That's right. We're back.

Um...it's been a while. A long while. And we were busy. A lot.

Sorry!

Instead of putting this off until we can catch you up on the past 17 months we're just going to move forward from here. And now and then we'll throw in something interesting from the missing months.

Today, I thought I would share one of the views from our patio. It's a special little garden spot.

I can understand the three different kinds of grass. And the three little aspen seedlings. Birds could drop some seeds there. But three of those things look like they come from bulbs.  Not sure how that happened.

Got carrots?

Last year, at about this same time, I needed garden space to plant our peas and lettuce. So I dug up what was left of the carrots that we'd left in the garden to enjoy over the winter so that I could use the space to plant my peas and lettuce. I scrubbed them and weighed them- 17 lbs. And after scrubbing a little over 17 lbs of carrots, I resolved to plan and plant more carefully and not have so many carrots to stand and scrub. And then I put all those carrots in the fridge and ate our way through them.

Then I carefully counted and spaced and planted carrot seeds for the new season. And in the fall, I covered what was left of the carrots so that we could use them during the winter. And we enjoyed carrots all winter long. 


Last week, I needed the space where the last of the carrots were so that I could plant our peas and lettuce. So I dug up what was left of the carrots that we'd left in the garden over the winter. I scrubbed them and weighed them- 31.6 lbs. 


Go figure.

That's a lot of carrots to eat our way through. No matter what's for dinner, we'll be having carrots with it.

And I've resolved to plan and plant more carefully this year so that I won't have so many carrots to stand and scrub when I need the space to plant my peas and lettuce.


Third time's the charm?

Aloha 2012

So here we are again, after another absence. Let's get this Hawaii report done and move on to other things!

Day Ten

Wednesday

We actually did drive to Hawi today. It is about as north as you can get on the Big Island. It’s a small town that was in decline after the sugar cane plantation left the area. It still looks economically depressed, but there are pockets of wealthy homes and the shops along the highway now cater to tourists- galleries, snack shops and cafés, excursion shops.

We went through Hawi and drove out to the overlook at the end of the Akoni Pule highway. It is a beautiful view of cliffs and valleys and coastline. From there you can look down into the Pololu Valley. Maybe someday we’ll hike part way down into the valley.

We took a few side roads on our way back to Hawi and looked at little towns and parks. The Keokea Beach Park is on one of those little side roads and we drove down to take a look. It was mostly blocked off because of extensive renovation work in the park. We’ll have to go back and see how it turns out.

And here is a picture of a mailbox that we drive past every day. I LOVE this mailbox!

Day Eleven

Thursday

This is our last full day on the island. It was a pretty casual day. Extra long walks along the main drag. Watching turtles and birds and waves on the beach. Getting started on the packing.

We had a funny little episode at dinner. A delicious dinner, by the way, at a nice restaurant. A little visitor showed up in O’s salad. And lucky for O, it wasn’t just half of a little visitor.

The server was appalled and horrified and tried to explain that it was because the greens were organic. Seriously?  The real problem wasn’t the greens, it was the kitchen staffer who washed the greens.

No, we won’t tell you where we ate. And yes, we’ll eat there again.

Day Twelve

Friday

This is the day we head home.

Today we spent the morning in the condo, doing laundry, cleaning out the fridge for breakfast. Mostly just passing the time until we had to check out of the condo.

When checkout time came, we loaded our stuff into the trunk of the car and walked up the road to the Huli He’e Palace for a tour. It’s a beautiful building with lots of artifacts and furniture with really amazing craftsmanship. Photography isn’t allowed in the palace, so we can’t give you anything to look at.

After the tour we drove up to Waikoloa to kill time and look for a new Hawaiian shirt for O. Then we had a quick lunch at Merriman’s Market Café before we headed to the airport.

One last parting shot of aloha.

Aloha 2012

Day Nine

Tuesday

This was our Temple day. It was a nice little session with 11 women and 4 men. Our plan for the rest of the day was to go north to a little town called Hawi and then have dinner at Roy's on our way back to Kona. This town is very remote and not on the highway that circles the island. We never quite made it there because we stopped to run errands and browse at several shops on our way out of town. Finally we decided that we would not have time to get to Hawi and back in time for our dinner reservation, so we just went to Waikoloa, where the restaurant is, and wandered around looking in all the shops until it was time to eat. The food was delicious, the service was excellent and the dessert was so ono. We always get the same thing: the Chocolate soufflé. It may look like just a simple chocolate cake with ice cream, but there's really nothing like it.

Eat your hearts out!!

Aloha 2012

Day eight

Monday

This was our 'circle the island' day. We made our traditional PBJ lunch and headed south to loop around the bottom of the island, up the east side, across the saddle road between volcanoes and then down the west side to Kona. We check out places where we've been before to see what's new and what's 'just the same as always.' Occasionally we take a little side road to check out one of the many tiny towns off the main road. We stopped in Naalehu (the southernmost town in the US) at their famous little bakery to split a cream eclair and then headed through Punalu'u to check out the campground where we saw our very first mongoose when we camped there in 1989. (We also got VERY wet in this little campground)

Back on the road, we headed for Volcanoes National Park. And then it happened! Finally!

What!? What, you say?

Well, we finally got to see our very first, in the wild Nene. Actually four of them, just hanging out at the side of the road, browsing in the grasses there. The Nene is the State bird of Hawaii, and is an endangered bird.

Somebody's Father wisely asked, "Should I turn around and go back?" and that is why we are able to bring you this picture from our first Nene sighting.

Like all of our endangered Hawaiian wildlife pictures, it's a little fuzzy because of the telephoto and cropping necessary. But even though its fuzzy, it's still our very own Nene picture.
After the Nene excitement, and a chat with the classic over-the-hill, grey pony-tailed biker who was also watching the geese (I decided not to take a picture of him for my wildlife collection), we headed back down the road to Volcanoes National Park for our favorite little 'hike' through the tropical rain forest/lava tube. I love this little 5 minute stroll because there is a lot of lush vegetation and birds singing everywhere. You seldom see a bird, but you sure can hear them. Lots of them and lots of different kinds. One of these years, I'm going to get up early enough to get there before all the chattering people and record the birds.

Back on the road again, we stopped at Akatsuka's Orchid Gardens to admire the orchids and see if we could find a particular variety that I had decided to purchase this year. After much searching, and succumbing to the temptation of a few other varieties, we finally located the one I wanted, arranged to have everything shipped home, and headed to Hilo.

Not one of the ones we bought, but pretty!

In Hilo, we finally accomplished one of our long-time Hilo goals: We identified exactly which road in town would take us directly to the Saddle Road, a road that cuts quite a bit of time off of the drive around the island. This would have been easy if we had simply taken the Saddle Road from Kona to Hilo, but since we were driving the opposite direction, it involved weaving through town until we finally found ourselves on the Saddle Road, and then turning around and driving back in to town until we reached the main highway. With that mystery solved, we headed off along the Saddle Road, passing through the "saddle" between the two largest volcanoes, the military reserves, etc until we arrived in Waimea for a nice dinner at the Red Water Cafe: Kiawe-smoked baby back ribs for me and a Spicy Ahi, avocado, ogo, cucumber and lemon zest roll with a spicy aioli plus a seared Ahi entree for O. Then it was straight back to Kona and into bed. A big day and a big drive around the Big Island.

Aloha 2012

Day seven

Day seven was Sunday. We went to church, ate in- grilled steaks, salad and fried rice- mediated a little tiff between my blog and my iPhoto, and then went for a walk.

Here is a pretty flower that I noticed by the BBQ grills.

On Sundays there is a big street market and concert on the old section of Ali'i Drive. The police block off the road, and artisans, craftsmen, restaurants, etc. set up stalls in the street. Here and there along the way there are also local musicians and bands playing. It's fun and festive. After we walked along the drive, we came back to the condo for popcorn, hot homemade cookies and a video.

And a nice Kona sunset from our lanai.

Aloha 2012

What made the tracks?
I was waiting for a few responses before I told you what made the tracks, but I can see that you are all so mystified that you are speechless, except for Grandma Betty, who guessed it right off. And the answer is…..



That's right- a turtle. It had hauled itself up onto the beach not long before we got there. Stay tuned for more wildlife sightings and news of day eight in a later post.

Aloha 2012

Day Six
Saturday

Today we went to the Kahuku section of Volcanoes National Park. We headed out at about 8:00 a.m. and arrived about 20 minutes after they opened the gate. This section of the park is only open on weekends. Once you pass the ranger buildings inside the gate it's basically undeveloped, except for a porta-potty at one trail head, and trail markers along the trails. The old ranch road is no longer maintained and is very rugged in some places and eroded and uneven every place where it isn't rugged. That's why we rented a Jeep for the day. We went quite a ways up the road last year in a sedan, and knew we (Meredith) didn't want to do that again.


This year, in a Jeep, we went all the way to the furthest trailhead. It was sunny and about 68 degrees with a light breeze. We hiked out to the rim of a sunken pit crater that has a pristine rain forest in it. It's an impressive sight. Then we took a different trail for part of the way back. We didn't see another person the entire time we were hiking. The area is very remote and very quiet. The only sounds we heard were the sounds of our own footsteps as we moved along the grassy trails (sometimes the grass was hip-high) and the sounds of lots of birds. These are some pictures of the trail.




This is a picture looking across the top of the pit crater.

We tried to take pictures of the steep sections of the road, but you can't really tell that the road is rough or steep.

After we returned the Jeep, picked up our car and had a nice shower at the condo we drove down to Keauhou to try out a new restaurant, Sam Choy's, for dinner. The food and service were good and the restaurant is up on a hill so that you can look out over the top of the town to see the ocean, so we got to enjoy a nice sunset while we ate. O's Seared Ahi salad.

Today's sunset taken from our table at Sam Choy's Restaurant.

Aloha 2012

Day Five

We went for a big walk along the beach in the Koloko-Honokohau National Historical Park. Last year, and the year before, we saw new and interesting things on the beach. This year we added another new sight to our list. I could tell you what we saw, but instead I'm going to show you, and let you tell me how it got there.

I'll put up a picture with the answer in my next post. In the mean time, here's a picture of a little fella I saw on the rocks at low tide. I have no idea what it is, but I think it's kind of cute.


We spent the rest of the day hanging out, writing post cards, etc. Then after dinner we took our car to the parking lot at the airport and picked up a Jeep Wrangler so that we could have a high-clearance 4WD to go up the road in the Kahuku section of the Volcanoes National Park tomorrow (we'll return the Jeep and reclaim our car tomorrow afternoon).

Aloha 2012

The Pressure of a Hawaiian Vacation

As I am sure you can imagine, there are some downsides to a couple of weeks in Hawaii. Everything isn’t just sun, fun and great food. Occasionally, we have to deal with pressure in a real way. Take yesterday for example. We had just embarked on our annual trip to Kealakekua Bay to enjoy the beautiful ocean, hang with the fishes and to enjoy a great lunch.

Preparation steps included bringing our snorkels, masks, finding towels that could leave the condo and remembering to actually put on a bunch of sunscreen. A couple of years ago we purchased a case for our digital camera that allows us to carry the camera below the water to take those great “backside of water” pictures. This year we actually remembered to bring the case so it could be used for its originally planned purpose. For some reason, last year we left the case in Utah. I am not sure what it did while we were gone, but it didn't fill the measure of its creation.

We had carefully tested the case in Utah to make sure there were no leaks or any other detectable problem with the sealing system. On the boat as we approached the bay M asked if I could get the case open so she could load in the camera. Evidently she had been working on getting the case open for a bit of time, but to no avail. She actually was beginning to doubt her own strength and was worried that old age was suddenly catching up with us.

Being the ever “macho” guy willing to open difficult containers, reach high places and otherwise impress my bride of thirty some odd years I took the case, operated the latch and discovered that I couldn’t open the case either. At first I was sure I was messing up the operation of the latch, but it really isn’t rocket science, depress tab, open container. It doesn’t seem that difficult.

After being a total failure for several minutes we decided to join forces, one holding on to the case and the other pushing the latch while pulling on the lid. We must have made quite a sight pushing and prying while giving each other “valuable” advise. It seemed like the little plastic camera case might defeat two mechanically literate college graduates.

All at once, with our combined efforts we finally heard a pop just like the cork of a long sealed bottle and the case finally succumbed to our will. With the case open and with the telltale “pop” we realized that the case which had been closed in that “rarified” air of 4500+ feet in Utah resisted being opened at the sea level altitude of our boat. The pressure of the air in Hawaii was just enough greater than the pressure of the air in the case that we almost couldn’t overcome the partial vacuum sealed up in Utah before our trip.

So, as you can plainly see, the “Pressure” of a Hawaiian Vacation can take many forms.

Aloha 2012

Day Four
It's snorkel day!

This was our snorkel day. O started the day with his walk down Ali'i Drive and then we headed off to the Keauhou harbor.It was a great snorkel day. Lots of fish, good weather, good food and not too many people on the boat or in the water.



Look closely at the picture above. There is a large school of silvery fish that blend in with the silvery reflection of the surface of the water above them.
On the way back to the condo, I asked O to pull over so that I could take a picture of this special tree. Pretty cool treehouse!

No walls. Just a ladder, a floor and a little annual trimming! Fun and clever.

We decided to eat in instead of going out tonight. While O made a salad, I fixed rice and skewered the shrimp for the barbie. O's salad had lots of his favorite things:


My compliments to a budding "salad whisperer."

Aloha 2012

Day One

This year, we arrived at the airport with MoreBacon in time for a little visit to the Sky Club and then we left her behind in the club because we had the earlier flight. It was an uneventful flight with a smooth connection in Honolulu (and a short visit to a cute little Sky Club). On the way to our gate we passed a gate with a lot of people waiting for the non-stop to Atlanta, and thought of DairyAir and her clan.Stopped at Target on the way to the condo so that we would have milk and juice before we went to the Kona Temple the next day.Grabbed a quick dinner at Bubba Gump's and then went for our usual walk along Ali'i to the pier and back to the condo. 

Day Two

O went for a walk along Ali'i Drive (2.5 mi) before we went to the temple. We arrived at the temple extra early, but it is such a tiny temple that there really isn't a place to wait until it's almost time for the session to start (no chapel- you just go straight to the room for the session). After a while, our session started with 5 men and 10 women. We are often the youngest people in the session because most people our age are at work at 9:30 a.m. and today was no different. It was a nice session.After the temple, we changed our clothes and did some running around town and shopping- Costco, Kimura's (old fashioned fabric store), our favorite macadamia nut factory (not the famous one everyone thinks of) and KTA (grocery chain store).We ate at Huggo's, where O had a series of three different salads instead of an entree and I had a nice seared hawaiian sea bass with purple sweet potato puree and a haupia/lemongrass sauce. Then we walked it off with another stroll to the pier and back (about 2 miles from condo to pier and back). 

Day Three

We had a lazy morning. O walked down Ali'i again, we had a buttermilk pancake breakfast in the condo and then went to the farmer's market for fresh fruit and salad fixins. After that we headed off to the other side of the island to pick up some premium vanilla beans. Jer has found us a Utah source for vanilla, and we'll use those beans for some vanilla adventures this summer, but for our Christmas Creme Brûlée we like the Hawaiian vanilla bean.After the vanilla bean plantation we went up through Honomu to visit an old friend:They've done a little work in the parking lot, clearing away a few trees, etc. For the first time that we can recall, we could see the top of the falls from the there. An interesting viewAfter a snack at Pesto in Hilo, we drove back to Kona and spent the evening hanging out, eating popcorn and home made cookies.All in all, a yummy day.

We're Back!

Hello everyone,

Apologies to all. We've been absent for about 51 weeks with no good excuse except being busy with things that always seemed more urgent than the blog. And sometimes, we just didn't have blogging on our minds. Maybe we'll bring you up to speed on some of our adventures and misadventures from last year- celebrated a birthday in Wisconsin, took a road trip in New York, got laid off, went to girls camp, got a new job, enjoyed season 50 at the Shakespeare Festival, saw David graduate from Basic Training, bought a rental house, etc. Anyway, we're back. And back where we left off last year.

Aloha 2011

Day twelve-  

Last moonset of the trip. Awesome waves again this morning.

 

Today we have to be out of our condo by 11:00 a.m. but not at the airport until after 8:00 p.m. So we plan to spend afternoon driving around and killing time while we keep an eye on our car and luggage. 

We went for our walk before sunrise this morning and spent the rest of our time doing laundry and packing and listening to the ocean while we work. We've managed to fit everything back into our bags! We've tossed all our restaurant left-overs loaded the last of the dishes into the dishwasher. We didn't finish all of our eggs, veggies and juice and we left those in the fridge. We'd like to think the condo cleaners will take it home and use it, but it will probably just get tossed.

Ready or not (mostly not),  land of winter- here we come.

 

Aloha 2011

Day eleven-

We started today by watching some nice waves. Then we went on our usual morning walk along Ali'i Drive and the ocean.

This is the seawall that we walk by at the far end of our walk. The barricades are always there to warn people that waves might pop over the wall and get them. The sidewalk there is almost always a little wet, and sometimes a lot wet. We walk to the far end of the seawall, cross the street and walk back along the road past shops and restaurants. The walk from the condo to the far end of the seawall and back to the condo is about 2 1/4 miles.

After that we spent today just hanging out, thinking about packing but not doing much about it, blogging, emailing and reading. We went for another walk in the early evening before we made a stir-fry dinner with the broccoli and some leftovers in our fridge. 

There were several of these little birds by the condo when we left for our walk

This is another stretch of Ali'i drive, closer to the condo. Nice waves this evening.

Enjoyed another pretty sunset. Then we watched whales breaching just outside the bay as dusk settled in. Nice end to the day!

Last sunset of the trip

Aloha 2011

Day ten- Today is another farmer’s market day. We also found a new shave ice shop. SF’s favorite shop went out of business a few days ago and this one will take it’s place for now. Not the best location so I suspect it will be out of business next time we come. Too bad. They have a clever idea for their little shop. In addition to shave ice and smoothies, they sell frozen yogurt by the ounce. You get your yogurt cup and fill it with whatever yogurt and toppings you want in whatever amounts you want. Then they weigh it and tell you how much to pay. They even have a soft-serve sorbet. Hope they make it until we come back.

We connected with an acquaintance from Etna, CA who now lives in Kona and made plans to have dinner with her at Huggo’s tonight. Then we got a call from an organic vegetable farmer (thanks for your help on that DD) who said that this afternoon would be a good time to come check out his farm. So off we went to Waimea. Again.

The farm was interesting and we had a good visit there. He grows several kinds of lettuce, cabbage and broccoli. His is not one of the farms that serve the restaurant community. He sells to Whole Foods and a couple of other big buyers. 

We talked about his challenges, his organic strategies, his propagation techniques, his family, politics, etc, etc. Then he sent us off with some of his lettuce and broccoli. Yum!

Here is a picture of one of his lettuce fields, with a crew doing some weeding

We got back to town just in time to change our clothes and meet our friend for dinner. We had a really nice visit, plus good food and service. And we had a nice table by the water where we watched another great sunset.

 

Aloha 2011

Day nine

Tuesday in Kona is always a temple day for us and that’s what we did today. Here is a picture of the orchids near the entrance to the temple.

We came back to the condo, changed our clothes and hit the road to go to Hawi, a tiny town on the northern end of the island. There are a lot of artists up there and we enjoy browsing the shops.

As we turned at a highway junction, I noticed a sign advertising a woodworking competition/exhibition about a mile away. Lucky us! The show was right next to one of our favorite restaurants and we had a little bite for lunch before we checked out the woodwork.

When we walked into the little gallery, there was the cabinet that SF had admired in Hilo. It was a traditional Japanese Tea Cabinet. It was amazing. Every surface, inside and out, was smooth as glass and the woodworker had done it all with a traditional Japanese wood plane and not one bit of sandpaper. So, so beautiful! So, so expensive! But when we went back to admire it later, it was gone; purchased by someone with an extra $6900 and space for an exquisite piece of woodcraft.

There was lots of other beautiful woodwork to enjoy, and then we headed for Hawi. We browsed our favorite shops for a while and then headed back for Kona.

We stopped in Waikoloa and decided to eat at Roy’s. So tasty. We usually eat at the Roy's in Waikiki on our way home, but this year we aren't going to O'ahu, so we're glad there is a Roy's on the Big Island. It's definitely worth your time if you ever find yourself near a Roy's.


Somebody's Father figured out how to take some shows from our TiVo and hook his laptop to the TV, so we enjoyed a little TV before bedtime while we listened to the surf.

Aloha 2011

Day eight- We snorkeled again today. Had another ‘best ever’ time. Then we came back to the condo and showered and just hung out until dinner. Tried the Restaurant Kai. Not terrible, but didn’t live up to our expectations.

Aloha 2011

And here's a little something that we thought a certain smoked meat fan would enjoy. Right in downtown Hilo. Who would have thought?

Aloha 2011

Day seven- We caught the 9:00 block of meetings at the local chapel and then spent the day lazing around. We grilled steaks (that stayed frozen all the way from home) and ate them with more farmer’s market salad and brown rice that we also brought from home.

We brought our stove-top popcorn popper with us this year and we popped some corn and spent the rest of the day watching videos. A fun, relaxing day that ended with a beautiful sunset that we watched from our lanai.