It's all about the marketing.

Last night, my mother-in-law offered to ride herd over the youngin's so my wife and I could get out for a while.  Not really knowing what the cool kids do in the Tri-cities(our 1 night a month without the kids is usually spent at the movies) I called one of my buddies, and we decided to go out with him and his wife.

Wanting to enjoy some of the beautiful evening, our first stop of the night was Clover Island, a miracle of marketing.  Located in Kennewick, Clover Island is, for all intents, a large jetty that was built out into the Columbia River, and built up to allow placing a marina, a hotel, and a few restaurants/bars on it.  Supposedly, there really is a Clover Island under all the concrete...you just wouldn't be able to tell by looking.

So, that marketing gets you there, and then, it really doesn't matter.  You are far enough into the river that things are somewhat quiet and calm, with a nice breeze to keep things cool along the river.  Once the sun goes down, you get views like this:

 Once the sun was well and truly down, things began to get chilly for the women-folk, so we headed up and went to another bar(The Rock Reactor), where there was a live band playing 70's funk and some 80's rock.  The band was called Plastic Soul, and they weren't half bad.  I do think we were the youngest folks in the place...but it was only 9:30 when we got there....the young kids were still home pre-loading.  It was a good time, with good friends,  and we made it until about 11 before deciding it was time to head home and get our beauty sleep.  

Kids have little sympathy for parents who try to burn the candle at both ends.