Big Island: Day #2

Mom had a good night's rest and was raring to go. We woke early and agreed to go back to the Jaggar Observation Point to check out the eruption again.

Mom thought it was all exciting. She remembered when we took her to the Big Island many years ago and she saw an eruption from a much closer vantage point, the day before they closed the area.

This, she felt, was a much more comfortable distance.

It was helpful to have my Canon with the long zoom.

We watched for a while and headed back to the Kilauea Military Camp for breakfast.

We ordered a breakfast that was much bigger than mom's usual oatmeal and coffee, but she managed to eat most of it without a problem at all.

After breakfast we got in the car and headed toward the coast on the Chain of Craters road just as rain began to fall.

We saw a large Kalij Pheasant on the side of the road. We've never seen one of those on Oahu.

There were also wild orchids and ohia lehua blossoms.

The little cave in the November 1979 lava flow was interesting too.

But the plant that mom was MOST fascinated with was the Sensitive plant.

She LOVED touching the compound leaves and seeing them close up tight as she swept her fingers over them.

Driving over miles and miles of lava fields made it clear that the Big Island is much bigger than Oahu.

From the Holei Sea Arch, you could hike to the location where the lava flow from Kilauea falls into the sea.

No, we didn't hike the 11+ miles to see it.

A short distance away, we saw what looked like a beach pea plant with a flower. We then came to the start of the Pu'uloa Petroglyph site. It was supposed to be a .7 mile walk to see the Hawaiian petroglyphs. We saw photos of a boardwalk so figured it wouldn't be too bad. Ummmm....

Once we started, we found the going not quite as easy as we hoped for an 87 year old senior citizen.

We took breaks and Art and I took both her arms and supported her all the way.

She walked on the narrow trail while Art and I took the rougher lava surface on the sides of the trail. Mom forgot her hat so Art gave her his to wear. (He really needs a better looking hat to wear!)

When we were about half way there I considered going back, but mom wanted to see the petroglyphs. She and her sisters have always been interested in historical/cultural sites.


We realized then that it was .7 miles to the boardwalk (probably as the crow flies).

Once there, mom loved seeing all the petroglyphs that had been carved in the  lava rocks by ancient Hawaiians.

Mom loved seeing the pukas (holes) that had been carved in the lava to hold the piko (umbilical cords) of Hawaiian babies long ago.

We wondered if the long line of pukas belonged to one family.

The hike back to the car was much easier and much faster since we were now going downhill. You can see our rental car in the horizon. It sure felt good to see it.

Unfortunately, the sole of Art's almost new Merrell's shoe came apart. It's a good thing we always bring an extra pair of shoes on trips.

Heading back to our Kilauea cabin, we got a text message that my nephew's wife had given birth two weeks early to a daughter! Mom was now a great grandmother for the third time. Needless to say, we were ecstatic!

By the time we got back to our cabin it was 1:00 and too late to get a lunch at the Crater Rim Cafe. We opted for a hamburger in the snack bar.

Incredibly, mom was still OK to do a little more sightseeing. We figured Devastation Trail would be a good place.

Devastation Trail is the area still recovering from the 1959 Kilauea Iki eruption.

It was fun seeing some native birds in the trees and hearing their songs.

Half of the trail was closed so our walk was easy and short.

We could see the Halemaumau eruption from the Steaming Bluff Overlook. It was a bit eerie to have all this steam wafting around us.

After ordering too much dinner the night before we opted this time to each get the salad bar and share one teriyaki chicken main dish between the three of us which turned out to be perfect!

Art got mom a soft serve with strawberry preserves to which she said, "This is the BEST dessert I've ever had in my life! I can't believe how delicious this is!" We had to laugh.

We were hoping this would be an easier day, but it ended up being more strenuous than we planned. Still, mom was very proud of herself, especially when people complimented her on her stamina during our walks. To be honest, Art and I were getting exhausted just watching over her to make sure she wouldn't fall or trip or become dehydrated or....

It didn't matter. She kept telling us how much she was loving every minute. And now she had a third great grandchild. Life was good!

Big Island: Day #1

We got up very early on a Wednesday morning and headed out to the Honolulu International Airport for our 7:58 AM flight to Hilo.

The flight to the Big Island from Oahu is only about 45 minutes, but Hawaiian Airlines still gave us all some Kona coffee to wake us up.

We made sure that mom was seated on the window seat.

She was excited to see the observatories on Mauna Kea as well as snow at the summit.

As we were about to land she saw a rainbow!

We were surprised too. I think that's the first time we've seen a rainbow from the airplane.

We got our Hyundai rental car at Hilo Airport and it began to rain pretty hard.

This would necessitate our doing an indoor activity so we decided on the Pacific Tsunami Museum.

There was a quilt hanging in memory of those who lost their lives in the 1946 tsunami in Laupahoehoe. I remembered that a friend of mine had a young uncle who'd lost his life after being swept out to sea during that tsunami. I found his name in one of the squares.  I took a photo of it and texted it to my friend who responded right away, telling me she would share it with her brothers.

There were other groups at the museum who were also taking shelter from the rain.

Everything was in English but the docents offered us a room where mom could see a video in Japanese which she appreciated.

Mom said she could still remember the 1960 tsunami that devastated Hilo because she was working at the Hawaii Times (Japanese language) newspaper at the time.

We then made a quick stop at the Two Ladies Kitchen and placed our orders for mochi to bring home to Oahu in four days.

There are several friends and relatives on the Big Island that we would have loved to have visited, but we wanted this trip to be for mom.

When we meet with English speaking friends, mom will usually sit quietly, smile and wait patiently until it's time to go. We didn't want this to be that kind of trip for her.

I texted my Hilo classmate/friend, Mavis and asked her where a good place to eat lunch was. She suggested Miyo's and it was everything she said. It was also crowded with local people but we were seated quickly and had the nicest waitress ever!

Since mom loves plants, Art thought the botanical garden at the University of Hawaii, Hilo campus would be a fun place to visit.

Although the garden is supposed to have the best collection of cycads in Hawaii we enjoyed the colorful array of bromeliads even more.

I had no idea there were so many different kinds of bromeliads. It was a very, very small garden, but we spent a whole lot of time there admiring each plant.

I learned later that it must have been where I collected my mosquito bites.

Nobody else got bit. Just me.

Our next stop in Hilo was the Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens.

I loved the paintings in the bathroom!

Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo has two Bengal tigers. The white tiger is a male and the orange one is a female.

We were going to make this a short trip, but mom was so excited that she wanted to continue exploring.

There were more flowers to enjoy all around the zoo.

Mom doesn't care for snakes, but she was entranced by the peacock who stood and posed for the longest time.

Of all the animals, the anteater really drew mom's interest. She was surprised at how big it was.

When we got to the Kilauea Visitor Center, mom suddenly wilted. I was really concerned because she could hardly walk.

We drove to the Kilauea Military Camp and were assigned our two bedroom cabin.

Mom went right to sleep.

When she awoke about 45 minutes later, she felt well enough to go to the Crater Rim Cafe for dinner.

We then had her take a bath and rest while we went to the Jaggar Observation Point to see the eruption that was going on at Halemaumau crater.

The area was crowded and the parking lot full, but we were able to get a good spot to view the volcano.

When night fell, the view was even more spectacular, but it was hard to take photos in the dark. We loved talking to a couple from Canada who had traveled around the world.

It was an interesting, packed, fun day, but exhausting for mom. We decided that the following day needed to be much less strenuous. At least that's what we planned....

Going to the Big Island

The last trip we took with mom was in 2015 when we traveled to Seattle and Vancouver, Canada to see the Butchart Gardens. We were able to visit Skagit Valley and meet bloggers, DJan and Linda who were so very kind to Mom. We also loved spending time with friends, Patty and Paul and really had a wonderful trip that mom still loves to think about. I often see her looking at the photobook we made for her.

Since that time, she's really not wanted to travel anymore. She says the long flights to Japan are too exhausting for her. For a time, we contemplated California but she's not wanted to leave home.

Art felt it was important to get her out of her usual routine and to enjoy a new adventure. She was still reluctant to travel so we told mom it was a good time to pay our respects to Art's parents at the columbarium in Honokaa. That was motivation enough for her. We knew she didn't want to be gone for a long trip so we settled on four days. This trip would be all about creating an experience that mom would enjoy. We regretfully would not visit relatives or friends because of the language barrier.

Just before our trip, mom's younger sister was rushed to the hospital and had brain surgery. We visited her there before we left and brought an album of photos to stimulate memories of her life. It was a shockingly happy surprise when my cousin arrived, pointed at me and asked, "Who is that?" Auntie Dorothy answered, "Kay." I was so touched!

We were also expecting our niece to be born in the middle of April. Mom would have her 3rd great grandchild to look forward to. March was ending with feelings of worry and anticipation.

And so our trip began.

Water Heater Woes

Mom was rather frantic one morning when she saw the puddle of water next to the water heater. Art determined that the hot water hose line was leaking. I looked online to see what the life of a water heater averaged out to be. It said 8-12 years. Our water heater is 10 years old. I told Art we should replace it so that we wouldn't have to worry about it instead of him trying to fix it.

We went to Home Depot and Lowes and settled on a Whirlpool water heater. The associates at both places advised us not to get the expensive one because they had more electronics that could break here in Hawaii.

We decided on the Lowes Whirlpool water heater. It's a brand we recognize and seemed to have a good warranty. We decided to get the extended warranty for $60 which would add 5 years to the 6 that came with the original purchase. The water heater was $409. When you added the delivery, haul away, installation, extended warranty, etc. it was $839. Yikes! They said the plumber would call in 48 hours to install the water heater.

He didn't. Instead Lowes called to say they were the scheduling department and that the plumber would call in another 48 hours.

Arrrrghhhh...

Meanwhile, we'd talked to our retired plumber friend who told us, "No, No, No. You don't have to buy a new water heater yet. Just replace the hose with copper. What? You got the extended warranty? No, no, no. You didn't need that. Whirlpool... meh" Sigh...

Well, the Lowes plumber still hadn't called to tell us when he'd be coming so we went back to the store and cancelled the order. We then went to Home Depot where Art bought the copper hose as directed by our friend.

 OK...

No leaks...

We have hot water again.

I wonder how long that heater is going to last.

I hate cold showers.

Checking Out Non-Stop Travel Cruises

We got a letter from Non-Stop Travel to attend a luncheon at Ala Moana's Jade restaurant where they were planning to entice us into going on a river cruise with them. Hmmm... free food?

We have not wanted to use the Non-Stop Travel agency ever since we joined them on a Mediterranean Cruise a couple years ago, but for free food Art thought we could give them another chance.

When we got to Ala Moana shopping center, I was worried we'd forget where we parked our car so I followed the advice our daughter Tiffany gave us when we were last in Chicago.

Take a photo with your cellphone!

Isn't this a fabulous idea!!!

I clicked a photo of the ramp we took also, just in case.

When I saw the Jade Dynasty Seafood Restaurant I realized we'd eaten there before at a wedding reception we'd been invited to.

We were startled when the person in line with us to enter the restaurant said she didn't even want to come because she was also upset with Non-Stop Travel for not even providing their group with an escort to take care of emergencies, coordinate things, etc.

Ahhh well...

I did meet another couple who told me they'd traveled with Non-Stop and were happy with their experience.

Lunch was at 3:00. We'd eaten a snack ahead of time so we weren't starving like some other people there.

The food was good. There were some dishes I didn't even recognize, but they were tasty though VERY bad for my diabetic diet.

This was the second event which had about 150 people also.

Once lunch was over there was a AmaWaterways River Cruising presentation. Apparently they do river cruises in Vietnam/Cambodia, Europe and Africa. It sounded wonderful.

Non-Stop would take a group to one of those destinations, do a few days of land touring and then go on the river cruise.

It did sound quite interesting. We'll think about it...

Dirty Diswasher Filter

I just checked our dishwasher filter and discovered that there was more calcification on the steel netting.

You have to unscrew that knob thingy and then take off that square plate.

Underneath is another filter made of a fine steel net held by thin plastic that breaks quickly.

The filters were clogged with calcification so I soaked them all in vinegar which cleaned it out nicely. I did have to do a little brushing with a toothbrush to clean out stubborn debris.


Now the BIG problem...

The thin plastic supports on the fine mesh filter was crumbling. What to do? What to do?

I looked on line to see what it would cost to replace that flimsy screen.

$35.00! What?!?

Yup. You have to buy the entire filter contraption. They won't let you buy just the netting thing. I even called Bosch and they said it's true. You can't buy just the net.

Aggravation!

So we went to the hardware store where Art thought this hose barb (clamp) that we found in the plumbing department would work.

So far so good.

Keeping our fingers crossed.

Cars, Cars and More Cars...

Ever since we rented the Toyota Sienna (minivan) to drive from Chicago to Maryland last year, we've been rather enamored with the idea of replacing our 17-18 year old Honda Odyssey (minivan) which has served us well though we haven't used it much. It's got about 60,000 miles on it. Art used it to haul construction material, traveling cross country and car pooling.

Now Art has heard that minivans are made to hold 8 people. He likes the idea of the updated safety features, rear view camera and the blind spot monitor.

"Don't do it," said my son-in-law.

"Not a good idea," said my daughter.

"I'm tending to agree with them," said our son.

They felt that it would be more cost effective to just rent a minivan when we needed it. It's true, actually... I know that. Art knows that.

However...
First Hawaiian Bank was giving away FREE tickets to the Friday Auto Show. I didn't want to go. I'm not a car person. "But you'll have something to blog about," said Art.

When I went back to First Hawaiian Bank at almost closing time to pick up tickets for my sister-in-law, the bankers said it was the last day to pick up tickets so I should take the stack that was left. I said I didn't need them, but they insisted.

So we went.

It's amazing what I'll do to have something to blog about.

Art tells me this is a Ferrari.

I took a photo and he said I needed to take a photo of the front hood because it has a horse on it.

Oops! Sorry, I don't see the horse.

Then we went in. Ummmm... There were a LOT of cars!

Here's the 2017 Honda Odyssey.

But YIKES! It's $45,325 + an added destination fee.

Good grief! Prices have sure gone up!!!

It had that great extra middle seat though.

Here's the Toyota Sienna that we liked so much.

I saw the $33,205 price and thought it was more reasonable. But if you wanted the blind spot monitor you had to pay $42,950!

I was texting photos to the kids. My son-in-law especially loves cars but he texted back, "You don't need a huge van. That's for cross country trips."

So I sent him this photo telling him that it would fit the whole family when they came to visit.

He texted back, "You'll never find parking for that at the grocery store."

When I saw the brown car that Art said was a Maserati, I asked how much it cost.

He said....... "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

I saw the fine print. Yikes!!!

Then there was this Toyota Hydrogen Car. The only problem is there's only one place on the island where you can fill up with hydrogen. The $58,365 price tag is daunting though.

This made the new Prius price seem almost reasonable.

My son-in-law texted, "It's ugly though."

Then there were these collectible cars.

And then there were these.

No idea what they are.

I hope everyone paid attention to these signs.

The BEST, ABSOLUTE BEST part happened when we were leaving. I still had about 10 tickets left in my bag.

I started looking for friendly people and began giving them out. There were some Japanese tourists walking toward the Convention Center. They were overjoyed when I gave them tickets. It would have cost them $10 a person otherwise.

There was a solitary fellow walking briskly toward the Center. He could hardly contain his excitement and even asked for my email so he could thank me. I told him more thanks was unnecessary. He left beaming happily. I was beaming too.

Wow! I'm so glad I went to the Auto Show!

And what about replacing the minivan? Ah well... I guess we'll just keep using our Odyssey until it goes to car heaven and then rent as needed. Sigh...

Battle of the Books

Five months ago, my daughter, Tiffany told me that our granddaughter, KC was doing her best to read the required 12 of 18 books in order to qualify for the Battle of the Books competition at her school. The contest is for 4th and 5th graders. Not only did KC qualify, she read all 18 books! I was extremely proud of her.

All children who qualified were evenly divided into eight groups of three with equal numbers of 4th and 5th graders so nobody would have an advantage.

Along with Tiffany we were worried that KC would be intimidated being on stage and working with her group to come up with answers to questions about details in the books.

In order to lessen the blow of losing, Tiffany told KC that it's perfectly OK to not win because they were too busy right now with all their activities and she wouldn't have time to win and then prepare to represent their school in the district competition.

Imagine my surprise shock when a stunned and excited Tiffany called just as I was waking (there's a five hour time difference between Hawaii and Chicago) to tell me that KC and her two teammates had WON the competition.

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I could hardly believe it! Since I taught in the same district, I knew what this all meant. There's a lot of pride if your school wins. I started looking at airline prices to Chicago. But then Art said I needed to think this through first. If we go, it could put extra pressure on KC. We're also planning to be in Chicago this summer as it is.

Arrrghhh....

I looked at airline prices again. Sigh...

I want so badly to be there. I'm not looking to see her win. Her team has already won their school competition and that's enough. I just want to see her up there on stage and cheer them on.

Sigh...

It's really hard living so far away.

A Fairy Tale to Cheer Mom

Mom's youngest sister living in Hawaii has been in struggling health lately which has left mom worried and somewhat stressed. Our cellphone service is through T-Mobile and they have an app called T-Mobile Tuesdays where different discounts are given out. One discount is $2 tickets to see a movie, but you have to see the movie on a Tuesday.

Last week, our son-in-law was too busy so he gave us his code and told us that we should take mom to see a movie. Art and I also got our codes and we bought our $2 tickets through Fandango. We went to the 4:30 PM 3D showing which we thought would be more fun for mom to see. Since it was dinner time Art bought a HUGE bag of popcorn for us to share. It turned out that the $8.50 refillable bag was only $4.25 on Tuesdays since we had the Regal rewards card.

Mom did not want to go at first because she said she'd already seen the movie with her boyfriend when she was a teenager. She said it was also too cold at the theater and she would need to use the bathroom and it was dinnertime and she needed to cook and she wouldn't understand anything, etc.

I told her we were going, I'd carry her sweater, I'd give her ear plugs and not to worry about dinner since we'd just warm up left overs when we got home.

Well, mom loved the popcorn, really loved the 3D, loved the music, loved the movie and came out of the theater with a huge smile exclaiming what fun she had. Because 4:30 is close to the dinner hour we were almost alone in the theater.

Mom said she understood everything. Well... that wasn't entirely true. Art quizzed her on areas he knew she probably didn't get and I explained the story line more thoroughly in Japanese for her.

She kept thanking us as she went off to her room, smiling and laughing all the while and telling us that she can well understand why the movie is such a big hit.

And us? Oh yes! Art and I loved it, but now doggone it! I can't get that song "Tale As Old As Time" out of my head!

POSTSCRIPT: 
OK... It's not that I didn't believe her. However, I thought her memory could have been foggy. Since Linda from Kansas asked about the movie, I looked it up and SHOCKERS! Mom's memory is amazing! Here's what I found on Wikipedia:

Beauty and the Beast (French: La Belle et la Bête) is a 1946 French romantic fantasy film directed by French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. Starring Josette Day as Belle and Jean Marais, it is an adaptation of the 1757 fairy tale of the same name, written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont and published as part of a fairytale anthology.

And 1946 would make it just perfectly around the time that she said she would have seen it. Wow!