Playing Tourist

My mom is in the middle of her 2-1/2 week visit here, so we've been going to all the scenic view points, waterfalls, museums, beaches, shops, and so on. It's been great fun playing tourist, although day after day rubbing elbows with real tourists is rather wearing. Ahh, well - life as a local, eh? ;-)

We had a big Backyard Barbeque Bash on the 3rd to kick off the Independence Day weekend, so Mom got to meet many more of our new friends at that time. That was a fun party and our first big to-do since we moved here! 26 people attended, 3 bbq's and a hibachi, loads of good food & drink, lots of laughs... but no fireworks. In Hawaii, one must buy a permit to set off even the sidewalk variety fireworks or any type of firecrackers (and there are more of them than I ever imagined!); no aerials allowed. We thought of going in to Hilo in the evening for their big display, shot out over the Bay from Coconut Island with the County Brass Band playing accompaniment to the spectacle. It's supposed to be a pretty good show and someday we'll do it. But we had been up at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HVNP) for most of the day on the 4th. We did all the sights around Crater Rim Drive; had lunch at the edge of Kilauea Crater; did the wine-tasting at Volcano Winery. So that was enough fun for one day and we just turned in early instead.

The next day was our regular First Sunday Beach Day. It started out with drenching downpours, but Richardson Beach Park is invariably the first spot to dry out; little by little the clouds thinned out and finally disappeared and we had sunshine before long. It was a great day for swimming in the ocean! Mike stayed out snorkeling for a couple hours, and he has the sunburned back to prove it! Only one big old honu (sea turtle) that day; usually there are a dozen or so at Richardson's.

I guess we needed some kind of excuse to get all the way back up to the Waipi'o Valley overlook. Happy to report the area is as gorgeous as ever. And Laupahoehoe Point is still hauntingly beautiful, with a new information board about the tsunami that wiped out the town in the 1940's. Up in Kamuela/Waimea (yes, the town has 2 names), we were disappointed to find that the Parker Ranch Museum has closed. We peeked in the window, into the darkened interior and it looks stunning; I wonder if they will reopen at some point?

It hasn't all been running around sight-seeing: I scheduled in some relaxing days at home, just hanging out & catching up. We've done the Ahalanui Warm Pond once already and will go back there again before Mom's vacation is over next week. And today I'm baking bread and catching up on correspondence. Later this afternoon, we'll drive up to Fern Forest to see the big Akatsuka orchid greenhouse and have dinner with friends.

Meanwhile, I've also been making all the necessary arrangements for our own upcoming trip back to Idaho one more time. Gotta see those grandkids!! Haven't even met little Kirsi yet, and we are sooo looking forward to seeing Jimmy again, and Chris & Katie, too, of course! We'll be spending time in Lynnwood with Kerry before & after the Idaho portion. So those will be the fun parts of the trip.

The other major reason for going is to retrieve the rest of our belongings from the old farm. We can't keep our stuff there any longer, so we will be doing a ton of transporting, sorting, packing, and I don't know what-all. Neither of us is looking forward to this aspect one bit, but it has to be done so we'll grit our teeth and get through it somehow. Thank you to our long-time good friends, Karen & Weezil, for allowing us to stay at their place for the duration; it'll be good to see them again, too.

Okay, that's enough for now. Write back!
Aloha, Liz

PS: I've added the 'followers' widget to the sidebar, for those of you who would like to know when I've updated here. Plus, it would be fun for me to know who's reading! ;-)