February 10, 2016 60th Birthday Party

We spent the morning getting our boat ready for company, even though it was my birthday.  Can’t be all fun and no work.  I cleaned the heads and floors.  Dave put away things that were in the cockpit.  We pulled back the mattress on our v berth to store winter clothes and bring out bedding for the Doerrs.  Always a shuffle.
 
Doerr’s moved from their cottage to the Hopetown Lodge for one night.  Their cottage had been rented for tonight.  Originally, we thought we would be with my family until the 11th.  That changed somewhere along the way, but they were interested in trying out another property anyway.  Plus it was going to be a windy night, which wouldn’t have been nice for their first night aboard our boat.  Harold gets sea sickness and will wear a patch while on the boat.
 
Before leaving their cottage this morning, Harold said Happy Birthday to me over the cruiser’s net.  They brought a hand held VHF radio, which came in handy for communication between us.  They didn’t use their phones while they were here.  Plus, their cabin didn’t have a telephone.  You can contact all the businesses by VHF radio, too. 

We joined them at the Hopetown Lodge about 4:00.  We found Harold on the beach in a lawn chair.  I think we woke him up from a nap.  Julie was doing some shopping and joined us shortly after we arrived.  The sun was going behind the island and it was cooling off.  We moved up the hill to a gazebo area with multi colored Adirondack chairs that I always thought would be fun to hang out in and have a few drinks. 

Hopetown Lodge Beach

better beach view

The Doerrs wanted to take us out for dinner to celebrate my birthday.  After our Happy Hour, we all went to their room to get ready for dinner.  It was a small basic room in the lodge, but it was nice to be able to use all of their facilities.  They also had motel like rooms and cottages as part of their lodging.  Their room was on the third floor and had a balcony overlooking the ocean.  But the balcony leading to their door was on the harbor side and had a great view of the lighthouse. 

After doing the bathroom shuffle to change clothes, we went to the dining room in the lodge for our 6:30 dinner reservation.  We had a wonderful dinner, and they even arranged for a birthday cake with candles to be brought to the table.  The wait staff sang Happy Birthday with Dave, Harold and Juli.  It really was a great 60th birthday.  We didn’t have anything special planned, because we are living special lives everyday on our boat.  This celebration really topped everything off, and they had gifs for me!  Thank you Harold and Juli. 

Dinner at Hopetown Lodge

Doerrs bought Dave's hat and had mine made for me. Captain is always right and the first mate has the final say

We made it back to the boat in our dinghy, even after happy hour and wine with our dinner.  We usually don’t drink much if we have to travel back to our boat.  It’s not so much the drinking and driving as it is the drinking and climbing in and out of boats.