Back to Winter

Where the beach was before Iniki

Heads up!

They're everywhere

Exotic fruit

All of us one more time


We left Kauai at about 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, and then had about a 4 hour layover in Honolulu. We got in to Seatac airport at 11:00 p.m. It was a full day of planes and airports. Randy & Gail picked us up at the airport,and it was about 35 degrees with light snow falling. It felt good to sleep in our own bed last night. Pat & Steph are probably kicking back in Kauai right now as we had a very full itinerary for 6 days, snorkeling, sight seeing, etc. They still have about a week and a half left in Hawaii.
This afternoon I visited my mother while Joyce attended a January birthday celebration with friends. My Mom looks to be almost back to normal (whatever that is at 93). On Wednesday my brothers and I will meet with the staff where she lives, to determine if she goes back to her independant living apartment, or if she needs to move into an assisted living apartment.
Five weeks from now we will be on the road to Spring Training in Arizona. We are looking forward to that, as temperatures should be in the 80's. This will be another "new adventure".
Joyce and Kristin continue to talk about Europe in the late summer, and Joyce and I are still looking at the possibility of a cruise sometime later in the year. It dosen't look like there will be any motorhome adventure this year(except Arizona}.
Maybe next winter we will go away. We shall see.
Now I am totally off the subject, which was supposed to be a re-cap of our Hawaii trip! I think that the only shortcoming on the entire trip was the weather. It was warm enough for me, but not always for Joyce. We did see a little rain, and it was windier than we would have liked, but it's still Hawaii and it was about 40 degrees warmer than at home. I got in about 6 hours of snorkelling, and saw thousands of fish. We drove most of the Island, had some fantastic meals, and consumed countless Mai-Tais!! We had a great time with Pat & Steph, and look forward to meeting them at another exotic location soon(West Seattle, Capitol Hill, Shelton??). Wherever it may be, it will probably include some barbecue and rum.
Until the end of the week, ALOHA!!! -_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Ernie

Hawaii, The Last Day

As usual we have reached the final day of this all to short vacation,and It seems like we just got here. We still have the 5 days on Oahu booked as they would not refund our money when we had to cancel. So we may come back if I can find a cheap airfare before June 16th.
The weather here has been windy with some rain showers the last couple of days. But, the temperatures have been in the upper 70's so we're not complaining too loud. When we get home, the forecast is calling for snow on Sunday. That should be quite the contrast. (Incidentally, we get in at 10:35 p.m. on Hawaiian Airlines flight #22.)
Yesterday, Pat and I took the tube ride down the irrigation canal. It was a lot of fun, but the water was quite chilly. They said that the water temperature is 68 degrees. That's about the same as Southern California. The irrigation canals were built in the 1860's, and about half of our float was thru tunnels in the lava flows. One tunnel we went thru was 3/4 of a mile long. Joyce did some shopping while I was floating the canal. Later in the Day, Pat and Steph came over for dinner. We grilled some steaks, then played a card game called B--- S---. After that we watched a movie during which I proceded to fall asleep.
I will post a final overview of the week (complete with pictures),from my recliner on Sunday as I watch the snow flakes fall.
Until then, one last ALOHA!!
Ernie

Kauai the 2nd half

Hard to believe, but we are at the halfway point of this too brief get-a-way. As I write this at 8:00 a.m., it is about 70 degrees with light winds.
Yesterday we went up to Princeville on the north coast to swim/snorkel. The winds were quite strong, so we didn't get in the water. We ended up poking around the shops in Hanalei which is up by Princeville. We had lunch at a little burger place on the way. In the late afternoon we went to Poipu Beach for a swim, then made a stop at a grocery store and had drinks and dinner at Pat & Stephs.
Today Pat and I were going to take a 3 mile tube ride down an old irrigation ditch, but they were booked up so we will try another day. Right now we are trying to figure out what(if anything)to do today.
The camera battery is on the charger right now, so I will add pictures later.
I checked the weather this morning, and it's chilly back home.(mid to upper 30's/fog)
Stay warm~`~`~`~`~`~ Ernie

Picture captions from the top:
Farmers Market Hawaii Style
Sunset from Pat & Steph's Condo
Outrigger Canoe at Poipu Beach
Spouting Horn
All of us with the Tikis
Us drinking at the Grand Hyatt

From the shores of Kauai

We made it to the condo Saturday about 6:00 p.m. Island time. Our friends Pat and Steph met us at the airport with leis. We went to their condo near Poipu for drinks and dinner Saturday night.
Sunday morning I met Pat and we snorkled right out in front of their condo. Later we all went to an open air market where I added to my Aloha shirt collection. We had lunch at a cafe that turned out to be better than we expected.
We took another snorkeling adventure in the late afternoon, then we all went to our condo for dinner, drinks, and a bad movie(Bonneville)
The weather turns on us a little Tuesday with some clouds and rain, but temperatures will still be in the upper 70's. Usually on Kauai you can escape the rain by moving to the other side of the island. We shall see.
Today we will be hitting the farmers market near Pat and Steph"s condo. We want to pick up some fresh fruit. I bought a pineapple at the Safeway store yesterday, but the rest of the fruit there was nothing special. We have no plan after the Farmers market, but I'm sure that snorkeling, food, and Mai-Tai's will enter into the equation. So far we haven't taken a lot of pictures, but stay tuned for the ones from the beach!(later)
Aloha,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ernie
Once again I am not able to put captions under the pictures, so;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Starting from the top:
Our friend Pat trying to find a shirt to match his shoes..........
A coconut eating chicken......
Sunrise from just outside of our condo.........
Sunrise again with the pool in the foreground......

Aloha changes

Due to a serious medical emergency with my mother, we had to cancel our trip at the last minute. If we get a positive report today or tomorrow on her condition, we will attempt to keep our week in Kauai. After this past week I am REALLY ready for a vacation. So, for those of you who were anticipating the pictures of me in my speedo, and Joyce in her string bikini, you'll just have to wait!! With some luck, we may still be able to make it to Kauai, but the five days on Oahu are not happening. We will still be able to do that stay if we can arrange it before the
16th of June.
So with that said, we are heading out to get lunch at Bahama Breeze, and then to the hospital to visit my mother. I will be wearing a Hawaiian shirt to the restaurant.
Aloha Ernie

01-12-09 6:00 p.m.
We just got back from the hospital, and my mother is doing extremely well! To me she looked like her normal 93 year old self. She is moving much more than she has the last few days, and talking & laughing. She even led us all in singing happy birthday to Joyce. She is scheduled to get out of the hospital tomorrow. Had she looked this good yesterday, we would probably be in Hawaii now. If her prognosis looks good tomorrow, We are going to try to get to Kauai this weekend. I will update again tomorrow. Ernie

01-14-09 8;15 P.M.
My mother moved back to Judson Park from the hospital today. She is in the health care section, which is like being in a nursing home. She should be able to get to the assisted living section, and MAYBE eventually back to her independent living apartment.
So, now that she is out of the woods(for now),I was able to salvage part of our Hawaii vacation. We will be flying out Saturday morning at 9:20, and returning the following Saturday night. Assuming that we have a internet connection on Kauai, we will be blogging!! Weather permitting I should be able to get those beach pictures on Sunday.
Aloha, Ernie

P.S. The Island of Kauai has wild chickens all over the place. But they are a lot smaller than turkeys. We aren't worried.

Welcome to 2009

We made it into another new year, and for us it will be tough to outdo 2008. So far our travel plans pale in comparison to 2008, but it's early.
The past week has been kind of busy for us. Tuesday evening we had our friends Pat and Steph over for dinner and to discuss our upcoming rendevous in Hawaii. The weather cooperated, so I fired up the barbecue and cooked 2 racks of pork ribs.
The following day was Kristin's birthday, and we took her and Matt out for lunch. We went to Pegasus Pizza on Alki. Later that evening Joyce and I met up with several friends for a New Years eve dinner. We ended up at the California Pizza Kitchen. I think that I had more pizza in one day than I had eaten the rest of the year. The restaurant was closing at 8:00, so after we ate we went to the Bahama Breeze for dessert. We ended up staying there to welcome in the new year.
Today our garbage and recycling got picked up. This was the first pickup since December 8th, due to the snow that we had. The garbage had been here so long that it was kind of sad to see it go. I was begining to get attached to it!
Tomorrow we may go up to Keith and Sheila's to finish off Christmas 2008. They still have much snow on the ground, and it looks like their road into their place is not passable without 4 wheel drive. Sometime before the 12th we need to get up there as all of my summer clothes, and my snorkel gear is in the motorhome. Life is tough!
We don't have any pictures to add this week. So this is all you get.
Happy New Year, Ernie