Return to the Big Island - Day #1

One special thing Art wanted to do for his birthday was to bring his children and grandchild back to his birth island.

And so it was that we got up extremely early and headed out from the Honolulu International Airport for Hilo International Airport on the Big Island.

There we rented a van so we could all go in one car.  Mom was happy to stay home instead of doing more traveling.  She was worried about the swelling in her legs after returning from Hokkaiko.

We grabbed a quick breakfast at Cafe 100 in Hilo.

Yes, yes, I know it's not healthy, but we don't count calories very religiously when we travel.

Our next stop was Rainbow Falls in Hilo.  The waterfall was brown and strong due to heavy rainfall which would plague us intermittently throughout the day.

We drove on Saddle Road.

Route 200, known locally as Saddle Road, traverses the width of the Island of Hawai'i, from downtown Hilo to its junction with Hawaii Route 190 near Waimea. The road was considered one of the most dangerous paved roads in the state, with many one-lane bridges and areas of marginally maintained pavement. Most of the road has now been repaved, and major parts have new re-alignments to modern standards. The highway reaches a maximum elevation of 6,632 feet (2,021 m) and is subject to fog and low visibility.
                 -- Wikipedia

Art says he thinks it's called Saddle Road because it sits like a saddle between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.

We arrived at the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy.  Ellison Onizuka is the Big Island astronaut who perished in the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy.

Art, Tif, Ed, Keola and Sarah were planning to go up to the top of Mauna Kea to see the observatories there.  There's often snow at the top.  Mauna Kea means White Mountain in Hawaiian.  I stayed at the Onizuka Center with KC because it is advised not to take children up to such a high elevation.

Art said it was so overcast at the top that they couldn't see a single thing.

KC and I had a great time as she explored the gift shop for all the things she would beg her parents to get her once they returned.

OK... I confess.  I bought this mug. Someday, I'll have to bequeath it to KC.

Rain started falling but we needed to visit the Thurston Lava Tube.

A lava tube is a natural conduit formed by flowing lava which moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. Tubes can be actively draining lava from a volcano during an eruption, or can be extinct, meaning the lava flow has ceased and the rock has cooled and left a long, cave-like channel.
                       -- Wikipedia

There were lots and lots of puddles that we had to jump over.

Devastation Trail was the next stop.  We let the younger crew walk the trail in the rain while we took KC in the van to meet them at the end.

Art had made reservations to stay at the Kilauea Military Camp.  For a very reasonable price, we were able to rent this 3 bedroom cabin for the night.  It was absolutely fabulous!  I would love to have stayed there for the rest of the trip.  I wish we'd known about this place when our kids were little.

After drying out, KC wrote postcards to her friends and we grabbed a buffet dinner at the Crater Rim Cafe.  All in all, it was a wonderful day!

Celebrating 70 Years!

It was Art's 70th birthday that brought all of our family together.  Art has always started his birthdays off with an early morning run.

Normally, he'll quietly sneak out of the  house when it's still dark so he doesn't wake me.  What?  Did you actually think I would run with him?

You can imagine how happy he was to have Sarah, Tif and Keola all join him for his birthday run this year.  It was very special. Some day, perhaps KC will also join them.  I will take pictures.

Another tradition is his birthday watermelon.  Can you see the candle?

Yes, it's true.  Art loves watermelon much more than cake.






Art received many wonderful gifts to celebrate his birthday.  Among them were bonsai tools and gift cards to his favorite stores.

Then there was this framed map of the Chicago transit system from  Keola and Sarah.  Art knew every one of the lines since he rode the train daily to go to work.

We then had a wonderful birthday luncheon at the Prince Court restaurant in Waikiki.

I wish Art's sister could have been here too, but she is unable to travel right now.

It amazes us that time has flown so quickly.  Art never seems to worry about how old he is, only how old he feels.  He's happy because he feels just fine.  Art has been meticulous about what he eats and how he exercises and it shows in his energy level.

Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring, but he is enjoying life which is the most important thing, especially with family surrounding him.

Now he's wanting to go back to visit Europe. I need to go take some vitamins.

I Love My Techies

My brother, Dennis is my techie in Hawaii, but my Master Techie who sets up my computers and can fix them even when he's about 4,189 miles away (I googled it.) is my son-in-law, Ed.

Once I learned that Ed, Tif and KC were coming to Hawaii, I asked Ed if he would help me get a new computer.  He looked at my old computer which is not super old, but old enough that it was getting sluggish and said it would probably be a good time to get an upgrade.

He ordered the parts from Amazon, stuck in extra memory from my old computer and made sure I knew how to get started with the new Windows 8.1.

Ed said he personally does not like the Windows 8.1 operating system.  My brother doesn't like it either.  My son, Keola and his Sarah also don't like it. 

I was feeling pretty nervous.

Tiffany on the other hand said, "This is good for you, Mom.  I've read that it's good for a senior's brain to figure out things on the computer."

I started up my new computer and this popped up.

Arrrghhh!!!

What the heck?

It looked completely different from my old desktop.  I'm told it was designed this way to make it more attractive for touch pads.

Luckily my family was here to show me the teeny tiny arrow at the bottom that I could click on to get the old desktop back.  Phew!

Throughout the next few weeks, there would be a few other little glitches that I could count on Ed to adjust and fix for me.  I do love my son-in-law.

Do you see KC at his side watching every move he makes?  Ed showed her what the inside of a computer looks like and how to screw in all the little parts that make it think.

I will soon have three techies in the family and I love them all.

Family Portraits By Dave Au

Dave Au is a very dear family friend who happens to be a professional photographer.  He has recorded so many of our family milestones.  When he heard that the kids were all coming together for the first time in five years, he offered to take our photo.

We first tried an outdoor shot at the Aiea Heiau, but the mosquitoes were so fierce that we had to go back to Dave's home studio.

We had fun changing our clothes for a different look.

Dave had it a lot easier taking our photos this time.

KC was only two years old the last time he took our photos and wouldn't smile on cue.  Dave had to jump up and down and wiggle a toy at her.  This time KC knew just what to do and posed and smiled perfectly.

We're very pleased with the photos.  I'm amazed at how Dave is always able to magically capture moments we'll forever cherish.

Now the really, really hard part is to decide which one to print and hang on the walls because I LOVE them all!

Being a Tourist at Home

A week after Tiffany and her family arrived, our son, Keola and his partner Sarah joined us in Hawaii.  After a couple of days, our son-in-law, Ed invited us all to join them in Waikiki to stay at the Marriott.  We were hesitant at first.  We'd never stayed at a hotel in Waikiki before.

  But you know what?  It was the strangest thing.  We felt like tourists!

We watched the World Soccer match in the hotel room and wandered around Waikiki Beach. 

Art and I never go to the beach, but the kids LOVE the water.

KC loved building sandcastles.  There was a time she was frightened of sand.  She refused to walk on it.  OK, she was about a year old at the time.  You could put her on a beach blanket and she wouldn't move off of it.

No more.

She wanted everybody to build and sculpt with her.  Uncle Keola loved taking his niece out for a swim and consulting on her works of sand art.

As I watched our daughter, son and granddaughter out on the water together, I just had to smile.

We tried the Waiola Shave Ice stand in Kaimuki when blogger, Christine visited from Canada.  The whole family wanted to try it so we did.

And yes, everybody loved it.

It was now time to head home where Mom was enjoying some peace and quiet and recovering from travel weariness.

Our Little Miss Helper

Our house full of family hustle and bustle has been quiet for a few weeks now, but as I look over our many photos, I'm remembering the happy times we had together.

Hearing KC's voice calling out to us when we came out of the airport after landing was music to our ears.

Our daughter, Tiffany, son-in-law, Ed and KC had arrived the day before because they wanted to surprise Art for his birthday.

Unfortunately, it was a bigger surprise than expected because we'd bought tickets for the tour of Hokkaido, Japan.

We gave them keys to our house and car so that they could pick us up when we returned home.

KC and Tif were willing to get up at 6:00 AM to go to the Farmer's Market with us.  I wanted to pick up peanuts to boil for Tiffany.

On another day, they wanted to go to the Aloha Stadium to buy some gifts to bring back to Illinois.

Needless to say we were all somewhat jet-lagged, but the excitement of being together kept us moving.  I was absolutely stunned at KC's energy level.  She never seemed to stop moving and she never took naps like I wanted to.

KC also wanted to help us ALL the TIME.   She cleaned the storm doors with Grandpa Art.  She insisted on helping me bake a lemon chiffon pie.

However, this is what made us laugh.  Art was having a colonoscopy done.  Since I don't drive, Art thought this was an ideal time because Tiffany could drive him into town to Straub Clinic. 

KC saw poor grandpa having to drink all of that colon prep so she decided to support him in spirit by drinking water out of a similar mug with him.

Art's colonoscopy results were just fine.  He was told earlier that he wouldn't have to take another one because you don't have to get them once you hit 75.  At Straub, the doctor said he should certainly get another one in 10 years. 

Hmmm... KC will be 17 by then.  I wonder if she'll come and help Grandpa again.

Day #9: Chitose

June 29th, Sunday was our last Hokkaido tour day.  I thought about our daughter and her family arriving from Chicago the day before we were to return to Hawaii.

On our last day in Japan, Art and I managed to oversleep!  Art hadn't set our travel alarm clock because we'd always awoken too early anyway.

What a surprise it was to hear the knock on our door.  Dennis and Mom were ready to go to breakfast.  We hurriedly dressed and joined them.

After breakfast, the bus took us to the Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade.

We bought quite a few last minute omiyage (gifts) and fun souvenirs.

We returned to the Daiso 100 yen (Dollar) store.  I think there were four levels and we had such fun looking for good deals.

Tour friends told us about  UNIQLO.  They said UNIQLO had fashions designed for smaller (shorter?) women there.  We'd never heard of the place, but we enjoyed walking around and I did find a great hoodie which I bought.

Lunch was at Hakata Shokudo, a ramen shop.  It was reasonable and tasty.

And yes, we DID get one last ice cream cone.


We also took a photo with our very capable and kind bus driver.

Next stop was Lake Shikotsu which is the second largest crater/caldera lake in Japan.  It is 1,000 feet deep.  It's supposed to be almost ice free because it's so deep.  The 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics downhill skiing was held in this area.

I like taking photos of crows whenever we travel. Each country seems to have a different variety.

In Japan, I also like to collect these stamps.  Soon, travel buddies were keeping a look out for the stamps for me so I could add them to my journal.

And then we were back at Chitose Airport with Doraemon.

The Hawaiian Airlines food was OK.

As we passed through customs at Honolulu International Airport I called our daughter, Tiffany to let her know we'd arrived.

"We're right outside," she said.

We stepped into the sunshine and I heard a happy voice call out, "Grandma!  Grandpa!"

It was so good to be home.

Day #8: Sapporo

June 28th, Saturday was the day Mom had been looking forward to.  She would be leaving the tour to spend the day with her sister and brother-in-law who came all the way from Sendai to be with her.  When their son, Ricky learned many months ago that we would be coming to Japan on a tour and not stopping in Sendai to visit, he arranged to have his parents come up to Hokkaido.  Mom was thrilled!

Art, Dennis and I stayed with the tour.  I knew that it would make things easier for everybody since neither Dennis nor Art speak Japanese and my aunt and uncle don't speak English.

Our first stop was to the Hokkaido shrine.

We've seen many shrines in Japan so this wasn't too awesome for us.

We knew Mom would be having a great time since my uncle was a reporter, editor and then managed a tour company.  I gave him my small camera to take photos for me.

We did enjoy seeing this wedding.  The bride is wearing a white tsunokakushi on her head to hide the "horns of jealousy".

Mom went to see a lot of gardens, museums, etc. and had fabulous food.  Hmmm... I'm getting hungry looking at this photo.  They visited places that would be of interest to people from Japan rather than tourists from Hawaii.

From all the photos that uncle took I saw that the sisters were walking arm in arm everywhere they went.

Mom is the oldest sister, Auntie is the youngest.  They write each other constantly, but there's nothing like seeing each other in person and spending quality time together.

We went to this Duty Free shop where our tour guide, Michael recommended this herbal medicine called Seirogan.  He said it was a miracle cure for upset stomach.  He didn't mention at the time that it had a rather strong, noxious odor.  We bought two boxes for our son and son-in-law.

I wonder if they've tried it yet.

I also bought this nifty stainless steel nail clipper that collects the nails that snip off.

 Lunch at Miyabi restaurant was something completely new and fun.  We got to dip seafood and veggies in batter and deep fry our own tempura.  It was delicious!

We stopped at this government building.  It was constructed in 1888 and is of American neo-baroque style.  It is nicknamed "Aka-Renga" (red bricks).


I enjoyed the lily pond on the office grounds.

I was feeling a bit silly when Dennis took this photo.

The Asahi Brewery was more fun than I thought it was going to be.  I got to buy a clear beer mug for my collection.

We also got to sample waaay more beer than we needed to.

I don't even remember what I liked the best. Heck!  I don't even remember what I drank.

Juuust kidding!

I wrote it all down.  We had Super dry, Premium, Dark and Super Cold.  

But no, I don't remember what I liked best.

We also made a stop at a 100 Yen (Dollar) store.  That was my FAVORITE store!

We had a crab dinner here which was better since we could warm our crab on the grill even though that's not what the grill was intended for.

When we got back to our hotel, my aunt and uncle had just returned with Mom.  Mom was ecstatic!  She'd had such a great time.  

Auntie laughed when she saw the Seirogan we'd bought.  She said she was very familiar with the upset stomach cure and said it was even good for toothaches.  Seriously?

We spent a wonderful time together just chatting until it was time for them to return to their hotel.  

It was a lovely day... and there was only one more day left in Hokkaido.

Daty #7: Sapporo

June 27th, Friday was a happy day for my brother who does enjoy sake.

I really did like the Japanese breakfasts.

I liked the Japanese style rooms too.  It was fun sleeping on the floors on futons.

We would be moving on to Sapporo.  Our trip was already coming to a close.

At the sake factory we got to learn all about sake production and history. Water is very important as well as the rice.  Sake is brewed by the fermentation of rice.

There were free samples of different types of sake.

For $2.00, you could buy a glass of their premium sake, Daiginjo.

You bet we did.  I was surprised at how smooth it was.  It's nothing like the sake that Mom uses for cooking.

Who knew sake could actually taste good?

I believe Dennis tried every kind of free sake that was offered without wobbling once.  Mom says he gets that gene from her side of the family.

We were then given vouchers to buy ramen for lunch.  There must have been a dozen restaurants to choose from.  We ate and enjoyed the noodles at Saijo. 

We stopped in Otaru to see their canal and visit some shops.

We were given these Hello Kitty mugs to bring home for souvenirs.  Our granddaughter, KC loved the one we gave her. 

This glassware store was pretty amazing.

We bought dripless shoyu (soy sauce) bottles in another Otaru store.

Would you believe there was this SEVEN layer ice cream cone and we were too full to try it?  Darn!

Then came another cable car ride from Mt. Tengu to see see the town of Otaru.

I know that Tengu are often pictured with these long noses.  We were told that rubbing the nose would bring us luck.... or was it good health?

Tengu  ("heavenly dog") are a type of legendary creature found in Japanese folk religion and are also considered a type of Shinto god (kami) or yokai (supernatural beings).
                  -- Wikipedia

 I enjoyed seeing this pretty columbine close by.

The Tengu Museum had a lot of artifacts, but we didn't get to spend much time there to learn more about it.

There was a lovely dinner and then it was on to our Novotel Hotel in Sapporo.

Mom was excited because the following day, her sister and brother-in-law would be picking her up to spend the day together.

Day #6: Furano

June 26th, Thursday started out great because I was finally able to sleep until 4:30 AM.  Perhaps it was the onsen the night before that soothed me enough to sleep longer.

Breakfast was pretty good.  I like having a Japanese breakfast.

The hotel was full of children on school field trips.

One teacher tried to encourage his shy students to use the English they'd learned when we bumped into them in the elevator.

As the bus neared the farm we were told that it was a little early for the lavender.

What?

Art had researched this and thought lavender season was from mid June through July.

Chika, our Hokkaido tour guide said lavender season is actually in July.

WHAT?

Still, they reassured us that there would be some early blooming lavender available for us to look at.

This hay bale sculpture was cute too and reflected how I felt.

Still... we did get to see these lavender buds.

We'd taken Mom to see Washington state's incredible  Skagit Valley tulip fields a few years ago.  She was rather underwhelmed by these flower fields.

We then went to Herb Hill farm, and Mom was too tired so I sat with her on this short ride through the fields.

Art and Dennis walked.

Yes, of course we tried the lavender ice cream.  Hmmmm... I really couldn't detect much of a lavender taste.  Actually, I don't even know what lavender is supposed to taste like.

Art and Dennis were able to take these great shots of the fields.  We were happy to see some flowers blooming.

We then went to Sounkyo to see the Gin Ga no Taki and Ryu Sei no Taki.  It's the Husband and Wife waterfalls.  Taki means waterfall.  Ginga is wife and Ryusei is husband.  The Ginga waterfall is taller, thinner and graceful while the Ryusei is shorter and stronger flowing.

Here's our tour guides.  Left to right are Li Lin, Chika and Michael.

The hotel map was a little confusing to figure out where the onsen was.

Kathy and I along with our two other new friends decided to do the onsen again.  We wanted to be sure to try the outdoor onsen.

We cooked vegetables and meat on a grill for dinner and it was OK.  But, we loved the ice cream.

Although Kathy gave me permission to use her photo, I didn't get a chance to ask the other two so I've blurred their faces.

It's ironic that we came to Hokkaido for the lavender and seafood, but what really made the happiest impression in my mind was the onsens.  Art feels the same. 

Mom never tried the onsen, but her happy time would come at the end of the trip.  My brother?  Hmmm... could it be the sake or Asahi beer factory we'd visit later?