Traveling with Ellen

  27 DAYS AND COUNTING  LEAVING APRIL 13 ON THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME THE COUNT DOWN IS NOW AT 6 DAYS TO DEPARTURE. I'M PACKED BUT THERE'S ALWAYS SOMETHING I STILL THINK I NEED TO SQUEEZE IN.   I KEEP CHECKING THE AIRLINE WEBSITES TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR FLIGHTS HAVEN'T CHANGED. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AN OVER PLANNER.   AND, OF COURSE THERE'S A LIST OF THINGS I STILL HAVE TO DO HERE AT THE HOUSE TO GET READY AND LEAVE.  THE DAYS WILL FLY BY I'M SURE.  I HOPE I CAN TAKE EACH DAY AS IT COMES DURING THE CRUISE AND LIVE IN THE MOMENT, AND ENJOY EVERY NEW EXPERIENCE.

  Click on any picture to make it larger for a better view Sunrise this morning.   Our best sunrise since arrival.  We were off again this morning, with a trip to our last fabric store.   I hit pay dirt.   Hawaiian fabric for $3.99/yard.   It will all JUST fit in the suitcase.   Wayne bought more than I did.  He's going to convince the quilters to make table runners and placemats to sell next fall when we raffle off our quilt. Next, in honor of Joe Oswald, we took a trip up to Schofield Barracks driving over the mountain one last time.  I caught one last, faint rainbow on the drive. Joe was stationed at this army base during his service as a Vietnam veteran.   The tour was interesting and we enjoyed the talk provided by the docent, Josh.   The museum was the post library God bless the men they called "Tunnel Rats" during the Viet Nam war.   This is the actual size of the hole they crawled through looking for the Viet Cong.   We deserved one last lunch, and a good one, at

                                                                Clicking on any picture will enlarge it for a better view Just trying to push the volcano back into the ground and cool it off so it doesn't erupt again This is called The Chinaman's Hat.   We stopped to take a picture because it was so interesting a shape. Today was another leisurely day (for me) as I haven't done any driving yet on this island.   As much as I love driving and don't care about traffic.  Heck, all the years I drove in New Jersey and Maryland and DC, yet traffic here is massive.   Lots of volume.   Very slow going on some roads; start, stop, go, stop, start.   I'm glad Wayne is doing the driving. So today we saw the 'poor side of town'.   It appears all of the homeless have settled on the western side of the island, above Pearl City.    Homeless tents set up along all the coastline from Waianae to Makaha and north.    Not to denegrate the homeless or their need to survive, the sc

Clicking on any picture will enlarge it for a better view After all the sightseeing and running around we've done, today we decided to just kick back and rest.  It was raining a little when we went out of breakfast this morning to a local place, Kalapawai Cafe & Deli in Waimanalo.    What I wouldn't give to pronounce ANY of the names of the towns on this island. Breakfast was really good.  We each had a breakfast burrito.  It was stuffed with kalua pork, scrambled eggs, pepper jack cheese, breakfast potatoes, confetti black beans with salsa on the side.  It was a definite YUM!      In the afternoon, we played golf :)  Wayne is even competitive on Putt-Putt golf :)  Of course he won! After a round of golf, we went to the recreation rental here on the station and rented some beach chairs.  While in there we noticed a bar and NEEDED a beer as we were parched from the round of golf.  We had a Pilsner from the Maui Brewing company in Honolulu.  We shot the breeze with the barten

  Clicking on any picture will enlarge it for a better view Fresh pineapple!   How Wonderful!    We drove up the windward side of the island today to visit the rougher waves and to watch, hopefully, some surfers.  We stopped at Sunset Beach as well as the Bonzai Pipeline.  While there were some surfers out, the waves weren't all that rough.  We continued on to the Dole Pineapple Plantation.  They have a train ride which drives you into the pineapple fields.  There we saw and heard the talk about how pineapples are planted and harvested (by hand).  There were other trees being grown there including the Cacao tree, banana trees and others. Lychee Nut Tree PIneapple plants You can see the small pineapples growing into maturity Cacao trees They have some beautiful gardens and many things for kids, like a maze to walk through.   Best of all, of course, the pineapple ice cream with chunks of pineapple on top. Not sure what tomorrow's plans are, but I believe it includes some R&R