We just barely got a reservation at Lola's for New Year's.
As always we were rewarded with great meals, fun waiter, good music, nice people .....
And then BOOM, BOOM, BOOM...... Out went the lights!
After we recovered, the following day we went dog walking at Ruff House.
The Cubscout felt sorry for Bradley being cooped up so much when he had been such an active dog at a kennel that had been damaged in Hurricane Irene.
Dumbass Ralph tried to make nice and earned a Red Cross Cluster for his 1st Aid merit badge.
Duke Falcon's is NEVER disappoints! Even the appetizer plate with every meal is outstanding!
Plus I like the scenery there too.
Hurricane Irene left a lot of evidence of her visit. Hope it gets cleared off before I get back in June. Otherwise where would enjoy our
Although today was a BALMY 60º, there are ALWAYS crazy surfers out there. At least there are some waves today.
All too soon it was time to get back on the big silver bird and bid adieu to Long Island once again.
But, Arrrgh!
I'LL BE BACK!
June is another 31st Birthday for Sally, so I headed East!
The cleanup from Hurricane Irene must have gone pretty well. My last photo of this ramp (shown above) was nearly covered over with sand. They DID leave the Beach Patrol Building right where the storm washed it to though.
My 1st night was spent running with the "Big Dogs" at Ruff House and cheesesteaks at a new place in Oceanside. Pretty darned good but not quite the same.
Snow, sleet, rain or unbearable humidity, there are always surfers here. Board Body or both.
While we were in Long Beach we saw "Dark Shadows" as well as "Madagascar 3D". We went during Martinee time so it was only $7/ person. After Watching Johnny Depp, we went to The Bahia Social Club.
They serve best fish taco's I've had. Light breading and spicy sauces. It had only just opened but the Tapas on the menu caught our attention. They were served up with Yucca Fries. We also had Serano ham and Manchego cheese croquettes as well as parmesan stuffed bisquits. They had a pretty good singer/ guitar player but it was VERY loud with active acoustics in there.
We took a road trip out to Port Washington for a Nautical festival hoping to go for a sail on the 3 masted schooner they advertised.
It never showed up but it was a nice little festival and there were a lot of booths selling stuff. We also got a Mango RALPH's Italian Ice. It may not have looked like it was going to be bad to a Westy like me but the RAIN came in with a vengance and had us hiding underneath the canopies with the vendors! The horses were NOT amused.
So what's left to tickle a young girl's fancy on a dark and stormy day?
Are you kidding? SHOPPING! Even if she DID have to drag a clown with her who couldn't stop fooling around with things.
Funny thing is that by the time we got back to Long Beach the weather had cleared and it got nice so we went to Mali-Blue and sat outside for........ more LOBSTER Mac & Cheese of course.
Fresh pineapple Chicken was my 1st attempt at dinner. It came out pretty good and the presentation was nice. Guess I should have taken a pic after it came out, huh?Next day we met a cute therapy dog and her crazy owner.
Of course we celebrated her big event at Duke Falcons! Sally enjoyed a Panko crusted seafood combo with 2 spicy sauces. She finished it all off with an "Almond Joy". It was cake filled with chocolate ice cream almonds, coconut and whipped cream in a coconut shell with a chocolate gelato on the side. She topped it with 1 candle.
I had a favorite of mine, Marinated skirt steak salad with Balsamic dressing. I squeezed in a fabulous slice of Key Lime Pie over lines of orange and raspberry coulis. We capped it all with a couple Capuccino's. LIFE IS GOOD! 
The Beach Hut had just re-opened for the season so we drove up there for more seafood. 
We were treated to classic rock music with the Legendary Murphy's where I danced like a dufus! It's OK I became invisible so I doubt anyone could see me anyway.
They advertised a classic car show too. Not cars........
ONE CAR! 
A phone is just NOT a camera but at least you can see we were enjoying ourselves.
A few days later we went hiking at an urban nature preserve in Oceanside where there was a lot of bird activity.
There was an Osprey nest you could walk very close to and they even had a webcam so you could monitor their progress without bothering them. We prefered to see them in reality and walked out to the nesting area to get a few photos of our own.
Although the tracks were not well marked, the LIRR provided good transportion out to the race track for the 144th running of the Belmont Stakes. The trains were OK from Long Beach to Jamaica station but were packed on the 12 min hop to and from the track. The big news was all about "I'll Have Another". He had already won the Preakness as well as the Kentucky Derby, so he was a prime candidate winning the Triple Crown. It all looked like a lock until the day before the race when he got tendonitus and had to be retired. There were many disappointed people and the projected attendance of 150,000 was more like 85,000. That was OK as it was still fairly crowded. We swooped in on a spot on the rail above the grandstands and had a good view of the action.
And... They're OFF!
We placed a few bets while we watched all the weird people strutting around in their finest "costumes". 
We made a few bucks but as you can see our "Boys in Blue" weren't the only ones betting either. In the end I was holding onto the winner,
"Union Rags".
@ 6-1, I didn't make a lot of money, but it was worth it to be in line with everyone else picking up some free cash! VERY high energy in that group!
My winnings nearly paid for our traditional dinner at our favorite sportbar. 
My project for this visit was trying to get rid of the waterstains on the dining room table.
After a few attempts to clean it up I decided to sand it all off and restain it. I found that the leaves didn't match the top anyway, so I went darker. Naturally due to the way
my life works, nothing goes smoothly.
My first attempt didn't pass inspection, so had to had to restart by sanding the whole thing and re-finish it all again.
I had used mineral spirits to thin the polyeurathane finish coats and cleanup. So I nearly set the building on fire via spontaneous combustion inside the dust catcher of the palm-sander I was using.
It came out OK as long as you don't move the candlesticks that cover some of the mistakes.
Our last full day found us at another new place, VOLCANO BURGER. They have a little growing to do but the goat cheese one I had was outstanding!
As always it is over too fast and I was going back West.
Now I'm just waiting for Sally to come to back to California again!
We've still got things to see and do here!
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There was an Osprey nest you could walk very close to and they even had a webcam so you could monitor their progress without bothering them. We prefered to see them in reality and walked out to the nesting area to get a few photos of our own.
And... They're OFF!
We placed a few bets while we watched all the weird people strutting around in their finest "costumes".