My original choice for Birth Week "hidden gem" in Jennife's area around Union, WA was Staircase, that entrance to the Olympica National Park being both one I have never been to, and all of an hour drive, or just under it depending on traffic, from Union.

But, then the other Birth Week plans for this past weekend fell into place: Gabriel's birthday brunch in Federal Way on the way to Jennifer's place in Union on Saturday; also swinging by Port Orchard to see Claudia on the way back home yesterday. This limited the time available both Saturday night and Sunday morning, to drive an hour each way there and back. Even though Jennifer was totally willing to head out early yesterday morning to see Staircase, in the end I bagged that idea, and decided I would come back later to do that. Maybe even sometime this summer, we all decided.

Besides, as you can see in the photo above, taken outside the 2 Margaritas restaurant where we went to dinner in Union Saturday evening—heading out there literally minutes after I finally got to the house, at around 6:10—it was rather wet and drizzly on Saturday, which made the rest of them also less inclined to go to the Olympic National Park yesterday morning anyway. Actually, the weather was slightly improved yesterday over Saturday evening, but it was still fairly chilly. I don't think it even broke 60° all weekend.

So: I had a new suggestion, thanks to the suggestions of two different people I spoke with over the previous week—Karen, during our FaceTime lunch last Monday; and Gabby during our one-on-one meeting over Teams on Friday. They were both aware of Aldernrook Resort & Spa, which I was told had very pretty grounds to explore and a great restaurant. The place is just outside Union. "I would consider that a 'hidden gem,'" Karen said. Noted!

I liked this idea much better under the circumstances, as this way there was a "hidden gem" to see far closer to Jennifer's place, and we could go there without feeling rushed. Jennifer even managed to get us brunch reservations yesterday morning at 10:15. She tried many times to get reservations for five, but when she realized Hope had a work shift and would not be able to join us and then she tried reservations for four instead, she managed to get that 10:15 slot.

That was yesterday morning, though. I'm getting ahead of myself. Jennifer said they were going to take me to dinner at 2 Margaritas, so that basically became the plan for Saturday night—that and making drinks back at the house, of course and as always. When I finally got there, having been unable to leave Gabriel's until around 4:45 and not reaching Union until 6:07, Jennifer did not that she thought I'd be getting there earlier, but was impressively cool and calm rather than openly annoyed. She was openly very hungry, though, and we left as soon as I brought my stuff inside the house and used the bathroom.

In fact, when I first came inside, I only saw Ian, who said Jennifer was upstairs. Jennifer came down a few moments later, saying something like, "Of course I go upstairs right when you get here." At first I thought maybe both Hope and Matthew were out somewhere—I already knew Chase is away at college in Bellingham—but, when Jennifer and I went out to their car, having decided we would all ride to dinner together, I found Matthew and Hope already in it. Were they waiting out there since before I got there? I never did ask Jennifer. Maybe they were; I had indeed given Jennifer my GPS's 6:07 ETA.

So, I squeezed into the back seat with Hope and Ian, who sat in the middle. I would have driven my rental Jeep were it any longer a drive, but 2 Margaritas, a restaurant on the picturesque shore of Hood Canal, is all of two miles from the house.

As for dinner itself, I'd say it was . . . a mixed bag. The scenery was beautiful, even on a cloudy drizzly evening. The food was excellent, as well as in massive portions (I had so much topped on my veggie burrito that Matthew asked, "Is there a burrito somewhere under all that salad?"—indeed there was, and it was delicious). But, they seated us in a back section next to a family group that was spread over two different tables, one very long and one a four top, and both of them were right next to our table which was in the corner. This family was unbelievably loud, every one of them shouting every part of their conversation, which included a ton of vulgarity, a lot of which I couldn't even make out, but apparently Jennifer and Hope and Ian did.

I heard someone say at one point, "I love you. Fuck you." This was in a tone that sounded sort of like someone offering playful tough love, if that makes any sense. After a fair amount of time, maybe half the party left, which seemed to include the several young children. In the car on our way back to the house, I think it was Jennifer who said some guy said more than once after the kids left: "Who's gonna take care of my boner?"

Union, Washington. A classy place!

I spent a lot of time trying to find current figures on Union demographics, by the way. The town is unincorporated, which makes it instead a "census designated place" (CDP), which Wikipedia lists as having a population of 631—but, that's based on 2010 Census data. This DataUSA website has the population of Union down to 327 as of the 2020 Census; and CensusReporter.org has its population at 307 as of 2021.

Clearly this number is nebulous, especially given its status as an unincorporated town. Jennifer and Matthew had a hard time clarifying how they would even define the town borders, and said their house, which is at the end of a long driveway through the woods, is just outside the town border, and caused some problem with some utility hookup I can't remember now. They also had a hard time imagining how Union could be shrinking, especially with all the houses being built near Alderbrook Resort—but, Alderbrook is not really inside the town. So, whatever, I guess.

We drove back to the house, and Jennifer made us all cocktails. Even though I already had a piña colada at 2 Margaritas, I had two Fuzzy Navels she made for me with orange mango nectar instead of orange juice. It was super tasty. We also had one shot of something that was kind of awful. I can't remember now what that was either. We drank while watching the Celeste Barber Netflix comedy special, both of us having been big fans of her Instagram account where she mimics models and their weird videos. The comedy special was all right. By the end of it Jennifer and I were really zonking out so we all went to bed.

So yesterday morning, the power went out. It apparently happened in the whole area, not just their house, or just their neighborhood, or even just Union. Jennifer got a call from Alderbrook Resort that their power was out and they could not use their kitchen, and would need to cancel our 10:15 reservation.

For much of the morning, I was just grateful that I managed to shower and finish getting ready before this happened. It's not that the water would have been affected (it wouldn't), but I needed light above the bathroom mirror goddammit!

And, well, I had been told the Alderbrook Resort grounds were nice enough to explore a bit, and so I suggested we go and do that anyway, before going to some alternate restaurant for brunch. I also theorized that, if the power came back on in the meantime, perhaps we'd be able to eat there after all. And that's actually what happened.

Jennifer and Matthew told me the power doesn't go out very often. It flickered off a couple of times first, each time coming right back on, but having been off still just long enough for the digital clocks to need resetting. The third time, though, the power just stayed off. They said that usually it only goes off for a long time when there's really bad weather. But the weather was fine. I still don't know what caused this outage.

But, whatever. Having decided I would drive straight from brunch to Port Orchard to see Claudia, this time I drove the rental Jeep—and Jennifer rode with me. Matthew had told me about the nearby "Dalby Water Wheel," which used to provide electricity to the town and has been running in Union since 1924, now located right across the street from the resort. We passed the water wheel, and parked in the lot at the resort itself, and so we went inside to look around first.

We walked around the grounds, looked at the charmingly rustic lobby, and went out to the grassy area between the resort itself and the shore of Hood Canal. It was, indeed, very pretty. We walked out to the end of a fairly long dock, so I could get photos of the resort from the water, and also of the waters of Hood Canal and the Olympic Mountains beyond. I got a great selfie of the four of us together standing out there, with Hood Canal behind us.

As we walked back to shore, Jennifer noticed that the light fixtures at the resort were back on. So, she went in to ask at the restaurant if we could come in and have brunch after all. They said yes, although they could not make potatoes or make any hot drinks as they still had no hot water. I asked if they could make eggs and they said yes, and that was good enough for me.

Things steadily improved even between that conversation and when we actually took our orders. They had said they couldn't make toast, and I asked if that included the English muffins used for their eggs benedict dishes. At first the waitress said it did, but then they decided they could fry the English muffins on the grill (duh). At about the same time, they said they could make fried country potatoes or our dishes as well. So, Jennifer and Matthew and I all ordered eggs benedict dishes, each of them slightly different; mine was vegetarian of course. It was also delicious.

Ian ordered oatmeal, which Jennifer made fun of him for. "That's like ordering cereal at a restaurant," she said. Well, this oatmeal was fancier than most oatmeal would be at home: he had fruit compote as a topping. It also cost less than half as much as any of our benedict plates did.

Jennifer and I each also had a pineapple juice mimosa and that was also very tasty.

When we were done with brunch, we then walked over to the Dalby Water Wheel, which was quite picturesque and, again, rustic. I got a few good shots out of it. We walked back to the parking lot, and there we parted ways. Somewhat to my surprise, Jennifer gave me a hug goodbye. Most of our lives, even though I hug other people plenty, Jennifer and I were never really huggers with each other. I guess it's about time we started.

Before returning to the Jeep, I went back inside to use the bathroom. And then I sat in that lobby long enough to post to my socials my "Birth Week Hidden Gem," this one being Alderbrook Resort & Spa. And after that, it was back to the Jeep and off to Port Orchard, from there a mere half-hour drive.

[posted 7:08 pm]