Are We Spoiled Or What?!

We have commented quite a few times in the past 48 hours that Ilwaco is a sad little town.  It appears to have been hit hard by the economic downturn, as evidenced by the numerous empty store fronts on the few streets.

And you've heard of towns where 'they roll up the streets' at 9 PM?  Well, in Iwaco, on a Tuesday night at least, it happens at 7 PM!  Al had been ready to knock off working at about 5, but the marine surveyor arrived about that time.  (We need a new insurance policy now that we are liveaboards, and have to pass inspection first.)  Well, by the time they finished up, and Al got cleaned up, it was 7.  And wouldn't you know.....all five resaurants on the waterfront were closed!  Even the bar that stays open later had already turned off their grill for the night. We decided that we would go to the grocery store and get something to nuke in our motel room.

Should I back up?  The boat is out of the water, and we can't use the sink since it can't drain to the water now.  Can't use the shower either for the same reason.  I guess we CAN use the head, but need to pour rinse water, instead of drawing it from the river/ocean.  SO we have a motel room, with a kitchenette (microwave and mini-fridge).  It can be done, but it is quite difficult to prepare meals when you can't wash your hands, or rinse things.  We finally figured how to do dishes at the boat--use a dish pan, pour into a bucket when done, find a bathroom drain somewhere, carrying the pail over the rail and down the ladder.  Not the most fun, but you do what you have to.

Back to the story.  On our way to the grocery store, we saw the Sea Hag, a bar with a sign out front that said 'Food.  Burgers.'  So we stepped inside and asked if they could make us a couple of burgers and he said 'Sure!'  One more non-diet meal, but we are still losing weight, so I guess it's okay now and then.

But what REALLY made this town SAD was that for quite awhile we couldn't find a decent cup of coffee!  Our motel had an in-room pot, but that was merely acceptable as a wake-me-up.  Don's Portside Cafe had a decent breakfast (though a bit high-priced, we thought), but we found the coffee there to be undrinkable, even after doctoring with cream and sugar, which we don't normally do.

But then we found the Olde Towne Espresso and Trading Post and they saved us.  And the sign out front that said 'Good  Coffee Sold Here' did not lie.

I think we will become good friends with this shop in our days here.  And that looks like it will be longer than we hoped.  Our first hope was to be back in the water on Friday.  But this morning Al found a spot of rot on the hull that he wants to take care of, and a couple of seams to be re-corked.  Not totally unexpected, but we were hoping for a simple bottom paint job.  That means we now hope to be back in the water on Monday, and cross the bar on Tuesday morning,

IF Al can figure out how to take a work call from the ocean....He has work calls scheduled every day next week.