Maui

March 26
We love our little spot on the globe right here on the Kona Coast and even though we have a week in on Maui we hate to leave. We enjoyed the pool area as long as we could and headed to the airport. With only a 40 minute flight, Maui greeted us with clouds and 25 mile an hour winds. We traded in one gorgeous view for another. This time we are in a high rise condo north of Ka’anapali in Kahana with a view to the north. We drove north a bit after getting settled. This whole northern coast is lined with one resort after another. I love the Maui beaches and they are all public which makes it really nice with all these resorts.
Day 2
We woke up to whales right out in front of our condo spouting, rolling, and flapping their tails. Times like this I want a better camera. It was still a little cloudy and windy so we decided to head down to the south end of the island to Kihei, Wailea and Makena Beach. We made a stop in Lahaina to show Norm the town and decided to go to an art show under the big Banyan tree. We all ended up buying a small oil painting before heading to Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch. A beer and a burger hit the spot. I love successful restaurants started by women and this was one of them. Their story on the menu told how they thought Maui needed a good burger spot and after all “what could be so hard about putting out a good burger.” It reminded me of my own thoughts when I started Creekside Café. I guess many of us wouldn’t have started up a restaurant or business if we had known what was entailed. In 1987, Mom rented a big house in Kihei and the whole family came and spent 10 marvelous days having a fabulous time. The memories came flooding in when we found the house. What a good time we all had. I was lucky to come again with Gloria and Rachel and Scott when Zoe was about a year and a half for another great time with more wonderful memories. It felt good to be here again walking on the beautiful golden beaches. We wished we had brought our suits along on our ride. After a shaved ice, we continued down to Waliea and Makena with a drive out on the lava. I just love the Maui beaches! We got back in time to watch The Amazing Race with popcorn and chips and dip for dinner.
Day 3
This morning the whales were so close! They put on quite a show for us with breaching and flapping their tails one time after another over a period of at least a half hour. What an amazing amount of energy that must take. We were glad to see them taking a breath now and then. We went down to Lahaina to mail off our art work and decided to stay and do a little shopping with lunch at Kimo’s. We had all read “Born in Paradise,” the wonderful story of a young girl growing up on in the Maui upcountry on the large Haleakala Ranch at the turn of the century. The ranch was started by Baldwin and has been in the family for generations. If you have ever been to Maui or hope to go someday, this is a must read. The writer was the daughter of the ranch manager. We toured the Baldwin home on Front Street. Built in the 1830’s and is the oldest standing building on Maui. The Baldwins came over as medical missionaries in the 1830’s. Mitchner tells the story so well in his book “Hawaii.” Later Chris and I went swimming right out in front of our condo in the clear blue and green Pacific. The sunset was a beauty. It was fun to hear the conch shell being blown. Scott’s family has a tradition of “drinking down the sunset” and blowing the conch shell as the sun dips below the horizon. The kids, including Zoe, have had fun mastering the art. Another great day in paradise.



View from our condo!




Home of the Cheeseburger




Beach down in Wailea



Hawaii Day 3 +

Day 3 and still not feeling up to par we decided on another exploring day and drove across the island on Saddle Road. We drove by Mauna Kea rising 13,799 feet and is home to a number of observatories. Lava fields are everywhere on this island! We dropped down into Hilo and found a wonderful restaurant on a pond with open air windows and a nice view. After lunch we hunted up Rainbow Falls and Akaka Falls. This side of the island gets 200 inches of rain a year and is so tropical! Big red trees with bright red blossoms are in every ravine. Plants we know as houseplants are huge and gorgeous and crammed in so close together. The coastline is spectacular!
Day 4
The Volcanic National Park was our destination today. We were glad we made the trip out to see it but were disappointed that lave wasn’t flowing. Just days before we left we had read about a new area of eruption. I guess it was done by the time we got there! Also, the trails into the Kilauea Caldera was closed along with the road around the crater because of gas emissions. We did get to look down into the crater at a viewpoint and see the venting gas. The final disappointment was that the Chain of Carters Road leading down to the water over the lava was only open for the first 6 of 19 miles due to a fire. It is an amazing area and different from other volcanic parks I have been to. The two types of Hawaiian lava pahoehoe and ’a-a, are prevalent everywhere. We stopped along the road to get a close up look in a couple of places. Flakes of the fine lava were brilliantly colored. They had the look of glaze on raku pottery with iridescent blues and purples. We had to sneak a couple pieces in our pockets. I would love to come back to this island. Maybe the lava will be flowing next time.
We had a fabulous dinner at the open air Fish Hopper restaurant back in town. Norm and I got a couple of island cocktails to drink down the sunset. Norm’s drink, the Sharks Tooth, arrived flaming and definitely added to the gaiety of the evening! Our meals were perfect in every way. Norm had a phenomenal night of cards with his Sharks Tooth leading the way. Christy and I thought his mental powers might be a little hazy but he won everything we played!



Volcanic National Park





We walked under this canapy to the lave tube.




Norm with His Shark Tooth



Day 5
With no fever last night and feeling better, we decided that snorkeling was on tap for the morning. The beach Sally and Bryan had recommended was a fabulous spot. It was easy to get in the water with all our gear, important, and the brightly colored fish of every size and shape were everywhere! It felt so good to be swimming in the warm ocean and getting such a panorama of color all around me; the turquoise water, beautiful coral in yellows and pinks, and of course the gorgeous fish. It might just be the most different kinds of fish I have seen in one location. We knew sea turtles were in the area but we didn’t see any while we were swimming. After we got out, we walked along the lava and found them in the shallow water lazily munching away on the algae on the rocks. They would gracefully swim in and out at their leisure. All in all it was a great morning. We took a dip in the pool before getting showers and walking to town for lunch at Humpy’s. We sat upstairs and on the patio for a couple of hours overlooking the water with the trade winds cooling us off. The walk was short but we were overheated by the time we got seated! We lazed away the afternoon. I got caught up with Rachel and finally felt like writing on my blog.

Our Snorkle Beach



Happiness at Humpy's

Day 6
Today was a totally lazy day in and out of the pool. We went into town to the Lava Java for lunch. Every time we had gone by there, no matter what time of day, the place was full. We got a great table and sat under an umbrella with the cool breeze floating by. We took our time and enjoyed a wonderful fresh beet salad with a veggie sandwich on a homemade roll. It was easy to see why the place was always packed. Tonight we are going to treat ourselves to dinner at Huggo’s. We will actually spiff up for this one. One night earlier in the week we had tasty dinner at Huggo’s on the Rocks as per Bryan‘s recommendation. Some of the tables are actually in the sand. It reminded me of a favorite place in Cabo called the office. Kevin Teves entertained us for a couple of hours. We would have of bought a CD if he had one. He has one in the making and I’m sure Norm will be watching for it. He had a kind of James Taylor voice and could sing all kinds of music. I wasn’t feeling my best and it was still a great evening. So tonight we will try the expensive side! Tomorrow we catch a plane for a week on Maui.


Pool Time



Hawaii

The Wandering Adventures #3 - Hawaii March 2011
March 19
We left bright and early on Hawaiian Air for my first visit to the Big Island. The only downer is that early on in the flight I knew I was coming down with the dreaded flu bug. I just couldn’t get by it with all those germs roaming around The Manor. We were greeted with a beautiful lei, picked up our jeep and headed for the drug store to load up on flu meds and cough drops. Our condo is great. It is right on the Kona Coast just at the south end of Kailua where all the restaurants are. Our room overlooks the pool out to the beach. It’s beautiful! I love waking up to coffee on the balcony looking out to the ocean. Different mornings we have been treated to watching boogie boarders riding the waves, dolphins feeding, a fisherman throwing his net out hoping for a good catch and this morning a whale spouting. The trade winds are keeping us very comfortable. Thank goodness the flu didn’t keep me in bed. Being the Wandering Adventurers that we are and me not feeling so hot, the first three days were spent doing some driving. This is truly a big island and it takes lots of diving to see that various areas. The first day we drove down to see where my nephew, Bryan and his wife, had their wedding reception. What a beautiful area. We want to come back to this bay and do some snorkeling. It is a good place to see turtles. The beach where they were married was closed due to the Tsunami coming through last week unearthing some Hawaiian relics. While I’m sitting here on the balcony writing this, we are watching dolphins jumping and spinning! We continued our drive south to Kealakekua Bay and looked across the to see where Captain Cook had anchored. The Four Winds brings snorkeling boats in here. It looks like a good side trip for us sometime when we are coughing and hacking. Onward we went around the southern point to Punalu’u Black Sand Beach. The wind was blowing like crazy but it is such a gorgeous beach. We stopped for lunch in Na’alehu at a great little dive, Hana Hou, with formica tables and open air windows. Besides good food, it’s claim to fame is that it is the southern most restaurant in the US. Nyquil put me to sleep after a couple of card games.
Day 2 we drove north stopping at Kaloko-Honokohau National Park. It looks like a good place to spend some time learning about the Hawaiian culture but a couple mile hike over the lava flows to the ocean didn’t fit in with my low grade fever. We put it on our list for later in the week. Onward to Waimea and the gorgeous cowboy country with fields of grass blowing across the rolling hills. The cowboys were herding cattle here before the wild west was discovered. Waipi’o Valley was our excitement for the day. We put the jeep in four wheel low and headed down a winding, bumpy, 25 % grade road to the valley below fording a stream to a beautiful coastline. The beach was stunning with giant green cliffs and palms blowing in the breeze. On our way down we saw crazy people walking back up the hill huffing puffing and looking very glum. With wild horses along the road and the river running to ocean through the rich green valley it was a very picturesque sight to behold! For the trip home we took the northern road along the coast stopping in Kapa’au for lunch. This is the area where King Kamehameha was born. There is beautiful bronze statue of him in town that has a story behind it. It was ordered in Paris in the late 1800’s but the ship carrying across the seas was sunk on its way here. A replica was eventually made and is now in Hilo. Years later the original statue was found in an old warehouse and now stands on the north shore. We stopped for lunch at the hopping place in town, Blaine’s Drive In. They had everything from hamburgers to noodles to spam sandwiches and everything in between. The noodles hit the spot. We made it home for an evening of cards and popcorn before hitting the hay. I was still running a low-grade temp so Nyquil along with cough drops were my drugs of choice.


Welcome to Hawaii!



View From Our Balcony



Black Sand Beach




Beach at the End of the Four Wheelin' Road




Lunch at The Pond


Ra

Day 3 and still not feeling up to par we decided on another exploring day and drove across the island on Saddle Road. We drove by Mauna Kea rising 13,799 feet and is home to a number of observatories. Lava fields are everywhere on this island! We dropped down into Hilo and found a wonderful restaurant on a pond with open air windows and a nice view. After lunch we hunted up Rainbow Falls and Akaka Falls. This side of the island gets 200 inches of rain a year and is so tropical! Big red trees with bright red blossoms are in every ravine. Plants we know as houseplants are huge and gorgeous and crammed in so close together. The coastline is spectacular.

March 13 to 18
More lazy days in Phoenix by the pool with Chris and Norm feeling a little better each day. We made it out into the world to go to take care of some necessities before flying to Hawaii; shopping for some new summer clothes, pedicures, and hair cuts. Los Dos Molinos was on Norm’s “must do” list for a dinner spot. He had remembered this as a great place for spicy Mexican food. Don‘t even ask for salsa that isn‘t in the hot category, they don‘t have it! Dave and Jake would love this place. It was delicious! For our last night in Phoenix we had planned to drive out to see Lost Dutchman State Park and have dinner at the Mining Camp at the base of the Superstition Mountains. Just before we left I got a call from Dale and Joanne, my ex’s aunt and uncle and in my favorite people list. They had just arrived at the state park. We had a great few minutes of catching up with hugs all around and made plans for breakfast when we get back from Hawaii. The area around the Superstition Mountains is really pretty. We took a drive out to a lake before going to the Mining Camp for dinner. We decided it would be a nice place to spend a couple of days in the future. The Mining Camp has been around for years and was lots of fun with big long tables set with tin plates and cups. Big platters of yummy ribs, chicken and ham with bowls of slaw, beans, potatoes arrived with cookies for dessert. The next morning we were ready to head for the Marriott Hotel with out bags packed for three weeks of travel to time shares in Hawaii and Sedona. Lucky us!



Resort Pool - My hang Out




Joanne and I




Superstition Mountains



Mariner's Spring Training

March 6 to March12
The lost week in AZ. Christy and Norm came down with the horrendous seasonal flu. They were down with fevers for days. The fevers are gone but they are left with quite a cough. I have been enjoying the pool and working on my digital photo book in between playing Nina Nurse. Thank goodness we were nicely settled here before they got sick!
Yesterday was a big day at our resort with a St. Pat's Parade and hamburger feed! The parade consisted mostly of decorated golf carts with people really getting into the decorating. After the parade we all ventured out into the world and went to a Spring Training Mariners game. I’m not a big baseball fan but I always enjoy going to a game. It was fun to be so close to the players that we could see the whites of their eyes. The stadium is small and we were in the second row along the third baseline at home plate. We left after a hot dog and a beer and a 3 run lead. It was 87 degrees!
We drove up to Carefree to see where an old friend of my mom’s had been in on the original development in the 50’s. It is a lovely community that sits up a little higher at about 2,000 feet and is in the foothills north of the Scottsdale area. It reminded Christy and I of Sedona without the red rocks. Huge gorgeous houses were beautifully set in the rolling hills with street name like Ho Hum and Easy Street. Our thrill was to see a family of javalinas running alongside the road. The babies were tiny! It was so much greener than any area we have been in. The ocotillo were in bloom with bright red flowers and green leaves. We stopped at a very upscale shopping plaza, El Pedrigal, for an ice cream. We couldn’t figure out why the place was empty. We were the only people milling around. We ended the day at California Pizza Kitchen to have our favorites for dinner. I love their BBQ Chicken Salad!
　

Sculptures at El Pedrigal



St Pat's Parade at Our RV Resort



Javalina - Note the babies legs behind her.



Ichiro at Bat

　

February 28 - Jaiden’s Birthday!
We woke up to a bright calm morning! It was much nicer driving to Deming, New Mexico without the high winds.
March 1
City of Rocks State Park turned out to be a real find. It consists of one square mile of unusual rock formations. Pinnacles rise up to 40 feet and are separated by paths or lanes resembling city streets. Rocks are piled on top of each other and balancing in places you would think would just topple over. We drove into Deming and visited a fabulous museum, the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum. The excellent displays have been done by volunteers! Pioneer families have really come through and donated wonderful items. They have put together mini rooms set up like store fronts to display everything from a beauty salon to the saddle shop, just about everything a town would need. I can‘t believe they were able to collect the items. We just couldn’t take it all in. The display of a chuck wagon was my favorite. They had a huge collection of beautiful Mimbres pottery that a couple had collected. The Mimbres people lived in this area from 700 to 1200. Then the Apaches moved in about 1500 followed by the conquistadors, Mexicans and finally us gringos.
We drove south out of town just a ways to Rockhound State Park where you can collect up to 15# of rocks! I collected an agate, jasper, a tiny thunder egg and a rock with tiny crystals in just a few minutes. If you want to climb up the hill, you can dig for geodes and thunder eggs. Jake and Jordan would have fun with that. Back at the Manor we ended the day with a magnificent sunset.



City of Rocks



March 2


Pino Altos 1860's Building/Ice Cream Shop 

 Wow! We have been gone a month already. We have seen so much and enjoyed everything along the way. Today we went north to Silver City and Pinos Altos which sits at over 7,000 feet. Silver City was much larger than we had thought it would be. We were expecting a small historical downtown area but it is a growing city with some sprawling neighborhoods. The historical downtown was recently proclaimed an Arts and Cultural Center by the state of New Mexico. Maybe someday it will grow into that but presently it has many shops that are either closed or empty. It needs a lot of work. As we rose in elevation we came into oak and pine forests. The Town of Pinos Altos began in 1860 when three frustrated 49ers bent down to get a drink from a steam and found gold. Soon there were over 700 miners crawling over the landscape. This brought about conflicts with the Apaches. Cochise joined the Chiricahuas in an attempt to drive the miners from their traditional homeland. Roy Bean operated a mercantile here before moving to West Texas to gain fame as Judge Roy Bean. Today it is still cowboy country with lots of ranchland. Some of the 1860 buildings are still in use today for this small community of 300 people. After lunch we stopped at Fort Bayard which began in 1866. After the Civil War, the Army was challenging the native Americans and forcing them off their land opening the doorway for Americans. All across the southwest the Apaches had been in conflict with invaders of their land. The conquistadors came through opening the way for Mexican settlers which led to conflicts for over 200 years. The Apaches were encouraged when the Americans left after the Mexican War to fight in the Civil War, but soon they were engaging in intensified battles with the American Army as it were sent to protect settlers, miners, and the Butterfield Stage. After Geronimo’s surrender in 1866, the fort expanded and eventually became home to a Military Sanatorium to care for tuberculosis patients. It is now a VA Hospital with brand new buildings. Pioneering research with tuberculosis was going on here at the turn of the century. Some of the interesting human interest stories make visiting areas like this so much more interesting. Dita Kinney R.N. became the first director of the Army Nurses Corps and supervised the inclusion of female nurses into the Corps. Allen Allensworth served at the fort and was the first African-American officer to achieve rank of lieutenant colonel. This one is my favorite: Josephine Clifford arrived at the fort with her husband Lt. James Clifford in 1866, where they lived in a tent with two servants. It was here that James fessed up that he had been accused of homicide and fled the law changing his identity. He threatened to kill her if she revealed his secret. She did reveal his secret and left the fort under armed escort while he was court-martialed and dismissed from the army. Go Josephine! Here’s another one: A 22 year old Buffalo Soldier, a former slave, was stationed at the fort and became disabled. After being treated for an his disabilities in five different forts, he was discharged from the army in 1868. The doctors never discovered that William Cathey was a woman named Cathey Williams. John Pershing, of WWI fame, served his first posting here in 1866. Interesting place when you find out some of the “life” stories.
March 3
We headed for the Phoenix area today to find a “RESORT” atmosphere for our final two weeks before leaving for Hawaii. Norm corrected me a couple of times to save me from the embarrassment of calling it a trailer park. This place is definitely in the “RESORT” category. The Val Vista Resort in Mesa had a spot for us in its neighborhood of over 1,700 spots. I can’t believe I’m in a 55 or over retirement community for snowbirds and loving it!
March 4
We put on our bathing suits and spent the day at the pool! We all even went for a “float.” This place is humming with activities. This morning at 8:00 the billiards room was full for a pool tournament, from 12:00 to 2:00 the courtyard was packed with people listening to live music, not very good, and ordering lunch, happy hour at 3:00 with free beer, shuffleboard tournament next to pool all afternoon, and live music from 4:00 to 6:00! WOW! All we did was lounge by the pool and read. They have every kind of activity possible here. This resort is one of many in this area. There must be at least 10,000 spots for snowbirds! Every day is a “play day.”
March 5
The Heard Museum displaying Native American art was on our list of places to visit. In our reading, we found out that March 5^th and 6^th was their yearly big art fair event. They probably had 100 booths filled with gorgeous Native American art. I could have chosen many beautiful pieces to take home but the price tags were out of my range. Musical groups were entertaining in a small amphitheater all day. We listened to the music and then wound our way through the booths in awe before ending up in the museum. It is definitely not to be missed if you are in this area. We took in as much as we possibly could. One room featured an artist who has won many awards for his amazingly beautiful silver jewelry with inlaid stone. Later we saw his very unassuming booth outside. Upstairs they had a large room explaining the development of the American Indian Boarding Schools that were developed to “Americanize the savages” and how the philosophy changed back and forth through the years. They also have an art program for children focusing on those in 6^th to 12^th grade. We decided to do the Phoenix Art Museum another day and enjoyed a late lunch at Macaroni Grill. We were going to take in a Beer Festival on our way home but it was crowded and we were tired.
　


Mexican Dancers Representing Aztec Culture




Indians Demonstrating Their Craft




Beautiful Display in Heard Museum Representing the Fences Made with Ocotillo Cactus

 　

New Mexico * Texas



The Good Life



Big Bend NP

Here are some photos.



White Sands



 

Big Bend NP