On Friday, after the Aquarium, we headed off to Asilomar, which is a California State Park unlike any other, it being as much a convention center as a park - The park has buildings for meetings, loads of dormitories and even a large dining hall that can seat hundreds at every meal. Asilomar is so popular I had to reserve space for our little Hen Party last March. We reserved the Guest Inn; which Diane read was once owned by John Steinbeck's sister. I found myself hoping we might be visited by Steinbeck's sister's ghost - purely a sign I have watched far too much Ghostly Encounters on TV.
We parked in an underground garage - I can tell you, a profoundly weird thing to find in a State Park! A short trip along sandy pathway and we were at our Hen Party Nestquarters. As soon as we arrived, our hen inspection began. Well, we were an easy sell - four bedrooms; three of which had 2 double beds each, the forth smaller room had a twin bed.
There are 2 Jack n' Jill bathrooms; one adjoining two bedrooms, and the second adjoining a bedroom and the dining room. Can't believe it didn't occur to me to photograph the adorable and funky bathrooms, the first with corner fitted the claw foot tub and the second with the amazing "Leaking Wall of Lourdes". There is a huge fireplace in the center of the house and the light fixtures are rather Art Deco - for me at least.
The dining room, as the rest of the building has windows, so old they are rippled & uneven in thickness. Maybe there was at time that was considered a bad thing, but these days they're an E ticket.
And YES, as we all hoped, the building has a full size kitchen with which to stuff too much food for a few women over a couple of days - a hen has to have her feed, dig?
Not long after Diane and I had made ourselves at home, Ingrid arrived, and shortly after her came Robbie and Nancy. We were all bummed as one of the hens, Rhonda couldn't make it because it's the crush time when California grape growers are in dire need of trained plant scientists like Rhonda to tend to grape crop trials and other seasonalities. This is the last time we hold a Hen Party in September during crush! Also, there is the ever in our minds absence of one hen, Fran, and we'll stop missing her. We are lucky to say that this party is the second for this year and we estimated it is our 9th? 10th? Hen Party.
Yes, loads of chatting, raving about our temporarty roost and big decisions on who was in which room and what we were doing the remainder of the day. Nancy went out on a nice hike and got lost. Robbie and Ingrid tripped off down to the sea for the scenery. Diane and I conserved energy, sitting around and chatting. Hey, it's what I do best!
Later in the early evening, Nancy, Diane and I went to a nearby town center for some not-totally-really-needed, but very-very-much-wanted groceries. Later in the evening we had a nice sit down dinner. It had been a long day, and long drives for all the Hens to arrive at our short get-away. Nothing makes you forget long hours in the car faster than knowing you have friends and a beautiful and cool coast at the end of the road.
