For February, Sunday’s weather was gorgeous, 70+ degrees. Sunday’s weather would have been a top ten-day in Saint Louis, any month of the year. Anne and I got out on our bikes, rode around town and saw a couple of things. Anne and I rode 11 miles in 1 hour and 1 minute and felt like lunch.

On the way to South Grand and lunch at The Vine, we stopped off and saw Charles the Great Horned Owl, featured in yesterday’s post. He was still sitting on his favorite branch, in his favorite tree, right where I saw him on Saturday. Next, I showed Anne their nest. No sign of Sarah, but we did see lots of furry owl pellets, yummy looking and just before lunchtime.

The Vine is a Lebanese style, Mediterranean café, market and hookah lounge. I’m not sure how the hookah part works or even if it is still working, what with Saint Louis’ new smoking ban. We ate outside on the café’s sidewalk. The place was crowded, so the service was slow, but the food was excellent. We shared a fattoush salad, adorned with chicken shawarma meat. The salad was mixed greens with a spiced oil and vinegar dressing. The chicken was also pleasantly spiced. Anne had a banana smoothie with dates and I had a small pot of Lebanese coffee, both thick and strong. We also shared pita bread with hummus. The Vine serves pitas that are so light and fluffy; they just melt in your mouth. We had two appetizers and two drinks for less than $20.

The Vine’s name and logo, a bunch of grapes, might suggest a wine list. This is not the case. The Vine’s menu is halal and the only beer and wine on the menu is of the non-alcoholic variety. Plenty of ethnic beverages like the Lebanese coffee are available along with American fare.

After lunch, Anne and I rode another 11 miles in 1 hour and 1 minute and felt like the Three Little Pigs, what with a tailwind huffing and puffing and blowing us wee-wee-wee all the way home. Maybe also, we didn’t need to order that hummus and pitas? Mileages are accurate, times are approximate; as in I don’t have a clue. It is not like we had to be anywhere anyway. 😉

The rains have cleared in Monterey and Chris has been able to supply another photograph for this post. It is a sunset photo, an HDR photo, actually 10 photos combined into one. Anne and I view it as three pictures in one. You have the sky, and then you have the sea with the rocks and then in the foreground you have the pickleweed or ice plants.