The Babbling Brooks

Oklahoma: The Road Trip

OK, OK...I'm trying to catch up! So, I'll do this in segments. We'll start with our getting from Montana to Oklahoma. It was uneventful. Not much else to report. We did make a small detour to visit Mt. Rushmore. We got kind of a slow start from home on Thursday, the 5th. John had some errands to take care of in Kalispell. He left Mountain Dreams in the Explorer...packed completely full, including the front passenger seat, with goods. It was mostly my scrapbook, art, and craft supplies along with several boxes of photos, photo albums, framed photos for the walls, John's computer, my scanner, my printer, etc...all the things I wouldn't want to have someone take out of the utility trailer he was pulling behind while we were sleeping in a motel somewhere. The trailer housed the only furniture we brought (kitchen table and chairs), dishes, pots and pans, clothes, some tools, folding tables for computers and scrapbooking, etc. Oh...and another stack of scrapbook paper! I left an hour later in the Beetle. It was packed with our traveling clothes, some of my Longaberger baskets, and some odds and ends. Before I left the phone rang and it was someone at the FAA Academy. They needed John to log on and do some paperwork for them to finish up his security clearance. We met at Starbucks in Kalispell as planned, but now we had to take the time to get online so he could take care of that. It was 11:00 before we left there, but our mochas kept us happy till we got to Missoula and had lunch. (Thanks, Corki, for the Mackenzie River Pizza Co. gift card!) We spent the first night in Billings and headed out the next morning with the destination of Rapid City, South Dakota. That was an easy day so we slept in and arrived by 4:00 in the afternoon. Many of you know that one of my goals is to visit all 50 states. I am getting close! I am working on a "50 States" album and I want a photo of me standing next to the state sign for each state. There are several states I had been to as a kid or at sometime before I started the project for which I don't have that photo. I was able to make that up this time for Nebraska and Oklahoma. And...I added Kansas as a new state! So here are the pictures from Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota (keep in mind that I take many of these as I'm driving...love that continuous focus mode on my D200!). I'll do a separate post with the photos from Mt. Rushmore.

                             

From Rapid City we traveled to Thedford, Nebraska...a real hotbed of activity. There was a small restaurant next to the motel, but we hadn't seen downtown so we decided to drive a mile to see what was available there. Hmmm....nothing. There was one bar and some empty buildings. So we went back to the restaurant where I had some real Midwest chicken fried steak! It was the best I've had anywhere, but I won't be making a steady diet of that!

           

Leaving Thedford we had a decision to make. It was a really loooong day to Oklahoma City. Do we drive it in one day or spend the night somewhere? We elected to drive to Wichita, Kansas which put us about 4 hours to Yukon and the Martinis house. Not much to report from Kansas, except that it was a new state for me...and Wichita had more than one restaurant to chose from :)

       

One last drive got us into Oklahoma. North central Oklahoma looked pretty much like central Nebraska and central Kansas, except for one thing. Note that my hair is being whipped around my head and face. That wind never stops in Oklahoma...it's something I remember from all the times I had to come here for air traffic training!

       

And so we arrived in Yukon in the early afternoon hours of Monday, the 9th. Stay tuned for more...   

      

Fiji Photos...

You'll find the link to our Fiji photos in the Smugmug list (on the left sidebar)...

How To Prepare For A Cyclone!

One more Fiji post.....I forgot I had taken these photos just before we left the resort on Wednesday. Before we left for Fiji I had read the comments on the Worldmark owners forum. One guy was complaining about not knowing a cyclone was coming until he saw the staff throwing the pool furniture into the pool. (This individual certainly qualifies for the Low Awareness of the Year Award.) Sure enough, this is what we saw when we looked out at the pool!

Escape From Fiji

Our new flight home from Nadi was scheduled to leave at 10:50 PM on Wednesday. We had been advised to go to the airport just after low tide to avoid be marooned on Denarau Island again. The reception desk arranged for a 4-wheel drive taxi to take us. They were the only vehicles able to get to the airport. The road has been badly damaged. There were huge potholes. Some of the deepest had been marked with a barrel sitting in the hole. Parts of the road were washed away. The usual 20 minute drive to the airport took a little over an hour. Some of the flood waters had receded (making it possible for us to get out), but we still saw a lot of high water. Many of the sugar cane fields have been badly damaged. The latest information I've been able to find is that at least 10 people have died, mostly in mudslides. There are 9000 people in evacuation centers. There is a boat missing with 18 adults and 6 children. Thousands of homes and businesses have flooded.

        

We arrived at the Nadi airport at 1:00 PM and found we couldn't check in till 7:30 PM. There was no place to sit near the international check-in counter, but we walked over to the domestic side and found an area full of brown leather couches. We were able to sit there and got a lot of reading done. We went back over to the check in counter at 6:45 PM and found they'd already started...another instance of "Fiji time". It took an hour of standing in line to get checked in. We had time for some dinner and then headed to security. Here, at the airport, is the only place we encountered unfriendly Fijians. The security guard decided our carry on bags were too big and made us go back and check them in. Why??? The only answer I can come up with is that we are American. We know they fit and they even fit in the tester, but he decided they were too heavy. The Australians, the New Zealanders, the Fijians, all had bags like ours that they carried on.The customs agents were the same way. None of them would crack a smile. After getting through the security and customs area, we found a hot, humid waiting area where we were to wait for boarding. There we were...400+ sticky, sweaty people waiting to get on the plane and there was no air conditioning. It was at that point that John decided third world traveling is no longer fun. When it was time to board they used the Fiji method...ignore the row numbers being called, everyone rush the gate. It took till departure time to get everyone seated and their bags stowed. Then...remember that incoming cyclone I'd mentioned? The wind had been fairly calm till early evening. By now it was starting to howl and the rain had begun. We waited in the hot, humid airplane with those 400+ sticky, sweaty people with no air turnedon for an hour. The engineer went into the cargo area to check the weight and balance of the airplane and the captain announced that we had to wait for a lull in the wind. It was miserable, but we were glad to know they were taking the necessary precautions to keep us safe. We arrived in Los Angeles an hour late, but had no problem getting through customs and catching our flight to Seattle. For just a minute I thought they were going to pull John off to the side and give him the grilling treatment again cause the agent sat and stared at his screen for a long time after looking at John's passport. (That's another story...before I started blogging.)We were so relieved to see a Starbucks at our departure gate at LAX. It's always weird getting home before you leave. We left Fiji at 11:55 on Wednesday, January 14th. We arrived at Los Angeles at 2:15 PM pn Wednesday, January 14th. No wonder I get confused :) We spent Thursday with our friends and drove home today (Friday). We were so glad to see the "Welcome to Montana" sign! 

Back in the USA

We are safely out of Fiji and back in the United States! We're staying with friends for a couple nights and plan to head for Montana on Friday. I was able to take a few pictures of the flood damage on the way to the airport. I haven't had a chance to look at them yet, but I will in the next day or so and will post them along with the "escape" details.

The Spirit of Fiji

I mentioned in a earlier post how friendly the Fijian people are. They just can't do enough for you and truly want you to have a good time. They have a great sense of humor and will make jokes with you if you show the slightest hint of a sense of humor. They apologize for the nasty weather we have found ourselves in...really! John called the Fiji Weather Service a couple days ago and the forecaster he spoke with actually said he was sorry that it was going to keep raining and get worse. Today the young man that rode with us to Port Denarau apologized to us that the rain had taken over our vacation and asked us to "please come back again". Yesterday we stopped in The Coffee Place for a mocha after we'd had lunch. We were sitting at a table and I noticed the Fiji music that was playing. The singer sounded a lot like Elvis and I really enjoyed the music. I asked the owner what the name of the CD was that was playing. She went to look and came back and said it belonged to one of the young men working there and there was no label on it. So I asked him. He wrote down the name of the singer for me and then told me he'd give me a copy of the CD. That's just the way they are. So he took my name and told me to come back today after noon and he'd leave a copy there for me with my name on it just in case he wasn't there. So I made a CD of some of the things we like to listen to for him...Josh Groban, Shania Twain, David Archuletta, kd lang, Johnny Cash, The Hollies, Elton John, and Secret Garden. When he gave me the CD and I told him I had a trade for him he was really surprised. I don't think he was use to someone giving him something, but that's just the way we are!

The 100 Year Flood

Today we needed to go to Port Denarau. We learned the shuttles were not running (what's new?), so were going to wait for a taxi to show up. The Worldmark manager was there in reception. He has been working hard to get people to the airport using his own vehicle when needed, making sure people have rooms to stay in if they can't get out, etc. He offered to take us to the Port. Along the way we mentioned that we were going to check out early and asked if it was possible to have our room held for us in case our flight couldn't depart. He said it absolutely was. He and the Fiji resident riding with us told us that this is a 100 year flood. It is the first time that the Fiji government has ever declared a state of emergency due to the rains. Apparently some of the water supply has been contaminated. I think I can attest to that as my insides have been reacting to that situation for a few days. I opened the $6.00 bottle of water in the room bar this morning even before we heard this news. We took care of our business at the Port, had lunch at Mama's Pizza, found some milk at the grocery (Score!), and took a taxi back to the resort. When we arrived we found a letter at our door from some senior vice president of Worldmark by Wyndham, South Pacific in Australia. It explained what was being done to help the situation here at the resort. Members with incoming reservations are being contacted to tell them not to come. They will not be allowed to check into the resort. It also said that if we choose to leave prior to our initial departure date, we will get our Worldmark credits back for unused nights. That is good news for us! (Returned credits=another vacation somewhere.) We are assuming that the North American club will do the same for us. We do have it in writing, so we have some leverage if they don't want to do it. The manager told us to plan to go to the airport tomorrow in mid-morning instead of waiting till later in the day. Apparently it's the high tide combined with the torrential rainfall that is flooding the roadway to the island. High tide is about 8:00PM tomorrow. The normal 20 minute ride to the airport is taking 90 minutes. So, we'll be spending a lot of hours waiting at the airport tomorrow and hoping our flight can go. We're going to look into buying our way into the Air Pacific business lounge tomorrow so we'll at least have a comfy place to wait.

 

  

 

While we were at the Port having lunch I looked out at the fountain in the middle of the shopping mall. It's one of those fountains that shoots streams of water up at random intervals in different places around the courtyard. There were some kids playing there in a steady rainfall. They had umbrellas and were standing over where the water shoots out. The water would hit the underside of the umbrella and spray all over. They were having a blast! And at the docks there were people bailing the water out of their boats.

 

  

 

There was a real torrent of rain when we got back to the resort. John keeps busy with the mop to get all the water up that comes in under the doors. It's nice being in an oceanfront unit where we can watch the storm, but we get the full force of the wind and rain coming in from the west. I may not be able to blog again before our newly scheduled departure tomorrow night. If not, the next time you hear from me I hope to be saying hello from the USA!

Update.....Western Fiji

We have officially been declared a disaster area. The severe flooding and mudslides have caused major damage and at least 6 deaths. We are okay here on Denarau Island. As you can see from my post for the Australians the weather was better today, but not as good as expected. We did get a shuttle bus to Port Denarau for groceries and lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. The grocery was out of milk and bread. As we walked past the bakery on the other side of the shops they were pulling fresh bread from the oven, so we scored a loaf! We weren't able to find milk anywhere...unless you count soy milk, which I don't. While we were there the shuttle service decided to quit for the day and get their employees off the island. We were able to get a taxi to take us and our groceries back to the Worldmark. The other thing we accomplished today was to be rebooked for a flight home. There's no use in staying here to watch the storm. We'd rather be home watching the snow fall! And we have plenty to do at home getting ready for our next adventure...more on that when the details are worked out. It wasn't easy getting rebooked. We are on an Air Pacific flight that is operated by Quantas and we were booked by American Airlines. We called the special phone number Air Pacific has set up for people trying to get out of Fiji and they were able to book us for the flight Wednesday night to Los Angeles and then an Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle. They could put it in our itinerary, but it had to be confirmed by American...which has no office in Fiji. Air Pacific gave us a number to call in Sydney which turned out to be some railroad. We put our thinking caps on and went online to the American Airlines site. It took a little digging, but we were able to find the directions for going through an AT&T operator to get the call out of Fiji and connect to their 800 number in the United States. So, we are confirmed. (Note to self: On all future international flights check for airline number from destination country before the trip!) But...it depends on what the cyclone headed our way does. It is forecasted to arrive...tada...Wednesday night! Our departure time is 10:50 PM. We are keeping our fingers crossed that 1) we can get off the island 2) we can get to the airport and 3) that the flight can depart before the storm hits. Once again we are using our standard Plan B...Stay Flexible!

For the Aussies!

For those of you that e-mailed from Australia asking about conditions on Denarau Island...The weather was better today, but not as good as was forecasted. We had showers off and on all day. This evening the wind really picked up. The shuttles were running today and most of the stores and restaurants at Port Denarau were open. But some of them closed early when they saw the heavy rain starting. The Denarau shuttle quit running early and left many of us at the Port. Our choices to get back to the resorts were walking or a taxi. Apparently much of the flooding has receded. However, there is a cyclone coming this way. It is expected to reach Fiji sometime Wednesday with heavy rains and high winds through the rest of the week. There is a Fiji Meteorological web site where you can get more specific information, sorry I don't have the addy right now but I'm sure you can find it by searching...after all, you found me! I would suggest checking with your airline and resort before coming anytime before Sunday. We are expected to have a repeat of this week with flooding being possibly worse. Bula!

 

Drying Out (for a bit)

             

The rain stopped some time during the night. The wind level is back to normal.The standing water on the paths has receded. There was some damage to the beach at the Radisson next door...palm trees down and small landslides. There doesn't appear to be any damage to the beach here at Worldmark, but there are some signs that were ripped out of the ground around the pool and some chairs damaged that blew around outside of the restaurant. Last night I saw the manager. He had just come from giving a farmer a ride to find his cows. He had gone to the access road to the island to check the water level and saw the farmer wading across in water up to his neck to look for his cows. Today there is still no shuttle service and we didn't get any answer when we called the grocery, the coffee shop, and the Hard Rock cafe at the Port. We munched on what food we have left during the day and then decided to walk over to the Sheraton to see if we could get something a little different for dinner than the limited menu here. John called first and they said they'd be serving dinner starting at 6:00. We made the walk and saw the shuttle coming out of the Sheraton entrance! When we got to the Sheraton we found a sign on the restaurant door saying..."Sheraton and Westin Guests Only". So we left and saw the shuttle pulling up to the door with a sign in the front window saying "Sheraton and Westin Guests Only". We realized then that it was only going between the 2 resorts. We walked part way back then decided to go out to the beach for the rest of the walk. When we got to the Radisson we saw someone eating pizza! And they let us riff-raff order some! While we were there the sun started to set and we were treated to a gorgeous sunset of pinks and oranges! I hope we'll get to see one from our beach next time. We are hoping this will end tomorrow and we'll be able to get some supplies and make arrangements for activities off Denarau Island!

 

PS: Just read the notice here in the reception area that tropical depression #2 will be arriving on Wednesday with strong winds, heavy rain, and severe flooding! Great!

 

 

Still Raining!

We are still afloat on Denarau Island. However, access to and from the island is still cut off. Nadi town is under water, but apparently the airport is still operating. There is a sign at reception with a phone number for passengers of Air Pacific (that would be us) who aren't able to get off the island to catch their flight. We've still got 9 days to worry about that and if it keeps raining for those 9 days, we'd better be building an arc. Here at the Worldmark John continues to mop up the water that blows in under the doors and windows and our oceanfront, top floor unit gives us a front row seat to the wind and water blowing in from the west.  Every now and then we hear thunder and see lightning. There are still people in the pool that don't seem to know that water and electricity don't mix. We wade through standing water to get to reception or the restaurant. The restaurant has been "take away" only with a very limited menu for the last two days. I imagine we'll get tired of burgers and deep fried fish if this keeps up too long. I will have to get really hungry before I can stomach a Fijian hot dog and they will have to be the only food left. We were able to get the last box of lasagna noodles and a can of sauce at the tiny store here at the resort along with some chocolate, baked beans, and Pringles. We also got a bottle of wine so John can continue his doctor ordered regimen. The rest of our food supply consist of a half loaf of bread, 3 cans of tuna, half a bag of crackers, some cheddar cheese (which is the "sharpest" tasting I have ever had even though here it is marked "mild"), one small apple, half a small jar of peanut butter, a can of soup, and 7 cans of Pepsi Light. It'll be several days before either if us starves:) We are thankful that we have an uninterrupted supply of power which means we can keep the air conditioner running. It is raining, but it is still very warm and very humid. The television reception is good most of the time, but when the rain is coming down in sheets we do lose the satellite. Check back in a day or two...I hope to report sunshine and blue skies!

Marooned!

 

Bula! We arrived on Denarau Island to a beautiful, sunny day. We are on the third (top) floor of one of the oceanfront units. We can see the pool, people watch, and look across the ocean to some of the outer islands.

              

Monday evening we learned how to take the free shuttle that serves Denarau Island and went to Port Denarau for dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. The next morning we tried the little coffee shop at the Port and were pleased to find a mocha that's as good as Starbucks! (It's not the beans I'm addicted to...it's the mocha powder!) That evening we attended a Lovo here at Worldmark. It's like a Hawaiian luau...a chance to try the local foods and see native dances. Preceding the Lovo they had a kava ceremony. Kava is a slightly narcotic drink that the locals make and drink in friendship. We watched as they prepared the kava. John was brave enough to give it a try. Before drinking he had to clap his hands, then down the entire cup and clap twice more. The host then claps three times. Not sure what all that was about....but I knew better than to try. John said it had a slight tobacco taste. All I could think of was the Kassa we had in Russia under the same circumstances. I had to smile nicely while I desperately looked for some bushes where I could toss it out! Each evening there is a sunset ceremony by the pool. They serenade for awhile and then the torch lighting begins. Each time something is about to happen near the pool they beat the native drums to let us know.

 

                           

         

The Worldmark has a shopping bus that goes to Nadi on Wednesday afternoons. We took it and they showed us where the grocery, handicraft store, and vegetable markets are, then dropped us off. John and I took some of the time to walk over to the Hindi temple. It is the largest one in Fiji. The detail on the buildings is amazing! On the way back we stopped at the butcher.

          

 

 

The weather turned on us Wednesday evening. We are in a monsoon! It quickly goes from no rain to sheets of rain and we have very high winds. At least it's a warm rain :) Yesterday (Thursday) it rained all day. We stayed in and read, watched the people out in the pool, and I worked on organizing the photos we've taken while here. You have to give an A+ for effort to the people out in the pool and hot tub, but you also have to wonder where their brains are when the thunder starts and they are still in the water! We had a small flood in here last night. It was so windy that it pushed those sheets of rain under the window. We also had water running down one of the walls and puddling on the floor. When we went to the reception area this morning (Friday), we learned that we are marooned! So much for my morning mocha...Denarau Island is alright. But Nadi town and the area between here and the airport is flooded. We talk to one Aussie who had just come in from the airport. He said the water was over the bonnet (the hood) making their way here. The staff had to spend the night here as they could not get off the island and the manager will not bring anymore people from the airport. He may have to find rooms for the ones he has that have checked out this morning.  The shuttle is not running because the workers can't get here to drive the bus. There were 40 or so people standing in the reception area trying to figure out how to get to their flights. The manager had made it through the floods in his pickup and offered to take some people "at their own risk". He had also has arranged for a helicopter ride out (there's a chopper pad just down the road) and was trying to get some boats so that he could take people to the Port where they could get to another dock and a taxi ride to the airport. So here we are again today watching the rain. It does seem to have let up some, but we still have periods of extremely heavy rain. John checked the forecast and we are supposed to have 57mph winds tonight. It's a good thing we are adventurous! And we're glad we are here two weeks...we're not wasting our whole time in the rain! We are thankful we still have electricity!   

 

      

 

I'll fix any goofy formatting when I can. I'm about to run out of Internet time. Check back! Bula! 

 

            

Bula!

from Fiji! We had an uneventful flight followed by a long day at the pool till check-in time. The Worldmark here is beautiful and boasts one of the largest pools in the southern hemisphere. The people here are the friendliest we've ever encountered in our travels. They are always waving and shouting "Bula!"...at the people on the shuttle bus, across a field, on the beach. Everywhere we go we are greeted. They shake your hand and can't do enough to help or make you feel welcome. Today I stopped to listen and take a photo of a band playing their native music. Before I could get the camera to my eye I found myself seated with the band and John with the camera.  It is warm and humid...remember it is summer here!  I am e-mailing this post as we don't have a handy or inexpensive internet connection. If the formatting is odd....I'll fix it later. Bula!!

Checking in from LAX

Well....I was going to share some photos, but the connection here doesn't seem to want me to upload. We had an uneventful flight from Seattle to Los Angeles. John and I made our way to the international terminal and looked in vain for Air Pacific ticketing as we wanted to see if it was possible to upgrade using some of our miles. When we asked we were told they would be taking over the space that was then occupied by Aeroflot. Oh, yes! Then we remembered that we'd had that same problem here before looking for Quantas. We fed ourselves and then headed to the ticket desks. We looked again at the departure board and discovered that our flight had just been delayed 2 hours. When we got to the ticket desk we were told that a crew member was sick and the replacement needed theextra 2 hours to meet the rest requirement. No worries! It means we'll arrive at 7:30 AM on Monday, the 5th instead of 5:30 AM. That's actually a good thing because we won't be able to check in to our condo until the afternoon anyway...less time for sleeping beside the pool :) As for upgrading, we found we couldn't use our American miles even though they are partners because they don't have the authorization from American to dip into our accounts. Hmmm...I seem to remember we'd had that same problem once before, too! So here we are cooling our heels and trying to keep ourselves amused. I'll check in again when I can!

Zion National Park

 

Southern Utah has some of the prettiest geography in the country. I think we've visited all (or at least most) of the national parks, national monuments, and national recreation areas in Utah. Zion National Park is only an hour from St. George. It has beautiful red rock canyons, lots of green or gold depending on the season and lots of hiking. On our last day this trip Roger and Shayla took us to the park and we made the short hike to Emerald Pool.

                         

After our hike Roger and Shayla treated us to a yummy lunch with an appropriate wine in the lodge. It was a perfect day to be in the park!  

The Disney Album...

As I sit here listening to reports of Hurricane Ike and wondering about the aforementioned people with no brains, I've gotten a few more pages done for the Disney album.

          

Not the best scans...some of the edges are cut off, but you can get the idea!

Two Weeks Later....

We have been busy, busy, busy and there's a lot to catch up on! We spent most of last week in Washington. We needed to return for our rescheduled dentist appointments. This time we stayed with Elaine and had a nice visit. Her little doggies and the kitty keep us entertained, too! The first night we were there my laptop blinked to the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). It did it several more times over the next couple of days. Elaine found an HP laptop on sale at Office Depot and it had a $200 rebate. John and I stopped in to look at it. It didn't quite fit my needs (loads of memory and a huge hard drive), but I did spot a nice little Sony. It was on sale and because it was the demo model, it was knocked down another $150. So I now have a very girly little pink notebook computer. So far, I love it!

Huge thanks go to Elaine for teaching me how to share files across a network! With her help I was able to move all my photos and files over to the new machine without transferring them to a billion disks. And my old laptop? I've been expecting it to go, it's over 4 years old and I was really overtasking it with all my photos and editing. But, I've now had it plugged in and running for almost 48 hours without seeing the BSOD. I think the secret is to not overload it. I took most of the files and programs off of it and am hoping that I can use it for cutting to my Wishblade.

Brad celebrated his 26th birthday on April 22nd and we were able to take him to lunch and give him his gift in person. He'd asked for a Jack LaLanne power juicer and that's what he got :)

We decided to stay an extra day to travel to the Skagit Valley to see the tulips. They usually bloom earlier in the month, but the weather in western Washington has been colder than usual, so the end of April was perfect for enjoying the flowers!

Back at home it looks like we are getting some new neighbors. There is an organization here that counts and cares for bluebirds. There are hundreds of bluebird boxes all around the valley. We now have three. One of them can be seen from my studio and I noticed one going in and out of it a couple days ago. I also saw a pair of bluebirds on the tree outside our bathroom window. They were there a long time and kept flying up near the window into the theater. I went upstairs to investigate and discovered that they were trying to get in...that pesky glass in the window was keeping them out. Anyway, they are beautiful birds. The ones I've seen around the house are Western Bluebirds. We've also seen Eastern Bluebirds in the area that are a brilliant blue. I'm hoping I can catch a photo of one, but those things are fast!

Southern California

Before I post about recent events let me catch up with those Disneyland and San Diego Zoo reports I promised awhile back! After we visited in St. George we headed to California to see friends. We'd hoped to visit Joanna in Desert Hot Springs, but the timing just didn't work out as she had some work commitments that couldn't be changed. Hope we can do it next time! We traveled on to San Juan Capistrano where we visited with Gigi and Darrell who have to be right at the top of the list of the world's greatest hosts. They always make us feel right at home and very welcomed and we enjoy their company so much.We spent a day at Disneyland where we got to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean (Hello, Johnny Depp) and the new Finding Nemo ride. Disney is always fun, but especially so with Gigi and Darrell who are the best Disney guides you'll find anywhere :) We were happy to that our friends, Cheryl and Gary, from Nevada City were also in town and were there to spend the day with us, too. There was more fun at dinner when Jeanne and Dennis joined us and we all ended the day watching the fireworks and shopping.

And here's our tour of the zoo...we had a super day! There were no crowds, the weather was perfect, and the animals were cooperating :)

     

On the way from California to Washington we were able to spend an evening with Chris and went to dinner at (where else) The Cheesecake Factory!

We spent a few more days in Washington before heading back home. It felt good to be back and spend some time getting settled in our house!

PSAAC @ Hot Springs, Montana

Hot Springs, Montana...a little known, out of the way place...but Marlo knew it. He'd flown there once and mentioned in July while we were on the Air Tour that he thought it'd be a great place for a fly-in. And so, he was encouraged to pick a date. The date was last weekend. It turned out to be mostly a drive-in due to weather (only one plane from Lewiston was able to fly), but there was still a great turnout of PSAAC (Puget Sound Antique Aircraft Club) people. Seventeen showed up even with the long drive from the Seattle area. John and I decided to drive there on Saturday for the day rather than spend the night. It's right in the neighborhood, just over 2 hours. The unstructured event was held at Symes Hot Springs in the town of Hot Springs. Rich and Carol brought their motor home and were able to park it right next to the pools...a convenient party hang-out for the whole group! Many of us went to the Harvest Festival being held just outside of town....a blast from the past, for sure!

The rest of the afternoon was spent solving the world's problems by both the guys circling their wagons outside and the women comfortably nestled in the motor home. The pools were hot (up to 107 degrees) and relaxing. We all ate dinner together in the hotel and listened to the local band. John and I had a great time visiting with friends and relaxing in the pools. Great idea, Marlo!

Airport Hell....

Flying is no longer fun. I use to love to get on a big jet and be off to wherever. These days, put me in a car. Wednesday was one of those days that I thought would never end. Brad and I left St. George after dropping Legend off at school and making a stop at Starbucks. We got to Las Vegas with plenty of time to catch our flight to Seattle. We filled the rental car with gas, then went to browse at the Disney Character Warehouse (the outlet, cool deals!) While there we received a text message from Alaska Airlines letting us know our flight had been delayed one hour. OK, that put my layover down to only 30 minutes, but I should be able to make that. By the time we turned in the car and got to the airport, it had been delayed again. We made our way to the check-in desk. Brad was able to use the kiosk to check-in. It told me to see the agent and I figured it was because I was going to miss my connection to Spokane. By the time we reached the front of the line, we'd gotten 2 more text messages about the delay to Seattle. We were now two and a half hours late and then I got a text that my Horizon flight was "canceled or not in service. Please call..." Great. You may have heard about the emergency repairs ordered on Dash 8-Q 400s. That's mostly what Horizon flies, so they were effectively grounded. My options were

1. Spend the night in Seattle. Alaska Airlines will pay for the hotel and fly me to Spokane tomorrow on the first available flight....which is in the afternoon. My four hour driving time from there means I wouldn't be home until well after dinner on Thursday. Keep in mind that Friday morning we are driving to Seattle for the weekend and our dentist appointments on Monday.
2. I can still get a seat on the last Alaska flight of the day from Seattle to Spokane. It leaves at 11:00 PM. Four hours of driving would put me home (with the time change) about 5:30 AM on Thursday, almost exactly 24 hours after I got up in St. George. This is not a good option either.

But, I take Option #2 and break out the laptop to look for a hotel room in Spokane (this is on my dime....Alaska Airlines has now gotten me to my destination and are done with me). I found one at the Pepper Tree Inn in Liberty Lake where I (we) have stayed several times. So, after almost 5 hours at the Las Vegas airport we took off for Seattle where I had the chance to enjoy another 5 hour wait. At least the food is better after the terminal remodel and I had some yummy Mahi Mahi tacos at Anthony's while drowning my sorrows in a Huckleberry Lemonade Cooler (with vodka). I finally dropped into bed at 1:30 AM and arrived home Thursday afternoon at 3:30. John was waiting with a big hug which I sorely needed. We went out to the house so I could see the amazing progress on the insulation and drywall! I'll post photos of those later.

It is now Friday morning and we are about to get in the car to drive to Seattle...we'll be visiting friends and family and going to our dentist appointments on Monday. I must be nuts :)

See Ya Later!

I'll be leaving Eureka bright and early tomorrow for my four hour drive to catch my flight in Spokane. Brad and I will be taking the same plane from Seattle to Las Vegas where we will pick up a rental car and arrive in St. George sometime just before midnight. It will be a long day :) We're spending tomorrow night at the Best Western and will get up in the morning to get Legend and take him to school. No way can we wait till noon for those little kisses! The rest of the week we'll all be staying at the Worldmark where I've gotten a condo...Grandma, Daddy, Legend, and Mommy. Legend loves to stay there. Brad and I will be flying back to Seattle on the 12th where I'll transfer to a flight back to Spokane and do that four hour drive in reverse, again arriving home about midnight. Wish John could go, too :( I'll have limited internet access while I'm gone, so I'll check in when I can. Take care everybody!

Canadian Rockies!

It's so gorgeous here! Worldmark opened a new resort in Canmore, Alberta a few weeks ago and we decided to spend a few days here to see how we like the area. It's about a 5 hour drive from home (6 with a dinner stop) so it's close enough to come for a long weekend. There will be lots to do here in any season, so I'm sure we'll be back. The resort is an existing property that has been refurbished to Worldmark standards. It's a beautiful mountain lodge style, in the same colors we are planning to use on our house :) The windows on our one bedroom unit look out at the mountains although we are so close that you have to walk right up to them to see the mountain tops.

On the way here we drove through Kootenay National Park and saw black bears. They were grazing right along the road and naturally causing quite a slow down. We joined in the gawking along with everyone else. Yesterday we drove to Banff, about 15 miles. Downtown was a mess with construction, traffic, and people...but we went on to where we could do a little hiking outside of town. We had a nice walk along the Bow River and got some more fantastic mountain views. We'd planned to have lunch at Banff Springs Hotel. It was crowded, too, but we went inside walked around a little and left. We did walk out to the terrace where there is a view up the valley. Downtown was so crowded we couldn't find a parking place and it had started to rain hard. We decided to drive back to Canmore and had lunch at the Drake Inn and Pub. Good choice! In the evening we took a drive on Bow Valley Parkway looking for wildlife. Yes, there's a voluntary driving restriction on the road from 6 PM to 9 PM because of all the wildlife that's supposedly out on the road. We and the other dozens of cars didn't volunteer to stay off the road. We figured that restriction is kind of like an advertisement telling everyone when to go to see animals. I think the animals have learned to stay OFF the road at that time. All we saw were some elk.

 

Today we had lunch at Chez Francois . Great french food...crepes and pasta...airhead waitress who must haven never actually eaten in a restaurant and been on the customer side of eating. Afterward we did a little sight seeing by car. As we drove out of town we saw Mountain Memories Scrapbooking. Yes, we stopped and yes, I bought some products from a line I'd never seen...Be Blessed Scrapbooking . Neat stuff! We'll be headed home tomorrow and are planning to take a couple of back highways that will take us along the eastern edge of the Rockies and down through Fernie, BC to the border. We've had a fun time exploring and have found dozens of National Parks, Provincial Parks, small towns, big lakes, and more that need exploring...all in our backyard!

We'll be back to working on Tuesday. I'll be at the neighbors staining, etc. (Paul....you did get the materials? :) John and Paul are going to start working on the electrical panel at our house in the morning and then maybe move over to the Glen Lake project in the afternoon. More updates on what we did last week on the house below...

Oh Canada...

We are off to Canada for the weekend, so I'll post the latest news on our house progress when I can. I don't know if I'll have internet access for my laptop. Worldmark just opened a new resort at Canmore, Alberta just down the road from Banff and an hour from Calgary. It's the closest resort to us here in Montana, so we thought we'd check it out. They'll be opening one at West Yellowstone this winter and I am excited about that! We'll be back on Monday (so we can work on Tuesday...this is retirement ?)

I've Heard Angels Sing!...and more...

We had an awesome weekend! Last night was the Celtic Woman concert in Spokane. Six months ago we had never heard of these woman...we feel so lucky to have discovered them and then learn that Spokane was on their tour schedule. John and I were in the front row, center...close enough to see the whites of their eyes and the static in their hair :) At times they were only fifteen feet away and we could hear their voices without the mics. Mairead is the fiddle player and she is amazing to watch.  Her music is incredible, but as she plays she also dances, jumps, and spins! She wears what I call "fairy dresses" which just adds to the effect. The other girls are Lisa, Chloe, Orla, Hayley, and Meav (Meav was not there last night, I found on their web site that she and Hayley are alternating on this tour). Their voices are clear and brilliant. They do solos, groups, a capella, and sing with piano, harp, pipes, guitar, drums, etc. Theie harmony is amazing! If you haven't heard their music check it out on the web! Borders has a great sample player, just search their music section for Celtic Woman!

And more...the rest of the weekend was just as great! My two sisters wanted to see the concert, too...but instead of going to the show in Seattle they decided to come to Spokane so we could all go together. From there it grew into a Girl's Weekend. Yes, John was coming but he said he'd just find things to do while we did girly stuff. Then he realized the NW Antique Aircraft Club Fly-in was the same weekend...so he flew the Champ to western Washington on Friday and stayed with Lynn and Arthur. They all went to the fly-in on Saturday and the plan was for him to fly to Spokane Sunday morning. That almost happened...he had to wait for the weather to clear and took off about 11:00 am. Snoqualmie Pass was socked in and he couldn't get over the Cascades, so he had to turn back. We decided if he couldn't take off by 2:00 I would try to get hold of a friend or a cousin in Spokane to use his ticket. The weather gods were smiling though, and he took off right at that time and was able to get over the mountains. There were thunderstorms in eastern Washington and he had to make a few detours and deal with some turbulence, but he landed about 5:50 pm and we got to Felts Field to get him at 6:00...one hour before concert time :) While John was trying to get to Spokane we girls were having a wonderful meal at Anthony's...chocolate martinis, huckleberry wine, coconut shrimp, oysters, portobello mushrooms, Yum! John was stuck with a burger from the drive-thru at Zip's.

Susan, Corki, and I had met at the hotel on Friday evening in Liberty Lake. We had dinner at the Azteca and got ready for a day of shopping the next day. The next morning we went first to Michael's so I could check out the new scrapbook items from Martha Stewart Crafts . I was not overly impressed, but picked out a few things. Nice stuff, but Martha apparently has not quite caught on to what "Scrapbookers" with a capital S do :) I found some fun things for Legend to play with while he is here next month, too :) More shopping at Wal-Mart including bathing suits for Susan and I. We'd forgotten to bring one and we wanted to use the pool and spa at the Travelodge where we'd be staying the next two nights in the Garden Springs area of Spokane.While Corki and Susan went to Eddie Bauer and Payless Shoes, I went down the street to Starbucks and...Score! TEN cans of mocha powder. John and I go through about one can per week. They finally put it back on the retail shelves, but only at the larger stores and it's not always available. When the closest "larger" retail store is four hours away, you get it when you can. We did some looking at the mall on Sullivan Street, but headed for the hotel for the 4:00 pm check-in. It was warm and we were ready to relax by the pool and hit the hot tub later in the evening. As we were checking in Corki asked about the restaurant on site, the Spokane House. Oh sorry...it's closed, there was a fire and it's being refurbished. Well, okay, we'll make other plans...we were anxious to get to the pool. Oops! That's being resurfaced and is closed. But, the hot tub is open. Well, at least we'll have that. We hauled our luggage onto a cart and headed for the elevator. As we went by the hot tub Susan noticed it was "Closed for Cleaning". We had a good dinner at Chili's (new to Corki) and headed back to the hotel. As we went in we checked on the hot tub....still closed for cleaning! Hmmm....we took a look inside. It looked fine and was running, but the water was cold. We decided they must have been cleaning it, but it hadn't warmed up yet. So much for those suits we bought! Sunday morning dawned early...by mistake.  I'd told my sisters I'd be at their room at 9:00 am. When I tried to set my alarm I discovered the hour button was broken. So, I set an alarm on my phone and plugged it in by the bed...which meant I had to unplug the clock. I woke up in the morning and it was very bright. Wondering what time it was, I looked at my phone...8:03 am. Darn, the alarm hadn't gone off for some reason. I got up, showered, and walked down the hall. When I knocked on the door I heard Corki grumbling about something. She cracked the door open and peaked out with one eye, the room was dark and she said..."What are you doing? It's 7:00!" I said it was nine! She let me in and we looked at their clock....7:00 am. Dang it! That's what I get for looking at my phone without my reading glasses. It had said 6:03, not 8:03 :) Well, we were all awake now...may as well get up! I made a Starbucks run while they got dressed. We had hoped to have a late breakfast with John at the Skyway Cafe at Felts Field. Well, we knew by 8:00 am that he wasn't going to make it for that, but we went there anyway. It's one of those cafes where the locals go for good food and plenty of it. Corki and I had been before, this was a new place for Susan. After breakfast we went to the Northtown Mall on Division (the parking garage here was my nephew David's first construction management project, Corki's son :) We spent most of our time at Steve & Barry's . Wow, this was a fun store! I picked out several things for Legend and a couple of shirts for John. Great prices and fun clothes! We were all tired after the fiasco in the morning, so we went back to the hotel to rest and get ready for that dinner at Anthony's and the concert. This morning we had breakfast at Frank's Diner in an elegant caboose and parted ways. I took John to Felts Field for his flight home. I decided to take Hwy 2 to Sandpoint, Idaho instead of my usual route. It was a nice drive that way, too. John landed in Libby (Montana) thinking he would see if there was an airport car he could use to go over to the fabricators to see how the hangar doors were coming. There was no airport car, but one of the businesses at the airport had a truck they let him use. He decided first to head for the Libby Cafe for huckleberry pie. Funny thing about small towns....as he was eating his pie two guys came in the door and recognized him as "the door guy"...it was the "door fabricator guys" :) So he got his report and they got a question they had answered. I got home about an hour behind John and he was busy making Pesto Shrimp Pizza for dinner. Love that man! 

Calf-A...Dell, Montana

A few years ago my sister (Corki) told me about a little hole-in-the-wall cafe where they'd eaten while on a trip with their motorcycle club. She raved about the food and swore if they were ever that way they'd stop in again. It was real down home food, like you use to have at Grandma's. Fast forward to last fall when John and I were going to St. George...we were flying down Interstate 15 in southwest Montana when we went through the town of Dell (Well, you don't really go through Dell. You go by it and wouldn't know it was there if the sign on the freeway didn't tell you.) Corki had told me about this place often enough that I recognized that this was it! We'd already had lunch so we didn't stop. We didn't come back that way as we left for Hawaii from Los Angeles and then traveled to Washington when we came back. We didn't stop on the way down to St. George this time, either. I'd forgotten all about it coming back and we'd planned to stop in Dubois, Idaho to eat lunch. Well, that didn't work out. The only place in town with food was the deep fried items at the gas station. We got a package of peanuts and some string cheese and continued on our way. I checked the map and 90 miles ahead was Dell! We decided to pull into town and see if the cafe was there. Yep, there it was straight ahead. The Calf-A is in the old one room schoolhouse. The old chalk boards and library shelves are still on the walls and are decorated with the alphabets posters that us old folks learned with as kids. The school was closed in 1963 when they consolidated with the nearby hamlet of Lima. It was turned into a cafe and still operates today. They have been written up in several newspapers and have visitors from all over. After Corki told me about them, I saw an article about the restaurant in my favorite travel magazine Discoveries (which unfortunately quit publishing a few months ago). Well, she was right. The food was unbelievably good and there was plenty of it. It did remind me of the "dinners" my Grandma Lizzie use to feed us at lunch time. We both had the special...hot beef sandwiches! The meat was juicy, the potatoes were real, and the gravy was definitely not from a can. It was seasoned perfectly, no need for the salt shaker :) They served the last piece of blackberry pie just before we were ready for desert, so John ordered apple. It was yummy, perfect crust and not too sweet. I ordered a piece of peach pie and we shared that at the Starbucks in Missoula later in the day. So, we now have a new favorite place to stop for eats! Thanks, Corki!

We have arrived safely back in Whitefish. It's a warm 27 degrees up here at Big Mountain. We had some rain and snow near Missoula and then snow from the south end of Flathead Lake to Kalispell. We noticed that much of the snow has melted in Kalispell and Whitefish and the ice has thinned since we left 2 weeks ago. There is still plenty of it up here at the condo and John's truck will need to be dug out in the morning, so there was some fresh snowfall while we were gone. The Champ was left at Big Fork for some work while we were gone. John is hoping to fly it back to the Eureka airport tomorrow, as it looks like the best chance for good weather this week. Although I miss my little guy, it's good to be home!

Idaho Falls: A Blast From the Past!

When I was a kid we took a car trip every summer, 16 glorious days on the road. Anytime we were within 200 miles of Idaho Falls, my Dad found a way to put the town on our itinerary. Why? Because he loved to eat at the North Hiway Cafe. John and I spent the night in Idaho Falls last night on our way to St. George. This morning we headed to the nearest Starbucks. The road made a slight turn to the right, we dipped under a railroad bridge..hmmm, this seemed familiar. Why? There it was! The North Hiway Cafe...still there, still chock full of customers after all these years. Yes, on our next trip through we'll stop to eat :)

Happy Birthday to Me! The Princess Stays At The Castle :)

Well, ok, it was 4 days ago on the 3rd, but I've been busy! John and I celebrated in Victoria, BC with a stay at the Empress Hotel and a winter visit to the Butchart Gardens. When I was 5 my grandma took my sisters and I to Victoria on the Princess Marguerite. We got off the boat and the first thing I saw was a fairy princess castle, the Empress!  Oh how I hoped we were staying there. No, we walked on by to a little hotel on a back street (still a great visit...I can remember it after 46 years!) I've always wanted to stay there and this time we did. Was I impressed? Not really. The room was very pretty and the bed was oh so comfortable, but the closet door was hinged to close itself and kept hitting us in the butt, the shower curtain was one of those that sticks to your wet skin, the deep soaking tub would only hold 3 inches of water cause of where the overflow drain was, and the water was not hot enough for a good soak, internet service was $13.95 per day, and local calls were $1.50 each. Verdict...a nice time, but I'd never pay those overinflated prices for a room (we had certificates we'd gotten at a school auction last year). We had a nice day at the gardens. We want to visit in each season and this was our first time in winter. We saw pansies and berries on the holly and Skimmia. There wasn't much else blooming. It would have been better in 3 or 4 weeks when the witch hazel, heath, etc. would be out. But....they were still decorated for Christmas. Lots of greenery and sparkly red bows. And they had displays of the 12 days of Christmas. It was fun to walk around the gardens and look for them. We had a fancy dinner at Pestores (another certificate) right across from the Empress on the first night (the 2nd). For my birthday, I wanted to go to Julia's Place...a great little Italian restaurant we've been to a few times. We walked up there at dinner time and ackkk! they'd gone out of business. Hmmm..what to do?? We walked around a little and found Nautical Nellie's. Yum! It was awesome. We both had steaks and they were just as good as The Chop House in Chicago or The Metropolitan in Seattle. The ferry crossing over the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Coho Ferry was a little rough each way due to high winds, but we both managed to keep our stomachs in check :)

We arrived back in the US and have stayed the last few nights with our dear friend, Elaine. Friday was "take care of business day". We picked up our crate of mail from my sister's in Tumwater, closed our Tumwater PO box, visited the Sumner post office to redirect our mail from Tumwater to Eureka, and took care of our banking. We think we've covered all those bases for the move. We'll have go bank shopping in Eureka (Yes, we have a choice. There are 2!) and get all our automatic deposits and payments redirected.

We had a wonderful day Saturday visiting our friends, Mary and Jerry, at their cabin in Carbonado. We arrived for lunch (yummy quiche!) at 11:30 am and swapped stories till 5:30 pm when it was time to leave for our dinner with Gary and Val at the Hunan Garden. Thanks to all of them for a wonderful day and some awesome food!

Today (Sunday) John took Trevor to a movie while Cindy caught up on some shopping and enjoyed her free birthday desert at Borders. Afterward we gave Wendy and Brian a much needed parenting break and stayed with Trevor and Zachary while they went out. The boys grow so fast! Zachary is walking and almost talking now!

We'll be leaving for Montana and our temporary digs at Big Mountain just outside of Whitefish in the morning. The Big Mountain web site says there is 12 feet of snow and we are just below the resort, so we are expecting a lot at Ptarmigan Village! We hope to make it there tomorrow night, but if the road conditions aren't good we'll spend the night somewhere and arrive on Tuesday. See you all then!

Catchin' Up!

Over a week since I blogged...and for good reason! We've been having way too much fun and there's been no time. This will be a long post :) and you may have missed the last one on 12/24 with John's beach adventure. Check the photos!

Saturday, Dec. 23rd: The 6 of us went whale watching with the Pacific Whale Foundation. It was a great tour, the weather was perfect, and we saw several humpbacks. We were lucky that two of them surfaced close to the front of the boat.   After seeing the whales we had a quick bite to eat at the Blue Marlin at Ma'alaea Harbor and headed to Lahaina for the Warren and Annabelle's Magic Show. If you're like me, magic shows aren't all that interesting. This one is different! John had read about it, it had really great reviews, and we all decided to go. Annabelle the ghost starts the evening in the parlor with piano tunes (she takes requests) while you eat pupus and enjoy beverages.

Then you move into the 78 seat theater and the real fun begins. Warren Gibson is not only a magician, but a stand-up comic. His close-up magic tricks are amazing and we were laughing the entire two hours. (John was given a dinner certificate for answering a trivia question about Mayberry, RFD and we had a yummy chinese lunch a few days later :) Who would ever think of going to a magic show on Maui? We wouldn't either, but we all recommend this! It was a riot!

Christmas Eve we enjoyed a true Hawaiian luau at Old Lahaina Luau. We'd highly recommend this one to anyone going to Maui. The food and the show were outstanding. The tables each seated 8 and when we were escorted to ours we noticed that the other couple at our table were James and Jean Brooks. When they came back to the table we introduced ourselves as "also the Brooks". We asked where they were from and were astounded when they said Libby, Montana. By Montana standards they are our neighbors! They have family in Eureka! Who'd have guessed??? It was a great way to spend Christmas Eve and we made some new friends.

We had a great family Christmas. Since we were traveling we'd agreed that everyone would bring stockings to fill with gifts. I got some ribbon and we hung them on chairs as we had no fireplace. Santa found them and they were filled to the brims.    Afterward, we headed off to Hana. Although John and I had been more than once, it was the first time for the rest. John volunteered to drive one of the cars and we headed off in Susan and David's convertible with the top optimistically down. The sky to the east look ominously dark. The weather turned out to be fairly reasonable and we only wimped out twice and put the top up for a bit. We had a picnic lunch at Waianapanapana Park where John and I had stayed in the cabin and continued on to Charles Lindbergh's grave at Kipahulu. Corki and Fred headed straight back to Kihei and the rest of us took it a little more leisurely with stops for coffee and waterfall visits. Meanwhile, Corki heated up the scalloped potatoes Susan had put together the day before and got the ham in the oven. By the time we got back, there was a delicious Christmas Dinner ready to eat. It was a great day and we all had fun.

Tuesday was an easy day for everyone...shopping, beach, and pool! Wednesday was our last day on Maui. Susan, David, John, and Cindy went on a submarine ride off shore from Lahaina.   They took us to 133 feet and to 2 reefs where we saw schools of tropical fish and some divers exploring a sunken ship. It was a fun ride for us non-divers. Afterward, we met up with Corki and Fred and ended the trip with a sunset cruise. Perfect way to end the week!

John and I flew back to LAX on Thursday, December 28th. Yes, we were ready to come back. We'd had enough aloha in the last two months. Our plane was later getting in than expected (what's new?) and it was after midnight before we arrived at Gigi and Darrell's in San Juan Capistrano. We had a wonderful visit with them as always, but way too short. We got to meet Darrell's brother and his family which was an extra treat. They are nice people just as those of you who know the McDougals would expect. We all had a nice little Christmas celebration around their beautiful tree.

We left for Washington late Friday morning and took 2 overnights to get here, arriving at Lynn and Arthur's on Sunday afternoon. They had some nice little gifts waiting for us including......a BIG bag of contraband Starbucks Mocha Powder!! Nice to know someone who knows someone :) We had a great time at their New Year's Eve party and are staying here till tomorrow. We saw Brad for a few minutes this afternoon and got some shopping done. (Need to get those things that are not available to us in rural Montana :) Tomorrow we will be taking the ferry to Victoria for my birthday and will return on Thursday for a few days with Elaine P. We are acclimating to the colder weather in anticipation of the cold and snow we are going to find at Whitefish! We were commenting this morning, though, about how "refreshing" it is! Hope you all had a Happy New Year's!

Surf's Up!

See John playing in the surf. See John look when the lifeguard blows the sneaker wave warning. See the wave smack John. See John's hand reaching up. See John come up for air.   If you look closely you can see Fred diving directly into the wave to avoid being knocked over :) That was about the end of the ocean "swimming" for this morning and we all moved to the pool. On our way to the luau now...more about whales and magic later!

The Gang's All Here!

Everyone arrived as planned on Thursday. My 2 sisters and brothers-in-law are here (Corki & Fred, Susan & David) and we are staying in Kihei. We all chatted awhile last night and had dinner at Bada Bing, an Italian restaurant. We had a fun day today. Corki and Fred went off to the Maui Ocean Center and lunch in Lahaina. David took a scuba lesson here at Worldmark in the pool. Susan, John, and I all went with him to cheer him on and take photos. He decided diving is not for him, but he had a good time and it was a good experience. David spent the afternoon working on his travel journal while Susan, John, and I went to the pool for some sun.  Today is David's birthday and we celebrated at Roy's with some yummy dinners, Hawaiian-fusion style. Tomorrow we'll be whale watching, having dinner in Lahaina and going to Warren & Annabelle's Magic Show, billed by many as the "best show in Maui"!  

Trip to Hana...

We'd driven the highway to Hana before, but it is a long day there and back and there is so much to see. We decided that this time we would stay in Hana for a bit. We rented a cabin at Waianapanapana State Park just north of Hana. We booked three nights and arrived there on Monday. As with other things in Hawaii run by the state or the county, the maintenance was minimal. But it was such a beautiful spot and that made up for it. At the suggestion of the lady that I'd made the reservation with last spring, we were in Cabin 5....right up from the cliffs and the pounding surf. At night we would hear the surf slam into the cliffs and the cabin would give a little shake. The scenery along the east side of Maui is unbelievable. The sea in impossibly blue and the greenery is impossibly green. It's all accented by the black lava rock and the white foamy surf. Postcard perfect! There were lots of coconuts palms all around us. I tried to crack one open, but no luck! Just to the south of Hana, we took a short but somewhat treacherous hike to Red Sands Beach. OMGosh, what a gorgeous place! Getting there involves walking around a little point on a narrow trail covered with red cinder balls that like to roll under your feet, like marbles. It was still a beautiful trail and the beach made it worth it. Careful when you look...there's a nude man on that beach! A little farther down the road we found Hamoa Beach, lots of surfers and a great place to dig your toes into the sand. We revisited Lindbergh's grave at Kipahulu and the Seven Sacred Pools (highly over-rated) and went to where the road is closed. They've closed the road around the south end of the island due to fallen and unstable rocks since the earthquake. The next day we went to Kahanu Garden, part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden. It is a little know treasure. Not a lot of flashy flowers here, but lots of native greenery and fruit trees. But the real treasure in the park is the largest hiawe in Hawaii! It is huge! And it's been recently restored. None of the tours stop there, which is amazing. They don't advertise it much, but they are in the process of putting in exhibits to explain the hiawe and the cultural significance, so maybe when they finish that it will be more visited. The view of the coastline from the garden was amazing! We headed back from Hana Thursday morning to meet our family coming to Hawaii!    

We Were Hit! (Otherwise...A Great Day :)

We woke up to blue skies, warm sunshine, and....finally....no wind, just a little breeze. We decided it was a good beach day, so we headed 2 miles north to Kapalua Bay. We parked on the road along with dozens of other cars (the lot was full) and went to the beach. We had a great time snorkeling and playing in the water. The waves were strong enough to pull me in and out across the sand if I sat down. Sometimes it was enough to roll me over and sometimes I could just glide along on my back, feet and hands waving in the air. I think we both drilled holes in the sand with our rear ends when we'd sit and let the waves spin us one direction then the other. So after a couple of hours of this we decided to head back to the condo to get cleaned up (I had at least a quart of sand in my suit) and go to dinner. We got to the car and I decided to take my camera(s) and walk back for a picture of the beach. I thought it was a little funny that the lens on my 35mm was not seated all the way in and had to be readjusted, but didn't think anything more about it. As we were changing our clothes back at the condo, John remarked that his wallet had "migrated" from his back pocket to his side pocket. He didn't remember doing it, but we didn't think anything more about it. We drove into Lahaina for dinner and pulled into a pay parking lot. John hopped out and went to the pay machine and that's when he discovered his credit card was missing. The wallet thing seemed a little more ominous now! We thought back to the last place he used it (yesterday) and were only 10 minutes away, so decided to go check whether it was there. It was on the way that he realized his money clip with cash (not too much) and his wedding ring (that had been in with his change) were gone. At that point, we knew we'd been robbed. Someone got into the car while we were at the beach and pilfered the trunk. We thought it was locked, but now we are not so sure??? No sign of forced entry and there's an alarm that I've set off myself. There were 2 digital cameras and my 35mm sitting right there, so it could of been worse. I'm wondering if they tried to take the just the lens (not wanting a dinosaur film camera) and maybe couldn't get it off quickly. But why not just take the whole thing? Anyway, we were actually very fortunate. Even though they got the wedding ring, they only got one credit card. His card for my account was in a different place and they didn't find it. All my credit cards and cash were back at the condo, so even though we had to call and close his account we still have mine to use and we caught it fairly quickly. Looks like they may have just used it to buy gas. So after all of that we found ourselves at Kimo's in Lahaina for a yummy seafood dinner and Hula Pie for desert. Some carolers came in to entertain the diners while we were there. So that was our day!

Yesterday we took a drive around the north end of West Maui and stopped at Julia's, Home of the Best Banana Bread on the Planet and it may be true! It was really windy all day and driving the one lane road, Hwy 340, is quite an experience!    

Tomorrow morning we are headed for Hana. We are staying the next 3 nights at a cabin at the state park there. I'm sure I will not be able to get online (no phone, no TV, etc.), so no blogging and no e-mail till we return to Kihei on Thursday. After that, I'll be able to blog when at Starbucks :) My sisters and brothers-in-law will be arriving then and we'll all be celebrating Christmas together. See you at the end of the week!

Valley Isle

As promised a few photos from our home till Monday. We had lunch at BJ's Chicago Pizzeria in Lahaina, yummy stuff! It's one of our favorites from a previous visit. After our required stop at Starbucks we found a printer who could print our Christmas letter and copy it on our Hawaiian paper. Getting my Christmas cards, photos, and letters finished is my project for the weekend....along with snorkeling and visiting the Maui blow hole. We spent the afternoon in the sun and sand out in front of our condo...that's our place, ground floor, center unit in the photo.

New Digs!

We have moved to Maui for the last two weeks of our Hawaiian adventure. Just one more week and our family will be here! My sisters and brothers-in-law are coming for a week of sun and fun over Christmas. Our flight from Moloka'i yesterday didn't leave till 4:15 PM (the only other direct flight was at 6:30 AM, no thanks!), so we had an relaxing morning finishing up our packing. We went to town around noon and mailed some Christmas packages and then had lunch at the Kualapuu Cookhouse where I had a repeat of the roasted pork. Yum, just like Grandma use to make! We had to turn in the car by 1:45 to avoid extra charges, so we just hung out at the little airport for a couple of hours and caught up on our reading. The short flight to Kahului was uneventful. We chose a seat on the left side of the DH-8 cause I wanted to try to photograph the eastern end of the mountains. If I'd had my thinking cap on I would have realized that not once in the 2 weeks we were there had I seen Island Air flying over the channel in front of our condo. Duh, they took off eastbound and headed right out over the north cliffs. Ackkkk! The good seats were on the right and even better than I had thought. I could see the Kalaupapa peninsula and the cliffs (where I had ridden the mules), but from the other side of the airplane there was no getting a photo. What a view it was, though! Our first stop on Maui was the Costco for water and a few other supplies and to drop off my film from Moloka'i. We made a dinner stop at the IHOP and headed for Kahana where we are staying at the Valley Isle. There are Worldmark units here, but we are not in one. We are in a privately owned unit on the ground floor where we can hear the surf right out our door. Another great place! John remarked that our accommodations keep getting better and better and I reminded him that they are also getting pricier and pricier :) I took a few pictures this morning, but we are now facing west and we were in the shade. I'll try to get some better ones. Here's one I snagged on the internet... Today our first stop was Starbucks which makes us feel like we are back in civilization (we'll have to get use to no Starbucks again real soon in Montana :). We both felt like we'd been hit by culture shock last night when we got on the road. Two weeks of no traffic or crowds and then coming back to this has reminded us why we are going to Eureka! We went to Island Paperie today for some island scrapbooking supplies (Well, ok, I did. John brought a book and patiently waited in the car), had a yummy Mexican lunch, saw "The Nativity Story" at the theatre, and picked up our photos at Costco. We are planning to spend the rest of our days here (till Monday) on West Maui at the nearby beaches, snorkeling, and generally just doing nothing!

Pieces of Moloka'i

This morning we made a repeat trip to the east end of the island. We had gone on Friday, but it was late in the afternoon and the light wasn't good for photographs. Much better this time and what a beautiful place. At the end of the road is the Halawa Valley, with waterfalls falling 300-500 feet and a tiny village nestled in the jungle. There use to be a village here of 500 people...another tsunami casualty. After the drive we returned to lounge by the pool. The sun was warm, the water was cool. We read, dipped in the pool and repeated until ZAP! I was stung by a wasp. There I was minding my own business in the lounge chair and he got me. I spent the next 3 hours sitting on a frozen water bottle (yes, he got me near the right cheek) and napping on the couch. I needed the nap anyway. It's been hard for me to sleep well here. The wind blows constantly and rustles the coconut palms. We had 2 days of almost gale force winds and it was really loud. Then the sprinklers come on every morning at 12:09 am and I can't sleep through that either :)

Thought I'd share some assorted photos we've taken around Moloka'i!

West Moloka'i: Pakohaku Beach (where we went back to go puka shell gathering) and The Lodge at Molokai Ranch    

Here's a couple of things you'll only see in Hawai'i!

East Moloka'i: Murphy's Beach, Highway 450, fish pond, Halawa Valley and beach

And sunset at Wavecrest, MM 13....from the lawn at our place...

Mule Ride!...Defying Death!

I did it! I went to Kalaupapa. I have wanted to make the journey down this trail ever since I read about it several years ago. Kalaupapa is the leprosy colony that was established on Molokai. It is still a restricted area and you must have a permit to even start down the trail and you must follow the rules while there or risk a fine and banishment. It is located on a peninsula on the north side that is isolated by the tallest sea cliffs in the world. The only way in is by mule, by foot, or by air. I chose the mule. The trail descends almost 1800 feet with 26 switchbacks down the cliff. I knew it was very narrow and very steep with sheer drop-offs on the side. No problem. I've ridden the mules at the Grand Canyon. I've ridden horses at Bryce Canyon. How bad could this be? Let me just say...HOLY CR*P! That's the thought that kept going through my head for the first 10 minutes and periodically as we descended down the cliff. The trail was steep, steep, steep and bumpy,bumpy,bumpy. It was very muddy,very rough, and very rocky. I kept reminding myself to "trust the mule". Makani seemed to like to hug the outside of each one of those switchbacks. (Makani means "wind" in Hawaiian. Makani was not named this cause he goes like the wind. I think he was given this name cause he was very "windy" on the back side :) There were flimsy wooden fences in only one place along the trail. I think they were there to make the tourists feel better. They would not have held a mule and rider if there were a stumble. Thinking I would take some lovely photos along the trail, we headed out with my little digital hanging on my wrist and my SLR strapped around my neck. I was kidding myself. It was all I could do to stay on the mule as we descended. I worked up a sweat just staying upright. I did manage to get a few decent photos along the trail as we climbed back up and I am sharing those here. It was so much easier to go up than down.   At the bottom, the tour was awesome. Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and a real jokester. He kept us laughing the whole time. You could tell he had a lot of compassion for these patients that had been sent here and had there lives taken away. The beach was beautiful, but not good for swimming. They bring a barge in once a year (in August when the surf is calmer) with supplies that can't be flown in....cars, fuel, building supplies, etc. It's a real event and everyone comes down to see what everyone else got :) A small cargo plane comes in twice a week and the mail is flown out daily. Our first stop was the Catholic church, St. Francis. The priest (from Brazil) gave us a wonderful talk about Father Damien, Mother Marianne, and the history of the settlement. He took us to a small museum next door that housed many photos of the settlement, the patients, and Father Damien and his helpers. There are 3 churches in Kalaupapa...Catholic, Protestant, and Mormon...for 120 residents. There are 33 patients, 40 National Park Service workers and the rest are employees of the Dept. of Health. The patients are provided with a house, utilities, and 3 meals per day (cooked for them in a communal kitchen). If they want cable TV, cell phones, a car (there are 12 miles of roads), etc. or to cook for themselves in their homes they have to pay for it themselves. There are visitors quarters and they are allowed to invite family and friends. After the village tour, we were taken to the other side of the peninsula to Kalawua. This was the original site of the leprosy colony established by Kamehameha V. The patients were taken by boat and thrown off the ship near a rock offshore. It was sink or swim and some of them couldn't swim. About half of them died trying to get to shore. They had one set of clothing and a few provisions. They had to find their own shelter and haul water from one of the valleys. It was after Father Damien came that they were moved to the other side of the peninsula where the sea was calmer and ships could come closer and take the patients to shore. Our transportation on the peninsula was a school bus with lots of "character". (Remember this bus for later :) We stopped on the way to Kalawua to view the tall sea cliffs. Our first stop at Kalawua was St. Philomena, the church built by Father Damien. Our guide told us to be sure to look for the holes in the floor. They were added by Father Damien when he realized the patients were leaving Mass early or not coming at all. It was because they were embarrassed at having to clear the mucous from their throats. They did not want to do it inside the church. Father Damien solved that problem by giving them large ti leaves as they came in and putting the holes in the floor. They would roll the leaves into a sort of straw and spit through them into the hole. (Sorry to be so graphic :) We spent about 20 minutes visiting the church and graveyard.  BTW, Father Damien is no longer buried here. His remains were returned to Belgium in 1996 as part of the process of being canonized. However, his right hand was returned here and reburied. This is where he wished to be. After our stop here we all piled back on the bus. The guide turned the key and there was nothing but a grinding noise. Hmmm...we were about 5 miles from Kaluapapa and the trail back. After several tries, someone suggested push starting the bus. One lady hollered, "I know how to do it. I use to own a VW bus!" Sure enough, she took the drivers seat and the pushing began. Two minutes later we were on our way. The driver took extra care to park downhill at our next stop for lunch and to see the site of the original settlement. Sure enough, it had to be pushed again :) This last stop was where Kamehameha V first established the colony. The patients were tossed in the water near the little pointed island and had to make it to shore. The scenery here was so awesome, the tallest sea cliff in the world is the 3rd one down. This is where Jurassic Park 2 and 3 were filmed. This was the end of our tour. We took those that had flown in to the airport and headed back to mount our mules. Am I glad I went? ABSOLUTELY!   Would I do it again? Probably not, I think I used up most of my 9 lives :) Would I recommend the mule ride if you were going to Molokai? YOU BET! It is one of those lifetime experiences you will never forget!

And where was John? He was just over the weight limit for the mules. He could have flown down and met the tour, but decided to just relax all day. He says he had no fear of falling out of his chair while reading his book :)

BTW, we asked our very native Hawaiian guide what would happen at Kaluapapa when all the patients were gone. There are 33 left, ranging in age from mid-60s to the 90s. The peninsula is currently run by the National Park Service (it is a National Historic Park), the Department of Health (they care for the patients), and the Office of Hawaiian Homelands (there are ancient burial grounds and more here). Developers are already sniffing around knowing that in the next 20 years or so, the patients will be gone. At that time the Dept. of Health will leave. The developers want to put in an 18-hole golf course, hotels, etc. What a disappointment that would be! This place is a treasure, both in scenery and in history. It was his hope that the NPS will take it over and make it a national park which is what they want to do, so that it can be shared with future generations...both the glorious landscape and the horrendous human history. If that doesn't happen, then he wants it to go back to the Homelands, but that means it may no longer be accessible at all. I'll be watching to see what happens.

I have a few more Molokai photos to share. I'll get to that later and put them in a separate post.

Quiet Island Days

Nothing much to report on the last couple of days. We've spent a lot of quiet time reading and listening to the wind and rain. Yesterday it rained in sheets for most of the day. We did take a short drive east to check out Murphy's Beach where everyone says to go for snorkeling and stop at the small grocery for snacks and a couple of movies. It blew all night and this morning (hard enough to blow the screen off the window!), but started to clear up by afternoon and turned out to be a pretty decent day. It's cloudy again tonight, but this seems typical. The weather is supposed to be mostly sunny all week. We are going to give it one more day to dry out and then try a valley hike at the east end of the island. This afternoon we drove to Maunaloa Town on the west end where the only movie theater is located (saw Deja Vu) and wandered into a kite store/artist gallery/gift shop. On the way home the "check engine" light came on so we stopped by the rental desk at the airport. The lady there didn't seem too concerned. She offered to exchange the car or said we could just keep driving it. John opted to keep it. I did let him know I am not walking 10 miles to town when the engine quits :) We decided on a pizza for dinner at Moloka'i Pizza Cafe. It was yummy. We came out to find a flat tire. Hmmm. There was a gas station across the street so we just filled it and drove home. Hope that doesn't become a regular event! I did take a few pictures today and thought I'd share... The first one shows what you are greeted with as you leave the airport in Hoolelua. The middle sign says it all about the lifestyle here on Moloka'i. The next two are the view we see from our condo. That's West Maui eight miles across the channel. I'm hoping to get a better shot on a clear day. In the morning the sun shines so brightly on the water that we can hardly see across! The last ones are the coconut palms in the royal grove, planted for Hawaiian royalty. Moloka'i is where they use to come for vacation.

Moloka'i

We are lovin' it here! It is so "country" and quiet. There are no hordes of tourists, no tour buses running their noisy diesels, no traffic. There are gorgeous views, beautiful natural colors, and wonderfully friendly people. We are staying on the east end of the island which is the "tropical" end, land of coconut palms and tall trees. The west end which we visited today is much drier and mostly grassland. Some of you may remember that we originally  had booked a condo on the west end, but canceled in August after reading some bad reviews. We are so happy with the way it turned out. We like it out here so much better and the beaches are friendlier for swimming and snorkeling. We are in a beach front condo at Wavecrest with a beautiful pool, cabana, and gardens. We are about 30 feet from the ocean and look across the channel to West Maui. That's our unit, 2nd from the right, ground floor. We had an interesting day yesterday. We ate lunch at the Moloka'i Drive-In...big mistake. I swear my burger was a spam burger....or it was at least 50% fat and fried in spam grease. I took about 3 bites and had to give up. My stomach was queasy the rest of the afternoon. Our next stop was the Kanemitsu Bakery. The cinnamon twist was a nice treat after that burger. While there we asked about the infamous strawberry-creamcheese bread that we'd heard about. Hmmm...it's like buying liquor during Prohibition. You have to "go around back between 10pm and 2am and knock on the door". Huh? Yes, that's right. A local couple was standing there and the man tells us to be sure and go look at it in the daylight first cause there's no lights back there. He then took us back there (way back around behind the store) and showed us where to knock. We haven't done it yet, but we may have to give it a try :) We ended up spending two hours "talking story" with this couple. They are not natives, but have been here long enough to know everyone and know all the island stories and gossip. They gave us their phone number and asked us to give them a call for a visit, so maybe we'll do that next week. In the afternoon we drove up to the Kalaupapa Lookout and walked out to where we could see the peninsula where Father Damien worked at the leprosy colony. What a view! The peninsula is at the bottom of the tallest sea cliffs in the world, over 2000 feet. We are planning a trip down there next week. At the same place we walked out to Phallic Rock. The photos speak for themselves and I'll blame John for those :)  As we drove back towards town we saw an amazing site. John saw a flock of birds flying over a field. As the flock turned in the sun, we saw birds that were white, blue, pink, yellow, orange.....all flying in unison. We turned around and went up the side road to get a closer look. As we sat and watched they flew over to a small shed and roosted on the roof. John realized they lived there and we drove around and knocked on the door. The lady that answered sent us to the back where her husband was cleaning the cages. Yes, they were colored birds. All hand-dyed! Clay and Diane were very nice and told us all about the birds. It's his hobby and they also take them to weddings, birthdays, funerals, etc. They are called the Moloka'i Rainbows. It was really hard to catch a photo of them in flight. I'm hoping I got a better one on film. You just never know what you'll see next! Today we drove out to the west end of the island to check out the beaches. The surf out there is very high and not good for swimming. The longest beach in Hawai'i is at Papohaku and it was beautiful with gold sand. They use to take sand out of here for Waikiki Beach until Moloka'i told them to stop! As a result the beach drops off quite steeply. (The wall made of surf boards is at the men's room. We  just thought it was cool :) We drove to the end of the road and stopped at a couple of other beaches that were also very pretty with lots of dark round rocks and red clay. The water in some places looked almost green today.   On the way back to town, we stopped at Coffees of Hawai'i and tried their signature drink, the "Mocha Mama". Yum! It's like a mocha shake....blended rich vanilla ice cream, espresso, and Ghiradelli chocolate. We had been told not to miss Friday night at the Hula Room, Hotel Moloka'i. From 4-6pm, the Na Kapunas entertain with their ukuleles. They are a group of locals from every walk of life who like to get together for a kanikapila (Hawaiian jam session). It was a lot of fun. They sang everything from old Hawaiian songs (note the bubble lady during "Tiny Bubbles") to Beatles tunes. They ended their time with everyone holding hands and singing some Hawaiian song followed by "God Bless America". At least I knew the words to that one! After the music, John and I had dinner and were seated at water's edge where we could watch the sunset. What a gorgeous place. I don't think there could be a restaurant anywhere in Hawaii with a view better than this :)

Return to Puna

Today dawned with blue skies so we headed back to Puna to that amazing coastline to see if we could get some better photos. I think we did :) I've included a "before" shot where you can see how it looks before the swells hit the rocks. The ocean swells are so big you can get seasick just looking at them. I found that it is just impossible to photograph how awesome it is. When the REALLY big ones come they fill the frame and the scale is lost! Anyway, we had a nice picnic lunch sitting in our beach chairs watching the show that Mother Nature was putting on. Tomorrow is our last full day on the island of Hawaii. We plan to catch up on laundry, visit a museum, and see a movie. We'll be leaving Wednesday morning for Molokai, our first time there :) We are looking forward to the peace and quiet of the island with "nothing to do".

Hilo Christmas Parade and Puna!

We had an easy day yesterday hanging out in Hilo. We spent the morning visiting Rainbow Falls and a couple of other spots along the Wailuka River. The annual Hilo Christmas Parade took place yesterday afternoon and we found ourselves a prime viewing spot along Kamehameha Avenue. There were bands and floats and old cars and marchers of every description and, of course, Santa bringing up the rear. He and his helpers were throwing armloads of candy and it was fun afterward just watching the crowds scoop all of it out of the street.   Today we went to the Puna District, south of Hilo...the SE part of the Big Island. It is where all the active volcano flows are and where the most recent devastation occurred. The coastline here is gorgeous with beautiful black sand beaches, lava cliffs and pounding surf. Our first stop was the Lava Tree State Park. There are lava tubes here that formed around wet Ohia trees when the lava flowed through. As you drive around Puna, the landscape changes from weird types of lava to jungle and back again. There are homes stranded in lava flows, but there are also gorgeous areas. Be sure to note the big square rock on the shore near where John is standing. It was tossed up here by the surf. It was pounding so hard here that we could feel it (like an earthquake) where we were standing. At one point we had to move FAST to avoid getting soaked. The last pictures are at the new Black Sand Beach that has formed since 1990 when the lava flowed here. It destroyed a town and the black sand beach that was there. The coconut palms and other small trees you see there have been planted by the local residents to help restore their beach. It's hard to see all the surf spray in these photos cause of the gray sky. We are going back tomorrow to go to a lava pool ("hot tub", it was too crowded today, a weekend), so we are hoping for some blue sky and better photo opportunities!

Rockin' On the Big Island!

Yep! We felt it! We were just finishing breakfast when everything started to shake. My chair was bouncing and the dishes were rattling in the cupboard. It went on for about 30 seconds during which it seemed to subside, but we could see that things were still shaking. John's elementary school days kicked in and he called me over to the doorway. The first thing I did when it stopped was to get out of my nightgown and get some clothes on in case the tsunami horn blew.  Then I piled my computer, phone, etc. by the door. We are just up from the beach, so if it blew we'd need to leave immediately. It took about 15 minutes for a TV announcement that no tsunami alert was being issued, but the entire state has been put into a state of "civil emergency". Not sure what that means. We're guessing it means some poor schmuck has to leave his Thanksgiving dinner and drive around checking the roads and bridges. It was a 5.0 up at Waikoloa, same place as last month. We are on the other side of the island at Hilo, but we spent the day in the Kohala district at Waikoloa yesterday. If we'd been in the camper van as planned we would have been at Spencer Beach today. The epicenter is right off the coast from there!

I promised some pictures from Waipio Valley and Laupahoehoe and here they are. Waipio is on the north side of the island. Laupahoehoe is where we were supposed to camp at the end of our time on Hawaii. Here's John standing in the camp site. And some more images from the beach and the tsunami memorial...

We are staying at the Dolphin Bay Hotel. The people here are so friendly and treat you like family. Every morning they put out cinnamon rolls, coffee, and whatever fresh fruit has come off the tree. We have a nice studio with a little kitchen and huge windows right in the front of the building. We've found some wonderful parks here in Hilo that are great for relaxing and watching the people and the surf while soaking in the sunshine. We spent the day there on Tuesday after the mundane chores of going to the post office, doing laundry, and getting our flu shots.

Yesterday we ventured to the Kohala district in the northwest portion of the island. We checked our rental car contract and then headed out over the Saddle Road (some contracts don't allow you to use this road). The road runs between the 2 large volcanoes on the island, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. It was built by the military as they have an airfield and practice live firing up there. It has finally been paved all the way over, but it is rough in places. They are working on it, though, so maybe they are trying to make it more usable. This is Mauna Kea, highest point in Hawaii at over 13,000 feet. Yes, it snows up there! If you look close you'll see the observatories on the summit. And this is Mauna Loa, to the south of the road. We drove around the Kohala peninsula and were hoping to do a couple of hikes. But, it was too wet after having had some tropical rains on and off during the day. We did have a nice picnic along the Kohala Mountain Road. That's the Kohala and Kona coastlines looking south. And below us is Waikoloa, epicenter of all the shaking that's been going on!

Nothing much is open today (except Starbucks till 2:00 :), so we are planning on going to the beach for a bit. We'll be cooking a small roast and potatoes for our Thanksgiving dinner. Hope you all have a great day. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Flowers for Gigi...

Gigi wants to see tropical flowers. Here they are! Yesterday we went to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden on Onomea Bay north of Hilo. It was a gorgeous place, kind of the Hawaii version of Butchart Gardens. I've posted a few here, if you'd like to see the whole gallery check out our album at Smugmug, Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden (Brooks Album)   Today we ventured even further north to Waipio Valley...well, to the lookout. The road into the valley has a 25% grade and is 4WD only! Maybe next time we'll schedule a day tour.  On the way back to Hilo we stopped at Laupahoehoe Point where we were scheduled to camp at the end of our time on the Big Island. It is a beautiful spot. The coast line here is jagged black lava rock and the surf was pounding! There were 23 people killed here on April 1, 1946, mostly students and teachers when it was struck by a tsunami. It was after this that the tsunami warning system was built. We took photos at Waipio and Laupahoehoe, but I haven't downloaded them yet. I'll add some to the blog next time.

Stay Flexible (aka The Camping Adventure That Wasn't)

We always try to stay flexible when we travel and it's a good thing. We picked up the '87 VW Vanagon camper in Hilo as planned on Wednesday. We knew it was going to be an older machine and that the Imua Camper rentals did "not look like the typical tourist rental". OK, so we were not surprised that it was a little beat up, dings in the side, door handles missing, etc. We got our camper tour from Shawn who showed us how to put the top up and down, where to find the bedding, etc. Off we went...happy campers (or so we thought)...We shopped for groceries, ate dinner (by now it was evening) and headed west to the campground at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. All the spots were full, but we parked next to the pavilion and popped the top. John tried to ignite the gas for the refrigerator (Shawn had put it on battery saying it would cool quicker that way). It would not ignite no matter what he did. That was our first hint that things were not as rosy as expected. We made up the bed and slept. The next morning we headed out to hike the craters. As the day wore on it became apparent that this was not going to be good...the counter that covers the stove/sink and lifts up would not stay up on it's own (the bracket was missing), the faucet fell of the first time we tried to use the sink, the weather stripping on the side of the pop top came loose and was trailing in the wind as we drove. The irritants mounted and by dinner time we were making plans to return the van and go to Plan B. As John says...the "nostalgia and romance of the VW Van" had worn off in less than 48 hours. We now have a new rental car for the rest of our stay on the Big Island. We are spending 2 nights in a quaint, "old Hawaiian" hotel, the Wild Ginger Inn (in Hilo)...a cute little place on Hilo Bay. On Sunday we'll be moving half a block to the Dolphin Bay Hotel where we were able to get a studio with kitchen for the rest of our stay (till November 29th). We did have a great day yesterday at the national park. We drove around the main crater and hiked out to peer inside, see the steam vents, and smell the sulfur fumes. The best part was in the evening. We drove to the end of Chain of Craters road and hiked out over the lava to where you can see the molten lava entering the ocean. There was lots of steam and when the sun went down we were treated to a real show watching the lave pour into the ocean. I took lots of photos, but the digitals are fuzzy. (Our tripod is in the Beetle at Gigi and Darrell's, not much help to us here :) We feel very fortunate to have seen this! The sunset here was especially beautiful because of the plume coming from the main vent of the volcano!

Green Sands Beach

A lovely spot requiring a 5 mile round trip hike in 85+ degree weather with humidity to match, no shade. We were thankful for the stiff wind blowing out of Tahiti. The beach is on the south end of the Big Island and the departure point for the hike is South Point, the most southern point in the US with nothing between there and Tahiti except ocean and that wind. We hiked on the 4wd roads and along the shoreline where we could see the surf and feel the spray. There was a lot of trash washed up on those beaches due to all those currents out there and nothing to stop it...sunscreen bottles, plastic fish net floats, flip flops, nets, etc....but John found a treasure. A real GLASS fishing float! Green Sand Beach gets it's color from a precious gem, Olivene, that is formed in the lava. This is the only place on the island that it's found. The ocean erodes the lava and forms the beach with it's green color. It was pretty amazing and we were pretty whipped after hiking in that heat! We'll be intermittent on the blog for the next 2 weeks. Tomorrow we are departing Camp Aloha and turning in the car. We'll be picking up a VW camper van in Hilo and will live the life of beach bums for the next 2 weeks, no Internet (except when we come to town for groceries), no hot showers (just outdoor showers, yikes!) and possibly no phone service for some of the days. We'll check in when we can!

Lazy Day

Yesterday we woke to bright, sunny skies and headed back to the Place of Refuge to get some better photos in better light. With that accomplished, we walked over to the beach and I went snorkeling. John decided to stay on the beach. He says he has become a "snorkel snob", spoiled by the unbeatable snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, and just didn't feel like going in.  I found snorkel conditions far superior to what we'd had at Kahuluu, so maybe next time he'll reconsider :) After lunch at Camp Aloha, we made our daily trek to Starbucks (only 20 miles) and headed back to the beach at Ai Opio Fish Trap. We spent the afternoon enjoying the sun, the sand, and our books.   We watched a young Hawaiian boy catching fish with his nets and the families playing in the pools with their little ones, and caught a beautiful sunset. As we left the beach and walked back to our car in the harbor parking lot, we saw our first glimpse of the top of Mauna Kea!   Hopefully, it will stay clear enough to get some better views. We dined at Outback and finished off the day with one of these :)  Today was a lazy catch-up day....the Starbucks stop, shopping for essentials, catching up on our movies, and doing laundry. We saw Flags of Our Fathers, good movie...war scenes reminiscent of Saving Private Ryan. I'm sure John couldn't help thinking of his dad, a career Marine, as he served at Iwo Jima. Back at Camp Aloha now and getting ready for dinner. Hiking tomorrow (we think) to Green Sands Beach near South Point in the Kau District!

Banana Harvest!

Our host invited us to watch the harvesting of ripe bananas. These are apple bananas and will rot on the tree if not harvested. The "mainland" bananas that we get at the stores will fall when ripe (there's a couple of those trees here, too), but not these. So we all gathered at the tree, which happened to be right at the road where we could dodge the tour buses and vans. It was a pretty simple operation. He had a tool with a long handle and a large flat blade on the end. The idea was to cut the banana stalk with the blade and let the stalk fall over to where he can reach the fruit. It didn't go exactly that way. It was a stubborn stalk and wouldn't give up it's treasure. As Casey tried to cut the stalk it began raining bananas and one made right for his eye. Nothing compares to being poked in the eye with a banana :) He ended up having to take out part of the tree to get the bunch out, probably needed pruning anyway. So the bananas were captured and put out at the neighbor's fruit stand for sale. After that excitement we headed to town for our daily Starbucks stop and a little exotic shopping at WalMart where we picked up some beach chairs on sale, cheap enough to leave them on the Big Island if we must.  

Lunch was in Kailua-Kona at Lulu's on Kona Bay. We spent the afternoon at Kealakekua Bay watching for spinner dolphins (none spotted), reading, and waiting for the sunset.

One last image to share, just cause I like this photo :)  I took this photo in front of Camp Aloha on Painted Church Road. I love poinsettias and they are so huge and gorgeous here. Our hosts tell us that Painted Church Road used to be lined with them from one end to the other, but some property owners that have moved here have allowed the county to spray and the plants have been killed. There are still loads of them along the road, though, and it is gorgeous.

Lava Tubes and Breast Cancer...

Whoever knew there was a connection???  Well, Dr. Larry Mallory (Google him!) had a hunch. Yesterday we were able to enter a lava tube in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park that few visitors ever see. It was discovered in 1992 by 3 young, local boys who were constructing a pig fence for the National Park Service. The NPS has kept it's location secret, so the cave has remained in pristine condition. Only 12 visitors per week are allowed in (compared with 1.5 million per year that visit the Thurston Lava Tube). You must hike in with a ranger (5 miles round trip) and swear to keep the location to yourself. Dr. Mallory took that hike in 1997(?). He was intrigued by what he saw growing on the walls and recognized it as some sort of bacteria. He followed the proper channels, completed the proper forms, and was allowed to take samples from the cave.  He found that it is actually a mixture of 21 separate bacteria. His pioneering work has led to exciting, new treatments and possible cures for cancer.  It is said that the current 84% treatable rate of breast cancer is a result of Dr. Mallory's discovery here! Wow, after hearing this we knew why we were NOT to touch the walls! They are now working on treatments for stomach, lung, and other cancers with the same bacteria. This was one of the best tours we have ever been on. Besides the bacteria, we saw damage from the recent earthquake (ok, it was a little spooky being in an underground cave just 3 weeks after a 6.7 shaker), and learned so much about lava tubes, insects that live in the dark, and ancient Hawaiian culture. The inside of the cave was covered with "soda straw lava" and metals from the volcano. On the way to and from the cave, we learned about native plant and animal species. We'd highly recommended this to anyone traveling to the Big Island! (You must sign up in advance and they only go on Wednesdays.) That was most of our day. We stopped at a couple of campgrounds we'll be staying at later in the month and checked them out, too. On Tuesday, we walked from Camp Aloha down the road to the Painted Church, St. Benedict's. The priest there had painted the entire inside of the church with murals. It was pretty, but probably not something I'd go out of my way to see. The best part of the that day???? Fresh guacamole, right out of the tree fresh! So fresh, it was almost gold, not green! Thanks, Alisha, for teaching me how to make it! 

And finally....a few more shots from Camp Aloha...    

Snorkeling Day!

Yesterday we finally had a little sunshine! We ventured down the hill from Camp Aloha to Kaelakekua Bay. The Captain Cook monument is across the bay, but we haven't gone there yet. We are hoping to either kayak across (too windy yesterday) or hike down the steep 4WD road to see it. The bay was beautiful and we were hoping to see spinner dolphins as they like to hang out there, didn't happen, maybe next time. From Kaelakekua we headed south down Napoopoo Road, also known as Highway 160. Interesting "highway", 1 1/2 lanes of black top over the lava fields (which also happens to be a sacred battlefield). Our next stop, also just down the hill from Camp Aloha, was Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, the Place of Refuge. This is where the Hawaiians use to come when they had done something "kapu" (forbidden) like look at the king or walk in his footsteps. If they could reach this place before being killed, they would be absolved by the "kahuna" (priest). It's a beautiful spot with sandy beaches and lots of history. The rest of the day was spent with laundry. Yes, even in paradise one must succumb to chores :)

Today was our first snorkel day. It's still cloudy, but the temperature is at 87 (with a humidity to match:) and the water temperature seems just about the same. We went to Kapaluu just south of Kailua-Kona, a popular place where the green turtles hang out as well as lots of locals. Sure enough we saw a couple swimming with us (both turtles and locals). After the snorkel adventure we headed up to the Ai Opio Fish Trap. This was built to catch the royal dinner and these days the turtles like to hang out here. We saw lots of them here, even on the beach! PS: Ignore the pasty white legs...I'm working on it....the sun won't cooperate!

Settling in on Hawaii, the Big Island

Yesterday, our 3rd day on Hawaii, we finally started seeing some sunshine and clearing. We were greeted on arrival with heavy, gray skies and rain. Such is life in the tropics. We saw a torrential tropical rainstorm on Thursday night and have had 5 inches of rain over the last 3 days or so. We are staying these first two weeks at Camp Aloha in Honuanua, just south of Captain Cook in the South Kona district. The B&B is in a house built in the 70s and could use a little updating :), but it is clean and comfortable, very private, and has an incredible view over two bays. It is on a 5-6 acre farm and we are surrounded by bananas, papayas, avocados, coffee beans, and coconuts and lots of flowers...hibiscus, plumeria, poinsettia, bougainvillea. Zorro the dog likes to come visit, the rooster likes to welcome us to the sunrise, and we have a resident gecko who lives behind the painting in the sitting room and can't seem to find his way out. The kitchen is on the lanai, so we cook as well as eat our meals outdoors. We are the only guests so it is like having our own place. We spent the first couple of rainy days getting the lay of the land (which means finding Costco and Starbucks!) Yesterday we drove north to the Kohala district where there was more sunshine and visited a couple of beaches. Hapuna Beach is popular with the locals and has been voted "Best Beach In The World" several times by Conde Nast magazine. It's a gorgeous crescent of sand with gentle surf. We also went to Mauna Kea Beach. It's at the Mauna Kea Resort which is way more money than I would ever spend to stay somewhere, but the beach is gorgeous. By law, they must allow public access, so they reserve 30 parking spots for the public. You stop at the security gate and say you want to go to the beach and if there is a spot available, you're in. I liked this one, too, but you can't hardly find a bad beach in Hawaii!

More lookers...

Errand day here at our house...with the spit and polish routine done, lights on, garbage out we headed out the door. It is so tempting to not do this every time you leave the house, but......sure enough we are barely down the road when my phone rings.  They want to come at 4:15.  Ten minutes later another call, they want to come at 5:30.  So we went to the bank, the post office, and Wal-Mart (did I mention that I now do some shopping at Wal-Mart? can't believe it myself :) then came home as I hadn't vacuumed or mopped the floors.  John went out and swept the patio and deck.  Just as I am putting the vacuum away at 3:45 I see two cars pull up. They are here! So we left...picked up a prescription at the pharmacy and went to Starbucks to read the paper.  We decided to have dinner at the deli section at Fred Meyer (John says this is what retired people do), did a little shopping, then went home.  Our second showing was to be between 5:30 and 6:30 and it was only 6:15.  I checked inside and there was only one business card, so we went over to the neighbors and waited till after the second group had come and left.  So, we shall see what happens now!  In the meantime, our agent told me today that he was told by another agent in the office who showed our home last week that the buyer wants our place and is working on financing. (Our MLS listing asks for pre-qualified buyers only.) Also, Gary had gotten a call on Saturday from some guy that was sitting in front of our house and wanted to see it.  He came right over and showed him in.  This guy is a contractor and is looking to buy a house with a "friend" (of what type we don't know).  The friend is in Spokane, but they are planning to come later in the week to look at our house together.  We have about 10 days until we are going to make the decision as to whether we should cancel the first month of our trip to Hawaii based on the status of our house.  We'll still go for December regardless, but we just don't think we can be gone for 2 months with the house on the market or if we would have to close while we are gone.

BTW, I was reading some reviews of the place we'd booked on Molokai for the first two weeks of December. Hmmmm...not so good.  The place had been sold and half of it is shut down.  But what really got me was the recent report of mice and disgusting insects running around someone's unit at night.  No thanks!  We checked the cancellation rules and it will only cost us $15 to cancel.  So, we did some more checking and found an awesome oceanfront one bedroom with a screaming deal on the price..less than the oceanfront studio we had. So I sent in a request for booking.  The owner called while we were in Madras.  A very nice man from India who lives on Molokai part-time. When I verified the price, he asked where I had seen that.  I told him the name of the web site and he looked.  Turns out it should have been updated to $200 more per week.  But, he is giving it to us for the price I saw. We are staying 2 weeks, so saving $400! Sorry, but he's now updated that site :) Anyway, he is sending me the information and as soon as I have it done and paid for, we'll cancel the other one.  BTW, this man's name is Deepak Chopra.  I can't imagine that it is the author...must be a common name???