so much has happened since we started our journey, we have been to so many places,and seen so much.
Hawaii (the big island) was great the house on the plantation was really great, the views from the balcony over looking the rows of coffee plants right down to the sea.
Julia and I enjoyed being shown around by Robin who knew where all the best places to see were as he spent his youth there.
The next stop was LA where we met up with Mike, what a nice guy; Mike met us for breakfast and drove us around all day, it was very cold and windy and were very grateful to Mike, we ended the day with a lovely dinner.
The next day we caught a cab to Long Beach where we got on board Carnival Cruises for our trip down to Mexico.
Monday 2 April 2012
Thursday 22 March 2012
Day at Sea
This was lovely. The ship moved only mildly in the seaway: the slow, gentle swells moved under our beam crossways but the movement was barely enough to make you realise you were on a ship. Had a lovely lunch in the Mardi-Gras dining room, and realised we could have done this every day, instead of settling for the greasy-spoon fare served on the Lido deck and the Brasserie.
It was cloudy and a bit cool out (okay, cold). Wondered a bit about temperatures in Vegas and Tahoe and Napa. I was concerned it was going to be really cold! Oh well, might as well stock up on warm clothing since our winter is coming "down-Undah": jumpers and stuff. Realised later that clothing retail stores in the northern hemisphere were focusing on summer stuff. Oops.
I was typing on my netbook in our stateroom - down on our Riviera Deck, it's more like a 'cabin' - but I was fairly cold down there for some reason, so I went up to the Brasserie to have a cup of Earl Grey. You could feel the side-to-side motion significantly more up on the Lido deck, which was ten "floors" up: the Riviera is Deck Four, pretty near the water-level. Sitting on the starboard side of the vessel, heading (I assumed) in the general direction of north, one would think one could see something of land. All that was visible was water. And it was colder up here than in the room - someone kept opening the door to the outside - so I finally gave up and went below.
Dinner was nice. Eating is what you do on a cruise.
It was cloudy and a bit cool out (okay, cold). Wondered a bit about temperatures in Vegas and Tahoe and Napa. I was concerned it was going to be really cold! Oh well, might as well stock up on warm clothing since our winter is coming "down-Undah": jumpers and stuff. Realised later that clothing retail stores in the northern hemisphere were focusing on summer stuff. Oops.
I was typing on my netbook in our stateroom - down on our Riviera Deck, it's more like a 'cabin' - but I was fairly cold down there for some reason, so I went up to the Brasserie to have a cup of Earl Grey. You could feel the side-to-side motion significantly more up on the Lido deck, which was ten "floors" up: the Riviera is Deck Four, pretty near the water-level. Sitting on the starboard side of the vessel, heading (I assumed) in the general direction of north, one would think one could see something of land. All that was visible was water. And it was colder up here than in the room - someone kept opening the door to the outside - so I finally gave up and went below.
Dinner was nice. Eating is what you do on a cruise.
Wednesday 21 March 2012
Encinada
Julia and Nanny elected to go ashore at Encinada. I didn't: I stayed aboard and caught up on some digital photography tutorials I'd been meaning to study, and had a salad for afternoon tea. Holidays - to me - means: somehow manage to do as little as possible, in as quiet an environment as possible, for as long as possible. I'm nine of world's ten most boring people.
What about Encinada? Julia and Nan will have to tell you about it, but from the maps (on my new tablet, one of the few things that work, sort-of) it's the next major settlement south of Tijuana. From what I remember of Tijuana and what I could see of Encinada, it looked considerably up-market to that border-town.
The ship was mostly empty much of the day, so there were no queues anywhere. Even the Lido deck was not too noisy. I think that's one of the things I found a bit off-putting after a while: the night-club entertainment atmosphere on steroids. I reckon a lot of the people present at some of these gigs were mostly deaf, since I was the only one wincing at the decibel-level. It was like the Elephant and the Wheelbarrow day in and day out. Even at dinner in the Mardi-Gras dining room - an otherwise nice, gentle dining experience - the atmosphere was brutally crashed by the maitres-d breaking out his best Hollywood-night-club voice at the top of his lungs... and the place erupted in exuberant song and dance. Yes, dance: the head-waiters shared their other talents with us. A good time was had by all.
The air still had a bit of a cool bite to it, particularly with a breeze, even as far south as we were. The captain made a point of saying - in a silky, Fernando Lamas accent - that this was the nicest weather he'd seen in some time, which instantly added five degrees to the warmth from the sun's rays.
We sailed at 21:30... and sailed all night.
What about Encinada? Julia and Nan will have to tell you about it, but from the maps (on my new tablet, one of the few things that work, sort-of) it's the next major settlement south of Tijuana. From what I remember of Tijuana and what I could see of Encinada, it looked considerably up-market to that border-town.
The ship was mostly empty much of the day, so there were no queues anywhere. Even the Lido deck was not too noisy. I think that's one of the things I found a bit off-putting after a while: the night-club entertainment atmosphere on steroids. I reckon a lot of the people present at some of these gigs were mostly deaf, since I was the only one wincing at the decibel-level. It was like the Elephant and the Wheelbarrow day in and day out. Even at dinner in the Mardi-Gras dining room - an otherwise nice, gentle dining experience - the atmosphere was brutally crashed by the maitres-d breaking out his best Hollywood-night-club voice at the top of his lungs... and the place erupted in exuberant song and dance. Yes, dance: the head-waiters shared their other talents with us. A good time was had by all.
The air still had a bit of a cool bite to it, particularly with a breeze, even as far south as we were. The captain made a point of saying - in a silky, Fernando Lamas accent - that this was the nicest weather he'd seen in some time, which instantly added five degrees to the warmth from the sun's rays.
We sailed at 21:30... and sailed all night.
Tuesday 20 March 2012
We be Cruisin' - Day Two
We arrived at Catalina Island whilst Julia and I were still asleep. Nanny had already gone out (unbeknownst to us, she on a higher-level deck in a different cabin) for a cup of tea. Most of the more enterprising, activity-seeking passengers had already made their way to the island via small, yellow ferry-boats by the time Julia and I left our cabin: Julia to get a very thorough, restorative massage that worked wonders for her neck and me to get breakfast.
It astounds me how people can say all you do on a cruise is eat. I had micro-thin bacon, sausage, scrambled-egg and this creative use of mince and chopped-up snags for breakfast. Atkins would have been proud. Tea instead of coffee: I reckon the caffeine levels in the coffee in the States should be measured with a Geiger counter. You could power a nuclear submarine with this stuff. I got the major tremors: finally decided to stick with tea... it's a known entity.
But really, apart from that really nice dinner the first night, I decided that the food for the most part was *okay*, but nothing more. Yes, there's lots of it. And for the most part, it's available somewhere on the boat most of the day and evening. But how much food can a human consume and not feel crook? I eat when I'm hungry... today, I had a late breakfast and then after Julia's massage we met up with Nanny and had lunch not too long afterwards. Even though it was only a light lunch - I had chicken and beef cubes, Julia had a sandwich and Nanny had fruit - it was fairly soon after a late breakfast and we all filled up rather quickly on it.
Thus, by the time dinner came 'round, I still had nil appetite, none at all. It was meant to be a dress-up gala affair with lots of picture-taking, all things I abhor, so I originally opted to let the ladies take advantage of a bit of alone-time together ... deciding to spend the evening writing and maybe have a glass or two at a bar somewhere at some point. Changed my mind at the last minute, though, so we had yet another nice meal, all dressed up.
The ship sailed at 4 pm... the seas were incredibly calm, so the motion through the very slight swells was silky and almost without any movement at all.
The sea was a millpond.
It astounds me how people can say all you do on a cruise is eat. I had micro-thin bacon, sausage, scrambled-egg and this creative use of mince and chopped-up snags for breakfast. Atkins would have been proud. Tea instead of coffee: I reckon the caffeine levels in the coffee in the States should be measured with a Geiger counter. You could power a nuclear submarine with this stuff. I got the major tremors: finally decided to stick with tea... it's a known entity.
But really, apart from that really nice dinner the first night, I decided that the food for the most part was *okay*, but nothing more. Yes, there's lots of it. And for the most part, it's available somewhere on the boat most of the day and evening. But how much food can a human consume and not feel crook? I eat when I'm hungry... today, I had a late breakfast and then after Julia's massage we met up with Nanny and had lunch not too long afterwards. Even though it was only a light lunch - I had chicken and beef cubes, Julia had a sandwich and Nanny had fruit - it was fairly soon after a late breakfast and we all filled up rather quickly on it.
Thus, by the time dinner came 'round, I still had nil appetite, none at all. It was meant to be a dress-up gala affair with lots of picture-taking, all things I abhor, so I originally opted to let the ladies take advantage of a bit of alone-time together ... deciding to spend the evening writing and maybe have a glass or two at a bar somewhere at some point. Changed my mind at the last minute, though, so we had yet another nice meal, all dressed up.
The ship sailed at 4 pm... the seas were incredibly calm, so the motion through the very slight swells was silky and almost without any movement at all.
The sea was a millpond.
Monday 19 March 2012
We be Cruisin' - Day One
Julia and I decided on the morning of the cruise our bags needed revisiting: we'd done some re-arranging that last day in Hawaii after a particularly pleasant session with Hawaiian Rainbow cocktails - Julia *AND* Nanny each had two!! - so the bags were packed with more attention of getting everything in with relatively equal weight (to keep them under 50 lbs, for the plane) than keeping things in any particular order.
Now, the big black suitcase had all the "not-gonna-need-until-Vegas" stuff and the grey one had half-Julia's, half-my stuff and all electronic stuff was together, so that was good. We met in the lobby at 11 (check-out time) and hung around a bit playing with our tablets, taking advantage of WiFi and the relative warmth of the lobby. The friendly staff finally called us a van-sized cab (which we really needed because of all the baggage) and off we went to Long Beach.
The wind had died down, but it was still quite cool when we arrived. No question: we're Queenslanders! Heck, we found Holualoa cool at times, cool enough to put on jumpers and long pants. So, our light jackets were only just enough to keep us from shivering in the breeze.
Finally, after the obligatory check-in, we were on the boat. Part of the Carnival line, this one is called "Inspiration". There's all these levels. We were told our room wasn't ready, so we went to the Lido Deck and passing the pool went over to join a queue at the rotisserie (or Mongolian, for Nanny) food thingie. The food was okay: what I had was a bit pub-food, but Nanny's was really nice.
Julia and Nanny each got a pink drink thingie with an umbrella and settled into the warm sun and the festive mood. I thought I'd better save myself for a glass of wine, as I was a bit apprehensive of what grog might cost on a cruise. As it turns out, alcohol is fairly reasonably priced, really: a glass of red priced between $6.50 and $7.50 doesn't really seem excessive, certainly not for being on a cruise. I didn't care for the Mermac, much: ended up with a nice Aussie Shiraz. Or two.
We had set sail - almost imperceptibly, this occurred - when we decided to have dinner in the Mardi-Gras Dining Room. It was beautiful: elegantly presented, the portion-sizes were like for humans, not the usual gargantuan piles of food one stares at aghast as the plates arrive at your table. In a lot of restaurants in the US, hospitality is measured in size-of-portion... if you are able to clear your plate, it is assumed you didn't receive enough food. The waitress even commented something to that effect when I'd cleared my plate at Kincaid's.
Afterwards, we wandered about the ship a bit and set things up so that we could put drinks and purchases on our "Sail & Sign" card.
After a glass of Merlot (for me - the ladies were done for the evening) in what we've gome to call the "Queen Street Mall" lounge, we finally called it a night. You could barely feel the ship move in the swells as we returned to our cabins, to discover that our beds had been turned down and one of the towels had been artfully twisted into a semblance of a seal, complete with little eyes. The attention to detail and the over-all friendliness of the staff on this cruise was really quite remarkable.
Internet: not cheap, but not prohibitive, either. If I felt so inspired to absolutely HAVE to have blog items up online tonight, I could do as I am doing: type everything into a text file, log on (at $75 per minute) and in a few minutes have the whole thing done. *If* I felt so inspired. Which, at this point, I don't.
Email can wait. The blog can wait. We're on a cruise!
The tablet: bigger disappointment. I'm definitely going to have to look around for apps. There's absolutely NOTHING useful on the thing at all. And there's icons to games I'd really like to get rid of: don't intend to ever play any of those. But it will all have to wait till Vegas, I guess. So, interestingly enough, even though I've spent a fair bit more for this tablet than I did for this netbook ($479 for the tablet versus #325 plus $30 for the 2-gig SIMM), data entry is significantly easier and more productive on the netbook.
Now, the big black suitcase had all the "not-gonna-need-until-Vegas" stuff and the grey one had half-Julia's, half-my stuff and all electronic stuff was together, so that was good. We met in the lobby at 11 (check-out time) and hung around a bit playing with our tablets, taking advantage of WiFi and the relative warmth of the lobby. The friendly staff finally called us a van-sized cab (which we really needed because of all the baggage) and off we went to Long Beach.
The wind had died down, but it was still quite cool when we arrived. No question: we're Queenslanders! Heck, we found Holualoa cool at times, cool enough to put on jumpers and long pants. So, our light jackets were only just enough to keep us from shivering in the breeze.
Finally, after the obligatory check-in, we were on the boat. Part of the Carnival line, this one is called "Inspiration". There's all these levels. We were told our room wasn't ready, so we went to the Lido Deck and passing the pool went over to join a queue at the rotisserie (or Mongolian, for Nanny) food thingie. The food was okay: what I had was a bit pub-food, but Nanny's was really nice.
Julia and Nanny each got a pink drink thingie with an umbrella and settled into the warm sun and the festive mood. I thought I'd better save myself for a glass of wine, as I was a bit apprehensive of what grog might cost on a cruise. As it turns out, alcohol is fairly reasonably priced, really: a glass of red priced between $6.50 and $7.50 doesn't really seem excessive, certainly not for being on a cruise. I didn't care for the Mermac, much: ended up with a nice Aussie Shiraz. Or two.
We had set sail - almost imperceptibly, this occurred - when we decided to have dinner in the Mardi-Gras Dining Room. It was beautiful: elegantly presented, the portion-sizes were like for humans, not the usual gargantuan piles of food one stares at aghast as the plates arrive at your table. In a lot of restaurants in the US, hospitality is measured in size-of-portion... if you are able to clear your plate, it is assumed you didn't receive enough food. The waitress even commented something to that effect when I'd cleared my plate at Kincaid's.
Afterwards, we wandered about the ship a bit and set things up so that we could put drinks and purchases on our "Sail & Sign" card.
After a glass of Merlot (for me - the ladies were done for the evening) in what we've gome to call the "Queen Street Mall" lounge, we finally called it a night. You could barely feel the ship move in the swells as we returned to our cabins, to discover that our beds had been turned down and one of the towels had been artfully twisted into a semblance of a seal, complete with little eyes. The attention to detail and the over-all friendliness of the staff on this cruise was really quite remarkable.
Internet: not cheap, but not prohibitive, either. If I felt so inspired to absolutely HAVE to have blog items up online tonight, I could do as I am doing: type everything into a text file, log on (at $75 per minute) and in a few minutes have the whole thing done. *If* I felt so inspired. Which, at this point, I don't.
Email can wait. The blog can wait. We're on a cruise!
The tablet: bigger disappointment. I'm definitely going to have to look around for apps. There's absolutely NOTHING useful on the thing at all. And there's icons to games I'd really like to get rid of: don't intend to ever play any of those. But it will all have to wait till Vegas, I guess. So, interestingly enough, even though I've spent a fair bit more for this tablet than I did for this netbook ($479 for the tablet versus #325 plus $30 for the 2-gig SIMM), data entry is significantly easier and more productive on the netbook.
Sunday 18 March 2012
A lovely Visit with Mike and Techie Heaven
We were going to invite Mike to breakfast at the hotel where free breakfast came with the room, but he had better ideas: The kettle!
Off we went in his car that really cold, windy (but clear) morning and soon found ourselves being regaled with a story of his exploits trying to catch a plane (or two) to Canada as we waited for a table to clear at The Kettle. This was a popular place indeed for people to brave the cold wind for breakfast.
The food was delicious: we decided today was going to be our shopping day (our all-time favourite activity anywhere, eclipsing visiting museums, art galleries and going bungie-jumping, even): warm clothing first on the list, then tablets and a RAM upgrade for the netbook I'm typing on.
You know, a strawberry is not a strawberry (wait till you have had strawberries in the US: they beat any Aussie strawberries I've ever had!), and in the US Target is not like our Target at home! Wow, they sell food here.
Went first to Fry's Electronics to upgrade the RAM on my netbook. Mike confided in me he doesn't much care for Fry's, and I've come to agree with him, based on my experience there. Customer Service is definitely not their strong suit. I had to *buy* a screwdriver to open the RAM cover of the netbook to show the clearly bored, not excessively helpful clerk the exact RAM I needed. I should have looked closer at the available slots: had I done so I would have realised I actually had to *replace* the existing SIMM for a two-gig SIMM in order to upgrade. I just bought a single-gig SIMM.
Their tablet selection was pov, were out of everything we were considering.
We finally ended up at Best Buy. They only had the 32-gig Toshiba, so I ended up getting that. Nanny picked up the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (32-gig) and - surprise-surprise!! - Julia got herself the Acer Iconia Tab, which she is tickled pink over. This, despite the fact she wasn't even looking at getting one when we went into that store.
My tablet weighs almost twice what the Galaxy does... pretty much what my little netbook does.
It's a pig. But, it's what I wanted.
No special deals per se... I thought being in LA, you'd be able to find stuff for cheaper, but this is a latest-greatest technology thing: everyone wants one, so only minimal deals to be made.
After a bit of poking around in the mall, we finally ended up at Michaels, where the ladies showed incredible restraint: all they got was a few ribbons and stuff! Meanwhile, this is where I found out that I couldn't just add a SIMM to the netbook to upgrade. So, we dropped Julia and Nanny at the hotel for a nanna-nap and then went back to Fry's to exchange the 1-gig for a 2-gig SIMM, which is working well.
Dropped in for a bit at Mike's, met his reclusive cat Pele and sat in admiration and a wee bit of envy at his amazing programming skills. Okay, a LOT of envy! I could have hung out with him longer, but we'd made dinner reservations at Kinkaid's, so we finally left to pick up the ladies at the hotel and then headed down to Redondo Beach.
The promised storm never made landfall - thank goodness! - but the wind and cold more than made up for it. At the restaurant, up on pilings over a crashing surf, the wind buffeted us with gale-force gusts as we scurried from the car.
Dinner was every bit as good as Mike had claimed it would be: it was the very best meal we'd had so far on our holidays.
The visit with Mike was very pleasant: he's a vivid, interesting, highly intelligent person to be around. I think if he ever saw my code, he'd wonder what the heck I was trying to do, writing code at all. Maybe when I retire and have time, I could do a proper programming class at Uni and learn to do it right. But it doesn't keep it from being fun for me and also makes me admire people who can develop stuff like Mike does all the more.
Please note: we will be posting images from this and the last and next few posts very soon. Need to organise the images: this will happen!
Off we went in his car that really cold, windy (but clear) morning and soon found ourselves being regaled with a story of his exploits trying to catch a plane (or two) to Canada as we waited for a table to clear at The Kettle. This was a popular place indeed for people to brave the cold wind for breakfast.
The food was delicious: we decided today was going to be our shopping day (our all-time favourite activity anywhere, eclipsing visiting museums, art galleries and going bungie-jumping, even): warm clothing first on the list, then tablets and a RAM upgrade for the netbook I'm typing on.
You know, a strawberry is not a strawberry (wait till you have had strawberries in the US: they beat any Aussie strawberries I've ever had!), and in the US Target is not like our Target at home! Wow, they sell food here.
Went first to Fry's Electronics to upgrade the RAM on my netbook. Mike confided in me he doesn't much care for Fry's, and I've come to agree with him, based on my experience there. Customer Service is definitely not their strong suit. I had to *buy* a screwdriver to open the RAM cover of the netbook to show the clearly bored, not excessively helpful clerk the exact RAM I needed. I should have looked closer at the available slots: had I done so I would have realised I actually had to *replace* the existing SIMM for a two-gig SIMM in order to upgrade. I just bought a single-gig SIMM.
Their tablet selection was pov, were out of everything we were considering.
We finally ended up at Best Buy. They only had the 32-gig Toshiba, so I ended up getting that. Nanny picked up the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (32-gig) and - surprise-surprise!! - Julia got herself the Acer Iconia Tab, which she is tickled pink over. This, despite the fact she wasn't even looking at getting one when we went into that store.
My tablet weighs almost twice what the Galaxy does... pretty much what my little netbook does.
It's a pig. But, it's what I wanted.
No special deals per se... I thought being in LA, you'd be able to find stuff for cheaper, but this is a latest-greatest technology thing: everyone wants one, so only minimal deals to be made.
After a bit of poking around in the mall, we finally ended up at Michaels, where the ladies showed incredible restraint: all they got was a few ribbons and stuff! Meanwhile, this is where I found out that I couldn't just add a SIMM to the netbook to upgrade. So, we dropped Julia and Nanny at the hotel for a nanna-nap and then went back to Fry's to exchange the 1-gig for a 2-gig SIMM, which is working well.
Dropped in for a bit at Mike's, met his reclusive cat Pele and sat in admiration and a wee bit of envy at his amazing programming skills. Okay, a LOT of envy! I could have hung out with him longer, but we'd made dinner reservations at Kinkaid's, so we finally left to pick up the ladies at the hotel and then headed down to Redondo Beach.
The promised storm never made landfall - thank goodness! - but the wind and cold more than made up for it. At the restaurant, up on pilings over a crashing surf, the wind buffeted us with gale-force gusts as we scurried from the car.
Dinner was every bit as good as Mike had claimed it would be: it was the very best meal we'd had so far on our holidays.
The visit with Mike was very pleasant: he's a vivid, interesting, highly intelligent person to be around. I think if he ever saw my code, he'd wonder what the heck I was trying to do, writing code at all. Maybe when I retire and have time, I could do a proper programming class at Uni and learn to do it right. But it doesn't keep it from being fun for me and also makes me admire people who can develop stuff like Mike does all the more.
Please note: we will be posting images from this and the last and next few posts very soon. Need to organise the images: this will happen!
Saturday 17 March 2012
Early Starts and Late Nights
Nan was up first, as per usual, making a cup of tea. The alarm went off, but it seemed frightfully early: we'd made a slothful practice our whole stay in Holualoa of sleeping till we felt like getting up - which is probably why we were feeling human again. Still, we had a jeep to return and a plane to catch, so we got ourselves out the door 5 minutes early.
I remembered the instructions the landlord had provided in the PDF ... something about a shortcut from the house down to the airport, so we set off in direction Kamuela hoping that I wasn't going to miss the turnoff. And finally, there it was "something"-ini drive. Down the hill we went - all the newer roads on the Big Island seem to go straight up and down, no switch-backs - and came out on the highway from Kailua to the airport with less than a mile to the airport turnoff. Saved ourselves heaps of time!
After dropping Nanny, Julia and the luggage off, I returned the car: the process was about as painless as it comes. Saw Becky and Murphy at the airport and gave them a hug: poor Murphy looked like she'd done the holidays running marathons or something.
It was with enormous regret that I watched the Big Island disappear in the distance... no, I couldn't live there any more, but our stay had been so restorative I was sad to see it come to an end.
The less said about our flight from Honolulu to LA, the better. It seemed interminable... the trip did two things for me: firmed my resolve to drop the kilos (resolution based observing the plight of those excessively well-nourished fellow travellers nearby) and not baby-sit boys, ever. We had a couple of biligual chappies behind us who - fair enough - became a bit restless towards the end of the flight, as boys do, but their behaviour was a trial for their dad (who I sort-of felt sorry for - what do you do?) and surrounding passengers, i.e., us.
The food was pay-for, no free lunch (dinner). None of it looked particularly interesting so I opted out. They'd run out of sandwiches by the time they got to us, so Julia ended up with a tin of crisps. Whoopie.
Longest five hours in recent memory.
The landing was marketed as being of a potentially difficult, rough nature, but as it turns out, we never felt the wheels touch the runway: brilliantly smooth landing.
LA was freezing cold: 10 - 12 degrees C with a fair bit of wind to make it feel much colder. I was relieved to hear this was a bit unseasonably cold, but then, Southern California can be a very cold place one day, a blisteringly hot place the next day.
Hotel Hermosa was really very nice: excellent value for the money. Paradoxically, I was feeling a bit hungry by then, but nothing was open but fast food so I had a few of Julia's potato chips and finished her soft drink. Too tired to write in the blog, we collapsed in bed.
I remembered the instructions the landlord had provided in the PDF ... something about a shortcut from the house down to the airport, so we set off in direction Kamuela hoping that I wasn't going to miss the turnoff. And finally, there it was "something"-ini drive. Down the hill we went - all the newer roads on the Big Island seem to go straight up and down, no switch-backs - and came out on the highway from Kailua to the airport with less than a mile to the airport turnoff. Saved ourselves heaps of time!
After dropping Nanny, Julia and the luggage off, I returned the car: the process was about as painless as it comes. Saw Becky and Murphy at the airport and gave them a hug: poor Murphy looked like she'd done the holidays running marathons or something.
It was with enormous regret that I watched the Big Island disappear in the distance... no, I couldn't live there any more, but our stay had been so restorative I was sad to see it come to an end.
The less said about our flight from Honolulu to LA, the better. It seemed interminable... the trip did two things for me: firmed my resolve to drop the kilos (resolution based observing the plight of those excessively well-nourished fellow travellers nearby) and not baby-sit boys, ever. We had a couple of biligual chappies behind us who - fair enough - became a bit restless towards the end of the flight, as boys do, but their behaviour was a trial for their dad (who I sort-of felt sorry for - what do you do?) and surrounding passengers, i.e., us.
The food was pay-for, no free lunch (dinner). None of it looked particularly interesting so I opted out. They'd run out of sandwiches by the time they got to us, so Julia ended up with a tin of crisps. Whoopie.
Longest five hours in recent memory.
The landing was marketed as being of a potentially difficult, rough nature, but as it turns out, we never felt the wheels touch the runway: brilliantly smooth landing.
LA was freezing cold: 10 - 12 degrees C with a fair bit of wind to make it feel much colder. I was relieved to hear this was a bit unseasonably cold, but then, Southern California can be a very cold place one day, a blisteringly hot place the next day.
Hotel Hermosa was really very nice: excellent value for the money. Paradoxically, I was feeling a bit hungry by then, but nothing was open but fast food so I had a few of Julia's potato chips and finished her soft drink. Too tired to write in the blog, we collapsed in bed.
Friday 16 March 2012
The Tradewinds are Back
The weather is finally looking a bit more like the Hawaii I know. Mind you, it's still a bit cool up here at elevation in Holualoa, but down by the water, it is pretty nice now.
We wanted to have another go at those valleys we missed, of which Waipio is the best known, and Pololu is furthest north, near Kapa`au. Since we're already near the upper highway of Kona (called the Mamalahoa Highway) we elected to drive over to Kamuela (Waimea - still feels weird to call it that) and from there catch the upper road over to Hawi-Town.
It was windy in Kamuela... picked up some petrol and had a chat to a local guy who reassured me that Waimea is still known by the locals as Kamuela, "still-yet".
Then, we headed up and up and up - didn't remember Hawaii as being so *steep* everywhere - through tundra-like, wind-buffeted terrain and then finally we were greeted with the ironwood wind-break stretch of the highway that I'd always found so magical. We were now at elevation again, and the clouds would flail the jeep with spots of pelting rainy mist, which you couldn't really call rain at all. It didn't even properly wet the road. We arrived in "Hawi-Town", the weather still undecided what it wanted to do. Near the Visitor's Centre was a guy selling roast chicken and ribs that he was roasting right there:
We were all feeling a mite peckish, so Julia and Nanny got pork ribs and I got beef ribs... came with rice and macaroni salad. The tucker was brilliant, if a bit chewy (my ribs were, at least)... so it totally hit the spot. We had a wee chat to the Visitor Centre guy - apparently the main industry growing in Hawi was something called 'zipline' which catered to people who liked riding and adventures. Nothing had replaced the sugar cane, at all. Hawi did look busy - lots of non-locals milling about in the little shops and everything - so tourism must be doing reasonably well.
When we arrived in Kohala just a bit down the road, it was doing that heavy misting/almost-raining thing again, hence the somewhat blurry-looking Kamehameha statue image:
As we drove out to the Pololu Valley, the weather magically cleared, so we got some excellent views into the valley:
We finally tore ourselves away from the enchantment of Pololu Valley and resigning ourselves to the fact that Waipio Valley was going to be a "next time" thing, we drove the seaside road from Hawi to Kawaihae.
The vegetation quickly went from lush tropical to survivalist lava hang-in-there scrub plants like keawe - those nasty trees that dump dead branches with spikes (thorns) that go through armoured vehicles. Don't go on a stroll through that: you'll think you were ambushed. Those thorns are over an inch long and will go through shoe leather!
We ended up at Spenser Park.
Spenser park has seen some significant face-lift since I've been there last "small-kid-time". It was a relaxed, very family atmosphere. We wandered over to the pavilion:
...and watch kids play where we played and... okay, i was probably the ONLY one of us who pretended this was like a castle and we were the inhabitants... yep, sure, it was just me. :D
Spenser Park is definitely good value.
I'd played up Hapuna Beach as this end-all, be-all beach:
It's different, somehow. The rocks are still there, in the middle. Are there cowries? Would it all be the same? Am *I* the same?
No.
Things are different. It's all quite inexplicable, but definitely I'm a local of Brisbane and Queensland now, not a Kamaaina.
"How you feegah?"
We went 'home' to Holualoa...
We wanted to have another go at those valleys we missed, of which Waipio is the best known, and Pololu is furthest north, near Kapa`au. Since we're already near the upper highway of Kona (called the Mamalahoa Highway) we elected to drive over to Kamuela (Waimea - still feels weird to call it that) and from there catch the upper road over to Hawi-Town.
It was windy in Kamuela... picked up some petrol and had a chat to a local guy who reassured me that Waimea is still known by the locals as Kamuela, "still-yet".
Then, we headed up and up and up - didn't remember Hawaii as being so *steep* everywhere - through tundra-like, wind-buffeted terrain and then finally we were greeted with the ironwood wind-break stretch of the highway that I'd always found so magical. We were now at elevation again, and the clouds would flail the jeep with spots of pelting rainy mist, which you couldn't really call rain at all. It didn't even properly wet the road. We arrived in "Hawi-Town", the weather still undecided what it wanted to do. Near the Visitor's Centre was a guy selling roast chicken and ribs that he was roasting right there:
When we arrived in Kohala just a bit down the road, it was doing that heavy misting/almost-raining thing again, hence the somewhat blurry-looking Kamehameha statue image:
 |
| Click on image for larger version |
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| Click on image for larger version |
We finally tore ourselves away from the enchantment of Pololu Valley and resigning ourselves to the fact that Waipio Valley was going to be a "next time" thing, we drove the seaside road from Hawi to Kawaihae.
The vegetation quickly went from lush tropical to survivalist lava hang-in-there scrub plants like keawe - those nasty trees that dump dead branches with spikes (thorns) that go through armoured vehicles. Don't go on a stroll through that: you'll think you were ambushed. Those thorns are over an inch long and will go through shoe leather!
We ended up at Spenser Park.
Spenser Park is definitely good value.
I'd played up Hapuna Beach as this end-all, be-all beach:
No.
Things are different. It's all quite inexplicable, but definitely I'm a local of Brisbane and Queensland now, not a Kamaaina.
"How you feegah?"
We went 'home' to Holualoa...
Wednesday 14 March 2012
A rest day...julia
Today we thought we would have a day off and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. Words can not describe and pictures do not capture the sheer beauty of this place. The accommodation we have is second to none, we have everything we could possibly need and more. We were lucky enough to find this bit of paradise on airbnb. For those of you who have not heard about airbnb check out the website airbnb for us it has been a wonderful experience.
So yesterday Robin took us on another adventure to a part of the island, just south a little way to Kealakekua Bay we pulled into the little car park and the Local Boys made a beeline to the jeep, they wanted to take us on a Kayak ride one mile across the bay to the Captain Cook Monument, we decided that we would just view from the beach this time! It was great to hear Robin talking pigeon Hawaiian to the locals, something I have only heard him talk with his siblings. Its so good having our own Local tour guide!
Along the drive we passed a Plumaria (Frangipani) farm, I just had to stop and buy Nanny a Lei .... couldnt go to Hawaii without having one.. I think she looks beautiful dont you!..
Today we hit the shops again,after a nice drive to see Captain Cooks memorial. The view from our balcony is really lovely at night when we look down on lights of Kona. Every day we watch the bird life here, the birds are so pretty, I know Den would just love it here...except for the ROOSTER and I think he would have rung his neck by now. Robin and Jule are so good to me, the 9 kilo I lost before I started this holiday will be back on before I get to the UK....Oh well I'll try again when I get home.
Monday 12 March 2012
A Biggish Day with All the Rain you could Want
It all started off brilliantly... we met up with Becky, Meg and Murphy at this really rustic breakfast thingie by the water. They've had a blast so far, so we had a bit of catching up to do:
So, we set out for Kamuela (you only see signs for Waimea, though) at around ten-ish. Stretches of the road are in pretty good nick but you can't really go all that fast, particularly with a jeep. We drove out of the haze of Kona into the blustery wind of Waimea. I don't ever remember driving through Waimea without there being fog somewhere and/or wind, nor did it disappoint this time. As we drove down the hill towards Honokaa, in the back of my mind I'm going: "ooo, so close to those malasadas!"... never ended up getting any, though. The girls weren't hungry so instead of messing around waiting we decided to press on to Waipio Valley. The closer we got, the harder it rained. We got there and parked on the edge, peering through the downpour, only just barely making out the breaking surf at the bottom.
Waipio wasn't going to happen. Oh well.
So, we continued down the coast. Much to my astonishment, where were once huge fields of cane, there now stood TALL forests of eucalypts. And I mean tall! I felt like we were driving through the forests between Eureka and Crescent City. Seriously! It was eerie.
Our first foray off the beaten path was Lapahoehoe Point:
I dashed off for the loo whilst the girls braved the blustery wind and spray:
And... it started to rain, again. As it does. We saw stunning hibiscus in an incredible variety of colours. The rain-forest was as it always is: impenetrable, mysterious, unchanging: with that sweet-smelling mixture of wet leaves, rotten fruit and invisible flowers we will never see.
We drove on through the rain. The three loops through valleys were as gorgeous as I remember them.
We finally turned off at Pepeekeo and took the scenic route through old town Pepeekeo, passing this new tourist-thingie called 'something' Botanical Gardens before we got into the windy drive through the jungle, over ancient bridges alongside the ocean in our jeep:
...
No, it didn't rain. Wow.
I'll tell you about Hilo in the next instalment: been driving pretty much all day and I'm knackered. This pint of Guinness is probably contributing to that eye-lid-drooping effect....
So, where did I leave you? Somewhere on the Hamakua coast?
So, let's move on from Pepeekeo. We drove into Hilo, with Hilo looking very much like Hilo has looked from time immemorial. Rain on the slopes, puddles on the ground, sun peeking through here and there, steam rising from the streets where it just rained. We went up Waianuenue, then left along Komohana, down Kawailani, had a stickie-beak at Nohea Street - I'm convinced I saw the lychee tree in the back of the house, one we used to pick lychees from to take in to church to share with folks. We drove down to Awa Street. Things haven't changed there much either - "no stay dee-feren, aftah all".
Hilo itself hasn't really changed much. Apparently, it doesn't. We drove along Banyan Drive: the place looked deserted. I treated the girls to Queen Liliuokalani Gardens:
Yeah, some roads are wider, some stuff is new, what was Mamo Theatre is now a vacant lot, but Hilo still looks fairly the same, a wee bit run-down, overall. The people are pretty nice. Actually: really nice. We had lunch at this place on the waterfront called Cafe Pesto - nice food. Good service. Had a local feel, but up-market.
I spent a fair bit of time immersing myself in the whole feel of Hilo. After all: this is/was home. And it felt no different. Not one tiny bit. And a lot of it, I sorely missed.
The whole rain thing:
sheesh, this is what brings life. SE-Queenslanders get depressed when it rains more than two days running: I learned to love the rain "small-kid-time"... learned to love it here in Hilo. To me, rain is a normal, even essential part of life. It was what I hated most about California: no rain 9 months out of the year.
Julia and Nanny found a Ben Franklin to get stuck into (crafting ribbons and other delectable items) and I had a stroll down to the KTA (K Taniguchi) store to pick up some essentials: Chernoble-orange cheese Americans know as 'cheddar' for the morning omelette... and a Guinness.
Can't believe for the same exact bottle of Guinness it's $2.99 here in the islands: in Queensland it's $5.99. Hope Canberra are enjoying the profits!
Finally, it was time to head back. I'd heard they'd fixed up the Saddle Road, and besides, we were in a jeep, so off we went up Kaumana Drive. Nothing was different, except Bill Wilson's "House by the Roadside" was called something else. And further up, above the caves, it seemed things were more built up.
Initially, Saddle Road didn't seem much different and I was sort of dreading the wind-y drive through fog and rain ... and then suddenly, there's this brand-new *wide* straight road, going up and up and up and we're flying along at 55 mph on a stretch of terrain you could only ever go 30 - 35, tops. I was flabbergasted. In no time we found ourselves back on the Kohala Coast (where the road did go back to narrow, winding and lumpy-bumpy for a little bit.
It was a big day.
So, we set out for Kamuela (you only see signs for Waimea, though) at around ten-ish. Stretches of the road are in pretty good nick but you can't really go all that fast, particularly with a jeep. We drove out of the haze of Kona into the blustery wind of Waimea. I don't ever remember driving through Waimea without there being fog somewhere and/or wind, nor did it disappoint this time. As we drove down the hill towards Honokaa, in the back of my mind I'm going: "ooo, so close to those malasadas!"... never ended up getting any, though. The girls weren't hungry so instead of messing around waiting we decided to press on to Waipio Valley. The closer we got, the harder it rained. We got there and parked on the edge, peering through the downpour, only just barely making out the breaking surf at the bottom.
Waipio wasn't going to happen. Oh well.
So, we continued down the coast. Much to my astonishment, where were once huge fields of cane, there now stood TALL forests of eucalypts. And I mean tall! I felt like we were driving through the forests between Eureka and Crescent City. Seriously! It was eerie.
Our first foray off the beaten path was Lapahoehoe Point:
We drove on through the rain. The three loops through valleys were as gorgeous as I remember them.
We finally turned off at Pepeekeo and took the scenic route through old town Pepeekeo, passing this new tourist-thingie called 'something' Botanical Gardens before we got into the windy drive through the jungle, over ancient bridges alongside the ocean in our jeep:
No, it didn't rain. Wow.
I'll tell you about Hilo in the next instalment: been driving pretty much all day and I'm knackered. This pint of Guinness is probably contributing to that eye-lid-drooping effect....
So, where did I leave you? Somewhere on the Hamakua coast?
So, let's move on from Pepeekeo. We drove into Hilo, with Hilo looking very much like Hilo has looked from time immemorial. Rain on the slopes, puddles on the ground, sun peeking through here and there, steam rising from the streets where it just rained. We went up Waianuenue, then left along Komohana, down Kawailani, had a stickie-beak at Nohea Street - I'm convinced I saw the lychee tree in the back of the house, one we used to pick lychees from to take in to church to share with folks. We drove down to Awa Street. Things haven't changed there much either - "no stay dee-feren, aftah all".
Hilo itself hasn't really changed much. Apparently, it doesn't. We drove along Banyan Drive: the place looked deserted. I treated the girls to Queen Liliuokalani Gardens:
Yeah, some roads are wider, some stuff is new, what was Mamo Theatre is now a vacant lot, but Hilo still looks fairly the same, a wee bit run-down, overall. The people are pretty nice. Actually: really nice. We had lunch at this place on the waterfront called Cafe Pesto - nice food. Good service. Had a local feel, but up-market.
I spent a fair bit of time immersing myself in the whole feel of Hilo. After all: this is/was home. And it felt no different. Not one tiny bit. And a lot of it, I sorely missed.
The whole rain thing:
sheesh, this is what brings life. SE-Queenslanders get depressed when it rains more than two days running: I learned to love the rain "small-kid-time"... learned to love it here in Hilo. To me, rain is a normal, even essential part of life. It was what I hated most about California: no rain 9 months out of the year.
Julia and Nanny found a Ben Franklin to get stuck into (crafting ribbons and other delectable items) and I had a stroll down to the KTA (K Taniguchi) store to pick up some essentials: Chernoble-orange cheese Americans know as 'cheddar' for the morning omelette... and a Guinness.
Can't believe for the same exact bottle of Guinness it's $2.99 here in the islands: in Queensland it's $5.99. Hope Canberra are enjoying the profits!
Finally, it was time to head back. I'd heard they'd fixed up the Saddle Road, and besides, we were in a jeep, so off we went up Kaumana Drive. Nothing was different, except Bill Wilson's "House by the Roadside" was called something else. And further up, above the caves, it seemed things were more built up.
Initially, Saddle Road didn't seem much different and I was sort of dreading the wind-y drive through fog and rain ... and then suddenly, there's this brand-new *wide* straight road, going up and up and up and we're flying along at 55 mph on a stretch of terrain you could only ever go 30 - 35, tops. I was flabbergasted. In no time we found ourselves back on the Kohala Coast (where the road did go back to narrow, winding and lumpy-bumpy for a little bit.
It was a big day.
Had a day of slumming / chilling yesterday. Think we all sort-of needed it. Today we meet up with Murphy, Meg and Becky for brekkie and then it's possibly off to the other side of the island, including Waipio Valley and Hilo. We'll see how we go. It's all island time, no agendas. It's a bit hazy and overcast today - so what else is new on Hawaii?
Getting really addicted to this Kona coffee... how am I ever going to go back to Moccona?
Getting really addicted to this Kona coffee... how am I ever going to go back to Moccona?
Sunday 11 March 2012
Aloha from Julia
Well, it's taken me a few days to get this started, mainly because I have been nursing a migraine that I got at 3am the day we left Australia, today it is nearly all gone, and also we are having a day of just chilling, no planes to catch and we are safely tucked up in our plantation house on the Big Island of Hawaii...
Our flight was uneventful, all of us managing to catch a few z's. Because Robin still travels on an American passport it meant we flew through immigration and customs... Yay. A quick Taxi drive to the hotel and we were soon having a cup of tea. A cat nap was in order before we hit the town via the bus... Robin has already mentioned that.
For Mum it was a time to revisit places that she had been to on previous trips to Waikiki with dad. Happy memories :) After being fed and watered we headed back to the hotel promising ourselves that we would have that MaiTai tomorrow!
A trip to the airport on Saturday morning before the crowds on our way to the Big Island of Hawaii, Robin has been wanting to take me here for years and years. A lovely short 45 min flight and we touched down on the Big Island. I was left at the terminal while Mum and Robin went and got the hire car, we had pre booked before we left home, a normal size sedan imagine my surprise when they rocked up in a black shiny Jeep and Nanny grinning from ear to ear!... the memory is priceless, the pair of them looked like Jethro and granny Clampit! Bless them!
We drove into Kona and found a nice place to have lunch. The Kona Inn overlooks the ocean, a place where Robin's father had worked as a maintenance man for a while. Mum and I had a pulled-pig sandwich and Robin had a pastrami with about half a kilo of meat on it (as is the American way). We strolled across the lawn to the sea wall: it had been damaged in the Japan Tsunami of last year.
Time to do some shopping before we made our way up to the coffee plantation. We stopped at Safeway, got ourselves a club card which entitled us to many items at half price.... cant imagine Woolies or Coles doing that.... and so off we went with our jeep packed with supplies and of course the ingredients for our MaiTais!
I will close this one for now and let Robin talk some more, also some pictures to be put up.... Aloha! xxxx
Our flight was uneventful, all of us managing to catch a few z's. Because Robin still travels on an American passport it meant we flew through immigration and customs... Yay. A quick Taxi drive to the hotel and we were soon having a cup of tea. A cat nap was in order before we hit the town via the bus... Robin has already mentioned that.
For Mum it was a time to revisit places that she had been to on previous trips to Waikiki with dad. Happy memories :) After being fed and watered we headed back to the hotel promising ourselves that we would have that MaiTai tomorrow!
A trip to the airport on Saturday morning before the crowds on our way to the Big Island of Hawaii, Robin has been wanting to take me here for years and years. A lovely short 45 min flight and we touched down on the Big Island. I was left at the terminal while Mum and Robin went and got the hire car, we had pre booked before we left home, a normal size sedan imagine my surprise when they rocked up in a black shiny Jeep and Nanny grinning from ear to ear!... the memory is priceless, the pair of them looked like Jethro and granny Clampit! Bless them!
We drove into Kona and found a nice place to have lunch. The Kona Inn overlooks the ocean, a place where Robin's father had worked as a maintenance man for a while. Mum and I had a pulled-pig sandwich and Robin had a pastrami with about half a kilo of meat on it (as is the American way). We strolled across the lawn to the sea wall: it had been damaged in the Japan Tsunami of last year.
Time to do some shopping before we made our way up to the coffee plantation. We stopped at Safeway, got ourselves a club card which entitled us to many items at half price.... cant imagine Woolies or Coles doing that.... and so off we went with our jeep packed with supplies and of course the ingredients for our MaiTais!
I will close this one for now and let Robin talk some more, also some pictures to be put up.... Aloha! xxxx
Friday 9 March 2012
That Knackered Feeling
Is it that poor-sleep on an aeroplane thing, or just that Hawaii relaxation kicking in? Got in at quarter to nine in the morning feeling like something the cat dragged in with intent to bury later on. Nanny was the only one who had a decent meal on any of our flights: she went with the fish. Can't beat Air New Zealand for food, definitely.
Apparently Hawaii's been enjoying flooding here on Oahu, so the overcast weather was fairly typical for what the locals have seen over the last months. Still, the weather held long enough for us to enjoy our first adventure together: a bus ride into town. We stiffed the system $2.75 because the bus drivers don't make change and I wasn't about to pay $50 for a bus ride. Nanny almost immediately made friends with an Aussie couple from Woolongong who holiday in Hawaii a fair bit. Couldn't wait, myself, for the glorious trip to end... ended up in Waikiki, having dinner at Chilli's. Not bad tucker, and what would Julia have? Yep: ribs. She still prefers Applebee's though.
Making an early mark... you just don't sleep well when you can't stretch your legs out.
Apparently Hawaii's been enjoying flooding here on Oahu, so the overcast weather was fairly typical for what the locals have seen over the last months. Still, the weather held long enough for us to enjoy our first adventure together: a bus ride into town. We stiffed the system $2.75 because the bus drivers don't make change and I wasn't about to pay $50 for a bus ride. Nanny almost immediately made friends with an Aussie couple from Woolongong who holiday in Hawaii a fair bit. Couldn't wait, myself, for the glorious trip to end... ended up in Waikiki, having dinner at Chilli's. Not bad tucker, and what would Julia have? Yep: ribs. She still prefers Applebee's though.
Making an early mark... you just don't sleep well when you can't stretch your legs out.
Thursday 8 March 2012
Sydney Airport has free WiFi!
So, we're on our WAY!!
Bit of a bumpy landing in Sydney (cross-wind) and now we're languishing in the lounge waiting for our flight to Honolulu. Nothing in Duty-Free caused any skirts to fly up, so we're going to travel light this time. The food on the flight was about the worst ever on a Qantas flight in the history of Qantas, ever. This sort-of wrap-thing with ancient-tasting chicken with heartburn that lingers. YUM! :-/
At least the company was really pleasant: Julia was delighted to see Judith from the MCCollough Dental Centre days and they caught up a bit.
All around, a lovely day so far. Took a few piccies of Julia and Nanny at the airport but I doubt they'll get featured on here. I'm prepared to be surprised.
Bit of a bumpy landing in Sydney (cross-wind) and now we're languishing in the lounge waiting for our flight to Honolulu. Nothing in Duty-Free caused any skirts to fly up, so we're going to travel light this time. The food on the flight was about the worst ever on a Qantas flight in the history of Qantas, ever. This sort-of wrap-thing with ancient-tasting chicken with heartburn that lingers. YUM! :-/
At least the company was really pleasant: Julia was delighted to see Judith from the MCCollough Dental Centre days and they caught up a bit.
All around, a lovely day so far. Took a few piccies of Julia and Nanny at the airport but I doubt they'll get featured on here. I'm prepared to be surprised.
Monday 5 March 2012
Suitcase packed
For the first time ever my suitcase is packed days ahead of time, my house has been clean throughout, money is changed.......I have even been to vote today.
The only thing left to do is email all of my internet friends to remind them NO emails until May4th.
Tonight is the last night in my own bed, off to Julia and Robins tomorrow.
Can't wait.!
The only thing left to do is email all of my internet friends to remind them NO emails until May4th.
Tonight is the last night in my own bed, off to Julia and Robins tomorrow.
Can't wait.!
Walking in *our* Paradise
6-3-2012
Went for an early walk this morning... much as I am so looking forward to Hawaii, I was impressed with how beautiful this part of the world is here in Brisbane. It's been raining a fair bit and everything is so lovely and green!
We're very lucky.
Went for an early walk this morning... much as I am so looking forward to Hawaii, I was impressed with how beautiful this part of the world is here in Brisbane. It's been raining a fair bit and everything is so lovely and green!
Monday ... 4 more sleeps
Are we there yet? oh no thats right, another few sleeps, well they are really only half sleeps cos I never sleep all through the night anyway! I think all my lists were going through my head last night, I felt like I was awake every hour.
More excitement as we saw on Facebook that Heather and Mike have got their rings.
Mrs T is excited more than I have ever known her to be before.... yesterday I surprised her with tickets for us to see Phantom of the Opera in Vegas one of our favourite Andrew Lloyd Webers productions, best seats in the house too! wooohooo. Cant get the music of the night out of my head either... geez its a busy place! Only a few more days and it will be Mai Tia's (sp) on the veranda of our coffee plantation accommodation. Bring it on!
More excitement as we saw on Facebook that Heather and Mike have got their rings.
Mrs T is excited more than I have ever known her to be before.... yesterday I surprised her with tickets for us to see Phantom of the Opera in Vegas one of our favourite Andrew Lloyd Webers productions, best seats in the house too! wooohooo. Cant get the music of the night out of my head either... geez its a busy place! Only a few more days and it will be Mai Tia's (sp) on the veranda of our coffee plantation accommodation. Bring it on!
Sunday 4 March 2012
Excitement
4-3-2012
Five more sleeps! All accommodations / car hire / tickets for events have been organised. Passports have been reviewed. Clothing is being sorted. Trip to the airport (and return) is taken care of: Chloe is taking us.
We're all excited beyond repair. We are off on the HOT TAMALE train to VEGAS!
Robin's excited because of the event we're travelling abroad for: Mike's wedding! And because we get to spend some time with Martin. And a chance to see family (Amber and Justin, Mutti) again. And because of where we are staying in Hawaii, both on the Big Island and later on, Kaneohe on the return leg of our journeys: NOT in hotels! More about those later... and of course there will be pics
I could add: I'm excited to be catching up with Linda in Sacramento (not to mention carting off half Linda's crafting supplies). And catching up with Mike Stoller my first ever internet friend from 12 years ago. And seeing my beloved Napa Valley again (and the Napa Girls), and to go to the Stinking Rose in San Francisco one more time.( note i did not say last time!). I so love America and all the people who are special to us there.
And Nanny? She's in for a treat. Originally our plan was to travel in the opposite direction this year and visit the UK and Europe, dropping Mum off in the UK to visit with her siblings while Robin whisked me off for a romantic Anniversary weekend in Paris. Mike and Heather's engagement created so much excitement we just had to be a part of the big day. So plans were revised and Mum opted to come with us and then travel by herself to the UK after a month in the States... Las Vegas is on her bucket list as is the Grand Canyon...
A little word about Nanny... you may also see her referred to in this blog as Mum, Brenda or Mrs Thing... its very hard to stick to one name for the darling... so please dont think I have taken along 4 others with me, its just me, Robin and Mum...
So much still to do before we leave, I have got lists everywhere.
Five more sleeps! All accommodations / car hire / tickets for events have been organised. Passports have been reviewed. Clothing is being sorted. Trip to the airport (and return) is taken care of: Chloe is taking us.
We're all excited beyond repair. We are off on the HOT TAMALE train to VEGAS!
Robin's excited because of the event we're travelling abroad for: Mike's wedding! And because we get to spend some time with Martin. And a chance to see family (Amber and Justin, Mutti) again. And because of where we are staying in Hawaii, both on the Big Island and later on, Kaneohe on the return leg of our journeys: NOT in hotels! More about those later... and of course there will be pics
I could add: I'm excited to be catching up with Linda in Sacramento (not to mention carting off half Linda's crafting supplies). And catching up with Mike Stoller my first ever internet friend from 12 years ago. And seeing my beloved Napa Valley again (and the Napa Girls), and to go to the Stinking Rose in San Francisco one more time.( note i did not say last time!). I so love America and all the people who are special to us there.
And Nanny? She's in for a treat. Originally our plan was to travel in the opposite direction this year and visit the UK and Europe, dropping Mum off in the UK to visit with her siblings while Robin whisked me off for a romantic Anniversary weekend in Paris. Mike and Heather's engagement created so much excitement we just had to be a part of the big day. So plans were revised and Mum opted to come with us and then travel by herself to the UK after a month in the States... Las Vegas is on her bucket list as is the Grand Canyon...
A little word about Nanny... you may also see her referred to in this blog as Mum, Brenda or Mrs Thing... its very hard to stick to one name for the darling... so please dont think I have taken along 4 others with me, its just me, Robin and Mum...
So much still to do before we leave, I have got lists everywhere.
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