Refugees

We fled the Castro on Pink Saturday fearing that the little bug would be kept up all night by the partying. We were already considering getting out of town when the clincher arrived: we received notice that there would be a DJ stand right on our corner. Off to the Claremont Resort and Spa in the Berkeley hills. The hotel is a step back in time. The elevators are minuscule, certainly pre-Bugaboo, and sllllllloooooooowww! We sure have been spending a lot of time in the East Bay lately (especially for a couple of E.B.-phobes). We were initially put in a room that the three of us barely fit in, but after a second trip to the front desk we received a spacious room on the third floor.

We spent the afternoon at the pool, ahhh... The weather was beyond beautiful and I was wishing that we had gotten out there earlier so that we would have had more time to spend. We had dinner at Nan Yang, a great Burmese restaurant on College Avenue (thank you, Zagat). We had a lovely time until J bit her lip - ouch, blood and all, ugh! We went to bed right after we put Juliet down since we didn't want to wake her by watching TV and we were too beat to read. I think we got a lot more sleep than we would have at home, so the trip may become an annual one.

In the morning we got out early and went for a walk around the neighborhood after stopping for the strongest cappuccinos money can buy. We were both disappointed that Dream Fluff Donuts was closed (who ever heard of a donut shop being closed on a Sunday!). Mike was commenting on the very Berkeley-esque road blocks. So many streets that appear to have initially been created as thoroughfares are blocked off. I didn't notice until he pointed it out to me, but the things are everywhere! We saw some really incredible homes on our walk. It was fun to be out and about exploring early while the streets were mostly empty. When we returned we went to Sunday Brunch at Jordan's, the restaurant at the hotel (okay, so we didn't need that donut!). They have quite the spread and scored points when they brought over a mini box of Cheerios for J. As you can see, she liked it too.