Hello, friends,
Note: I don't have a working spell checker and I'm writing on a tempermental Bluetooth keyboard, so please be forviging of typos and spelling errors.
Wow, now I'm three days behind. Vacation is so full and nighttime is for sleeping, not blogging. But now we are on the narrow boat, and I'm done with my driving stint for now (mainly because I now have consistent Wi-Fi, which is spotty on the canal).
I think I left off after Friday. Saturday (still in Wales), we drove a few miles to a nearby town, Llandudno, which I had heard was a big tourist town. Well, it's a bit town, anyway, seaside (right off a peninsula). It is a big town, with a large grocery store, shopping centre, clothing stores, etc. Obviously it's a place people live and shop, because the kitschy Welsh souvenir-type items were conspicuously absent. There were many hotels and eating places, double-decker bus tours (enclosed and open), and a huge pier with carnival-type kiddie rides, food, arcades, cotton candy (candy floss), etc. There was also an Alice in Wonderland-themed park, meaning grassy area with gazebo, etc, not a theme park. There was a smallish stone circle in the middle (small compared to, say, Stonehenge). I have no idea if it was real. I mean, the stones were real, but I have no idea if the circle itself was ancient or not - there was not much of a marker.
We wandered and took photos - it was a beautiful day, sunny and probably 70 or 75 - and Giselle wanted ice cream and was getting a bit grumpy about it, so we had ice cream for lunch. I had clotted cream and honey flavor with a piece of Cadbury Flake (yum). We went back to the car (which was parked in a huge grocery store parking lot) and moved it, because it said there was a 3-hour time limit and I wasn't sure how strict they were about enforcing. We went back into town and into a few shops and an interesting gallery, but then jet lag caught up with us and we decided to go home. We did hit the grocery store for some dinner items - it was a lot like Meijer, or a Super Walmart, with clothing and tools and seasonal items in addition to a huge food selection. Cadbury chocolate is ridiculously inexpensive, so of course we're making it a staple. They have flavors here not available at home, so we're taking advantage and sampling several kinds. :)
In the afternoon, after driving home (egad, getting better but stil nerve-wracking), the family hung out at home and I went for a photo walk in town and on the old city walls (no charge to wander on the walls). I found out the charge and hours for the castle itself, and took a lot of photos, and went home. That night we cooked the mince we bought in the grocery store (that's ground beef, to you) and had that for dinner, then watched While You Were Sleeping. Giselle and Thad were playing British Monopoly, and Genevieve kintted an infinity scarf for the AirBnB owner, which we left on a stuffed (plush) sheep that stands on the itty-bitty hearth.
End of Saturday.
Sunday - leisurely breakfast - scrambled eggs, cheese, pancakes, and what they call "back bacon" which is really more like ham. The kind we had was realllllly salty. I found out later that what we call "bacon" is called "rashers" here. They put their butter in the fridge and leave the eggs on the counter, which I thought was interesting. A lot of people bring their dogs into stores here as well.
After breakfast, we walked over to Conwy castle (about 1/2 mile) and paid the admission fees to visit the castle proper. There was a demonstration called "Lord of the Wings" of prey birds, mostly owls but one falcon or hawk, never found out which. The birds were all rescued and most of them were unable to be returned to the wild. We got to pet them. There were several kinds - a barn owl, a screech owl, an Indian Scops owl (so cute and little), and a 16-week-old tawny owl named Archimedes still with some pinfeathers. So fluffy.....
There was also a weapons demonstration, mostly single- and two-handed broadswords. Genevieve did volunteer, with a 10-year-old lad, for "training," which involvd holding the weapon at arm's length infront of her while the man in charge counted to 5, then rotating it to horizontal (internal rotation at the shoulder, anatomically speaking) and counting, then back upright, then lateral rotation (palm up). Genevieve was able to hold her weapon with her arm straight without faltering, and brought it down slowly when the man said they were done. Then the lad and Genevieve were oufitted with padded bonnets, maille coifs, helmets, bucklers and swords. Then the man running the demo said, "Which one is better? Only one way to tell - ready, FIGHT!!!" He immediately said, "No, no, I'm kidding!" But Genevieve is so used to getting ready to bout that she partially went into an en garde stance. It was so cool.
Conwy Castle was also cool; it's just a shell (like Caernarfon), but had steps up the towers where you could see the city and the harbor. I have a panoramic function on my camera and played with it a lot at the tops of the towers. We'll see if the photos come out.
We walked into town and picked up some pastries (meat pies and such) from a bakery, and walked out to the harbor side to eat. There we saw but did not go into the "Smallest House in Britain." We wandered around a few shops, one of which sold sword replicas and mead, and which had a lovely Northern Inuit dog visiting. :)
After that we walked home, gathered a few things and then got in the car again (egad) and drove about 75 minutes to Chirk Castle, which is a livable castle, built by Thomas Myddleton in the 1600s. It was very fancy inside whith lots of period furniture, cornices, carvings, etc. I liked the stone shells of castles better, but it was worth seeing. The driving was mostly on the highway, so I felt pretty confident. It was Sunday evening and the traffic heading out of Conwy was pretty thick (plus there was a Bryan Adams concert in a nearby town - not sure if this was the cause of some of it) but we were going the other way, so that was nice. There was a bit of tricky driving when we got back into Conwy, with people hurtling toward me in the opposite direction on narrow winding streets with parked cars on my side of the road - I think I hit the folding side mirror on something, but there wasn't any damage. Whew. You can imagine that I was VERY glad to be done with driving the car. If I had to do it all the time, I'd probably get used to it - that day I felt pretty confident except for the last 5 minutes of the journey - but I don't think I'd ever enjoy it. Now I'm wondering if I'll remember how to drive on the right side of the road when I get home.
Sunday night we packed. I was very proud of the girls, who packed without being reminded (once we talked about what the plans were for the evening). I think there were leftovers for dinner; I don't really remember. Thad went out to climb the mountain near Conwy (a big hill, really) before bed, but I was tired from waking up at 5 (seagulls and other birds are REALLY noisy in the mornings) so I went to bed. It gets light around 4 and dark around 10:30.
Oops, mooring the boat now so time to go. To be continued.
cheers,
Wendy
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Saturday, July 8, 2017
Friday
Hello friends,
I didn't write anything yesterday because, well, I didn't. :) But that doesn't mean we didn't do anything. Actually, I think I needed last night to recover from the day. We went to bed around 9 local time Thursday (4 PM to my friends in Michigan) and I made everyone get up at 7. We slept really well - I think after the previous two days we could hardly have done otherwise. The beds in the house are really comfortable, which helps.
Anyway, I got everyone up at 7, and we had cereal from the convenience store (the little boxes of individual cereals), and got in the car around 8 AM. I was parked facing downhill on the side of the road next to the house, not very well, because I'm not great at parallel parking despite having learned to drive in the Boston environs (well, maybe because of it), and I would have had to parallel park going in reverse uphill with a stick shift. As it was we had to look in the manual to figure out how to get the 6-speed Peugeot into reverse at all - apparently there's a trick to it.
There seems to be a trick to everything around here. It took me several tries to lock the house door deadbolt with the key, and that was just after monkeying aound with it (you have to pull the door handle up all the way past neutral to engage the upper bolts, and THEN you can turn the key to lock the lower one). Sheesh. There does not seem to be a pilot light for the stove - luckily I had a book of matches in my first aid kit, so we've been lighting the burners with those. There is a washer/dryer combination with cryptic symbols on the front; so far I've not been able to run a drying cycle without running a washing cycle first. Yesterday it was cloudy and a bit rainy, and there is no place in the house to suspend my laundry line except underneath the railing on the stairs, which doesn't get a lot of air circulation, but it is what it is.
Anyway, we left for Llanberis, where we had tickets to catch the Snowdon Mountain Railway at 9. It's about 13 miles, or 35 minutes in the car, and I did not start out well. I drove better than the previous day (haven't burned out the tranny yet) but I still hit the curb several times, had trouble finding 3rd gear (downshifting into 1st when you want third is discouraging, to say the least), plus the roundabouts come up so suddenly that I think I cut a few people off, quite unintentionally. Then I took the wrong exit off the roundabout and ended up on a different highway, and had to go several miles on winding narrow unmarked roads with people hot on my tail before I found a place to turn around. My phone does not appear to have internet service - when I called the company last night, the very friendly and helpful customer service person, Meghan, helped me find out that basically North Wales' internet is "under construction," and is "blacked out." She stayed past closing to try to help me with it. We'll see how it works at our next location. The upshot of that is that if I didn't drive on a dowloaded route, the "rerouting" didn't work on the GPS and took me off the map, and the paper map we have is of the entire country, so not good for finding turnarounds.
We did make it (barely) to the 9 o'clock train - first we pulled into the Slate Museum site, and found out that the tran was another mile further down the road. Then I couldn't find parking, but dropped off the family and ordered them to go get the tickets. Found the less-well-marked lot across the road (almost in tears by this time from the stress of driving and getting lost), and made it to the train, last people on.
The train ride up the mountain was almost an hour, and was very pretty, except once we got into the clouds, which was also knd of pretty, but not very scenic. I think it was supposed to be bad weather all weekend, and I had to buy the tickets a month in advance, so it was what it was. We went to the summit anyway; they gave us 40 minutes to walk around and try not to get lost in the mist and fall off a cliff.... There were sheep everywhere, with very long tails and long fleeces - looked as if they needed to be shorn. The landscape (once we got back down) was rather impressive. We spoke to the other people in our compartment, and one couple was from England and told us to go a little farther west to Caernarfon Castle. So after we got back down the mountain, we did. We had better success with that, because the nice clerk at the gift shop for the Mountain Railway drew us a crude map of where the car park was, and golly, there it was.
We wandered around Caernarfon and then went to the castle, which is a National Heritage Site, and is where the Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) was - dang, I forget the word, starts with an "I" - well, crowned Prince of Wales, anyway, in 1969. The castle is a big, rambling shell on the coast. We stopped partway through and got lunch at a place on Hole in the Wall Street (where there is a big gap in the wall between the castle and the town). That's where I saw the knickerbocker glory ingredients, for anyone who is following on FaceBook. One more Harry Potter mystery solved.
We went back to the castle until our jet lag caught up with us, and then drove back home to Conwy, where I collapsed from the driving stress again. We had leftovers for dinner from Thursday night (Italian food) and watched a movie (Miss Congeniality) and went to bed.
Which I think I'm goign to do now. Today we went to Llandudno and I drove much better. More about that another time.
blessings
wendy
I didn't write anything yesterday because, well, I didn't. :) But that doesn't mean we didn't do anything. Actually, I think I needed last night to recover from the day. We went to bed around 9 local time Thursday (4 PM to my friends in Michigan) and I made everyone get up at 7. We slept really well - I think after the previous two days we could hardly have done otherwise. The beds in the house are really comfortable, which helps.
Anyway, I got everyone up at 7, and we had cereal from the convenience store (the little boxes of individual cereals), and got in the car around 8 AM. I was parked facing downhill on the side of the road next to the house, not very well, because I'm not great at parallel parking despite having learned to drive in the Boston environs (well, maybe because of it), and I would have had to parallel park going in reverse uphill with a stick shift. As it was we had to look in the manual to figure out how to get the 6-speed Peugeot into reverse at all - apparently there's a trick to it.
There seems to be a trick to everything around here. It took me several tries to lock the house door deadbolt with the key, and that was just after monkeying aound with it (you have to pull the door handle up all the way past neutral to engage the upper bolts, and THEN you can turn the key to lock the lower one). Sheesh. There does not seem to be a pilot light for the stove - luckily I had a book of matches in my first aid kit, so we've been lighting the burners with those. There is a washer/dryer combination with cryptic symbols on the front; so far I've not been able to run a drying cycle without running a washing cycle first. Yesterday it was cloudy and a bit rainy, and there is no place in the house to suspend my laundry line except underneath the railing on the stairs, which doesn't get a lot of air circulation, but it is what it is.
Anyway, we left for Llanberis, where we had tickets to catch the Snowdon Mountain Railway at 9. It's about 13 miles, or 35 minutes in the car, and I did not start out well. I drove better than the previous day (haven't burned out the tranny yet) but I still hit the curb several times, had trouble finding 3rd gear (downshifting into 1st when you want third is discouraging, to say the least), plus the roundabouts come up so suddenly that I think I cut a few people off, quite unintentionally. Then I took the wrong exit off the roundabout and ended up on a different highway, and had to go several miles on winding narrow unmarked roads with people hot on my tail before I found a place to turn around. My phone does not appear to have internet service - when I called the company last night, the very friendly and helpful customer service person, Meghan, helped me find out that basically North Wales' internet is "under construction," and is "blacked out." She stayed past closing to try to help me with it. We'll see how it works at our next location. The upshot of that is that if I didn't drive on a dowloaded route, the "rerouting" didn't work on the GPS and took me off the map, and the paper map we have is of the entire country, so not good for finding turnarounds.
We did make it (barely) to the 9 o'clock train - first we pulled into the Slate Museum site, and found out that the tran was another mile further down the road. Then I couldn't find parking, but dropped off the family and ordered them to go get the tickets. Found the less-well-marked lot across the road (almost in tears by this time from the stress of driving and getting lost), and made it to the train, last people on.
The train ride up the mountain was almost an hour, and was very pretty, except once we got into the clouds, which was also knd of pretty, but not very scenic. I think it was supposed to be bad weather all weekend, and I had to buy the tickets a month in advance, so it was what it was. We went to the summit anyway; they gave us 40 minutes to walk around and try not to get lost in the mist and fall off a cliff.... There were sheep everywhere, with very long tails and long fleeces - looked as if they needed to be shorn. The landscape (once we got back down) was rather impressive. We spoke to the other people in our compartment, and one couple was from England and told us to go a little farther west to Caernarfon Castle. So after we got back down the mountain, we did. We had better success with that, because the nice clerk at the gift shop for the Mountain Railway drew us a crude map of where the car park was, and golly, there it was.
We wandered around Caernarfon and then went to the castle, which is a National Heritage Site, and is where the Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) was - dang, I forget the word, starts with an "I" - well, crowned Prince of Wales, anyway, in 1969. The castle is a big, rambling shell on the coast. We stopped partway through and got lunch at a place on Hole in the Wall Street (where there is a big gap in the wall between the castle and the town). That's where I saw the knickerbocker glory ingredients, for anyone who is following on FaceBook. One more Harry Potter mystery solved.
We went back to the castle until our jet lag caught up with us, and then drove back home to Conwy, where I collapsed from the driving stress again. We had leftovers for dinner from Thursday night (Italian food) and watched a movie (Miss Congeniality) and went to bed.
Which I think I'm goign to do now. Today we went to Llandudno and I drove much better. More about that another time.
blessings
wendy
Thursday, July 6, 2017
Vacation, days one and two
Hello friends and family.
I have no idea if anyone is going to read this, but I need to write it, and I'm sure it wont' be as detailed as I like, but perhaps more detailed than you would like.
Anyway. Here we are, nearly 30 hours into our adventure, and we are finally here. Finally at our AirBnB place.
A brief synopsis of how we got here:
Left Michigan around 9:30 for IL. We hung out at our friends' place for a few hours, and then she was kind enough to drive us to O'Hare airport. We got there in plenty of time for our 6:20 flight to Heathrow, which amazingly enough left on time and got in early. Eight hours and 12 minutes from pulling away from the gate in Chicago, we arrived at Heathrow. The flight itself was tiring - the 5-hour time change will be taking its toll pretty soon - and I think I got maybe 90 minutes of sleep. I was very surprised that they served dinner - and a really good one, ravioli with tomato sauce and this quinoa barley salad with cinnamon and cranberries - wow. Wish I had the recipe. They also served a continental breakfast, not so great, but it was a gesture, at least. I sat on the right side of the plane with Giselle (she had the window) and Genevieve and Thad were across the aisle. I have a cool gizmo that allowed Thad and Genevieve to watch one movie, while Giselle and I watched another one. We also had some new neck pillows which were fairly good but nothing beats being able to lie down, which I will do in a couple of hours.
One of the flight attendants (who did the announcements) had on a chain maille necklace, and she noticed the one I was wearing, so one of my trips back to use the loo, I chatted with her about it. She's from South Africa, and she took up ring weaving because her mother did it but had arthritis and couldn't continue. We traded contact information after the flight. I love making new friends.
We got off the plane, one of the last groups of people, and headed for UK border customs. I wish I had had a pedometer; it feels as if we walked miles in the terminal, stood in 1/2 mile of lines (about 40 minutes' worth, and we got there before a couple of other planes unloaded) and then miles of tunnels under the airport to get to the train.
We took the Heathrow Express - we have BritRail passes, which so far have come in really handy - to Paddington Station (its end stop) I was under the impression that we got the train to Wales there. By then it was already 11 AM London time 6 AM Michigan time) and I asked the man at the information kiosk and he told me it would take another 6 hours to get there, told me the times of the trains and the names of the stations so fast that I didn't catch it. I asked him again (politely) and he said, "I TOLD you, it leaves at 14:45." I objected, saying, "I'm sorry, but I've been up for 24 hours" He interrupted, saying "Well, I'VE been up for over 36, so that beats that." I was getting a little irked, and I was not at my best, but I said, "Then you would understand how it would be easy to forget things when you are so tired." I was also feeling alarmed that it would take so long to do what I had heard was a 3.5 hour trip, and we would miss our rental car window. I had also bought a new SIM chip for my phone (ha - and Google is asking me to verify sign-in with my phone, so I'm typing this on my tiny phone screen rather than my Kindle) and the service wasn't working, so I wasn't sure if I could contact the rental car company in time.
You'll be pleased to hear that I didn't totally lose my cool, although I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of some mild cussing under my breath. Instead I went across to the other information kiosk, where a much friendlier man told me, "Oh, for North Wales you need to leave from Euston. You can take the Underground - platform 16 - or maybe it would be better to take a taxi." He smiled kindly at me, too. I decided I had had enough of schlepping our luggage in tunnels under construction, and opted for a taxi. By this time it was nearing lunchtime, and our taxi driver apologized for the slow drive (though he didn't take anything off the fare). But we got to ride in one of those cool black taxis with the fold-down seats, and watch the motorcycles and bicyclists weave between lanes of traffic (that was positively nerve-wracking, especially with everyone driving on the left).
We made it to Euston Station and caught a train within 10 minutes that went to Chester (near Liverpool). We changed trains there for Llandudno Junction. With the exception of the gentleman who was snippy to me, everyone has been very kind and understanding. The Llandudno train was bound for Holyhead and unfortunately was quite packed. I ended up sitting next to a young lady whom I discovered taught English at a local university. She discovered that she had gotten on the wrong train, so we chatted for a stop and then she got off to go in the other direction. She was quite friendly.
By this time we were all fried, and the fact of 6 probably drunk Scandinavians in the car who conversed loudly and randomly burst into song (think "A Knight's Tale," when they all start singing "Gelderland!" to the tune of "Stars and Stripes Forever") did not help things.
We landed at the Junction and only had to walk a block to the rental car place. The men in there were also very nice, explaining things and so forth. Then they put me into a Peugot SUV diesel with a manual transmission (I knew that) and sent me off to drive on the left side of the road in some of the hilliest, narrowest roads I've ever seen, and I'm from New England. It was worse than driving on the North Shore of Massachusetts, and I had this BIG car, on unfamiliar streets, getting used to a manual again (left-shift). I missed the turn into the neighborhood where our rental house was, then had to park on the opposite side of the street facing downhill - I would have had to parallel park going in reverse up the hill with a manual transmission.... I was unequal to the task, and pulled in front of the line of parked cars instead. Ask me tomorrow.
Then I almost walked into the wrong house, couldn't figure out how to lock the door, and couldn't get the lock box closed. Tomorrow I'm going to park in a free parking lot behind a convenience store a block away. It's flat, for one thing, and not as narrow. If we're not carrying luggage, we'll walk.
Time to go get some food. We haven't eaten anything substantial for many hours. We're walking to town - it's only 1/2 mile, and I' not getting in that car again right now. Thank goodness I'm not driving in London.
I have to say, the kids were WONDERFUL. They were crabby and tired but didn't fight and hardly complained, just enough to give a "weather report" on how they were feeling. The more fun adventures start tomorrow. Time for dinner.
Blessings
Wendy
I have no idea if anyone is going to read this, but I need to write it, and I'm sure it wont' be as detailed as I like, but perhaps more detailed than you would like.
Anyway. Here we are, nearly 30 hours into our adventure, and we are finally here. Finally at our AirBnB place.
A brief synopsis of how we got here:
Left Michigan around 9:30 for IL. We hung out at our friends' place for a few hours, and then she was kind enough to drive us to O'Hare airport. We got there in plenty of time for our 6:20 flight to Heathrow, which amazingly enough left on time and got in early. Eight hours and 12 minutes from pulling away from the gate in Chicago, we arrived at Heathrow. The flight itself was tiring - the 5-hour time change will be taking its toll pretty soon - and I think I got maybe 90 minutes of sleep. I was very surprised that they served dinner - and a really good one, ravioli with tomato sauce and this quinoa barley salad with cinnamon and cranberries - wow. Wish I had the recipe. They also served a continental breakfast, not so great, but it was a gesture, at least. I sat on the right side of the plane with Giselle (she had the window) and Genevieve and Thad were across the aisle. I have a cool gizmo that allowed Thad and Genevieve to watch one movie, while Giselle and I watched another one. We also had some new neck pillows which were fairly good but nothing beats being able to lie down, which I will do in a couple of hours.
One of the flight attendants (who did the announcements) had on a chain maille necklace, and she noticed the one I was wearing, so one of my trips back to use the loo, I chatted with her about it. She's from South Africa, and she took up ring weaving because her mother did it but had arthritis and couldn't continue. We traded contact information after the flight. I love making new friends.
We got off the plane, one of the last groups of people, and headed for UK border customs. I wish I had had a pedometer; it feels as if we walked miles in the terminal, stood in 1/2 mile of lines (about 40 minutes' worth, and we got there before a couple of other planes unloaded) and then miles of tunnels under the airport to get to the train.
We took the Heathrow Express - we have BritRail passes, which so far have come in really handy - to Paddington Station (its end stop) I was under the impression that we got the train to Wales there. By then it was already 11 AM London time 6 AM Michigan time) and I asked the man at the information kiosk and he told me it would take another 6 hours to get there, told me the times of the trains and the names of the stations so fast that I didn't catch it. I asked him again (politely) and he said, "I TOLD you, it leaves at 14:45." I objected, saying, "I'm sorry, but I've been up for 24 hours" He interrupted, saying "Well, I'VE been up for over 36, so that beats that." I was getting a little irked, and I was not at my best, but I said, "Then you would understand how it would be easy to forget things when you are so tired." I was also feeling alarmed that it would take so long to do what I had heard was a 3.5 hour trip, and we would miss our rental car window. I had also bought a new SIM chip for my phone (ha - and Google is asking me to verify sign-in with my phone, so I'm typing this on my tiny phone screen rather than my Kindle) and the service wasn't working, so I wasn't sure if I could contact the rental car company in time.
You'll be pleased to hear that I didn't totally lose my cool, although I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of some mild cussing under my breath. Instead I went across to the other information kiosk, where a much friendlier man told me, "Oh, for North Wales you need to leave from Euston. You can take the Underground - platform 16 - or maybe it would be better to take a taxi." He smiled kindly at me, too. I decided I had had enough of schlepping our luggage in tunnels under construction, and opted for a taxi. By this time it was nearing lunchtime, and our taxi driver apologized for the slow drive (though he didn't take anything off the fare). But we got to ride in one of those cool black taxis with the fold-down seats, and watch the motorcycles and bicyclists weave between lanes of traffic (that was positively nerve-wracking, especially with everyone driving on the left).
We made it to Euston Station and caught a train within 10 minutes that went to Chester (near Liverpool). We changed trains there for Llandudno Junction. With the exception of the gentleman who was snippy to me, everyone has been very kind and understanding. The Llandudno train was bound for Holyhead and unfortunately was quite packed. I ended up sitting next to a young lady whom I discovered taught English at a local university. She discovered that she had gotten on the wrong train, so we chatted for a stop and then she got off to go in the other direction. She was quite friendly.
By this time we were all fried, and the fact of 6 probably drunk Scandinavians in the car who conversed loudly and randomly burst into song (think "A Knight's Tale," when they all start singing "Gelderland!" to the tune of "Stars and Stripes Forever") did not help things.
We landed at the Junction and only had to walk a block to the rental car place. The men in there were also very nice, explaining things and so forth. Then they put me into a Peugot SUV diesel with a manual transmission (I knew that) and sent me off to drive on the left side of the road in some of the hilliest, narrowest roads I've ever seen, and I'm from New England. It was worse than driving on the North Shore of Massachusetts, and I had this BIG car, on unfamiliar streets, getting used to a manual again (left-shift). I missed the turn into the neighborhood where our rental house was, then had to park on the opposite side of the street facing downhill - I would have had to parallel park going in reverse up the hill with a manual transmission.... I was unequal to the task, and pulled in front of the line of parked cars instead. Ask me tomorrow.
Then I almost walked into the wrong house, couldn't figure out how to lock the door, and couldn't get the lock box closed. Tomorrow I'm going to park in a free parking lot behind a convenience store a block away. It's flat, for one thing, and not as narrow. If we're not carrying luggage, we'll walk.
Time to go get some food. We haven't eaten anything substantial for many hours. We're walking to town - it's only 1/2 mile, and I' not getting in that car again right now. Thank goodness I'm not driving in London.
I have to say, the kids were WONDERFUL. They were crabby and tired but didn't fight and hardly complained, just enough to give a "weather report" on how they were feeling. The more fun adventures start tomorrow. Time for dinner.
Blessings
Wendy
Friday, November 13, 2015
Almost home
Hello, friends,
This will probably be the last entry I write from Hawaii. It has been a wonderful time filled with many adventures and connecting with friends. I am sad to leave but I will be glad to be home and see my family and sleep in my own bed and get back into the routine of life. But I have most of a day left here yet.
Yesterday my friend P went to her Gallery Management class (learning how to curate art exhibits) - she's really enjoying it. She takes all kinds of classes, mostly in the art realm, and she is a splendid artist. She paints, does stained glass, makes jewelry, and currently is making leather bowls for a craft show later this year. No wonder we get along so well - I have way too many hobbies, too. She proudly showed me her craft room, which she said was party inspired by my workshop I set up in my garage this past year. She has her things much better organized than I do.
While she was gone, I went for a run. Well, an "interval" run. I went almost 5 miles in the nearby neighborhood, which is fairly hilly, walking some and running some. I'm not used to running when it's 76 degrees, so I got a good workout. I remembered the route I ran a few years ago when I was training for my very first race. The scenery was stunning. It took me quite a while to cool down.
After that, P had returned from her class, and we got in the car and headed out. We went to a couple of beaches (I don't remember the names of them, but P would). We were going to go beach combing, but the surf was really high and dangerous. It was exciting to watch, and the colors of the ocean are always fascinating and so difficult to capture on film. (well, on digital). We drove out up the coast, stopped at the craft store for some materials (we're going to work with some metal clay today) and at the supermarket for some exotic syrups (coconut, guava) for me to ship home. We also stopped and split a sandwich at a little bistro.
Refueled, we headed northwest up the coast. We went to a really cool store with a lot of locally made clothing and items. We stopped at a scenic overlook to watch the surf splashing up the rocks. We walked down another beach that was at high tide. There were not many pickings; most of the stuff washed up consisted of pieces of plastic - very sad.
Eventually we landed at the Polynesian Cultural Center to look in the shops. P and I bought some jewelry from the artist, and she gave us a great deal (especially compared to some of the other kiosks). The weather was off and on misty, cloudy, and sunny, but it was balmy and the company was fun. P's car does not have a working cigarette lighter so we were unable to charge our phones. I had enough charge left to call my kids to wish them a goodnight, at least. Before we left we got some chocolate-covered salted caramels, and I got some ice cream. Yum.
When we got home, R was there with two of their grandkids. Shortly after that they took them to a restaurant for dinner. I declined and stayed here to get some things packed and work on my blog.
This morning, P is at class again, but she plans to come home early so that I can take her and R to lunch, and then we are going to make some metal clay pieces. My plane leaves at 8:45 tonight, so we'll see what the rest of the day holds.
My apologies for the sometimes pedestrian flow of this blog; often it was more for my own remembrance than a writing exercise, and I'm sorry to say I have not waited for the Muse to show up. Days here have been full, with not a lot of time for contemplation these days. I am also sorry to say that I am now acclimated to this time zone - just in time to head home and be off 5 hours. Sigh. Oh well, it will take me a week or so to recover. Wish I had another week off.... ;)
Thanks for following me so far.
Blessings,
W
This will probably be the last entry I write from Hawaii. It has been a wonderful time filled with many adventures and connecting with friends. I am sad to leave but I will be glad to be home and see my family and sleep in my own bed and get back into the routine of life. But I have most of a day left here yet.
Yesterday my friend P went to her Gallery Management class (learning how to curate art exhibits) - she's really enjoying it. She takes all kinds of classes, mostly in the art realm, and she is a splendid artist. She paints, does stained glass, makes jewelry, and currently is making leather bowls for a craft show later this year. No wonder we get along so well - I have way too many hobbies, too. She proudly showed me her craft room, which she said was party inspired by my workshop I set up in my garage this past year. She has her things much better organized than I do.
While she was gone, I went for a run. Well, an "interval" run. I went almost 5 miles in the nearby neighborhood, which is fairly hilly, walking some and running some. I'm not used to running when it's 76 degrees, so I got a good workout. I remembered the route I ran a few years ago when I was training for my very first race. The scenery was stunning. It took me quite a while to cool down.
After that, P had returned from her class, and we got in the car and headed out. We went to a couple of beaches (I don't remember the names of them, but P would). We were going to go beach combing, but the surf was really high and dangerous. It was exciting to watch, and the colors of the ocean are always fascinating and so difficult to capture on film. (well, on digital). We drove out up the coast, stopped at the craft store for some materials (we're going to work with some metal clay today) and at the supermarket for some exotic syrups (coconut, guava) for me to ship home. We also stopped and split a sandwich at a little bistro.
Refueled, we headed northwest up the coast. We went to a really cool store with a lot of locally made clothing and items. We stopped at a scenic overlook to watch the surf splashing up the rocks. We walked down another beach that was at high tide. There were not many pickings; most of the stuff washed up consisted of pieces of plastic - very sad.
Eventually we landed at the Polynesian Cultural Center to look in the shops. P and I bought some jewelry from the artist, and she gave us a great deal (especially compared to some of the other kiosks). The weather was off and on misty, cloudy, and sunny, but it was balmy and the company was fun. P's car does not have a working cigarette lighter so we were unable to charge our phones. I had enough charge left to call my kids to wish them a goodnight, at least. Before we left we got some chocolate-covered salted caramels, and I got some ice cream. Yum.
When we got home, R was there with two of their grandkids. Shortly after that they took them to a restaurant for dinner. I declined and stayed here to get some things packed and work on my blog.
This morning, P is at class again, but she plans to come home early so that I can take her and R to lunch, and then we are going to make some metal clay pieces. My plane leaves at 8:45 tonight, so we'll see what the rest of the day holds.
My apologies for the sometimes pedestrian flow of this blog; often it was more for my own remembrance than a writing exercise, and I'm sorry to say I have not waited for the Muse to show up. Days here have been full, with not a lot of time for contemplation these days. I am also sorry to say that I am now acclimated to this time zone - just in time to head home and be off 5 hours. Sigh. Oh well, it will take me a week or so to recover. Wish I had another week off.... ;)
Thanks for following me so far.
Blessings,
W
Antepenultimate day
Greetings, all.
Yesterday was a busy day, as was today, so I didn't get to sit down and write until now. It's 8:45 PM Hawaii time. Whew.
In the morning yesterday, P made me some French toast out of locally made sweetbread. I like French toast, but I've never had it made from sweetbread. It was as good as it sounds. After that we got ourselves ready and R and P and I all drove down to Honolulu, into Chinatown, where R and P help with a ministry to the homeless people down there. They were trying something new that day, opening their space in the city to those who wanted to come in and help sew blankets for Operation Christmas Child. We unlocked the door, did some cleaning and moving furniture (the space is perhaps 16 feet by 12 feet), and were ready for the participants to come.
There was one man already there, sitting a few yards down the block next to a shopping cart and a baby stroller that were overflowing with his possessions. I'll call him W. He had just been released from the hospital last week. He had a wound infection in his leg, and also suffers from congestive heart failure. He is in his early 50s, and probably weighs close to 500 pounds by my guess. He was in an oversized wheelchair, wearing two overlapping hospital gowns. It was a bit of a trick to get him into the space that is devoted to the ministry (which is called PS 150, after Psalm 150), because his wheelchair was too wide to go through the door. W had to be supported from the front by R and a sturdy chair while P and I folded the wheelchair enough to get it in the door, and then unfolded it so W could sit back in it.
Once W was in there, R and P told me to go across the street to a marketplace (we were in Chinatown, after all). So I did. I spent about 90 minutes wandering around, looking at very small store spaces jammed with clothing, slippers, bags, fans, beads, statuettes, jewelry, vases, bells, knick-knacks, parasols, lanterns, decorative items and household supplies. I bought a few things, and walked around to the food court, which opened up into a market with vegetables, fruits, fish, and seafood. I absorbed the sights, noises, and smells (I was glad to get away from the fish) and then decided to go back to PS 150 and see what was going on. R and P's plan was to be there until 12:30 (we got there at 10:30). W was still there, along with another woman, D, who was formerly homeless but now helped out with the ministry. R and D were sitting at sewing machines (R is rather a good seamster, if that's a word) and P was sitting by D's grandson, Caleb, who is 5 and was there because it was a school holiday (Veteran's Day). P and Caleb were writing encouraging messages on strips of cloth which were stitched together with the other colorful strips. W was also helping to write, but once I got there, he started telling me about himself. Interesting, and sad. We cleaned up and prayed for W and got him back outside. He waved until we were out of sight.
After that, we drove over to the Aloha Stadium where the Swap Meet was being held - scores of vendors around the stadium, selling all kinds of wares. Some were made in Hawaii, some in other places. It was amazing. Bags, dresses, T-shirts, Hawaiian shirts, luggage, macadamia nuts, hats, freshwater pearls, stickers, carvings, boxes, figurines.... We traversed perhaps 1/4 of it, and then realized that we hadn't eaten lunch. R and P went back to the car and I wandered around for another 1/2 hour and bought a few things. I wish I had had more time, but it was probably better for my wallet that things were wrapping up. :)
R and P and I stopped at a Mexican restaurant around 3 and had lunch. After that we went to the Windward Mall to get ...an avocado? Yes, indeed, on Wednesdays, the mall has a farmer's market inside. It's the strangest experience for someone who is used to malls having, well, just mall stores in them. There was even someone pounding poi.
After the avocado purchase, we headed home, and relaxed. We left around 6 PM for someone else's house where R and P's "mini-church" was meeting (like a small group). One of the members had just returned from a mission trip to Kenya, so after a yummy dinner, we looked at his pictures. By then it was late, so we went home and crashed.
And I'm done for the day. Writing about today's adventure will have to wait for tomorrow. Thanks for hanging with me so far.
Blessings,
W
PS "Antepenultimate" means third-to-last. :)
Yesterday was a busy day, as was today, so I didn't get to sit down and write until now. It's 8:45 PM Hawaii time. Whew.
In the morning yesterday, P made me some French toast out of locally made sweetbread. I like French toast, but I've never had it made from sweetbread. It was as good as it sounds. After that we got ourselves ready and R and P and I all drove down to Honolulu, into Chinatown, where R and P help with a ministry to the homeless people down there. They were trying something new that day, opening their space in the city to those who wanted to come in and help sew blankets for Operation Christmas Child. We unlocked the door, did some cleaning and moving furniture (the space is perhaps 16 feet by 12 feet), and were ready for the participants to come.
There was one man already there, sitting a few yards down the block next to a shopping cart and a baby stroller that were overflowing with his possessions. I'll call him W. He had just been released from the hospital last week. He had a wound infection in his leg, and also suffers from congestive heart failure. He is in his early 50s, and probably weighs close to 500 pounds by my guess. He was in an oversized wheelchair, wearing two overlapping hospital gowns. It was a bit of a trick to get him into the space that is devoted to the ministry (which is called PS 150, after Psalm 150), because his wheelchair was too wide to go through the door. W had to be supported from the front by R and a sturdy chair while P and I folded the wheelchair enough to get it in the door, and then unfolded it so W could sit back in it.
Once W was in there, R and P told me to go across the street to a marketplace (we were in Chinatown, after all). So I did. I spent about 90 minutes wandering around, looking at very small store spaces jammed with clothing, slippers, bags, fans, beads, statuettes, jewelry, vases, bells, knick-knacks, parasols, lanterns, decorative items and household supplies. I bought a few things, and walked around to the food court, which opened up into a market with vegetables, fruits, fish, and seafood. I absorbed the sights, noises, and smells (I was glad to get away from the fish) and then decided to go back to PS 150 and see what was going on. R and P's plan was to be there until 12:30 (we got there at 10:30). W was still there, along with another woman, D, who was formerly homeless but now helped out with the ministry. R and D were sitting at sewing machines (R is rather a good seamster, if that's a word) and P was sitting by D's grandson, Caleb, who is 5 and was there because it was a school holiday (Veteran's Day). P and Caleb were writing encouraging messages on strips of cloth which were stitched together with the other colorful strips. W was also helping to write, but once I got there, he started telling me about himself. Interesting, and sad. We cleaned up and prayed for W and got him back outside. He waved until we were out of sight.
After that, we drove over to the Aloha Stadium where the Swap Meet was being held - scores of vendors around the stadium, selling all kinds of wares. Some were made in Hawaii, some in other places. It was amazing. Bags, dresses, T-shirts, Hawaiian shirts, luggage, macadamia nuts, hats, freshwater pearls, stickers, carvings, boxes, figurines.... We traversed perhaps 1/4 of it, and then realized that we hadn't eaten lunch. R and P went back to the car and I wandered around for another 1/2 hour and bought a few things. I wish I had had more time, but it was probably better for my wallet that things were wrapping up. :)
R and P and I stopped at a Mexican restaurant around 3 and had lunch. After that we went to the Windward Mall to get ...an avocado? Yes, indeed, on Wednesdays, the mall has a farmer's market inside. It's the strangest experience for someone who is used to malls having, well, just mall stores in them. There was even someone pounding poi.
After the avocado purchase, we headed home, and relaxed. We left around 6 PM for someone else's house where R and P's "mini-church" was meeting (like a small group). One of the members had just returned from a mission trip to Kenya, so after a yummy dinner, we looked at his pictures. By then it was late, so we went home and crashed.
And I'm done for the day. Writing about today's adventure will have to wait for tomorrow. Thanks for hanging with me so far.
Blessings,
W
PS "Antepenultimate" means third-to-last. :)
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Early morning
Hello, all,
I am currently ensconced at some friends' house on the north side of Oahu. I came here yesterday afternoon; the morning was spent with my friend L on the big island. She had a pediatrics conference this week that she wanted to register for, so I rode with her to the Mauna Lani resort on the Kohala Coast, about 45 minutes from their house. It was a pretty drive - sunny, like most days on that side of the island are. The landscape is amazing, with huge stripes of lava rock alternating with patches of green. In some places there are scrubby plants growing out of the lava rock. It makes for a study in contrasts.
We arrived at the hotel and parked in the shade. The hotel was impressive, massive, and rambling with a bridge from the parking lot to the main lobby that ran over a water feature filled with large koi fish. We stopped to look at them and they swam over and started begging for food. It was funny - I didn't know fish could beg.
She signed in for her conference (she planned to attend the lectures today and later this week) and we walked around the back of the hotel to the beach. The sand there was pretty coarse, and a mixture of black lava rock and white coral bits, so it looked as if the entire beach was coated with salt and pepper. We walked along the beach a bit and then sat on the sand. I noticed the coarseness of the sand and with careful observation one could find tiny shells, like the ones that come from Ni'ihau. We sat together for a few minutes, talking and picking tiny shells out of the sand. L was excited because she hadn't seen them there before, and planned to bring her boys to beachcomb. In 20 minutes we had something like a teaspoon each of shells, so the shore was not being significantly depleted thereby.
We drove over to another spot and walked through the Puako Petroglyph Archeological District, and into this creepy-looking forest to find some petroglyphs in the interior. The woods would have made a great haunted forest, and it was shady and fascinating. It's amazing how the petroglyphs here are so similar to those we saw in Utah and Arizona this summer on our family vacation. I suppose they have to be simple if they are to be carved in a rock.
After that we drove to Kona, and walked around, did a bit of shopping, and I saw where the Ironman finished. Then back to the house to have lunch and pack, and she drove me to the airport. The airport in Kona is very open-air, more so than the other airports in Hawaii I've seen. It's surrounded by lava rock and looks pretty desolate. There are gates, but the planes load from the tarmac, also different than other airports.
The flight back to Oahu was short and uneventful and my friends R and P picked me up, and we went "for a drink and pupus" at the Haleiwa Lounge, which had beautiful decor and the food wasn't bad either. I had a very nice root beer. Out pretty server was left-handed and had the nicest dimple on her face.
Then we came back to their house and P worked on making some leather bowls for an upcoming craft fair, and we watched and discussed part of the Republican debate. Interesting. I made some chain maille pieces and then went to bed (after writing last night).
Got up this morning almost 2 hours earlier than I had planned, because I heard P walking around, and I decided just to get up. I had gone to bed at 10:30 (yawn). I think I will go to bed a bit earlier tonight. We have some plans for today but I'm not yet sure what they are, so I'll get back to you later.
blessings
w
More catching up
Written Tuesday, 10 Nov
Good morning, all .
Yesterday (still at the Volcano House lodge in Volcanoes National Park) I woke up at 2:45 and, looking out the bathroom window, saw a red glow from the crater. Last night it was too rainy to see much of anything before bedtime, so I of course threw on some clothes and took my camera out to the back of the lodge to see if I could get a picture. It was misting lightly. I debated whether I should go back to bed or get my tripod and try to get a good photo. The judge ruled in favor of the tripod, and I stood out it in the increasingly incessant rain to get my picture. The kind clerk at the hotel desk loaned me an umbrella to keep my equipment dry, at least. I was up for perhaps 30 minutes, but I figured I don't get this opportunity often. (Never before or after, at least until I come back to Volcanoes National Park again). The rain was not of the heavy droplet kind, but rather of the fine quickly-soaking type. Thanks to the umbrella, this camera stayed dry.
*************
No, that's not a bunch of expletives; I was having trouble with the bluetooth keyboard again and gave up. But now it seems to be working. I'm on yet another island, but I will go back to the big island of Hawaii and continue my adventures from yesterday.
I woke up when I heard the hotel room door close - L was just slipping out to take a morning run (she's like that). I got up shortly after that - it was about 6:30 - and noticed the crater was very visible, and the rising sun was glancing off the steam vents and making the whole plain look inviting. So I trotted out with my camera (saw the same clerk who loaned me the umbrella, just about to go off her shift). It was breezy - I think it was in the upper 50s - and other people watching the morning sun shine on the crater were bundled up and saying, "It's so COLD." I was standing there in capris and a short-sleeved shirt and feeling pretty comfortable.
L and I went to the hotel restaurant (called The Rim) for a buffet breakfast after she got back from her run, and then we went for a hike on the Kilauea Iki trail and through the Thurston lava tube. The hike was about 4 miles, and pretty steep in places (downhill on the way there). We got a little turned around before we got to the crater floor, but didn't go too far out of our way before we realized we had missed the trail. The landscape was indescribable, but you know I'm going to try. It was like being on another planet - black lava rock everywhere, with plants and shrubs poking out here and there. The land was covered with ripples and in places it sounded like walking on ice because the porous rock scraped hollowly when we walked on it (that was our unintentional detour, mostly). It was around 9 in the morning when we traversed most of the valley floor, and it was getting rather warm when we again gained the shade of the woods, and headed up. We did a detour into the lava tube, which was really neat and very wet, with large puddles on the floor and the walls dripping. It was cool. And it was fun to hike with a buddy, especially after all the solo hikes. I enjoyed those, but it was nice to have someone compatible along as well.
We got back to our room in time to pack up and check out in good time. We went to the gift shop (the National Park gift shops always have a nice variety and good prices). I forgot to mention that last night I bought "volcano socks" - black socks with red flames around the cuffs - to warm up my feet after all the rain. There was a portable fan in the room which I aimed at my wet shoes, and they were dry by morning. L liked the socks so much she bought a pair herself.
It started to drizzle a bit. We headed over to the Volcano Art building (I don't know its official name), in which there were dozens of types of hand made items, all for sale, everything from prints to carvings, scarves, paintings, stained glass, and jewelry. So many beautiful things to see. The weather cleared up a bit and the sun came out, so we did a short walk (1/3 mile) to the Sulphur Banks and saw all the discolored rocks and partly-dead plants from the sulfur steam vents. As you can imagine, it stank. It also looked like very poorly painted movie sets. Hard to believe it is real, like so much of the park, and the island.
We got back in the car and drove to the Kilauea Lodge. They had the tiniest gift shop ever (it doubled as the lodge office) but a lot of nice things in there as well. Then we headed over to Hilo, but it poured most of the time so we didn't stop and get out anywhere. Instead we drove up the saddle road between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa and back to L's house.
That night, we were invited to dinner at A's parents' place. They are from Minnesota but are staying on island for a few months, renting a former plantation building, very grand and up a VERY steep driveway. It was sweet of them to include me in the invitation. Last time I saw them, son #1 was turning a year old, so just over 12 years. They were very kind and the food was great, and everyone was talking all at the same time so I had trouble following any given conversation, but after a week of being alone, it was really fun. Son #2 told a vivacious story about being in the car with grandma and grandpa when a huge tarantula got in the car. He was laughing so hard he couldn't finish the story. Apparently they all survived. Well, maybe not the spider.
Back home and went to bed.... and it's much later than I've yet gone to bed, so perhaps I'll take some time tomorrow to catch you up on today.
Good night, all
blessings
w
Good morning, all .
Yesterday (still at the Volcano House lodge in Volcanoes National Park) I woke up at 2:45 and, looking out the bathroom window, saw a red glow from the crater. Last night it was too rainy to see much of anything before bedtime, so I of course threw on some clothes and took my camera out to the back of the lodge to see if I could get a picture. It was misting lightly. I debated whether I should go back to bed or get my tripod and try to get a good photo. The judge ruled in favor of the tripod, and I stood out it in the increasingly incessant rain to get my picture. The kind clerk at the hotel desk loaned me an umbrella to keep my equipment dry, at least. I was up for perhaps 30 minutes, but I figured I don't get this opportunity often. (Never before or after, at least until I come back to Volcanoes National Park again). The rain was not of the heavy droplet kind, but rather of the fine quickly-soaking type. Thanks to the umbrella, this camera stayed dry.
*************
No, that's not a bunch of expletives; I was having trouble with the bluetooth keyboard again and gave up. But now it seems to be working. I'm on yet another island, but I will go back to the big island of Hawaii and continue my adventures from yesterday.
I woke up when I heard the hotel room door close - L was just slipping out to take a morning run (she's like that). I got up shortly after that - it was about 6:30 - and noticed the crater was very visible, and the rising sun was glancing off the steam vents and making the whole plain look inviting. So I trotted out with my camera (saw the same clerk who loaned me the umbrella, just about to go off her shift). It was breezy - I think it was in the upper 50s - and other people watching the morning sun shine on the crater were bundled up and saying, "It's so COLD." I was standing there in capris and a short-sleeved shirt and feeling pretty comfortable.
L and I went to the hotel restaurant (called The Rim) for a buffet breakfast after she got back from her run, and then we went for a hike on the Kilauea Iki trail and through the Thurston lava tube. The hike was about 4 miles, and pretty steep in places (downhill on the way there). We got a little turned around before we got to the crater floor, but didn't go too far out of our way before we realized we had missed the trail. The landscape was indescribable, but you know I'm going to try. It was like being on another planet - black lava rock everywhere, with plants and shrubs poking out here and there. The land was covered with ripples and in places it sounded like walking on ice because the porous rock scraped hollowly when we walked on it (that was our unintentional detour, mostly). It was around 9 in the morning when we traversed most of the valley floor, and it was getting rather warm when we again gained the shade of the woods, and headed up. We did a detour into the lava tube, which was really neat and very wet, with large puddles on the floor and the walls dripping. It was cool. And it was fun to hike with a buddy, especially after all the solo hikes. I enjoyed those, but it was nice to have someone compatible along as well.
We got back to our room in time to pack up and check out in good time. We went to the gift shop (the National Park gift shops always have a nice variety and good prices). I forgot to mention that last night I bought "volcano socks" - black socks with red flames around the cuffs - to warm up my feet after all the rain. There was a portable fan in the room which I aimed at my wet shoes, and they were dry by morning. L liked the socks so much she bought a pair herself.
It started to drizzle a bit. We headed over to the Volcano Art building (I don't know its official name), in which there were dozens of types of hand made items, all for sale, everything from prints to carvings, scarves, paintings, stained glass, and jewelry. So many beautiful things to see. The weather cleared up a bit and the sun came out, so we did a short walk (1/3 mile) to the Sulphur Banks and saw all the discolored rocks and partly-dead plants from the sulfur steam vents. As you can imagine, it stank. It also looked like very poorly painted movie sets. Hard to believe it is real, like so much of the park, and the island.
We got back in the car and drove to the Kilauea Lodge. They had the tiniest gift shop ever (it doubled as the lodge office) but a lot of nice things in there as well. Then we headed over to Hilo, but it poured most of the time so we didn't stop and get out anywhere. Instead we drove up the saddle road between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa and back to L's house.
That night, we were invited to dinner at A's parents' place. They are from Minnesota but are staying on island for a few months, renting a former plantation building, very grand and up a VERY steep driveway. It was sweet of them to include me in the invitation. Last time I saw them, son #1 was turning a year old, so just over 12 years. They were very kind and the food was great, and everyone was talking all at the same time so I had trouble following any given conversation, but after a week of being alone, it was really fun. Son #2 told a vivacious story about being in the car with grandma and grandpa when a huge tarantula got in the car. He was laughing so hard he couldn't finish the story. Apparently they all survived. Well, maybe not the spider.
Back home and went to bed.... and it's much later than I've yet gone to bed, so perhaps I'll take some time tomorrow to catch you up on today.
Good night, all
blessings
w
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