A night away...

...from the city always seems like fun, except that I've had a very busy week and had a very busy weekend ahead (more on that later). But our office had an overnight retreat planned, so I grudgingly packed my bags, told Henry and Mauve to hop in my suitcase and headed to the office. We all drove to White Point Beach Resort for Friday night. Despite my early morning whining while packing my bag, I knew I would have a good time. What's not to like about coworkers who tell great stories, fresh air and the ocean?

I travelled with two other office team members. We passed our General Manager on the side of the highway where he appeared to be talking on the phone. We debated stopping and going back, but since he didn't answer our phone call, we figured he was ok. We knew that other team members were behind us, so if he needed anything he would be ok. It wasn't until we got to the lodge that we found out he had locked himself out of his car while taking another call (not ours). Whoopsie! We were subjected to a lot of good natured teasing during dinner. If he's really upset we'll find pink slips in our mail slots on Monday.

Quick! Think happy bunny thoughts:

We had a great supper at the Lodge. I had the poached salmon in an herb sauce and it was absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, the combination of lots of food, lots of laughter and cold air, made my asthma kick in, so I was kind of uncomfortable. I went to bed before the shenanigans got out of hand. This responsible, reserved behaviour meant that I was able to get up nice and early to take these photos:

There was a layer of frost on the bench and on the grass.

...and on the canoe.

There are several board walks over the rocks at White Point. The rocks are almost all worn round from the tides, making them tricky to walk on.

I took my Elfine Socks down to the waterfront because the phrase of "Socks on the Beach" made me giggle. Isn't that a drink?

Heading south: I saw these birds out of the corner of my eye and turned just in time to get this photo.

As I was taking photos, I heard some mad scrambling behind me on the rocks. I looked back to find these two, sneaking around the corner of a rock, attempting to scare me:

I hadn't seen them since I had gone to bed the night before. The last I had seen Henry, he was muckled onto a can of Boddington's Pub Ale and Mauve was doing "parlour tricks" for my coworkers. Needless to say, I was surprised to see either of them out of bed. But I was even more surprised to see that they were bright eyed and ready to ham it up for the camera (were they still drunk? I'm not sure.)

After some discussion they decided that they wanted to reenact a classic movie moment. Beach Blanket Bingo came up, but was dismissed as we had no blanket. So, with lots of guffawing and some comments about the cold sand, water and shrinkage, we finally decided on this scene:

From Here To Eternity. Ladies, try not to give in to your overwhelming jealousy. Mauve insists she is a professional model.