read
Books I finished:
The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World: The Twin Towers, Windows on the World, and the Rebirth of New York by Tom Roston. While my husband was browsing the cookbook section of the library and I was waiting for him, this title grabbed my attention. It was an overall interesting history of how one restaurant came to be in New York City. The chapters detailing the night before 9/11 and the morning of were chilling.
Never Leave Me by Jody Hedlund. A time-crossing, the second in a series. Hedlund’s books always grip from the beginning and I easily get lost in the worlds and stories she creates. I love that she wrote a time-crossing series.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. At times overwhelming and intense. Still, there was a beauty about the story. Although it’s overall kind of sad. I don’t yet know all my feelings about this book. But I’m glad I read it. This is one line that I can’t forget: “And isn’t the whole point of things–beautiful things–that they connect you to some larger beauty?”
Books finished with the kids:
Spy School Secret Service by Stuart Gibbs. We laugh and react so much while we’re reading this series.
Books in progress:
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai. I’ve been slowly reading this one on my lunch break at work, and while I was familiar with Malala’s story on a surface level, I had no idea what life was like for her under the Taliban.
Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown. For book club. I’m lukewarm on this book. Sometimes I love what the chapters are bringing and sometimes I don’t. It can be a lot to digest all at once.
How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope. I took this one on our getaway and read a few poems at various times.
Phil’s books:
An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten. He’s on a mystery kick right now.