Not gonna rain on our parade

Lately it seems that whenever we decide to head out for a ride, it ends up raining. I'm not talking sprinkles here. I'm talking full on thunder, lightning and torrential downpours. Usually, it's just a matter of us not checking the forecast before setting out. But this weekend, we knew what we were in for, and we headed out anyway.

Where to, you ask? Well, the beach of course! OK, not exactly the beach, but the shore, anyway. Old Saybrook, to be exact. I wanted to show Matthew where I used to fish with my Poppy. Those are some of my favorite memories - climbing down under the causeway and setting up on the rocks. Fishing all day, landing a few flounder here and there, having sandwiches (one slice of ham and one slice of cheese on Sicilian bread, choke dry - my favorite!), and drinking coffee from a Thermos. I used to have my grandfather bait my hook. I didn't mind touching the worms, but he used to break them in half. Ewwwww....... Such a sweet man, and he even did it for me after I hooked him in the eyelid while casting out one time. Niiiiiice....

Anyhow, I digress. So, we checked the forecast, and saw there was a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for Old Saybrook. Looking at the radar, we saw some nasty stuff passing through, and another storm not far behind it, so naturally we took that to mean we had a window of opportunity.

Well, not exactly. It was storming pretty hard when we got down to the shore, but it was great just the same. The water was churning, and the lightning show was spectacular. We hung out for a while, just watching the boats coming in and out. It started to let up a bit, so we captured a couple of shots.....

Notice the seagulls on top of the sign? Nice shot, babe!

By around 3:30, we decided we were famished, since we hadn't eaten since 8:30. We headed out in search of a place we could go dressed as we were. We decided to stop at a place we had passed on the way.....Voted Best in Connecticut. Celebrating 35 years. OK, must be good.

Well, let me just say this was quite the experience. After having to defend my decision to have a clam roll rather than the clam strip platter to our waiter, Mohammed ("The platter has a lot more clams. The roll just has bread." Yup, uh-huh, got that - that's why I'm ordering it.), we had some lunch. It was edible, but not someplace we'll be going back to. Ever. On our way out, Mohammed and another waitress said "Thank you. Come again please." To both of them, I said "Don't count on it." Not sure how quietly I said that, now that I think about it.

In any event, the spookiest part of lunch was not so much the food, or even the little washboard that had the day's specials on it. It was the teddy bears. They were everywhere. At first, I thought the family sitting near us had brought their giant teddy bear with them to lunch. But then, Dennis pointed out that all the tables with kids had a teddy bear sitting in one of the chairs. Now I'm no germophobe, but come on.....do you think those bears have EVER been cleaned or hosed down with Lysol in 35 years? How many kids have sat on those bears and had a little accident? Thank God Matthew was in his car seat so Mohammed was not tempted to bring one for him. Not sure what it was voted Best in Connecticut for - perhaps Best Collection of Dirty, Freaky Teddy Bears?

On the way out, we spotted this one.....you tell me - is that a bear? Looks like a gopher in drag to me.