April 15, 2008, part 2

There are no pictures from December 30th at all,
not one....

We started the day early, 6 am. Rise and shine!
Naomi and Ross! Your cab is downstairs!

And off they went to Oahu and a vist with Ross'
family. I heard later mostly about Daisy, his
grandma, who is in her mid to late 80's, about
4'8", Japanese, and who kept offering them ham
sandwiches! Wish I could have met her!

Courtney, Zach and I walked across the street at
about 9am - we were getting some breakfast stuff,
and also picked up some champagne and orange
juice for mimosas.....

At about 10, we were getting the breakfast ready,
I was looking online in the dining room, and all
of a sudden there was a huge pop and an even
bigger scream from the kitchen... aaaaaahhhhh!
Zach is going aaahhhh and Courtney is going oh my
god and I ran in there and apparently Zach turned
the wire on the champagne bottle one twist and
the cork popped out right into his eyeball...get
ice....I'm bleeding....get a towel....call the
cab back....wheres the hospital.....wheres the
emergency room......always point the bottle away
from yourself!!!....aaahhhhhh!

The front of my shirt became a wet mass with
Zach's head pressed against it, as the ice
melted......Sarah said I looked like I was
lactating (gee thanks!) Courtney was on the
phone with her Dad, a doctor, and her Mom, a
nurse, as we sped away in the taxi to the
emergency room, about 20 minutes away...

After many hours in the emergency room, it was
determined that Zach did not lose his eyeball,
that his sight had improved immensely, and that
he should have further testing when he got
home...please pay $200 as you pass the door, even
though you have insurance...

What a crazy, scary day!!

And we had luau tickets for 4:45 pm.... needless
to say we did not have time to change our
clothes! The "official" luau picture had Sarah
and I with stains all over ourselves and Zach
looked a bit like a zombie....

We were all so relieved that we did enjoy the
show yet again...although Zach had a huge
headache, and kept saying he would never drink
champagne again!

So here are some luau pictures from the first
luau you havent seen yet - and some more photos
of Allie in her luau outfit!

More tomorrow! A better day in Hawaii for sure!

Love, Mindy

April 15, 2008

The 28th of December arrived, warm and sunny.
While we did not have the "perfect" weather in
Hawaii, meaning it was often really windy and
cloudy - we did not get poured on, and we were
warm enough to wear shorts and t-shirts....

We hung out on the beach in front of our condo
for a while, watched the surfers, read some books
and magazines, and decided that after dinner that
night would be the only time we could exchange
our gifts, because it would be one of the few
times we would all be together.

After a few phone calls to Zach and Courtney,
still en-route, we decided that on the 29th we
would split up into the guys and the gals....the
guys wanted to get in a round of golf at the Kona
Country Club, ocean side course. And the gals,
well we decided that since we were going on the
sunset/dinner cruise that (next)night, a day at
the "spa" would be about perfect (-:

Oh, and since we had already returned the first
rental car, and were relying on taxis, we had to
arrange transportation for Courtney and Zach from
the airport to the condo. We thought it might be
appropriate for them to get a lei greeting upon
their exit from the plane.....used to be in the
old days the lei greeting was a standard
event...not any longer - you have to call and
reserve lei's and a greeter. You have to agonize
over the choice of flowers in the lei, and then
they want your credit card number.

Once the critical flower decision had been made,
Naomi, Sarah and I went to the spa to look at
their "menu", and after several more phone calls
to Courtney, were able to reserve our time-slots
and choices for the next day. Conveniently, there
was a nail salon right across the way - so while
two of us were getting a massage, two of us could
have a pedicure....

I can hear you all groaning now.....I know this
was a very bourgeois outing we had planned - but
how many of you thought that about the guys
playing golf, hmmm? Ocean-side course? Kona
Country Club? I rest my case. We were all going
to have one of those days that you have great
memories of, but kind of wonder if you had lost
your mind (especially after the bill comes).

Zach and Courtney finally arrived, and we had an
awesome dinner together. After a few Mai-Tai's we
all opened presents, and then hung out, played
some games and watched movies.

Tee-time for the guys was somewhere close to 9am,
so we were all up relatively early, and had
reserved a couple of taxi's the night before to
come and get us. Ross had never been golfing
before, so he was a wee bit nervous about going
with Ken and Zach, who both (formerly) had
handicaps of 7-10......He offered to take the
requisite family photos at the golf course with
his disposable camera, but he ended up taking
Naomi's point and shoot digital. See ya later
guys!

We gals met our cab and decided that a)we needed
some real coffee and b)we should look for some
appropriate attire for the dinner cruise, and
what better place than Hilo Hattie's - a virtual
Hawaiian treasure trove of apparel

Here are some photos of our little shopping
excursion for dresses and hats...I should tell
you that all the guys got an Hawaiian shirt as a
present!

We went to our spa/nail appts (Naomi and Courtney
both said that if you ever have the chance you
should get a hot stone massage). The nail salon
owner was a very sweet young woman from Vietnam,
she let us change in her waxing room once we were
all salon-ed-up!

Then we set out on the street in our new finery,
walking to the pier to meet the guys before the
sunset cruise.

As we were walking, and being stared at (-; (it
was the hats)....a cab drove by us headed the
same way we were going - it started honking and
the people in it were waving....turns out it was
our guys. They told us later that someone in the
cab (no one admitted who) said "hey look at those
girls, all dressed up with the funny hats!" Then
another one of them said, "hey those are our
dates!" The driver was having a lot of fun; it
was the same driver who had dropped the gals off
at Hilo Hatties! And then the salon!

The sunset cruise was fun - there was no real sun
to speak of - but we had dinner, drinks, a show,
and laughing and dancing....

So there are pics here of that too...please note
that Ross was the only one of us who did not wear
his Aloha outfit...

And, there are no pictures of the golf outing,
because somehow the point and shoot camera turned
up missing.....

More later! Hope I am not boring you....

Love, Mindy

April 14, 2008, part 2

While we waited for Ken to arrive on the 26th, we
checked out the local Farmers Market for produce,
and looked for a fresh fish market! Dining was a
great experience on this trip for me, because all
of my (egads, grown) kids, and their respective
friends, can now all make something wonderful to
eat and drink! And we had a beautiful kitchen to
work in...all we needed were the ingredients!

Mai Tai's were also on the agenda, and there was
a small convenience store across the street with
everything necessary for those. We also
discovered that our end unit condo was right next
to the locals surfer beach...it was very nice to
see people other than tourists...and the surfers
were fun to watch at sunrise from the balcony.

With 11 of the 14 known climate zones in the
world - from desert lavascapes to tropical rain
forests to beaches to snow on the peaks of 13,000
foot volcanoes, the Big Island of Hawaii has
something for everyone..

Before the actual trip, I was forced to promise
that I was not going to make any agendas for
anyone other than myself - hehe - so I didnt.
That was very difficult! I like having some idea
of what I am going to do! What I did do though,
was find different activities that were available
and send out a list so everyone could think about
what they might want to do...but reservations? Oh
no....and look how well I did, I forgot to get a
car!

So the list looked a little like this:

-lie on beach
-eat good food
-Volcanoes National Park - drive, hike,
helicopter
-Mauna Kea - drive up to observatories, or take a
tour, see the sunset there
-lie on beach
-go horsebackriding in Waipi"o Valley
-go to a luau
-lie on beach
-eat good food
-parasailing
-Black Sand Beach - also known as Turtle Beach
-find good coffee
-find macadamia nuts
-lie on beach
-rent scooters
-go golfing
-go to a spa
-dinner/sunset cruise
-lie on beach


Interestingly enough Courtney, Zach and Naomi Munichiello and
Ross had all indicated that they wanted to go to
a luau - I say interesting because Ross grew up
there and I didnt think he would want to do
anything that touristy; and they all wanted to go
to either Mauna Kea or to Volcanoes National
Park, but not both. Sarah was interested in
hiking and getting to the top of Mauna Kea. Once
we were unpacked, Sarah found us a luau that was
close enough to get a cab to, and we made
reservations for the 27th, the night Courtney and
Zach were to arrive.

On the morning of the 27th, we got a call from
Zach. They had gotten totally delayed on the
roads, due to snow and ice, and missed their
plane. So - they were not going to get in to Kona
until the 28th....we couldnt find another luau to
go to on a night when all 7 of us would be there
(only the 28th and 29th) so the 5 of us kept our
tickets for the luau on the 27th, and then Sarah,
Ken and I went to the exact same luau again on
the 30th with Courtney and Zach!

So much for making plans!

We did have a lot of fun. The day of the 1st luau
we drove to Black Sands beach and hung out with
the turtles there.

Located off of Highway 11 near the 56 mile
marker, about 20 minutes driving time from Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park, you'll come to a turnoff
for Punalu'u Black Sand Beach.

This is the most easily accessible black sand
beach on the island. It is also a home to many
(hundreds! it seems) endangered green sea
turtles. There is an excellent chance that you
will find one lying in the sun on the beach.

There is great swimming and snorkeling, although
not on the days we were there! It was really
windy and the sea was rough. In fact, Ross was
the only one of us who actually jumped all the
way in! The black sand is really interesting - it
is volcanic rock, all ground up, and when the sun
is beating down on it, it is so hot you cant walk
barefoot!

So here are some fun pictures of the turtles and
us on the beach!

Then we went to the luau! Hosted on the
historical grounds of King Kamehameha's Kona
Beach Hotel, this was billed as a 'feast fit for
a king'. In times past, it was restricted to the
indigenous Hawaiian population as it was the
actual grounds for the king's residence, thus
sacred ground.

With an open bar as the backdrop, you watch as
the "Royal Court of King Kamehameha I" arrives by
canoe, his arrival greeted by a Court Conch
Herald and a Court Chanter. The kalua pig, which
has been roasting under the banana leaves all day
now comes out to join the buffet feast.

Table after table of tourists go up to the well
stocked buffet which in addition to the pig has
poke, mahi-mahi, banana bread, coconut and guava
cake, chicken adobo, chicken long rice, haupia,
kulolo, lau lau, and the required poi, among many
other things.

While you are eating, the show goes on. There are
traditional costumes and dances from all of the
islands, singing, drumming, fire throwers and
fire dances.

Yes, it is touristy, and a bit hokey (at one
point the Hawaiian guy sitting next to me said
'they're trying to get everyone to yell out the
word for chair" when they told us we were
greeting some Hawaiian spirit!") - but it was
still fun! Naomi Munichiello even had fun!!

So here are also some of the luau photos! There
will be more, because we went twice!

More soon, Love, Mindy

April 14, 2008

I am back again! Annoying all of you with my
travel tales....(-:


We parked the RV for the weeks leading up to the
25th of December in a parking lot/RV park that
was attached to an Econo Lodge in Ashland. It was
convenient, right next to the Interstate exit. A
very useful thing if you are doing any Holiday
shopping at the last minute...

Our plans were to find a place to store/park the
RV, and both dogs (Allie and Frankie, Naomi's
dog) while we all met up in Hawaii. Sarah was in
San Francisco for her conference and then had
some vacation time, so she was going to fly to
Kona on the Big Island on the 24th. I was going
to fly from Medford, OR, and meet her that same
day.

Naomi and then boyfriend Ross were going to work
on the 24th til 9 pm, then drive 5 hours north to
Portland, OR to catch an early morning flight to
Kona on the 25th. I dont know why, when they
could have flown from Medford, only 10 miles
away, but...I have stopped asking these
questions! They were going to spend Dec 25-30
with us then go to Oahu, where Ross' family
lives, until Jan 5.

Zach and girlfriend Courtney were going to drive
from Tempe, AZ to Denver, meet up with Courtney's
sister, drive to Cheyenne, WY, have xmas with her
family, drive back to Denver, get on a plane to
Kona on the 27th, and stay with us until Jan 3rd,
then go back to Wyoming for several more days,
before driving back to AZ. Zach has a little
Honda with no snow tires. Again, I stopped asking
questions.

Ken was going to spend xmas eve and day with his
daughters, then get on a plane on the 26th to
meet us in Kona. He and I were staying in Kona
til the 3rd of January - and after putting Sarah,
Zach and Courtney on planes, going ourselves to
Kauai and then Molokai.

The weather was getting progressively colder and
wetter as it got closer to the time to leave. We
found a storage place close by that would let us
park the RV for three weeks for $65.00, which was
a whole lot cheaper than paying for it to stay in
the RV park! But, we had to winterize it, meaning
drain out all the water, the holding tanks, the
pipes, and put in a special RV/people friendly
antifreeze. Which meant that we had to move out
of the RV before we put it in storage, which was
before we went away. So we lived for several days
in a La Quinta Inn, because they are dog friendly
- and they had a pool and a continental
breakfast.

Then Naomi and I found the North Pole Kennel a
couple of miles outside of Ashland. It sounded
like a great place to leave your dogs, yes bring
their beds and special treats and food - yes they
get to go out several times a day, yes we will
let them go out together if it makes them both
happy.

We brought the dogs over there on the 23rd, in
the morning. Allie has never been to a kennel
before (in 14 years), and she knew something was
up. Frankie is still a (very large) puppy, and he
could have cared less about staying in the
kennel, but he managed to look pretty pathetic
when we were trying to leave. Allie was trembling
nonstop, and literally moaning; Frankie was
yipping and trying to escape the wire cage, Naomi
was crying, and I was thinking that my dog would
be dead before my vacation was over...

Get in the car and run away as fast as you can,
and don't think about it much....Naomi's in the
front seat saying "I have to go back and get my
dog, its a horrible place, I cant leave him
there, do you want Allie to die?" It was not fun.

On the morning of the 24th, Ken got me up at 4:30
am (he's so good about that stuff!) so we could
drive to the tiny Medford airport and I could
catch my 6:05 am flight to Los Angeles. It was
probably the first time I have ever gotten to the
airport for an early morning flight with lots of
time to spare.

And, they wouldnt let me on the plane...But dont
you understand, I'm EARLY for once!!!

Why? Because I didnt have the paper ticket with
me.......what paper ticket? Oh crap! The paper
ticket is locked in the RV, which I havent seen
for days, which is locked inside a storage unit,
which doesnt open until 7 am, which is after my
flight leaves!

They would, however, book me on a later flight -
without having the paper ticket. Which would get
me to San Francisco late afternoon......."By the
way? ALL the flights from San Francisco or
Oakland or LA to Hawaii on the 24th have been
completely oversold (by about 60 seats apiece) -
so you will be stuck in San Francisco til
tomorrow anyway."

So, as stupid as I felt for completely forgetting
I even had a paper ticket (who gets paper tickets
anymore?) I did feel a little better knowing that
I would have been stuck in LA anyway...now at
least I would be stuck in San Francisco! And hey
- I could call Sarah, who was waiting for her
flight in Oakland, to see if she could be one of
the "bumped" people from her oversold flight -
and then we could spend the night in San
Francisco together! And fly together to Hawaii on
Christmas day, even if on different airlines.

Which is what happened...

Sarah brought some excellent wine and cheese with
her when she met me at the airport, which was a
great thing, as all the restaurants in the
neighborhood were closed by the time we got
there.

As it turned out, Naomi and Ross were actually
the first ones to arrive in Hawaii.....they got
there about half and hour before Sarah and
several hours before me. So they all took a cab
to the condo we had rented (4th floor,
oceanfront, 3 bedroom, 2 bath - really
lovely,which was amazing because it had terrible
reviews), and left me a message to pick up the
rental car and meet them there.

What rental car? Was I supposed to rent a car? I
didn't....and then I couldn't...In case anyone
has not heard, the weeks from Dec 21 to Jan 6 or
so are the absolute busiest in Hawaii for
tourists. There were no rental cars available for
the time frame we needed. With both Sarah and I
calling every rental agent on the entire island,
we managed to get one car for three days, and
then a truck for 24 hours a few days later, and
then another car for the last 2 days.

So here are some pictures of the sunset over
Kona, on my way from the airport to the condo on
the 25th....from the window of the rental car...

and Naomi, Ross and Sarah

and Allie in her hula outfit

more Hawaiiana to come....

April 7, 2008

Hello!

I am almost to the Holidays, I am sooo excited,
because there is so much to tell after the
holidays.

We drove up Rt 101 from Agate beach up to
Brookings, OR on Dec 13th. It is a beautiful
coastal road, very windy (long I, not short!)

Brookings is a harbor town in Oregon, about 13
miles north of the CA town of Crescent City. It
is called the Banana Belt of Oregon, because in
general the temperature is 10-15 degrees warmer
than say here in Ashland. It is also one of those
places in Oregon that you cant get to very
easily...from Ashland you have to drive 45
minutes north to Grants Pass, then go south into
California, then north from Crescent City to
Brookings, a two hour trip if you are not a crow.
Its that darn Coastal mountain range -dont ask me
if its the Siskiyou's, or the Cascade's...because
I dont remember!! They are big and they are in
the way! But oh so pretty.

And the redwoods are spectacular much of the
drive. There is a place on the way called "Trees
of Mystery". Which has all these "build-up" type
of billboards along the way..."Come to the trees
of mystery, you'll be glad you did, you'll be
sorry if you don't"....."The trees of mystery,
where you will discover the answer for
yourself"..

The billboards had pictures on them of cable car
like contraptions going up into the Redwood
forests, with question marks...spooky!

So we had to stop. I realized when we did stop
that Naomi and I had stopped there years ago when
we were driving from Acadia, CA up to northern Or
looking at colleges. I remembered this quite
clearly once we stopped because the place has one
of those giant statues of Paul Bunyon in the
front with his blue ox, whatshername, Belle?
Bluebell? Ollyollyoxenfree?

Well, I have to tell you that I leaped out of the
RV with my camera (the sun was all wrong of
course) to take a picture, because I am sure that
on the last trip Naomi refused to let me take a
picture of something so silly - and I snapped one
of Paul and then turned to take one of
Bluebell(?) and did a double-take, because her
head had turned into one of those Beetlejuice
heads, toy sized. So wrong! What the heck?
Where's her head?

I was so put off by her shrunken head that I
didnt want to take the cable cars into the
redwoods - I mean if that could happen to
Bluebell, what could happen to us? So we bought
some fudge, and a book about Paul Bunyan for "my"
first graders, and discovered that Bluebell's
head was "in the shop", and continued on our way
to Brookings.

We had a mission in Brookings, to discover how
much it might cost to live there in an RV. We
thought that a 2 hour drive to Ashland might be
the perfect thing. At that moment 3 of our
combined 6 kids lived in Ashland; Ken's daughters
Dylan, 10, and Morgan, 15, and my daughter,
Naomi, 20.

So we poked around, and discovered that we could
rent a monthly spot one block off the ocean for
$365/ month plus electricity and propane or on
the water for anywhere from $126 to $156 a week
including electricity.

We stayed on the water that night, at the Port of
Brookings Harbor RV Park. It was soooo windy we
thought Allie was going to blow away when we let
her out!

The next day we drove a couple of miles north to
Harris Beach State Park - which has to be one of
the nicest oceanfront parks ever. It was/is
$18/night and you can stay for 2 weeks at a time.
Unless you are a Park volunteer, and then you can
stay all summer or all winter!

During our travels we have discovered many of
these "workamper" possibilities....at National
Parks or State Parks or even privately owned
parks, if you are "acceptable" and your RV is
"acceptable" you can get a free site and hook-ups
if you commit to staying a certain amount of
time, ranging from 2 months to 6 months, and
perform anywhere from 10 hours a week per person
to 25 hours a week per person in labor.

Some of the positions sound like a lot of fun -
dress up as an 1800's lighthouse keeper and give
tours of a lighthouse....work in the giftshop at
Yellowstone....landscaping work....checking
people in to the parks...

anyway - it is something we had talked about a
lot. So we were keeping our eyes open for a good
place to apply....

Then we drove south to Crescent City to drive
north and west to Grants Pass then Ashland...we
arrived at dusk, and having made no prior
arrangements ended up at a place called Glenyans
RV Park. There was snow on the ground and it was
the coldest we had yet seen, 35 overnight! BRRRR!

We were parked next to this very strange, but
cool, looking truck/camper. There was no-one in
the office on our way in. We met the dog from the
truck/camper, but not ever the humans who lived
there! We stayed for a couple of nights, and then
moved to another location in Ashland!


We spent the next 10 days getting ready for the
holidays and our trip to Hawaii, where we were to
mmet up with Sarah, Zach and Courtney and Naomi
and Ross.

More soon! Love, Mindy

March 31, 2008

Hello all!

I am sooo behind - perhaps I should stop going on
vacation so I can write to you...

we left Oakland at 11 am - with a dead scooter
attached, and I have to say that I was very
excited about the day to come. We were headed for
wine country - which way to turn, Napa or
Sonoma????

Years ago I joined the Benziger Winery wine
club...this was during a trip in a limo, on my
birthday, with Sarah (oldest daughter) and her
roommates and co-geologists Carrie and Elowyn.
How we ended up in a limo doing a tour of wine
country is still beyond me, but we had a blast!
And after we toured the no longer memorable first
vineyard (something about the moon - had a nice
label) the limo driver said why not go to
Benzigers, its right around the corner? So we
did. He also told us that if we were lucky we
would get to go to 3 vineyards and tasting rooms
in that afternoon....

Well, we were all very impressed at the time with
Benzigers - they had an offer to join their club,
get wine delivered 4 times a year, have free
tastings that day (all 4 of us) and get invited
to their wine-club-member-only once a year gala.
Well, I didnt think too long about it, since you
could cancel at any time, and the first shipment
of wine cost about the same as the tastings would
have for 4 people....so we bacame members. Our
third vineyard that day was Imagery, which is a
sister vineyard to Benzigers - really nice wine,
known for the original works of art on the labels
- hence the name...we only drank 3 bottles of
wine in the limo between and after the
tastings...

And I have been reluctant to cancel ever since -
its really nice wine, far too expensive - but a
couple of years later, Sarah and I went to their
annual gala. Let me compliment them on their
sales strategy here - crab legs, eggplant and
garlic, gelato, shrimp and scallops, beef, all
with a taste of the wine to go with it..music by
local musicians - all at no cost to members - the
only thing they didnt provide was a place to
sleep!

So - when the choice was in front of me, I
decided to go back to Benzigers in Sonoma. In an
RV with potentially no place to park, a partner
who could care less about wine, an old dog, a
dead scooter, all at about 4:30 pm. Please,
please let them be open til 5 I kept saying!

And they were. And "we" bought a case of wine
after "we" tasted in the tasting room. This
company has decided to add an entire biodynamic
line.....its not good enough to produce organic
anymore, now you have to plant lavender around
the vines so they become infused, etc. Well I am
holding off on my opinion about all that - but
the wine is still delicious!

We were headed towards Healdsburg after, and a
possible visit with a friend.....and when we got
to Healdsburg, we discovered that the RV park in
the RV park book was closed for renovations
....it was now about 9 pm

So, we drove all the way back to Sonoma, and
stayed at the Windsorland RV Park - right next to
the highway on both sides! But it had a grassy
area for Allie, and when the lights were out it
didnt seem quite so noisy.

The next morning, which by the way was December
11, we drove back up to Healdsburg, and after a
poll of my best wine buddies, decided to stop at
the Simi winery for their tasting. Ken decided to
stay in the RV with Allie - ok, a lone tasting.
Turned out it was way fun - some 95 year old guy
doing the pouring, lots of stories about
grapes....bought another case to bring along,
sent some to the book club.....

ok enough about the wine tour....we drove north
to Eureka, CA that day - we took the Avenue of
Giants detour through the Redwoods - was very
impressive, those trees are massive! And tall! We
went as far north as Trinidad, CA - and decided
to park for a couple of days at the "Sounds of
the Sea RV Park" - we assumed it would be on the
ocean. It was not. It was across the street and
down the road a piece, which we didnt know until
the next day because it was dark when we arrived!
But really a very nice park, and you could hear,
but not see, the sea lions and harbor seals. It
was across the street from the Patricks Point
State Park and down and across from Agate Beach.

We walked about 10 miles over the next few
days..with Allie, because dogs were allowed and
encouraged!!! Hurray! There were several trails
and big rocks overlooking the water, or in the
water, depending on the time of day. And Agate
Beach? Well that was a really great place. You
had to walk down a trail, descending about 500
feet in a minute and a half, onto a pebble beach
that was really amazing- yes there were
agates....but every rock you looked at could have
been jade, or agate, or tigers eye or
whatever....when they are wet they all look so
special...we ended up with literally 30 pounds of
rocks...after they dried they didnt look the
same! and I have no idea what they are, but they
were pretty.

We also found incredible driftwood there, and
collected enough small pieces to send to Mrs
Meehans class! And enough leftover for any craft
project I could ever come up with for the next 20
years!

Allie had lots of fun on the beach, although she
is NOT a wave chaser at all. But she pretended
pretty well, and definitely got sand and pebbles
beneath her toes.

It was a fun place. It was sad to leave, even
though the Holidays were coming quickly and we
had all our kids to visit!

More soon!

Love, Mindy