Thursdays on a Monday

In an effort to resist the real world a little longer, we made a lunch stop on Labor Day Monday. Our friends had heard about a place on West River and 4 boats decided to try it out on the way back to our respective home marinas/docks.Thursdays has a lot of outdoor seating and, even better, many slips available for "dock and dine." Hurricane Earl must have called upon his windy friends that day. After a fabulous weekend sans hurricane, the wind picked up just as we pulled up to the restaurant. The dock hand we worked with was great and we got into the slip with minimal trouble. I also have to give a shout out to my fabulous husband and captain, he did a great job manuevering the boat into the slip.

We were immediately seated at a table right along the railing and ordered food while we waited for the other boats in our group. The clam strip appetizer was disappointing - small portion and more breading than clam. My fried shrimp entree made up for it. The shrimp were large enough that the restaurant butterflied them before frying and they were quite tasty.

The problem/benefit (odd combination of words, I know) of being along the railing is that you can watch other boats as they try to dock. After holding our breath as we watched another boat try to dock next to ours in the heavy wind, Doug decided to get up from lunch in order to assist them from the bow of our boat. Even the guy behind me at the bar mentioned that he'd be on his boat helping if he owned ours. Docking is tough - trust me, after 10 years of boating, I'm still a novice - and you want to give boaters time to learn but you also have to protect your property. The boat eventually got in the slip, without hitting ours, and everyone was able to go back to enjoying the sunny day.

This was our first trip up West River and I think we may need to venture back there next season to check it out a little more. But after a couple hours with our friends, the fat lady sang and vacation was over.