Castaway Cove Season Opener 3!

here's the official invitation: http://mark.designwiseart.com/

All Tiki Central members are not only invited but entitled to VIP treatment! Hope you can make it!

From one 'Castaway' to another:

"May the gods smile and bestow many blessings upon you as you open 'the Cove' for another season!"

I wish I could be there!

Kitty and I will make every effort to attend. I really enjoyed your photos. The construction pics reveal the effort that went into making that place. Can't wait to see it live.

Update: Seamus link repaired. Check it out! Seamus, sorry for the delay - I was in Cali for the weekend.

More updates soon - hope to see many Centralites at the party!

I can't to see lots of pictures of everyone having a great time! Castaway Cove looks like Paradise!

Wow, thanks. The Seamus clan will be there, concrete and all !

Hey Maxton & Maggie,
Enjoy. Wish we could join you!
KailuaGeoff & Marian

Geoff, you know you and Marian are welcome any time! Give us a holler next time you're in the neighborhood, and we'll do the same!

Wish I could go to this but I planned a weekend out of town next weekend (May 30th. and 31st.) for the Palm Springs film noir festival and I booked it a while ago. How many more opportunities will I have to see Mickey Spillane in person?

After that I won't have any $ left for a while and I have to save for Chicago!

I'm sure it will be a great party - Mark and Maggie are the most congenial hosts and their Castaway Cove is a splendid tiki bar.

Wouldn't miss it! At the PDX crawl you mentioned where out-of-towners should stay, but I don't remember if it was to bring a tent, or if there was a hotel nearby or what...

Yay! Humuhum's coming! Yay!

We'd gladly put you up at our house, but we're already packed to the rafters with out of towners. If you want to stay close to the party, La Quinta on Hwy 30 (Yeon) is probably the best bet (503-497-9044), but downtown is not much farther and the hotels are nicer. There's also a Holiday Inn Express I've heard is nice and it's new (503-484-1100) - it's also relatively close to the trendy NW 23rd area. Finally, smack dab in the middle of the NW district is the Inn at Northrup Station ((503) 224-0543), which is right on the streecar line so very accesible to downtown.

You're also welcome to pitch a tent, as we have a very large private yard...

Yay!

Tikimaxton- I have finished the new sculpture I told you about and it is ready to be unveiled. It's gonna look really cool at the pond. I'll wait 'til after the party to post pics. Don't want to spoil it!

Just a few days away! We look forward to seeing Seamus' new work, and hanging with Humuhumu, Mr. & Mrs. Tiki Bar, Tikitronic & Kim and any other Centralites who can make it. We've inked our Polynesian dance troupe and will have 6-10 dancers performing for our guests' pleasure, as well as good food, strong drink and delightful company! Pictures will follow!

Thank you so so much to the fantabulous TikiMaxtons, who threw a darned kick-ass party. It was well worth the drive from Seattle. Castaway Cove is beyond belief, with a lush setting to match. The dancers were darling. There was an adorable very little boy running around absolutely naked sipping a drink out of a coconut. Suburban savage, indeed. Seamus's tikis were quite cool, particularly the one spitting into the lagoon. Never pass up an oppurtunity to see Castaway Cove!

Castaway Cove is like a compact tiki theme park, so much more than the lounge itself. A beach, a gazebo, trails through hedge-tunnels, secret alcoves where you can park your butt on chairs right out of Alice and Wonderland. Not to mention a naked "Mini-Me" frolicking through the grounds. Thanks to Mark and Maggie for a great party. Your hospitality is very much appreciated (as was the Lemon Hart Rum.) Nice visits with the Northwest TC folk. I want to visit the hot springs that Seamus's mother-in-law runs in Summerlake. I think I could do a month there, easy, by the way she describes it.
I'll post some photos in a day or two.

WOW!! What a great evening. Thanks so much to Mark and Maggie for their hospitality and for creating and sharing such a magical place. It was fun for the whole family! The TikiBar is fantastic, and the garden setting is otherworldly. I kept forgetting I was actually in Portland. Though that could've been from the drinks! It's so great to be able to go to a party where kids are welcome. My daughter had a blast- as well as my mother in-law. They really liked the dancers. It was really great getting to know the NW crowd a little better. We've really got a great bunch of people up here! I look forward to seeing some pictures posted soon.

On a side note, the Summer Lake Hot Springs where my in-laws live and manage really is something to behold as well.There are some bizarre totem carvings around the premises that aren't Tiki, but pretty darn close at times. My in-laws , Rick and Diana, are some of the best hosts you will ever find, and if you happen to show up during one of the many parties/events thrown out there on a regular basis, ,,, well,, you won't believe it - in the middle of nowhere. There is a website last I checked. Hwy 31 - southern Oregon desert. It's the backroad to Reno, as well as Burning Man, so they get all kinds out there. Check it out!!

Here is a link to some party photos from Maxton's Home Opener.
http://www.shutterfly.com/view/pictures.jsp?aid=67b0de21b36a133725c6
Well, they are on shutterfly. I seem to have forgotten how to link them to here.
[ Edited by: mrtikibar on 2003-06-09 22:38 ]

[ Edited by: mrtikibar on 2003-06-09 22:43 ]

I'll do it this way.

It was too short (our fault since we got a late start and then got lost on the way) but my lord - what a beautiful oasis you have Tiki Maxton. It was like stumbling into a place halfway between the normal world and disneyland.

Granted - it also totally brought out my competitive side and made me want a house that we can mutate into a rival secret paradise. But who'd argue with that:)

Thanks everybody for the kind words and the excellent company! I look forward to seeing more of your pics, as i was too busy to take any myself...

I know that from now on, if I'm hosting more than about 20 people, I'm going to hire a bartender. I like pouring drinks for awhile, but I got kinda stuck behind the bar and missed a lot of the fun. And turning the bar over to some of my, let's just say, less-than-particular friends led to some pretty undrinkable concoctions. I'll find a pro bartender, give him the Grog Log a week in advance and then just relieve him when I feel like pouring a few.

Thanks again to Mr. & Mrs. Tikibar for the wonderful drink garnishes, to Seamus who displayed some fantastic tikis and to Tikitronic, Kim and Humuhumu just for being there and adding some class to the party! Is it Happy Hour yet?

On 2003-06-12 14:17, TikiMaxton wrote:
I know that from now on, if I'm hosting more than about 20 people, I'm going to hire a bartender. I like pouring drinks for awhile, but I got kinda stuck behind the bar and missed a lot of the fun. And turning the bar over to some of my, let's just say, less-than-particular friends led to some pretty undrinkable concoctions. I'll find a pro bartender, give him the Grog Log a week in advance and then just relieve him when I feel like pouring a few."

This is probably a common problem for more than a few of us. Your friends know you can make these weird-ass tropical drinks. They want to come over to your place for happy hour. Next thing you know there are eight people hanging out waiting for their fruity whatever, and you get stuck making drinks for everyone all night because you don't trust anyone else behind the bar with your stock of exotic rums and mixers...
(Uummm, if you don't mind please don't make your rum and coke with my 8 star Bharbancourt. Thank you.)
I think wise old Vic covered this subject in one of his books, but I'm interested to know what others think the best way is to handle this.
-serve rum punch?
-Everyone drinks what I drink, damn it.
-Gald you liked it, now have a beer.
-I'll just lay out the cheap booze, they'll never know the difference.
-Serve em strong and knock em out.

Well, I don't really have a problem making drinks for 8 or so, that much is fun for me and I don't mind being behind the bar for happy hour, but during a 7 hour party with 60+ guests I just HAD to have a break, and that's when all manner of unspeakable acts happened behind my bar. Some people have the same attitude as that bartender at oasis - "Just put a bunch of stuff in a blender". Ack!

Well, lets say eight or eighty.

Also, if I didn't enjoy smoking cigars with my Mai-Tai's so much, it wouldn't be such a big problem... but, as we all now know, smoking in tiki bars is TABOO (diddle-iddle-oo)!
Also, is there really such a thing as happy "hour"? I've never been to "one".

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-06-13 14:49 ]

You're so right about "Happy Hour"! The way it was explained to me, "Happy Hour" is actually the window of opportunity in which to begin enjoying "Happy Time", or something like that. Or maybe time just slows down when you're in a bar, so that 4-5 hour after work drinking time has a subjective value of only 1 hour. Or maybe you can only be happy for 1 hour and then you have to be grumpy like Bong...

On 2003-06-13 14:31, Kailuageoff wrote:
-serve rum punch?

In the past I've made the Trder Vic's punch in the Grog Log in a big punch bowl when expecting more than a few guests. It helps to have a big juice squeezer. I'll make special drinks at the start if people don't want the punch. After a while I get drunk myself and it becomes a free for all. What the hell.

I avoid the mixing for a crowd problem by not having enough friends to make a crowd. Problem solved.