Bethany Beach - Here We Come!

Sunday Apr 30 - After a breakfast of bagels and lox and then a McKenna rush of activity - we were finally on the road at 2pm for Bethany Beach! (Ronna had wanted to be out of the house at 12:30...fat chance!)

And although a Sunday...still traffic on the Capital Belt...but afterwards, a very nice scenic drive.

We arrived at the Bethany Beach Ocean Suites Residence Inn about 3.5 hours later. A 2 year old resort taken over by Marriott - consisted of 2 buildings.  Beautiful and centrally located.  Pet friendly but because of Luna, we were placed on the first floor.  It ended up being perfect...access to the boardwalk and beach right off the balcony!  The only thing that would have helped was being able to lock the balcony door from the outside. Still...it was a god-send to not have to walk Luna through the hotel.

We had a junior suite with a full kitchen and sitting area.  So comfortable!  Two queens beds and 2 flat screen TV's which did come in handy!

After we checked-in and got our luggage into our room (132) - we took Luna for a walk on the beach and the boardwalk.  The town itself is quaint and so pretty!  And clean!  It was off-season so very quiet but I happen to like it that way!  We could see miles and miles of beach dotted with people here and there.  I can't imagine what it must be like during the season but for now, it was perfect with the exception of my research.  I picked out several restaurants to dine in during our stay and they were all CLOSED!

But not that we would starved!  We found The Blue Crab and had a lovely meal sitting outdoors.  I know it was ridiculous to order ribs at a place called the Blue Crab but it was delicious!  Ronna had the crab cakes.  We called it a night after that - returning to Luna and Netflix. Great first night!

Entrance to the resort.

Our room...center section - 3rd room from right - 1st floor

It was windy but warm and wonderful

Garfield Pkwy - main street a few min from resort.
Where many of the shops & restaurants are located

Bethany Beach

I've been feeling pretty "loved".  This big birthday has brought on a lot of surprises and generous gifts!  Ronna had contacted me a month prior to my bday that she wanted to take me away!  And this past weekend was that get-away!

Drove to Virginia on Sat (Apr 29) to Ronna's for an overnight stay.  Took a little over 4 hours but I never took a wrong turn!

Surprised Derek at his new job at the car wash and Ronna got that much needed car wash which ended up FREE!  His co-worker, Conall actually offered his free wash to her...so sweet!

I accompanied her as she ran her errands:  Mark's shirts to the cleaners - the car washed and Costco

The new Kosciuszko up ahead

That's Conall

Retouched 3

As a toddler, I had a pen and scribbled all over a couple of my mom's photo's!  At least she never tossed them...!  Photo of Aunt Janice, May Yee, Mom and Stan's Mom.  This was tough and still not finished.  But I'll keep working on it!

Retouched 2

I came across this photo that I've seen most of my life but always disregarded because of its poor condition.  But now I saw it with a different eye.  As I was removing it from the photo album, my mom was aghast. Why would I want that?  Discoloration and the awful spot on my dad's forehead.
I told her I will try to fix it.  She was in disbelief but let me at it. She was very pleased with the results as was I!

Retouched!!

I love looking through my mom's photo albums.  She has many photos going back to her own school years.  If I had my way, I would scan every print but that would be difficult so I've been picking and borrowing a handful each time I visit.

A few years ago, I borrowed such a photo.  It was a shot of Kathy and Winnie's younger sister, Jeannie.  Apparently my dad took all his daughters and Winnie plus sisters (6 girls in total) under the age of 11 to Jones Beach!  Pretty brave but then upon further thought, we were good girls. No one would just wander off.  And also we were not in swimwear so no going near the water.

The photo in question had a tear in it.  Right on Kathy's arm. This was distressing to me and I tried to "fix it" using a "Paint" program.

But I made it worse!!  I couldn't manually "mix" the correct shade of skin color.  Instead there was now an orange blob on Kathy's arm.  About a month ago, I came across the photo and once again, tried to "fix" it.  It really bothered me! But I needed the original and was able to reborrowed the photo.

 After I scanned it, I came across a program on my laptop that I NEVER realized was there.  With a click, I retouched it - perfectly!  You can now imagined that I have gone "retouched" crazy!

JHS 65 & Golden Unicorn 2017

Eric put the word out and 10 of us showed up!  In a way...the core group.  Alphabetically: Caryn, Eric, Jimmy. Jinny, Nancy, Robert, Shek, Winnie & Winston.  Peter was supposed to be attend but became unavailable.  Still...10 is a perfect number for a Chinese banquet restaurant.

For me, it worked well.  I drove down to my usual spot on St James Place to wait out the 6pm parking.  I wanted to bring 2 (heavy) bottles of apple juice to my mom and also had arranged to meet up with Shek before the dinner and buy some dried shrimp - also for my mom.  He was able to get a parking spot in front of Golden Unicorn and I met him at his car.  He was also waiting for 6pm to feed the meter for an hour.  Eric was with him & then Robert joined them.  We did the transaction, I dropped off the stuff at my mom's and went to meet the guys at the restaurant.  I missed them walking in by sheer seconds!

Our table was on the 3rd floor.  Eric and Shek did the honor of choosing the menu and did an excellent job.  Food was particularly delicious. Though I did not partake of the crab because anyone who knows me - knows I won't go to the trouble!  Coincidentally, the waiter taking the order had a name tag that said "Micheal Fan" - which just happens to be brothers - Michael & Fan that are part of this group but live in Florida.

Somehow the "girls" sat together and the "boys" on the other side as if we were at a JHS dance. But I guess with the fact we were seeing each other as a group for the first time this year, each group had lots to say to each other.

When I wanted to take the group photo...Winston was the one who asked if I brought along my selfie stick and of course, I was prepared!  I have discovered - through much disappointment - that having a stranger whether it be a wait staff or just a person near-by, the shots don't always come out!  Yes, having someone else take the group shot makes for a better composition.  But doing the selfie gives me more control.  I can take as many as I want and I will.  You never want to inconvenience a stranger to keep snapping away.

I have toyed around with a program that can "switch" faces - but you have to have the same type of photos to play with.  The program needs to be able to aligned the 2 shots in a similar setting. It's been a godsend in terms of one person with eyes closed or head turned to swap it out with the other shot where he/she is in perfect form!

I took a few shots with the selfie.  The waitress saw us and said she would take some.  She did.  And sure enough...things went wonky!!  She took 4 shots.  2 where she cut off part of the group.  And 2 where somehow some faces and areas became distorted...but really badly!  I was never more thankful for the "fuse" program than I was with these photos.

Eric and Robert left earlier than the rest of us.  Eric had to pick up his wife and he was Robert's ride. The rest of us got involved in playing "Head's Up" - the Charades app.  Fortunately the restaurant wasn't super busy on the 3rd floor because we were whooping it up!!  It sure made for great laughs and that warm fuzzy "had a wonderful" time feeling!!

Peking Pork Chops - Garlicky Crispy Chicken - Pea Shoots

Deep Fried Flounder

Fried Tofu

Shrimp with broccoli and walnuts

Crab

Fried Rice

T Bone Steak in Wine sauce

Gathering the left-overs

Always able to find one decent shot!

First "waitress" pic - The guys and I are standing behind the ladies!

Retouched!