On Saturday we continued celebrating Darnell and Alex’s return to California and Lorena’s imminent three-month trip to Alaska by going on a duffy boat and then out for drinks in Newport! For most of the time that we were on the water, Jon piloted the boat, but some of us took turns as well. We had drinks, cheese, crackers, fruits, and good conversation!

gem made a great boat captain too of course!

Gracie may have freaked out a little when she was in charge. Just a little though. Maybe.

Here I am hard at work with Jon and Devin helping.

Darnell was willing to pose, but I guess Alex was too busy looking over there to even care.

Here’s another great shot of Darnell!

We even had a buddy come join us on the duffy. He hung out for quite some time.

After our time with the boat came to an end, we went out for drinks and dinner. We started with a drink at A Restaurant. It was a quiet, warm-feeling place. It was a nice place to talk, but the prices were a little high. After that we headed to the Rusty Pelican, where we stayed for a while. (The calamari was excellent!) When the hunger hit hard, we walked to DivBar Smokehouse Barbecue, where I had the brisket with baked beans. Delicious.

After dinner we headed back to the Rusty Pelican to enjoy some live music. By the time I was getting pretty tired. I had a glass of Moscato and read Journey to the Center of the Earth while listening to the music. Is that rude? Yeah, it’s probably rude, but honestly I enjoy reading while listening to live music. The day was packed with fun with great people, but I’ll admit, I was pretty tired that evening!