We do hope our Holiday Letter finds you and yours in good health and spirits. As usual we cannot believe another year has passed and as usual it has been a bit hectic in both good and not so good ways.
Our year was once again centered around our love for travel in about every form. I have been informed by our friends Jerry and Ginny Kenny that our previous Holiday Letters lack some specifics in regard to our travel. They suggested we include the miles we travelled in the pursuit of sun, fun, and family. While some details of our travels will be at the end of this letter for those interested, I did some quick calculations which just includes our "trips", not all the local travel and travel while visiting various States and countries is included. Our motorcycle travel covered over 9,000 miles, our autos covered 7,000, our motor home covered 6,000 and we flew over 40,000 miles and the year is not yet over. Makes me tired even thinking about it!
This year we had a few wrinkles with some health issues surrounding our Aunt Myrne in Bellingham, WA and Pam's mother Becie in Honeoye Falls, NY. I am happy to report that both seem to be improving from their respective encounters with the medical system. About a month after our annual arrival in WA we found Aunt Myrne was having a repeat of her only real medical problem, a poorly working esophagus. After surgeons in Bellingham could not clear it out she was taken via ambulance to Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, WA. After a week in that hospital she finally made it to surgery, cleared the esophagus and installed a PEG tube through which she is now fed to bypass eating orally. Since she turned 99 years old on Sept 11, recovery has been slow and she doesn't move around quite as well as in years past. We look forward to celebrating her 100th in 2012. Pam's mother collapsed at a Dr's office two weeks later and off Pam flew to take care of that problem while I remained with Aunt Myrne. Pam found that her mother's Doctor was just simply not doing a good job and with assorted medical issues developing over her 82 years, to many pills counteracting each other, poor diet choices, etc had lead to the body saying, "I quit". So improvement came with the assistance of a caregiver monitoring those issues until her mind cleared up, so she has just about got back to her old self.
Pam and I remain in a life style that moves us between our homes in CA and NM and living in our motor home at least five months a year in AZ (3 months) and WA (2 months). Pam keeps busy as our travel coordinator and will admit we did perhaps travel more than planned in 2011, but I see her efforts to curtail that in 2012 don't look very promising. Well as my father once warned, travel while you are able! Part of our travel remains centered around the Blue Knights Motorcycle Club. I am in the middle of my second two year term as Chairman of the West Coast Conference which covers to Australia, New Zealand and the West of the USA and Canada. We have finally eliminated our election meetings in Bangor Maine every other January but we still attend about three to four conventions around the USA/Canada each year.
Daughter Holly remains in Temecula, CA and like many people in our country she had to survive staff cuts within her pharmaceutical sales company as they faced the economy. Her husband Dan has moved up the career ladder of Home Depot and is now in the Merchandizing unit and applying for another promotion. Most importantly they seem happy with their current jobs while looking to the future. Grand daughter Emily (7 ) remains a shy one but she is doing real well in school. Grandson Luke (5 ) is much more outgoing and getting ready for those school days. We try to spend some time with their family a couple of times each year but I may have to watch the keys to my motorcycle, Luke seems taken with that big bike. I have not had contact with Kimberly or Bryce in several years. I have heard that Kimberly looks great and that her husband Dave has moved into management from sales at the same jewelry store. They have two children and live in Riverside, CA I believe Bryce is still employed in the computer industry in Orange County, CA
Son Brian and his wife Christie are real busy parents of granddaughter Sadie who continues to mystify the experts by accomplishing many tasks not expected for a baby with her disabilities. Brian also survived changes at Starbucks and remains in the Phoenix office with some changes in his responsibilities. Christie is teaching again but does it from home via computer. We just learned yesterday that they will be moving into a new and larger home in the So. Phoenix, AZ area. Plans are underway for us to spend some vacation time together in 2012 with a resort stay in Texas.
Daughter Stephanie is still employed from her home by Hewlett-Packard Corp while husband John operates his swimming pool contractor company. They live in Orangevale, CA. Grandson "CD" Cody (15) is now in High School, has a pickup truck and is anxiously awaiting those long agonizing months until he gets his driver's license. Grand daughter Jessica (11) took up the clarinet and we attended one of her concerts at school this past fall. All the family is into ATV's, taking them to the desert in the Toy Hauler 5th Wheel trailer for riding the trails. We will be spending Christmas with them again this year.
Well it is that time of the letter to say, don't go on if our travel itinerary and adventures will bore you, OR if you already follow those travels on Pam's blog at www.sojourners-1@blogspot.com. For those glutton for punishment, here goes an attempt to cover our year.
We started our 2011 travel with a car trip from our Citrus Heights, CA home to our Rio Rancho, NM home. After a quick packing of the motorhome we headed to our RV lot in Surprise, AZ. That lasted a week in the sun before we hopped an airplane to Bangor, Maine. Yes it was again a fun filled COLD and snowy visit to the Northeast. All to attend the bi-annual ballot counting for the Blue Knights elections. In the future this will be combined with the annual convention every other year. After a long weekend in Bangor we returned to AZ and later in January headed to the Western part of AZ to meet relatives Shari and Ron Carlson for the annual RV show in Quartzsite, AZ. We were also able to spend some time with a long time colleague Barry Garland in Palm Desert whom had just lost his wife.
In February we were once again hosted by former Riverside PD officer Rick Boyer and his wife Fawn for a great Super Bowl Party in Peoria, AZ. During that month we spent a few days back at the NM home just to make sure it was still standing. We were also finally able to catch up with daughter Holly who had been travelling for work. This was a short visit with the grandkids in Temecula, CA. Also during this month I had the pleasure of joining four former Riverside officers and take a motorcycle ride over to Barstow, CA from Phoenix to meet up with another six-eight former officers who rode over from the Riverside area, nice reunion and hope to do this annually.
In March I flew to WA and met up with our friend Mary Eden to visit Aunt Myrne and tend to some of her business matters. It was our first visit without having to work on the old Ferndale farm. Upon my return to AZ I sold our Honda Goldwing Trike and purchased a new 2010 Honda Goldwing two wheeler. Since it was getting to the end of our winter stay in AZ, this new motorcycle will get more use in 2012. We ended the winter by moving the motorhome back to NM and flying to CA.
April and May were spent off the continent. We had two weeks in Hawaii with friends Tom and Debbie Struthers, one week in Kauai and another at Kona on the Big Island. After leaving them on Kauai we flew to Sydney, Australia. Over the next few weeks we toured the Sydney area, flew to Auckland, New Zealand and toured North Island before wrapping up our stay down under with a return to the southern part of Australia around Melbourne. All in all, a real fine trip. We basically stayed in rented cottages with only about three hotel nights. No tours, Pam put her life in my left hand driving abilities and away we went. I didn't even hit one Kangaroo while there. We wrapped up May with a return to CA and a quick motorcycle ride to Boise, ID for a Blue Knight gathering which has included for a number of years a gathering of former Riverside PD officers for a BBQ. A great Memorial Day weekend.
In June we were back on the motorcycle and headed for Prescott, AZ to attend a convention. We had won the free hotel week at last year's convention so we just had to go!! From there we rode down to see Brian, Christie and Sadie in the Phoenix area before the long hot ride to NM. It was time to pack up the motorhome and head to Donner Lake, CA for the Fourth of July celebration on our way to spending a couple of months in WA.
All started well in July with a nice trip to WA from CA. We arrived in Ferndale, WA and were joined by Carole and Jim Rowe who is a former RPD officer. I was able to attend my 50th Lynden High School Reunion with my friend Dixie Tromp Scheffer. We have attended the annual function for many years but this year it was our turn to be the honored class. Of course many of you know I did not graduate from Lynden but since I went most of the way through school with this class they have always graciously included me. The next couple of weeks found the Rowe's headed to a wedding in Mexico and Pam and I flew to a convention in Norfolk, Virginia. A very miserable weather and flight trip. With all the travel we actually did not get to spend much time with the Rowe's this summer, but we may make up for that in Surprise, AZ this winter.
August was now here and the fun was over, we found Aunt Myrne sick and spent the next week living in a hotel in Seattle, WA or commuting while they got her medical situation stable. We were a bit tired but decided later in August to attend the Blue Knight convention in Boise, ID since I was the high mucky muck! On the way we were able to see my ex-mother in law Colleen Wood in Yakima as well as one of my former Toppenish Officers Kelly Rosenow who was recovering from some major surgery. We arrived from that hot motorcycle trip only to be awakened the next morning with a call that Pam's mother was in the hospital. Forty five minutes later she was headed to the airport and she spent the next couple of weeks in New York State.
September brought Pam back to Seattle. It took the assistance of our friend Gary Hildebrand from New Jersey, working for the Mariner Baseball team in the summer, to pick her up at the airport and get her to the motorhome. We were so tired we only made it to Tacoma that night. But we eventually made it to CA and attended a joint Birthday Party for grandchildren "CD" and Jessica. On the road again we headed for Henderson, NV to see friends Frank and Delores Atchley. Frank decided that 2011 was a rebuild the body year. Well it goes back a few more months than that but back surgery, a new hip, a triple by-pass heart surgery followed by pneumonia sure works as a record in my book. After a stay in NV we headed towards NM but stopped for a couple of days in Veyo, UT near St. George and visited with Roy Lineberry, former RPD helicopter pilot. That was a fun visit, great hosts. Finally we arrived in NM, rest was on the mind.
October rest in NM lasted one day. I was on a plane headed back to WA. We had problems with the facility where Aunt Myrne was recovering and my two day fix the problem ended up a nine day stay and yet another move for this 99 year old Aunt. She took it well. With the help of her nieces and nephews, Ron and Shari Carlson, Jim and Marilyn Larson and friend Dixie Scheffer we moved Myrne's furniture from one assisted living facility to storage, some to the nursing center and then moved much of it again when she was moved to her present facility. Glad they don't belong to a union! Now it was time to get back to Pam in New Mexico and see the annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta with our friend Mike Martin who arrived while I was in WA. The weather turned sour and I never did see much of the Fiesta. So I hopped another airplane and flew to Riverside, CA to stay with another former RPD officer, Jim and Yvonne Rector. I was in Riverside to attend my 50th Ramona High School Reunion. YEP two reunions in one year. While in Riverside I visited Holly and family in Temecula as well as some former RPD friends. I headed back to New Mexico after a week but with one heck of a cold. It is now six weeks later and I am just about over my pneumonia.
Not letting a little cold stop me, actually I thought I was cured, other issues arose in WA and I was able to catch a ride from New Mexico to WA with a friend. This time things got worked out in a timely manner. Of course there is always something; this time former RPD Chief of Police Sonny Richardson was in the hospital with complications from his cancer treatments. I was able to spend some time with him and he is starting to do better. Pam had driven herself from New Mexico to CA and picked me up at the Sacramento Airport. We were now planning to spend the next six weeks, the Holidays with family and friends. Thanksgiving was a bit different having lost the sister, Pat Huberty, of our long time hosts Ed and Geri Hilbert during the summer. We continued a tradition of meeting up with my RPD training officer (1964) Wayne and Vi Durrington for drinks and lunch the day after Thanksgiving at a Biker Bar called Poor Reds up in the hills above Sacramento.
Well December should not be different than any other month this year, interrupted. As I write this annual letter I am packing for yet another return to WA, this time via driving with our friend Mary Eden, I have had enough airplanes for awhile. I can also tell you that when I say I am hoping for a three month restful stay in AZ this winter, those close to us can only laugh. As I leave CA I see that Pam is working hard on a cruise plan for Copenhagen, Denmark and another trip in 2012 to Hawaii. Got to keep those wheels rolling. Maybe a quiet Christmas eve dinner, or a quiet Christmas morning, or a quiet Christmas evening dinner will happen to end the year?
Karl and Pam
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
On US Soil Again
We are finally back on US soil and are getting over our jet lag. What a trip! Karl and I have talked about going back again someday because we would like to see more of the country, but not sure if we would make the 15+ hour plane trip again. It probably wouldn't be so bad if we flew business class, but that is an extra $2000 per ticket. Not worth it.
Here is some perspectives about our trip. Australia doesn't really believe in restaurants like we are used to. They are more into the cafe/bistro thing. Not bad except they go to extremes in their ingredients. Needless to say Karl lost weight since he is just a picky eater (and most of you who know him know that is true). Australian people are very, very friendly! They love to know where we were from and how did we like their country and would we come back? It is very expensive over there. We would go to a McDonald's and it would cost us almost $25. Going to the supermarket was an experience since they used different terms for different things. Our raisin is their sultana so you had to look at the product and try to figure out what they were talking about.
New Zealand was wet. A very tropical place and I hope to see it again when it is drier. Our host was so apoligetic for the weather because it was supposed to have cleared up before we got there, then everything changed. But we did have a great time while we were there even though we had the same things as Australia in restaurants and supermarkets.
It was fun going into the cities and seeing "touristy" things, but it was more fun going to the smaller towns around our apartments and mingling with the local folk. They would say g'day to us and when we replied with hello or good morning and they realized we weren't local they slowed their speech down and were very tolerant when they had to repeat something because when they are talking to their own they go a mile a minute! And always wished us a good "holiday".
As promised here are some road signs we encountered along our travels:
Koala, Kangaroo, Wombat, Echidna
Here is some perspectives about our trip. Australia doesn't really believe in restaurants like we are used to. They are more into the cafe/bistro thing. Not bad except they go to extremes in their ingredients. Needless to say Karl lost weight since he is just a picky eater (and most of you who know him know that is true). Australian people are very, very friendly! They love to know where we were from and how did we like their country and would we come back? It is very expensive over there. We would go to a McDonald's and it would cost us almost $25. Going to the supermarket was an experience since they used different terms for different things. Our raisin is their sultana so you had to look at the product and try to figure out what they were talking about.
New Zealand was wet. A very tropical place and I hope to see it again when it is drier. Our host was so apoligetic for the weather because it was supposed to have cleared up before we got there, then everything changed. But we did have a great time while we were there even though we had the same things as Australia in restaurants and supermarkets.
It was fun going into the cities and seeing "touristy" things, but it was more fun going to the smaller towns around our apartments and mingling with the local folk. They would say g'day to us and when we replied with hello or good morning and they realized we weren't local they slowed their speech down and were very tolerant when they had to repeat something because when they are talking to their own they go a mile a minute! And always wished us a good "holiday".
As promised here are some road signs we encountered along our travels:
Koala, Kangaroo, Wombat, Echidna
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Almost Home
On Friday we left Kyneton in the bushland and traveled the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne for the next three nights. And I was right in my last post that the Ocean Road was a lot like PCH in California. For those who don't live there it's a road that follows the ocean along the coastline. The only difference was that California has more dramatic cliffs than this one did. But the views were beautiful. Looking out at the ocean you remember that the next closest land is Antartica - a loonng way away. Going along on the road we went through some great little towns that were very "beach" oriented. Lots of cafes, shops, tourist things - it was wonderful.
We reached Melbourne around 6 at night which was NOT a smart thing to do! We were right in the middle of rush hour, on a motorway, with lots of cars, dark night, funky GPS - not a fun time. We missed our exit because the GPS was not acting right and since the exit road ran right along with the motorway, it thought we were still on track. So we exited sooner than we should have and then really had a "fun" time trying to get back on track. Finally after about 20 mintues we got to the hotel - a little worse for wear, but not killing each other either.
On Saturday we took their free tram which circled the city and showed some of the highlights. You could get on and off whenever you wanted. The problem was that since it was free all the locals also used it. So when the recording pointed out something the only thing I saw was someone's back. And it was very, very crowded. We got to the main area of Melbourne called Federation Square and went to the visitor's center to find out what we could see while we were there. After getting our bearings we journeyed back to the hotel to map out what we wanted to see on Sunday, but this time we were going to use the free tourist shuttle bus. Much, much better! Again it was an on and off shuttle, but so much better with less people.
Sunday we started off going back to the Queen Victoria's Market which we had visited the previous day. It is a huge food and merchandise open market where you can get almost anything you could ever want. For those in the Sacramento area think Denio's and for those in the Phoenix area think Mesa Marketplace. After our shopping excersion we boarded the shuttle and took off to our planned destinations. Unfortunately it started to rain - a lot - so we really couldn't see what we wanted to see. Plus one area was closed due to a Mother's Day Cancer Run/Walk and the other was closed due to a football game. But we did manage to get to the Old Melbourne Gaol. What an experience! We started out by being "arrested" and booked into the gaol. Our "sergeant" really played the part well. Then we were allowed to go through the gaol and read what took place there. The gaol began in 1841 and was used up until 1972. As a gaol it was used until 1924 then during WWII it was used as a military prison. This was also the last place the famous Ned Kelly lived until he was hanged in the late 1800's. It was a very interesting time.
I am ready to come home and sit for a while, but I am glad I came. I enjoyed the countryside more than the city because we were able to be with the locals more. The cities of Sydney, Auckland and Melbourne were fast, noisy, and crowded with tourists. Living in the bush with a family was so much more of an experience than I could ever have imaginged. We will need to come back again because we have just scratched the tip of the iceberg of this country.
My next post will show the road signs we encountered along the way.
We reached Melbourne around 6 at night which was NOT a smart thing to do! We were right in the middle of rush hour, on a motorway, with lots of cars, dark night, funky GPS - not a fun time. We missed our exit because the GPS was not acting right and since the exit road ran right along with the motorway, it thought we were still on track. So we exited sooner than we should have and then really had a "fun" time trying to get back on track. Finally after about 20 mintues we got to the hotel - a little worse for wear, but not killing each other either.
On Saturday we took their free tram which circled the city and showed some of the highlights. You could get on and off whenever you wanted. The problem was that since it was free all the locals also used it. So when the recording pointed out something the only thing I saw was someone's back. And it was very, very crowded. We got to the main area of Melbourne called Federation Square and went to the visitor's center to find out what we could see while we were there. After getting our bearings we journeyed back to the hotel to map out what we wanted to see on Sunday, but this time we were going to use the free tourist shuttle bus. Much, much better! Again it was an on and off shuttle, but so much better with less people.
Sunday we started off going back to the Queen Victoria's Market which we had visited the previous day. It is a huge food and merchandise open market where you can get almost anything you could ever want. For those in the Sacramento area think Denio's and for those in the Phoenix area think Mesa Marketplace. After our shopping excersion we boarded the shuttle and took off to our planned destinations. Unfortunately it started to rain - a lot - so we really couldn't see what we wanted to see. Plus one area was closed due to a Mother's Day Cancer Run/Walk and the other was closed due to a football game. But we did manage to get to the Old Melbourne Gaol. What an experience! We started out by being "arrested" and booked into the gaol. Our "sergeant" really played the part well. Then we were allowed to go through the gaol and read what took place there. The gaol began in 1841 and was used up until 1972. As a gaol it was used until 1924 then during WWII it was used as a military prison. This was also the last place the famous Ned Kelly lived until he was hanged in the late 1800's. It was a very interesting time.
I am ready to come home and sit for a while, but I am glad I came. I enjoyed the countryside more than the city because we were able to be with the locals more. The cities of Sydney, Auckland and Melbourne were fast, noisy, and crowded with tourists. Living in the bush with a family was so much more of an experience than I could ever have imaginged. We will need to come back again because we have just scratched the tip of the iceberg of this country.
My next post will show the road signs we encountered along the way.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Goldfields of Australia
On Monday and Tuesday we visited two more goldfield towns. On Monday we were in Bendigo, a town of over 100,000 people that was a gold center in the late 1800’s. We started out on the “talking” tram, a tram that ran with late 1800 and early 1900 restored cable cars. They have been trying for 10 years to raise money for car restoration and preserve the trolley building. They were working on the station and should be visitor ready by the end of this year. During the tour we got off at Joss House in the Chinese quarter. Joss House is a name that is given to any place that people can come and worship whatever god they believe in. This Joss House had three rooms including the caretaker’s cottage, the Main Altar and the Ancestral Hall. The main altar is dedicated to Guan-Di, the god of war and prosperity. The Ancestral Hall is dedicated to the memory of ancestors. It was a very interesting visit.
Next we visited the Golden Dragon Museum and its main attractions are Loong, the world’s oldest Imperial dragon and Sun Loong, the world’s longest Imperial dragon. The dragons are used in parades during Easter Fair Festival. Loong was first used in 1892 and was retired in 1970. Then Sun Loong took over and is still used today. The head is over 2 meters tall and needs 5 people to carry it. The rest of the body needs 52 people to carry it with 52 people to relieve and an extra 5 just in case. Its body is covered with over 90,000 mirrors hand sewn on. They also had antique Chinese items and furniture from the late 1800’s from people that lived in the area. During the hay-day of gold mining there were over 1000 Chinese living in Bendigo. Now you will find it hard to find any pure Chinese living there. And if you think someone is of Chinese heritage and ask them, they will deny it due to how bad they were treated long ago.
On Tuesday we took off to the town of Ballart. Another town that runs around 100,000 people. During the late 1800’s this place was considered the cultural center of the goldfield towns. It had class, art, culture, fine dining, 5 star entertainments and even had Mark Twain visit. The buildings are still grand and culture still oozes from the town. Our first stop (after the Visitor’s Bureau) was across the street to the Art Galley – which was free! How often have you gone into an art gallery and didn’t pay admission. Unfortunately it was wasted on us because we aren’t real art lovers. Then we took off to the Wild Animal Park. The only reason we went there was to see animals uniquely Australian that we won’t see in normal circumstances – like the Tasmanian Devil.
Next stop was the Botanical Gardens, but didn’t really take a lot of time there since it started to rain so we drove around the area. Passing under the Avenue of Honours arch we drove down a tree lined street. If you looked closer you would see plaques at each base that has a name and a unit. There are 3771 trees, running 22 kilometers honoring every Australian that enlisted in WWI. No other war but that one. They do have an ex-prisoners of war monument that looks a lot like our Vietnam Wall – a large, long, black marble wall etched with names. Now Ballart is famous for a riot that took place in the late 1800’s when the government wanted to tax people that mined gold. The problem was that the tax was way too much so the miners rioted and got the tax repealed, but not without losses of life. There are statues and an area that depicts the riots and the leader. Funny how the common people can change governments mind, huh?
Next we visited the Golden Dragon Museum and its main attractions are Loong, the world’s oldest Imperial dragon and Sun Loong, the world’s longest Imperial dragon. The dragons are used in parades during Easter Fair Festival. Loong was first used in 1892 and was retired in 1970. Then Sun Loong took over and is still used today. The head is over 2 meters tall and needs 5 people to carry it. The rest of the body needs 52 people to carry it with 52 people to relieve and an extra 5 just in case. Its body is covered with over 90,000 mirrors hand sewn on. They also had antique Chinese items and furniture from the late 1800’s from people that lived in the area. During the hay-day of gold mining there were over 1000 Chinese living in Bendigo. Now you will find it hard to find any pure Chinese living there. And if you think someone is of Chinese heritage and ask them, they will deny it due to how bad they were treated long ago.
On Tuesday we took off to the town of Ballart. Another town that runs around 100,000 people. During the late 1800’s this place was considered the cultural center of the goldfield towns. It had class, art, culture, fine dining, 5 star entertainments and even had Mark Twain visit. The buildings are still grand and culture still oozes from the town. Our first stop (after the Visitor’s Bureau) was across the street to the Art Galley – which was free! How often have you gone into an art gallery and didn’t pay admission. Unfortunately it was wasted on us because we aren’t real art lovers. Then we took off to the Wild Animal Park. The only reason we went there was to see animals uniquely Australian that we won’t see in normal circumstances – like the Tasmanian Devil.
Next stop was the Botanical Gardens, but didn’t really take a lot of time there since it started to rain so we drove around the area. Passing under the Avenue of Honours arch we drove down a tree lined street. If you looked closer you would see plaques at each base that has a name and a unit. There are 3771 trees, running 22 kilometers honoring every Australian that enlisted in WWI. No other war but that one. They do have an ex-prisoners of war monument that looks a lot like our Vietnam Wall – a large, long, black marble wall etched with names. Now Ballart is famous for a riot that took place in the late 1800’s when the government wanted to tax people that mined gold. The problem was that the tax was way too much so the miners rioted and got the tax repealed, but not without losses of life. There are statues and an area that depicts the riots and the leader. Funny how the common people can change governments mind, huh?
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Return to Oz
We have returned to Oz until the 9th of May when we will return home (CA for those who want to know WHICH home). Our resort is in the bushland (forest) and they are individual cottages. Not too bad – this is my way of “camping” if I don’t have the motorhome.
We arrived very late on Friday into Melbourne and had an hour drive to the resort. Then we had to find our cottage in the dark. Wasn’t too bad except that when we arrived the reception had closed almost 3 hours before. Our paperwork was locked in an outdoors safe and we were to call the after-hours number to get the code to open the safe. No problem except that we had no phones!! So off I trek through the dark and the trees and would hopefully find a cottage that was occupied by someone that had a local phone. Luckily the cottage next to the reception was occupied and I could use their phone to call. We finally got settled about 9:30pm.
The next day we took a drive around the area and went into town to walk around. The area we are staying in is among the wine country and the goldfields. So you can go wine tasting and gold digging at the same time! What a deal.
On Sunday we took a drive to Castlemaine which is about 30 minutes north of us to a local farmer’s market and then took a steam train ride up to another gold rush town, Maldon. A lot of the buildings are the original and are still being used. We had a great lunch in a local pub and had a wonderful time with the bartender. We also had lunch with a couple we met on the train who were “caravanning” (motorhomeing) around the south. They were from a town north of Sydney and had a daughter living in Houston. They were a wonderful couple to share our lunch table with.
When we were out driving we came across this sight on the side of the
road. We asked a local farmer at the market what it meant to see foxes hung on the fence and his response was that it was a warning – lambing season was in full swing and foxes are the natural enemy of lambs. In other words – don’t mess with a sheep farmer!!! We also saw a dead kangaroo on the side of the road and asked him if that is normal. His partner said that for every 1 you see dead there are 10,000 that are still around. So we concluded that their kangaroos are like our deer. You know they are there, but you only see them dead on the road or are close to being hit at dusk and dawn. Except I think the roos would be a bigger mess to a car than the deer. Maybe one day we will see a roo because we are staying in an area that warns of roos on the road. Just as I finished writing this I looked out the kitchen window and this is what I saw -
Later I will post some of the road signs we have encountered along our travels in Melbourne area.
We arrived very late on Friday into Melbourne and had an hour drive to the resort. Then we had to find our cottage in the dark. Wasn’t too bad except that when we arrived the reception had closed almost 3 hours before. Our paperwork was locked in an outdoors safe and we were to call the after-hours number to get the code to open the safe. No problem except that we had no phones!! So off I trek through the dark and the trees and would hopefully find a cottage that was occupied by someone that had a local phone. Luckily the cottage next to the reception was occupied and I could use their phone to call. We finally got settled about 9:30pm.
The next day we took a drive around the area and went into town to walk around. The area we are staying in is among the wine country and the goldfields. So you can go wine tasting and gold digging at the same time! What a deal.
On Sunday we took a drive to Castlemaine which is about 30 minutes north of us to a local farmer’s market and then took a steam train ride up to another gold rush town, Maldon. A lot of the buildings are the original and are still being used. We had a great lunch in a local pub and had a wonderful time with the bartender. We also had lunch with a couple we met on the train who were “caravanning” (motorhomeing) around the south. They were from a town north of Sydney and had a daughter living in Houston. They were a wonderful couple to share our lunch table with.
When we were out driving we came across this sight on the side of the
road. We asked a local farmer at the market what it meant to see foxes hung on the fence and his response was that it was a warning – lambing season was in full swing and foxes are the natural enemy of lambs. In other words – don’t mess with a sheep farmer!!! We also saw a dead kangaroo on the side of the road and asked him if that is normal. His partner said that for every 1 you see dead there are 10,000 that are still around. So we concluded that their kangaroos are like our deer. You know they are there, but you only see them dead on the road or are close to being hit at dusk and dawn. Except I think the roos would be a bigger mess to a car than the deer. Maybe one day we will see a roo because we are staying in an area that warns of roos on the road. Just as I finished writing this I looked out the kitchen window and this is what I saw -
Later I will post some of the road signs we have encountered along our travels in Melbourne area.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Auckland
You will notice that my last blog was on April 23 as I was sitting in the Sydney airport waiting for our flight to Auckland, New Zealand. Now I am sitting in the Sydney airport again waiting for our flight to Melbourne, Australia. Why no blog since then? One word – rain. Rain, rain, rain. We arrived on Saturday, the 23rd and had rain every day we were in New Zealand! Except, of course, today when we were leaving. And that caused us to change plans on what we were going to do.
We did get out of the car one day to walk the bush in a small reserve, but as you can tell we had to walk with an umbrella. That doesn’t work real well while walking amongst the trees. (Wow, that sounded so --- English!) Every morning we would get up, turn on the TV to see what the weather was going to be like and plan accordingly. Most of the time we drove to different areas of the upper North Island just to see the area. As we got farther out into the country and away from Auckland Karl and I both exclaimed that it reminded both of us of the highlands of Scotland. Rolling hills, sheep and cattle galore. The only thing missing were the rock fences.
One day we did take a Greyline bus tour of Auckland just to see what was there. During one of the stops we were able to go into the Auckland Museum for an hour and look at Maori items. The Maori’s are the native people that were in New Zealand long before the white settlers ever got there. The country keeps a lot of the Polynesian influence.
Auckland is called the city of sails and it’s a good moniker for it since 1 in 4 people of the 4 million that live there has a boat. Sailboat, motorboat, fishing boat – you name it and it’s there. The landmark that overlooks the city is called, surprise, the Auckland Tower. And like most towers it has a revolving restaurant on the top with observation decks below. It’s a bustling city, but has rather poor mass transit. We finished our tour at 5pm on Thursday and it took over an hour to drive 3 miles to the Harbor Bridge to get out of town. Trains only go just outside the city so if you live farther out, like we did; you either drove or took a bus. And the bus would still take about 90 minutes to cross to the other side of the harbor.
And to give you an update on Karl driving on the left – he is doing very well! But you need to ask him about his love affair with rumble strips. I am getting used to seeing cars coming at me on my right and the fast lane on the freeway is on the far right, but I still have a problem seeing into the back of the car in front of us and not seeing a head on the left – just on the right. That can cause a bit of a start. We were watching a TV show last night and it was filmed in the US show that meant people were driving on the right. It took us a moment to readjust seeing that. And no one should grumble about the price of gasoline. Since we rented a car we had to fill it up with gas a couple of times. The car was a Toyota Corolla. We put in 12 gallons and the total cost? $100 nzd!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is over $6 US currency per gallon!!!!!! So don’t complain when you have to pay ONLY $3.50 a gallon.
Hopefully we will have better weather in Melbourne.
We did get out of the car one day to walk the bush in a small reserve, but as you can tell we had to walk with an umbrella. That doesn’t work real well while walking amongst the trees. (Wow, that sounded so --- English!) Every morning we would get up, turn on the TV to see what the weather was going to be like and plan accordingly. Most of the time we drove to different areas of the upper North Island just to see the area. As we got farther out into the country and away from Auckland Karl and I both exclaimed that it reminded both of us of the highlands of Scotland. Rolling hills, sheep and cattle galore. The only thing missing were the rock fences.
One day we did take a Greyline bus tour of Auckland just to see what was there. During one of the stops we were able to go into the Auckland Museum for an hour and look at Maori items. The Maori’s are the native people that were in New Zealand long before the white settlers ever got there. The country keeps a lot of the Polynesian influence.
Auckland is called the city of sails and it’s a good moniker for it since 1 in 4 people of the 4 million that live there has a boat. Sailboat, motorboat, fishing boat – you name it and it’s there. The landmark that overlooks the city is called, surprise, the Auckland Tower. And like most towers it has a revolving restaurant on the top with observation decks below. It’s a bustling city, but has rather poor mass transit. We finished our tour at 5pm on Thursday and it took over an hour to drive 3 miles to the Harbor Bridge to get out of town. Trains only go just outside the city so if you live farther out, like we did; you either drove or took a bus. And the bus would still take about 90 minutes to cross to the other side of the harbor.
And to give you an update on Karl driving on the left – he is doing very well! But you need to ask him about his love affair with rumble strips. I am getting used to seeing cars coming at me on my right and the fast lane on the freeway is on the far right, but I still have a problem seeing into the back of the car in front of us and not seeing a head on the left – just on the right. That can cause a bit of a start. We were watching a TV show last night and it was filmed in the US show that meant people were driving on the right. It took us a moment to readjust seeing that. And no one should grumble about the price of gasoline. Since we rented a car we had to fill it up with gas a couple of times. The car was a Toyota Corolla. We put in 12 gallons and the total cost? $100 nzd!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is over $6 US currency per gallon!!!!!! So don’t complain when you have to pay ONLY $3.50 a gallon.
Hopefully we will have better weather in Melbourne.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
On To Auckland
On Wednesday we took a ferry ride to Manly Beach on the northern part of Sydney Harbor. It is an old beach town that remnds me of Santa Cruz in Ca or the old Atlantic Beach. We got off of the ferry and walked about 10 minutes to the main thoroughfare that is a large shopping and restaurant area before you get to the beach. There would have been surfers there, but the surf was almost non-existant that day. It is a great place for families to be at the beach on a hot day ( or on holiday).
Coming back to Syndey Harbor we took in THE Opera House. It is a marvel of architecture and artistry. Here is where all things cultural meet. They have operas, but they also have childrens plays, dramas, comedies, ballet, musicals, new-age performances, anything that has to do with the arts are held there. The one thing I really loved (and I wish all attractions had these) everyone, had individual headsets! That way nobody was left out because they couldn’t hear the tour guide. When you first look at the sturcture at a distance you think that the roof is just plain concrete. But as you get closer you notice that the roof is covered in individual tiles that are cream and tan colored. The concert halls are pre-built and placed inside the “shells”. They are made of wood and the acoutisc are awesome. But there is about two stories worth of space between the top of the halls and the “shell” walls. Think about when was the last time you were in anyplace as large as a concert hall made of wood? Even the seats were wood! They were designed by a micro-surgeon and they are the most comfortable seats I have even sat in. The construction itself was unbelievable. The “shells” were constructed as individual concrete ribs and were put together on-site.
On Thursday we took in a lot of things around the city of Sydney itself. We started off going to the Justice and Police Museum (of course). They had a special exhibit about the corruption that made up Sydney during the 40’s until the 90’s. And we though Chicago was bad in the 30’s!. They had criminals, politicians, juddges and police all involved. Talk about massive abuse of power! We then walked to an area called The Rocks. This is a great place to get around the locals. There are small shops, great little resttaurants and lots of people. We had lunch at a small outdoor restaurant and just sat and watched. Our last stop was on another ferry (surprise!) that took us up the Parramatta River. It was an express, but it still took over an hour. The scenery was wonderful and, as our hosts said, a lot of real estate up on that river. Meaning expensive placces – and there was! That night we had a great dinner with some Aussie Blue Knights. We had a wonderful dinner and the conversations (sometimes a little hard to understand) was fun and full of laughs, both on our part and theirs.
On Friday we took off for a long train ride just to experience the railway away from the city. We first stopped in a small town called Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River. Since this weekend is Easter weekend and they have attached Anzac Day (which is like our Veterans Day) on the end they locals have a 5 day holiday and it seemed like about half of them were in Brooklyn. It is a small riverfront village that everyone goes to for boating, fishing, picnicing, sunbathing, etc. After we walked around the village we boarded the train and rode for about another hour to the south of the city and saw the changing of the houses which went from condos to houses.
Today we are sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We will be there for a week. Now the fun (?) begins. We are renting a car and Karl is driving!!!!!!! Remember they drive on the “wrong” side of the road. Oh, boy!
Coming back to Syndey Harbor we took in THE Opera House. It is a marvel of architecture and artistry. Here is where all things cultural meet. They have operas, but they also have childrens plays, dramas, comedies, ballet, musicals, new-age performances, anything that has to do with the arts are held there. The one thing I really loved (and I wish all attractions had these) everyone, had individual headsets! That way nobody was left out because they couldn’t hear the tour guide. When you first look at the sturcture at a distance you think that the roof is just plain concrete. But as you get closer you notice that the roof is covered in individual tiles that are cream and tan colored. The concert halls are pre-built and placed inside the “shells”. They are made of wood and the acoutisc are awesome. But there is about two stories worth of space between the top of the halls and the “shell” walls. Think about when was the last time you were in anyplace as large as a concert hall made of wood? Even the seats were wood! They were designed by a micro-surgeon and they are the most comfortable seats I have even sat in. The construction itself was unbelievable. The “shells” were constructed as individual concrete ribs and were put together on-site.
On Thursday we took in a lot of things around the city of Sydney itself. We started off going to the Justice and Police Museum (of course). They had a special exhibit about the corruption that made up Sydney during the 40’s until the 90’s. And we though Chicago was bad in the 30’s!. They had criminals, politicians, juddges and police all involved. Talk about massive abuse of power! We then walked to an area called The Rocks. This is a great place to get around the locals. There are small shops, great little resttaurants and lots of people. We had lunch at a small outdoor restaurant and just sat and watched. Our last stop was on another ferry (surprise!) that took us up the Parramatta River. It was an express, but it still took over an hour. The scenery was wonderful and, as our hosts said, a lot of real estate up on that river. Meaning expensive placces – and there was! That night we had a great dinner with some Aussie Blue Knights. We had a wonderful dinner and the conversations (sometimes a little hard to understand) was fun and full of laughs, both on our part and theirs.
On Friday we took off for a long train ride just to experience the railway away from the city. We first stopped in a small town called Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River. Since this weekend is Easter weekend and they have attached Anzac Day (which is like our Veterans Day) on the end they locals have a 5 day holiday and it seemed like about half of them were in Brooklyn. It is a small riverfront village that everyone goes to for boating, fishing, picnicing, sunbathing, etc. After we walked around the village we boarded the train and rode for about another hour to the south of the city and saw the changing of the houses which went from condos to houses.
Today we are sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We will be there for a week. Now the fun (?) begins. We are renting a car and Karl is driving!!!!!!! Remember they drive on the “wrong” side of the road. Oh, boy!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Land of Oz
Oh my goodness, where do I begin this blog? I guess I will start at the time we left Hawaii. We left Debbie at the condo sleeping while Tom was a sweetheart and took us to the airport at 5am. We had to catch a plane to Honolulu at 6:30am so that we could catch our plane to Syndey at 9:15am. It's funny, but I was so into the two weeks in Hawaii that I didn't really think about our next stop. Then we were about half way to Syndey that I suddenly realized - we really were going to Austrailia!!!!!
The flight was 10 hours long, but it worked out great that we left at 9:15am Hawaii time and arrived in Syndey at 4pm (Sunday) which was 7:30pm Hawaii time and I didn't feel any jet lag. We were able to ease into the next day by going to bed at our regular time. So on to the fun stuff.
Monday morning we were greeted by our breakfast guests (that show up every morning) and they wanted their food! There are three of these Lorikeets that will show up every morning waiting to be fed. And will show up whenever we sit on the deck. They are very tame and will sit on your hand and wait to be fed. We also have cockatoos flying around the trees in the backyard. Boy do they make a noise! That is one thing that I have to get used to is the bird noises - there are no familar sounds at all. The apartment we rented is surrounded by trees and so there are tons of birds calling in the trees from sun-up to sundown.
That afternoonn our host dropped us off at the Koala Park Sanctuary. It is a small zoo that has a lot of native Austrailian animals including about 25
Koalas. They aren't caged in and are allowed to be anywhere in the park. There were some in a small area that were shown to people and we were able to pet them and get out picutre taken. I didn't realize how lazy and lathargic they are. There was also an area that you were able to get up close and personal to kangaroos.
Today we took a ferry ride to the Watson's Bay and walked around The Gap. Syndey runs on trains, ferries and buses. We bought a 7 day pass that covers every public transportation, unlimited, for 7 days which is a great way to get around the city. Our apartment is about 1 hour outside of Syndey and we took a train into the city then boarded
a ferry and off we went! Watson's Bay is a cute little harbor that was once a fishing village and a place where ships would come in to offload their cargo. The Gap is called that because it is a false harbor that is just before the real harbor and a ship, in 1857, was destroyed and sunk because it crashed against the rocks after mistaking it as the real harbor. 122 crew were lost and the only survivor ended up staying in Austrailia and running the lighthouse.
And lastly, no blog would be complete without a picture of the famous Opera House and the Syndey Harbor Bridge. Tomorrow we are taking another ferry ride to another part of the harbor and then we are taking a tour of the opera house.
Now to explain my title - everyone calls Austrailia Oz. And why is that? Well, it is colloquially pronounced Oztralia. Hence the Land of Oz.
The flight was 10 hours long, but it worked out great that we left at 9:15am Hawaii time and arrived in Syndey at 4pm (Sunday) which was 7:30pm Hawaii time and I didn't feel any jet lag. We were able to ease into the next day by going to bed at our regular time. So on to the fun stuff.
That afternoonn our host dropped us off at the Koala Park Sanctuary. It is a small zoo that has a lot of native Austrailian animals including about 25
Koalas. They aren't caged in and are allowed to be anywhere in the park. There were some in a small area that were shown to people and we were able to pet them and get out picutre taken. I didn't realize how lazy and lathargic they are. There was also an area that you were able to get up close and personal to kangaroos.
Today we took a ferry ride to the Watson's Bay and walked around The Gap. Syndey runs on trains, ferries and buses. We bought a 7 day pass that covers every public transportation, unlimited, for 7 days which is a great way to get around the city. Our apartment is about 1 hour outside of Syndey and we took a train into the city then boarded
And lastly, no blog would be complete without a picture of the famous Opera House and the Syndey Harbor Bridge. Tomorrow we are taking another ferry ride to another part of the harbor and then we are taking a tour of the opera house.
Now to explain my title - everyone calls Austrailia Oz. And why is that? Well, it is colloquially pronounced Oztralia. Hence the Land of Oz.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Grand Canyon? When Did We Go Back To Arizona?
Now that the sightseeing is over we will be at the resort just relaxing and letting the three of them snorkel to their hearts content in our little cove while I stay on the lanai and read. Tomorrow we are off to lunch at Puka Dog (Google it). Aloha, y'all.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
What a Birthday Present
Well, today is my birthday and what better way to spend it than on my favorite island at my favorite home resort? When I first started coming to Hawaii ( about 17 years ago) I was working as a travel agent and would come over on fact-finding trips (yeah, right). But it did help me serve my clients better when they wanted to see Hawaii, but had never been before. Judging what they wanted and how active they wanted to be helped me decide which island to suggest to them. Oahu (a mini San Francisco), Maui (party central), big island (explorers). When I got to Kauai I knew that I had found "my" island. It's laid back, very relaxing and reminds me of the old Hawaii more than the others. While on Kauai my husband and I took a timeshare presentation of the property we were staying in - oceanfront, big condos, very friendly staff. While we were standing in the "presentation" condo and trying to decide if we really wanted to buy, out on the ocean we saw a sailboat sailing under a full double rainbow. That sealed it. I have been an owner since 1998 and try to come back every 2-3 years.
So anyway - we are having a great time and since Tom and Debbie haven't been back to this island for 18 years we get to show them all over again! And as I sit on the lanai overlooking the ocean, hearing the crashing surf and feeling the cool trade winds I keep reminding myself how blessed I really am.
Friday, April 8, 2011
I Double Dog Dare You!
In English it's called "The City of Refuge". Many centuries ago, on the islands many things were kapu or forbidden. If you broke a kapu you could lose your life so you ran or sailed as fast as you could to this small place on the shores of the big island. Once you set foot on the beach you were safe from harm and persecution as long as you didn't leave. Only when you were forgiven by a priest or holy man or pardoned by the king could you leave safely. I have been here every time I have come back to the island, but this time I was shocked because I had totally forgotten about the tsunami and didn't realize that it may have hit the island. Well it did hit and they had to actually close half of the area because, not only did it damage some areas but it also exposed more undiscovered areas. So we didn't get to see everything, but we had a good time anyway. Oh, and for those that weren't successful in pronouncing it I will try and do it phonetically.
Poo (like dog doo-doo) u (long u) hoe new a (short a) o (long o) hoe now now. Congratulations! You now speak Hawaiian. Aloha.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Volcanoes
Next we took them down the Crater road which went through a lot of lava fields dating from the mid 1800's. You will notice in this picture a black line that runs right to left. That is a line of lava that ran from Kilauea to the ocean. Sometimes you have to take a close look because it can look like a shadow, but this line is lava.
At the bottom of the Crater road there is a road block that you can't cross with a car because this is what you will encounter. In the 1970's an eruption caused the lava flow to come across the road the block this area forever. It runs about 2 miles wide, but if you want to take a long walk you can actually get up close and personal to the lava flow. We didn't take the walk this time but about 8 years ago I did walk it, at night, and took some great up close pictures of molten rock. If you notice the lava formation you will see that the lave looks smooth and polished - that is called a'a lava. The picture above is pahoehoe lava and it looks like small air filled rocks. The difference of the two is that a'a is like dark chocolate that is melting and moves very slowly and the pahoehoe is the stuff that is thrown out of the volcano and lands with a splat. When you see a video of a volcano and you see stuff being thrown up in the air, that is pahoehoe lava. Notice the sign for the uninformed. Will that area be opened? Probably not in my lifetime because the volcano is still active.
After our trip to the volcano we continued on to the town of Hilo on the east side of the island. Hilo is a rather small town that is almost always in a rain state. Each time I have been there it rained. Now here is the part that will tickle your funny bone. It was getting close to 2:30 and we hadn't eaten since breakfast and were getting hungry. Normally we like to eat things that are unique to the area we are in - in other words we don't like to eat at chain restaurants, but as we were talking we all agreed that Taco Bell sounded really good this time. So Tom, who was driving, put Taco Bell in his GPS and found that it was about 8 miles from our present position. Sounded good- off we go. After circling around a residential area for about 10 minutes the GPS announced that we had arrived. We were in an intersection in the residential area with only houses all around! Okay, so we started again thinking that the GPS took our previous position in Kona. Put in Taco Bell again and it announces that we are now about 1 mile from our destination. Off we go. Nope - still residential. Debbie and I are in the back laughing out heads off. Then we remember that both of us has a GPS on our phones. We whip out the phones and input Taco Bell - Debbie gets a hit about 2 miles away and I get one that is permanently closed! Tom's GPS finds another one about 2 miles away, but is taking us right back to where we were first sent. Following Debbie's phone we FINALLY get to the Taco Bell. Where was it? About 5 blocks from where we got off the main road to follow the first direction! Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Deja vu all over again
As Yogi Berra said, "It's like deja vu all over again." Why do I say that? Well, we started our trip and, of course, troubles began. It's gotten to a point for me that I expect SOMETHING to happen and if it doesn't i get really nervous. So what happened?
On Friday we drove to Karl cousin's house in So. San Francisco to spend the night so that we could catch our very early flight the next morning to Hawaii. We were scheduled to fly on Qantas because after we are through in Hawaii we are continuing to Australia and it was cheaper (less expensive?) to fly them and do Hawaii as a layover. The problem first started when his cousin dropped us off at Qantas and there was no body there! No agents, no clients, no lines, no nothing. In fact the counters weren't even opened. Oh boy, what now? On the itinerary that I got from Qantas there was a small legend that noted that the section from SFO to HNL was by "One world carrier". OK, fine. Who would that be? No name was noted and trying to call Qantas was a joke. Luckily we happened upon a flight maintenance man and he looked at the itinerary and he said that we were probably on American because that was about the time a flight takes off to HNL. So off we walk to terminal 3 from the International terminal (about a 30 minute walk). We passed the United counter first and after checking the departure board didn't see any flight at that time. Off we go to the next counter. Do you know how many ticket agent areas are in SFO for United? A lot! But we finally made it to the American counter and did see our flight. Getting up to the counter we are talking to an agent that didn't really seem to know what she was doing, but I explained to her that our flight was to HNL on them, but we then transferred to Hawaiian Air to Kona. I gave her the itinerary that showed the departure time and the flight number. She checks her computer and doesn't see any flights at that time - are we sure of the time? Well, yeah! I had the itinerary right there! Finally she says that she does see the flight, but it was flight #148. I looked at my itinerary and sure enough I had the same flight number! So I'm not sure what she was looking at. But we were able to have out luggage transferred to Hawaiian Airlines and it would follow us to Kona. Now if you haven't flown for a while the airlines have started to charge for just about everything. I wanted to have a few more inches of leg room so I did pay extra for exit seats. Our "wonderful" agent goes and gives us our boarding passes and we go off to the gate. Just as we were boarding we noticed that our seats were now 36E/F. Do you know where that is? Try the LAST row in the frigging plane!!! Needless to say we are going to have a talk with Qantas soon.
Now we are finally on the plane and are in HNL waiting for our connecting flight to Kona. We are to meet our friends, Tom and Debbie Struthers, in Kona and then fly together to Kona to enjoy a great week together. Karl turns on his phone and gets a message from Tom stating that because the flight crew got in late the night before the FAA wouldn't let them fly until they had their "required" rest time. So instead of them taking off at 8:50am they left at 10:45. Our connecting flight was at 1:00 (Hawaiian time). We checked the arrival board and saw that their new arrival time was going to be 12:35pm. Would they make it? If not what is going to be our plan of attack because Tom had booked the car. We boarded our flight and just before the doors closed here comes the Struthers walking down the aisle towards us. They made the flight so all our plans were for naught. By the time we got settled in the resort, found a bar for a much needed drink and a great dinner, we got back to the resort and fell into bed at about 9pm totally exhausted.
Tomorrow we are off the the volcano and the City of Refuge. I will post pictures for those that want to travel vicariously through us.
On Friday we drove to Karl cousin's house in So. San Francisco to spend the night so that we could catch our very early flight the next morning to Hawaii. We were scheduled to fly on Qantas because after we are through in Hawaii we are continuing to Australia and it was cheaper (less expensive?) to fly them and do Hawaii as a layover. The problem first started when his cousin dropped us off at Qantas and there was no body there! No agents, no clients, no lines, no nothing. In fact the counters weren't even opened. Oh boy, what now? On the itinerary that I got from Qantas there was a small legend that noted that the section from SFO to HNL was by "One world carrier". OK, fine. Who would that be? No name was noted and trying to call Qantas was a joke. Luckily we happened upon a flight maintenance man and he looked at the itinerary and he said that we were probably on American because that was about the time a flight takes off to HNL. So off we walk to terminal 3 from the International terminal (about a 30 minute walk). We passed the United counter first and after checking the departure board didn't see any flight at that time. Off we go to the next counter. Do you know how many ticket agent areas are in SFO for United? A lot! But we finally made it to the American counter and did see our flight. Getting up to the counter we are talking to an agent that didn't really seem to know what she was doing, but I explained to her that our flight was to HNL on them, but we then transferred to Hawaiian Air to Kona. I gave her the itinerary that showed the departure time and the flight number. She checks her computer and doesn't see any flights at that time - are we sure of the time? Well, yeah! I had the itinerary right there! Finally she says that she does see the flight, but it was flight #148. I looked at my itinerary and sure enough I had the same flight number! So I'm not sure what she was looking at. But we were able to have out luggage transferred to Hawaiian Airlines and it would follow us to Kona. Now if you haven't flown for a while the airlines have started to charge for just about everything. I wanted to have a few more inches of leg room so I did pay extra for exit seats. Our "wonderful" agent goes and gives us our boarding passes and we go off to the gate. Just as we were boarding we noticed that our seats were now 36E/F. Do you know where that is? Try the LAST row in the frigging plane!!! Needless to say we are going to have a talk with Qantas soon.
Now we are finally on the plane and are in HNL waiting for our connecting flight to Kona. We are to meet our friends, Tom and Debbie Struthers, in Kona and then fly together to Kona to enjoy a great week together. Karl turns on his phone and gets a message from Tom stating that because the flight crew got in late the night before the FAA wouldn't let them fly until they had their "required" rest time. So instead of them taking off at 8:50am they left at 10:45. Our connecting flight was at 1:00 (Hawaiian time). We checked the arrival board and saw that their new arrival time was going to be 12:35pm. Would they make it? If not what is going to be our plan of attack because Tom had booked the car. We boarded our flight and just before the doors closed here comes the Struthers walking down the aisle towards us. They made the flight so all our plans were for naught. By the time we got settled in the resort, found a bar for a much needed drink and a great dinner, we got back to the resort and fell into bed at about 9pm totally exhausted.
Tomorrow we are off the the volcano and the City of Refuge. I will post pictures for those that want to travel vicariously through us.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Perspectives
Usually I use this blog for travel posts since our families start phone conversations with, "Where are you?" Today I am straying from that format because my heart is heavy and I just need to jot my thoughts down to get them out of my head.
What started this was my granddaughter Sadie's first birthday in January. Nothing really bothered me about it (except that I had a bad cold and couldn't go to her party) until I read another post from a very special family that also had a child only two and a half weeks later. I've known the mother all of her life. She was 6 months old when our very good friends adopted her from Korea and we were with them when they met their new daughter at the airport. So you could say that she is my surrogate daughter. My son and she grew up together so it was rather fitting that they also have children almost at the same time.
But what really hurts is seeing how well (and normal) her son is at 1 year and how normal my son's daughter is not. He was sitting up at 6 months, standing at 10 months and now almost walking. My granddaughter? Is still unable to sit, stand or even laugh. She does smile (a lot) but not a sound of laughter comes from her. At this time I should be able to play with her and tickle her and, in general, enjoy this new person. But I can't. Being over sensitive in so many areas it's hard to be relaxed around her.
I am so grateful to God that He did let her live when all the doctors expected her not to, but it's hard to see other children around her age that are on the normal scale and she's still way behind. I read posts on FB that talk of how this child is doing that or that child is doing this and I have to sit back and be quiet, not saying anything because I don't belong in that group.
At one time in my life I asked a lot of "why" questions: why did this happen, why did I do what I did, why didn't I walk away, why didn't I say no, why didn't I talk to someone. It got to the point that I would say, "If I had a nickle for every why I asked I would be a millionaire many times over." Now I am asking why again. And I still haven't gotten any answer. Do I expect one? Not really. But I guess the one that I would really, really like an answer to is, "Why has God kept Sadie on Earth?"
In the meantime I will try and enjoy reading the posts on FB and blogs about other people's children and grandchildren and how they are progressing and try to be happy when they are happy talking about them. And I will celebrate any milestone that Sadie makes, when she makes them. She is my son's daughter and I will love her as any grandma would and more because she is my special angel.
What started this was my granddaughter Sadie's first birthday in January. Nothing really bothered me about it (except that I had a bad cold and couldn't go to her party) until I read another post from a very special family that also had a child only two and a half weeks later. I've known the mother all of her life. She was 6 months old when our very good friends adopted her from Korea and we were with them when they met their new daughter at the airport. So you could say that she is my surrogate daughter. My son and she grew up together so it was rather fitting that they also have children almost at the same time.
But what really hurts is seeing how well (and normal) her son is at 1 year and how normal my son's daughter is not. He was sitting up at 6 months, standing at 10 months and now almost walking. My granddaughter? Is still unable to sit, stand or even laugh. She does smile (a lot) but not a sound of laughter comes from her. At this time I should be able to play with her and tickle her and, in general, enjoy this new person. But I can't. Being over sensitive in so many areas it's hard to be relaxed around her.
I am so grateful to God that He did let her live when all the doctors expected her not to, but it's hard to see other children around her age that are on the normal scale and she's still way behind. I read posts on FB that talk of how this child is doing that or that child is doing this and I have to sit back and be quiet, not saying anything because I don't belong in that group.
At one time in my life I asked a lot of "why" questions: why did this happen, why did I do what I did, why didn't I walk away, why didn't I say no, why didn't I talk to someone. It got to the point that I would say, "If I had a nickle for every why I asked I would be a millionaire many times over." Now I am asking why again. And I still haven't gotten any answer. Do I expect one? Not really. But I guess the one that I would really, really like an answer to is, "Why has God kept Sadie on Earth?"
In the meantime I will try and enjoy reading the posts on FB and blogs about other people's children and grandchildren and how they are progressing and try to be happy when they are happy talking about them. And I will celebrate any milestone that Sadie makes, when she makes them. She is my son's daughter and I will love her as any grandma would and more because she is my special angel.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Why did I expect anything different this time?
As usual, my thought process was hoping for an uneventful trip to Bangor this weekend. But, like always, our first day out had it's problems.
Have you noticed that whenever we go on a trip or excursion or some place that we have to travel too something always goes wrong the first day? If not, check out the earlier posts of this blog and you will see what I mean.
Anyway, it happened again. We left Phoenix on Thursday to fly to Bangor, Maine via Detroit. We left PHX airport about 20 minutes late (no problem) and the pilot made up good time and got us into Detroit only 3 minutes later than the original arrival time. But instead of the original 45 minute lay-over we had 25 minutes and we had to go from gate A78 to gate C31. So hot-footing we go. I walk faster than Karl because of his hip so I moved out in front of him and got to the gate 1 minute before the gate closed. Made it! Karl caught up a few minutes later. We get into the aircraft, stow our luggage, get settled in our seats and wait for the push off from the gate. We wait and we wait and we wait and we wait some more. Finally the pilot comes over the PA system, "Ladies and gentlemen - we have a slight problem that the mechanics are going to look at - it should be only a few minutes. We will let you know about our departure time in a few minutes." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later the pilot is on the PA again, "Ladies and gentlemen - the mechanics has found a slight problem with our braking system, but they are working on it now and it should only be a couple of minutes more." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later, the pilot again, "Ladies and gentlemen - uh, it looks like they found the problem and have fixed it but we are checking the lines to see if they will hold pressure. It should only be a few more minutes." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. By this time we are 30 minutes late in departure. 30 minutes later, the pilot again, "Ladies and gentlemen - the mechanics need to contact the supervisor to see what we are going to do with this aircraft. It doesn't look like the fix held. We will let you know if we are able to transfer you to another plane or wait until we find another fix." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later, the pilot, "Ladies and gentlemen - this aircraft is grounded. You need to return to the terminal and we will try and find another aircraft to load you on so that we can continue to Bangor. We are sorry for the inconvenience." So after 75 minutes of sitting at the gate, we grab all our stuff and trudge back into the terminal hoping that another aircraft can be found. By this time it is 11pm in Detroit so all of the shops are closed. We hadn't had anything to eat since lunch and the only things that we could find were vending machines. The machine ended up taking my money but not giving anything back.
Now during all this time of waiting, we had a car waiting for us in Bangor. We had made a special arrangement with Avis to have some one at the counter when we got there so we could pick up a car to go to the hotel. Doesn't sound bad right? Well, they normally closed the counter at 11pm. We had made an arrangement with them to have some one there when we got in at midnight (our original time). Now we are still in Detroit at 11pm and we still had a 1 hour and 40 minute flight to go. So Karl called the counter and told them what was going on and the clerk told us not to worry - he would stay there until we got there!!! We finally boarded another plane at 11:15pm and headed out to the runway. But another delay appeared. They had to de-ice us! So that took another 20 minutes. We finally showed up in Bangor at 2am today and the car counter clerk was still there!!!!! I will say that Avis is Bangor goes the extra mile for their customers.
Hopefully now that our trip has started, no other problems will show their ugly heads.
Have you noticed that whenever we go on a trip or excursion or some place that we have to travel too something always goes wrong the first day? If not, check out the earlier posts of this blog and you will see what I mean.
Anyway, it happened again. We left Phoenix on Thursday to fly to Bangor, Maine via Detroit. We left PHX airport about 20 minutes late (no problem) and the pilot made up good time and got us into Detroit only 3 minutes later than the original arrival time. But instead of the original 45 minute lay-over we had 25 minutes and we had to go from gate A78 to gate C31. So hot-footing we go. I walk faster than Karl because of his hip so I moved out in front of him and got to the gate 1 minute before the gate closed. Made it! Karl caught up a few minutes later. We get into the aircraft, stow our luggage, get settled in our seats and wait for the push off from the gate. We wait and we wait and we wait and we wait some more. Finally the pilot comes over the PA system, "Ladies and gentlemen - we have a slight problem that the mechanics are going to look at - it should be only a few minutes. We will let you know about our departure time in a few minutes." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later the pilot is on the PA again, "Ladies and gentlemen - the mechanics has found a slight problem with our braking system, but they are working on it now and it should only be a couple of minutes more." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later, the pilot again, "Ladies and gentlemen - uh, it looks like they found the problem and have fixed it but we are checking the lines to see if they will hold pressure. It should only be a few more minutes." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. By this time we are 30 minutes late in departure. 30 minutes later, the pilot again, "Ladies and gentlemen - the mechanics need to contact the supervisor to see what we are going to do with this aircraft. It doesn't look like the fix held. We will let you know if we are able to transfer you to another plane or wait until we find another fix." So we wait and we wait and we wait some more. 15 minutes later, the pilot, "Ladies and gentlemen - this aircraft is grounded. You need to return to the terminal and we will try and find another aircraft to load you on so that we can continue to Bangor. We are sorry for the inconvenience." So after 75 minutes of sitting at the gate, we grab all our stuff and trudge back into the terminal hoping that another aircraft can be found. By this time it is 11pm in Detroit so all of the shops are closed. We hadn't had anything to eat since lunch and the only things that we could find were vending machines. The machine ended up taking my money but not giving anything back.
Now during all this time of waiting, we had a car waiting for us in Bangor. We had made a special arrangement with Avis to have some one at the counter when we got there so we could pick up a car to go to the hotel. Doesn't sound bad right? Well, they normally closed the counter at 11pm. We had made an arrangement with them to have some one there when we got in at midnight (our original time). Now we are still in Detroit at 11pm and we still had a 1 hour and 40 minute flight to go. So Karl called the counter and told them what was going on and the clerk told us not to worry - he would stay there until we got there!!! We finally boarded another plane at 11:15pm and headed out to the runway. But another delay appeared. They had to de-ice us! So that took another 20 minutes. We finally showed up in Bangor at 2am today and the car counter clerk was still there!!!!! I will say that Avis is Bangor goes the extra mile for their customers.
Hopefully now that our trip has started, no other problems will show their ugly heads.
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