What’s your morning routine?  For most of my life I’ve had a routine and I stuck to it regardless of the day, the month, or the year. It also was flexible enough to change when necessary to fit my always changing lifestyle.  I have to say that my routine these days is by far the best it’s ever been.

I’m sitting in a nice warm bed and  into my second cup of coffee while watching and listening to one of my favorite chick flicks, Return to Me.  My better-half has left for work, the cat has been fed, and I just finished off a bowl of crunchy cereal covered with berries and almond milk.  Now it’s time to write this posting before I finally roll out of bed and officially start my day.

With Fall now rushing upon us and Labor Day behind us, we decided to make our farewell visit to the nearby tourist trap, Old Orchard Beach. We expected much smaller crowds because many places close up for the season just after the Labor Day weekend.  It was warm and sunny and the crowds were even smaller than we anticipated.

We were both surprised to see that the vast majority of shops and restaurants had already closed their doors for the year.  I’d intended to do some shopping at a certain store but because it was on the grounds of the amusement park it was fenced off and locked up.  That’s what I get for delaying my visit to avoid the crowds. Another casualty of my claustrophobic need to avoid large groups of insane people.

The beach was almost as empty as everything else.  Just a few die-hard beach people refusing to accept the fact that Winter is fast approaching. 

We made our way to The Pier and the local Irish Pub.  They were open for business and apparently trying to rake in as much money as they could from any straggling tourists.  The prices were too high but the food was almost as good as the cold beer or so says my live-in beer expert.  I had the vodka tonic which wasn’t all that bad either.

We ended the evening with our mandatory visit to the Arcade for my better-half’s minor obsession with Skee Ball.  Don’t ask me why she has it, I just don’t know.  We walked around for twenty minutes or so and decided to call it a night.  The Summer is over, Fall is beginning, and we’ll be shoveling the white stuff all too soon.

Just so you know the little guy on the right is me. A little bit taller and always keeping an eye out for trouble.  And in my humble opinion a whole lot cuter  too.