What's After Work?

On Saturday we started the day with a rainbow. Looking out at the mountains view from our hotel room the first thing we saw when we got up was a rainbow. It was raining on that side of the bay but never really rained on our side.  After breakfast we headed over to the  Hilo Farmers Market . Lots to see and buy there. We stopped at the shaved ice stand for some cold refreshment. There we learned that Greta only has spoons to go! The only thing lacking at the market were public restrooms. After asking around we headed over to the KTA Super Store, the local grocery store. There I saw one of many signs that could only be in Hawaii. We saw many signs about earthquakes, tunamis and fi res. With a big ol' volcano in the in the middle of the island I would figure those things were a given! Many of the building evacuation sighs I saw had little stick figures running from every door. After the adventures at the Farmers Market we headed south toward the Hawaii Volcanoes...

On Friday we stayed close to home. For breakfast we traveled into the city of Hilo to a little resturant named The Royal Hawaiian Cafe and Lounge . Twinkee and Mapo are the very friendly proprietors of this cosy breakfast spot. We were originally looking for a malasada donuts. This is a type of pastry that originated in Portugal and brought to Hawaii in the 19th century. We thought that The Royal Hawaiian Cafe and Lounge served then but were wrong. But they did serve some delicious alternatives.  I had the eggs and homemade corn-beef hash and the others had donuts. They also had fresh fruit, gotta keep it healthy! We then got talking to the owners about our search for Malasadas. Asking their advice for where to find the best on the Big Island. They tossed around some ideas but then agreed that that Mapo could make the best and that if we came back on Sunday they would make us our own personal batch! Kent was beside himself that eh now has his own personal made to order donut ...

On Thursday we circumnavigated the Big Island. We saw the Lava Tree Molds . These holes were left when the lava surrounding trees hardened before the tree wad destroyed. There were several holes like this at this spot. Some of the tree molds were quite large and deep. Looking closely I could see an impression of the bark of the tree that once was there. After the Tree Molds we went farther south to the Punalu'u Black Sand Beach . This is quite different from the beaches I'm use to in Florida. The black sand is much coarser that the sand on our beaches. One thing I have noticed about the beaches I've been to in Hawaii is that there are no shells on the beach. Everywhere we have gone I have not seen the shells I normally do when at a Florida beach. Don't know why. There were lots of coconut palms at the beach and it looked like people would just pick-up the coconuts and crack them open right there on the beach, because there were lots of coconut husks in piles around...

On Wednesday, our first full day, we drove across the island to Kona to dive with Manta Rays. At night. It was very cool and not as scary as some would think. We booked the tour through C Big Island Tours . There were about 14 people on the boat we took out as the sun was setting. The captain didn't take us far, Maybe a mile. The place we stopped already had about a dozen boats with people in the water. I could see the lights under the water. The captain explained what we would be doing and then he and "Buddha" handed out the masks and we got in the water. I'm not sure how deep the water was I figured about 30 feet. We were hanging onto a surfboard with a PVC grab rail all around it. Buddha was dragging us around the water. When the lights went on there were fish, lots of fish swimming up and eating the plankton attracted to the lights. We did not have to wait long till a Manta Ray made an appearance. They came up at us from out of the depths. The first thin...

Right now this is my view.   We left Tampa on January 21 at about 4:30am EST arrived in Hawaii 3:00pm HST or 8:00pm Tampa time. Yea about 15 hours in a plane. Then 4 hours later we arrived at our hotel. LONG DAY.  We went right to bed when we got to our room about 8:30 Hawaiian time or very late Tampa time. We Arriving at our hotel got a good 8 hours of sleep and woke up refreshed and ready to go at 4:30 in the morning. My  circadian rhythm is gonna be so messed up after this trip. We are staying at the  Grand Naniloa Hotel Hilo . Very nice hotel and the guy checking us in gave made sure our rooms were next to each other and gave us extra cookies. This section of the plane went hungry Like I said earlier the flight from Tampa to Hawaii was a long one. The first part of the flight was uneventful.  The second half was not too bad except that the airline ran out of food about two thirds of the way through the plane. Actually they ran out right when t...

This morning Bill and I took a ride up to Brooksville for breakfast. This was a "not the destination but the journey" type activities. As a bonus the breakfast was also very good. We rode our motorcycles up to the Florida Cracker Kitchen via the back roads. Mostly two lane winding country roads. It was a lot of fun. As the map shows the route was not the most direct way to get from home to Brooksville but it did go through a lot of nice country. Saw lots of places I had never seen before. Bill in the silver helmet going to get a table. I has the Cracker Omelette with grits. That comes with sausage gravy. I was not sure it that was for the grits or the omelette. I tried it on both liked it better on the omelette. When we rode back after breakfast we stopped by Saint Leo University Bills alma mater. It was a very nice campus and Bill said it has a changed a lot from he went there. This was a nice way to start the weekend and I'm sure it is the first of many ride...

Now that I'm retired each morning really is a new day. In the past most days have been planned out well in advance. Get up shower, eat breakfast, go to work, repeat till the weekend. Weekend, do what I could not get to during the week. Now I got a more open schedule. I find that my mornings consist of getting up when I open my eyes. Then fixing coffee and drinking a cup. While I'm doing that I decide what I want for breakfast. Jan is not as infatuated with breakfast as I am and can get by with just a bowl of cereal. But I need something cooked and more coffee. So I start the morning with no more plan than to fix a nice breakfast and have coffee. I watch the news, read the paper, and eat breakfast. Some days I mix it up by eating out on the patio. My signal now to start my day is when I reach the bottom of my cup of coffee. As you can see I'm now at that point. Today my plan is to get out all the suitcases out and see which ones we will be taking on our upcoming trip t...

I have been retired a week. Still trying to figure out how to do this. It is a doubled edge sword being retired, it is nice to have my calendar freed up like this. But I also find that I feel at a loss of what to do. Jan says that it takes a while to get use to retirement. I still wake up early but then feel no rush to get going. I make coffee and watch the news or a movie and drink my coffee. Leisurely. One thing that I have been doing almost every day is riding my bike.  This month I have already ridden 86 miles. Typically I ride about 10 miles each time I go out. This month I'm trying to up that average by adding a mile or 2 each day I ride. By March I'd like to be doing 15 miles each ride. I've already picked out a turn around spot on the causeway. This would be a nice place to turn around plus the view is great. The main reason I ride my bike is for the exercise. Those that know me remember that 6 years ago I had a quadruple bypass. Not a good time. But I got t...