After assisting Liz with closing and packing up our ceramic fish booth on Main street Jeff and I meandered through the crowd taking in the sights and sounds of this annual event. Near Murphys Hotel as we were walking up from Murphys Park, near the Sheriff's hangout, two sheriffs who had been walking in front of us began to run toward the hotel. A brawl had broken out between a biker, a guy and apparently his woman who had jumped in to protect him. Lots of screaming, pepper spray, and an unbelievable amount of cell phones with their long-armed attachments were filming this scene. I hadn't been focused on them as I was wondering what were we walking when Jeff whispered to me, Smile, your on camera!
I looked at a crowd gathering around this commotion and there were 30 to 50 people and almost everyone was capturing this... it was like a mini news crew. By the time we reached the main event the woman was on her knees crying, her man was on his knees handcuffed and the biker guy was on his bike yelling at them. Ahhh, Murphys, this was just the warm up of things to come... bar room brawls spilling out of Murphys Hotel onto the sidewalks and streets are legendary.
Then it was on to Grounds for our 12th pre-anniversary dinner.
As expected Grounds was filled to it's rafters with Bay area tourists (seriously over-dressed), the annual Murphys Day crowd, and a little bit of everything in-between. It's funny you could tell our local crowd by our downhome casual wear. A lot of familiar faces to say hello to and catch up with... Jeff and I love Murphys and loved living in Murphys.
Before we left so that I could assist Liz I'd had a very rocky day of Vertigo and running a fever. I'd misplaced my phone again (no surprise there) Friday. Forgot to take my camera with me for pix. So I have used the ones I am going to share which does not show how packed and celebratory the mood was last evening.
The front dining area was packed.
We dined in our usual place in the back. Below the mirror far right.
We kick started our pre-anniversary dinner with their French bread. As a starter we ordered calamari. I chose an Indian Rock chardonnay while Jeff went with a double espresso aka Red Eye.
To our right we had a really fun African American and his globe trotting Aisian wife. He was disappointed as he had thought he would have his leftovers for lunch and enjoy hers for breakfast, but she polished hers off, elegantly, in record time.
To our left were two young guys. One was from Austrailia and his friend was from South Africa.
Jeff went with the chicken corden bleu, while steak girl here, had to go with the filet migon.
Since we didn't polish ours off we'll be having a late afternoon lunch with these leftovers. We went for dessert as, after all, it was a pre-anniversary dinner, and we did polish that off. Jeff ordered tiramusu cake with rich chocolate drizzeled over it while I went with an Italian lemon cake with a side of whipped cream. Sorry, no pix, But they were De-lish.
Afterwards, we strolled across the street to the Prospectors Brewing Company to listen to some blues getting underway.
As the band finished playing the Rolling Stones classic 'Miss You' we left Murphys to head home before it got too wild.
My rocky day had ended nicely. Back at home, as I kicked my shoes off in the den I happened to glance at the bookcase and saw my cell phone lying there. Another bonding moment.
Walking into the master bedroom I tumbled into bed, giving in to not feeling so great but having enjoyed some lovely moments.
