The First State is Literally the First State.

I often dream about water. And most of the time, the dreams are very much the same. I am driving in my car, and I drive out onto a bridge. That part is fine. But somewhere along the way, the bridge starts to change. Sometimes it becomes a large roller coaster. Sometimes it goes straight down into the water and I drive my car into the deep wonderinging if I can ever find my way back out again. It is petrifying. 

So you can imagine what it was like for me to cross the Chesapeake Bay at the bridge/tunnel combination in Virginia Beach. I actually paid fifteen dollars in tolls to ride across that thing….and into two tunnels. To me, there isn’t much that is more daunting than to turn a corner and see your bridge end in the middle of the water. 

But much unlike my dreams, I actually came out of the water into a beautiful sunset on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay and it made the drive up the peninsula to Lewes, Delaware so much more enjoyable. I’ve never actually explored Delaware and luckily my buddy from way back lives there. His name is Keith and he turns out to be an excellent tour guide.

Monday morning as I tried to get my wits about me, Keith suggested we take a walk out on the beach. So, we jumped in his truck and headed to Henlopen State Park. This park is beautiful. It was once a "fort" during World War II and there are still turrets on the beach.  I am sure that it gets crowded during the summer. There are several places you can take the dog out for a stroll as long as he stays on the leash, as well as camping and hiking. Despite the leash law, Marley enjoyed himself in the sand. 

We then headed into downtown Lewes (for those of you like me who didn’t know, it’s pronounced like Louis or Lewis). We ate breakfast at a lovely little place called the Nectar Cafe and Juice Bar. We didn’t have juice. I had the largest portion of blueberry pancakes I have ever seen and Keith had the bourbon and cream french toast. I could only eat one of the pancakes, but Keith was quite successful with his. We were then ready for our biggest adventure of the day: Pirates on the High Seas!!

Ok, so the high seas turn out to be Delaware Bay on a replica of the Kalmar Nyckel, the first ship from Sweden coming to the new world and bringing with it a load of colonists who founded New Sweden in what is now Wilmington, Delaware. The replica makes two trips a day out on to the Bay and one of them is a pirate voyage. The crew dresses as pirates and leads the passengers in sea shanties and stories of piracy. Granted, it’s geared more toward children, but Keith made it ours when he pulled out two beers. Turns out, you can bring your own grog!!

The cruise is about two hours long and that day there was very little wind. But we did get dolphins in our wake and on the side of the boat. Captain Lauren is very knowledgable and personable and it was even fascinating to watch her train her crew. 

We ended our fantastic day at a waterfront pub called Irish Eyes. It was perfect because it was outside, allowed dogs on the porch, and had a good selection of beer. We spent the evening with Keith’s friend Sig (I’ve probably taken liberties with the spelling) talking, eating and watching the sun set over the canal. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Some Pics courtesy of Keith Jones at KeithJoneswoodworking.https://www.facebook.com/KeithJonesWoodworking

A New Journey

I was looking back at this travel blog and realized that it’s been over a year since I posted and I wonder what happened. I didn’t even document my trip to Honduras. But I think I realize what happened. I got stuck. I got stuck in a place I did not belong and truth be told, I was somewhat miserable there. I just didn’t know it.

I had these grand dreams of settling down and starting a family. But the Universe has other plans for me. She has a harsh way of showing me reality, but truthfully I would have never left if she didn’t. 

Recently I picked up a copy of Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Goldman Gelman and became enthralled. Here is a woman who at 47 years old sells all of her possessions and begins a life of travel. She has no real home and enjoys only staying in places for no more than 6 months at at time. I realized that I miss traveling. I miss the adventure of meeting new people, and trying new food, and new adventures. Perhaps I have become too accustomed to warm showers and soft beds. Perhaps I am antsy and unhappy because I am in one place for too long or holding on to too much.

This year I have had to let go of my home, a relationship, a family, some possessions, and recently, my long time companion puppy of 14 years. See, in my life I have always had plan B if things didn’t work out. This time, I don’t have plan B. As a matter of fact, I have no plan at all. It’s the first time in my life that I don’t have a plan. And I am unnerved by it. 

But this week, I had to do one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life. I had to release my Emma Girl, my first real pet and and greatest companion. But in doing this act of compassion, she gave me a gift as well.  She helped me see that letting go of everything else was going to be easy. All I had to do was trust in myself and the Universe. 

So now, I am ready to hit the road again. But instead of doing something across an ocean, I’m going to get in my car. The general plan is to head north. I have always wanted to visit New England and it being August and I have this issue with really cold weather, I think this is the perfect time to go. Marley, my other faithful four-legged companion is going to accompany me on the trip. I have tentative plans of stopping and visiting a few friends in Delaware and Pennsylvania, but other than that there is no plan. There are no reservations, there are no planned routes. There is just me, my dog, and the Goddess guiding me through.

If the rest of my year is like New Years, I've got it made

So, as far as I can tell, Hilo is not a party town. But that is quite ok because I am no longer a party animal. New Years Eve was spent running a few errands in town at the vet and the Walmart, and then once again we headed for the beach. I wanted to get as much sun in as I could on this trip since I found out that it was 44 degrees back home. Ugh.

I have also noted that island time works differently here. Or perhaps it is the tourists that kind of blow it. Or maybe it is the Haole population that sets it off kilter. What ever it is, when people make a date to meet up at a certain time, they tend to do it. This is rather different than the other islands I've been on. I mean, in Greece they would say "show up at 6" and we wouldn't get there until 8 and it was ok because that was just how it was. Here, we were on an "island time table"--which means if you make a date, keep it but otherwise, just go with the flow.

J&C's friends Lawrie and Janno were planning a New Years Eve party at their house Monday night, and had said to the there around 4. My island time kicked in. I had been on the beach and needed a nap, so I took to the couch. Candance joined in on the bed. I figured I needed a nap if they wanted me to stay up past 9. As it turns out, my napping lasted until 4, so we didn't make it until 5. As it turns out, neither did anyone else. Chalk one up for island time, Yay!

Well, Janno and Lawrie can do up a great party! Food, drink, and we even watched the ball drop in New York--5 hours later and on a rerun. We watched some movies, played some games and toasted in the New Year. And that was it. Come 12:30, we were all ready to go home. Sound sad? It wasn't. We were tired. We had planned to stay all night (due to extremely dark roads and drunk drivers and fireworks--the dogs get a bit nervous around them). But we decided it would be best for our dogs to be back home where they feel safe and in the luxury of our own beds which just sounded so good.

So that was New Years on the island. Slow and steady just like life here in general. I gotta tell ya, my clock likes it this way.

New Years Day, we were supposed to meet our party mates for brunch, but something didn't quite sync up. They contacted us about lunch time to see if we were interested in a movie, but I wanted to once again take advantage of the sun, so off to Richardson's we went. The sun was warm, the park wasn't too crowded and the water was fine once you got in and moved around. I finally took the opportunity to put on the snorkel gear and check out the underwater flora and fauna and was quite impressed. I wish I had tried it earlier.

We also were greeted with a special treat about 5 minutes after our arrival. A Hawaiian Monk seal decided to take a rest out on our beach. He swam up to where everyone was entering the water and realized that there were lots of people there, so he hung a hard left and headed up the beach toward the point of Richardson's, swam through the rocks and beached himself in the sun. The life guard came down to check it out and report the sighting. He also roped off part of the beach so that no one would attempt to make contact with the seal. Of course, all of us lined up for pictures. An expert of some sort arrived later to check him out and assure us that this happens all the time. He had probably been out feeding all night and needed a rest and would be back out there shortly. He stuck around longer than we did.

A few friends decided to join us for about an hour or so, but then we had to head in--mainly because we were hungry and needed to prepare dinner. We honored our southern roots with pork, collard greens and potatoes for our New Year's Day dinner. There were no beans, but the potatoes were blessed with luck. It was almost like being back home. New Year's Day on the beach with a beer on the lanai was a great way to begin 2013.

Shameless Plug Section:

If you would like to know more about the people I am meeting, check out Sun and Sea and Hairy Monkey Books. Both of these businesses are owned by Lawrie and Janno.

There is also Hilo Bay Books and Kona Bay Books (owned by Kris) and
Pineapples Restaurant (owned by Pam) whose amazing website was done by Kala Creative (Julie and Candance).

Volcanoes are HOT HOT HOT

When we awoke on Sunday morning, the mysterious illness that afflicted us the night before was still lingering a little. The original plan was to go to Volcano to the Volcanoes National Park and hike the Iki trail, which is a trail through the crater of the volcano. Ever since last April when I saw people down on it, I have wanted to try it out. Unfortunately, we were still a bit weak and that is a trail that can take 3 hours to hike. So we decided to take it a little easier.

We started off at the top of the  crater. Last time, we didn't make it to the Kilauea Crater for some odd reason. This time, I actually got to see the gaping hole in the middle of the earth. It was like being on Mars....if I were to imagine what that would be like. Up at the top, Julie noticed that the smoke was blowing in the opposite direction than usual and that hiking may be strenuous because of the vog. We also noticed that it was much warmer in Volcano than usual. As a matter of fact, it was HOT.

After shopping at 3 different museum stores (I was looking for something specific) we started out on the rim trail. This trail used to be a road, but an earthquake took care of it, so now it's for us to walk upon. We walked about a mile in and to the trail head for the Iki so I could at least see it. At that point, Julie decided to head back to the truck while Candance and I hiked another mile up to Thurston's Lava Tube. Julie agreed to come pick us up, so the hike was the same in distance for both of us; I just got to spend some more time in the woods. Unfortunately, there were tourists. Lots of tourists.

When we came out, I was famished. But, we needed to make a pit stop first. We went to see two friends, Lois and Earl, and dropped off some gifts of plants and spices they had asked for. Julie and Candance met this couple on their first trip to the Big Island when they introduced Julie to the world of Zentangle, and it has been a loving relationship ever since.

After our visit, we headed to the popular Lava Rock Cafe to find that they closed at 4 pm. Pouting ensued. Then they recommended the Thai Thai Resaurant, which was an excellent idea. A thai iced tea to start and finish the meal was quite lovely. I had a version of the popular drunken noodles, but Candance had this green curry burger that was "ono" (that's damn good in Hawaiian).

It was a rainy evening in Hilo when we returned from our adventures. It was a good night for a warm shower and a good book.

Poke+sun+surf=ugh

Saturday morning, like most mornings here, started off slow. Did a little reading, did a little writing, drank a little coffee, greeted the day with the sun on my face. Ahhh. I do love this place.

Since Candance has been here, she has taken massage classes and what better way to practice than with your friends, right? She set up her table outside on the ohana lanai and we listened to the sounds of nature while we got a massage.

That took a couple of hours out of our day. I wanted some beach time, but we had some errands to run because we were to have dinner at another friends house that night and we were in charge of the dessert. So Candance, being the awesome person that she is, volunteered to make dessert and do the grocery shopping that went with it while Julie and I spent a few hours down on the beach.

But first, let's eat! Ever since I saw the poke bar in Costco on Hilo, I had wanted some. So we consulted our trusty Yelp app and found one called Poke to Your Taste. It got really great reviews and was down close to the beaches, so we decided to give it go. It was a small little shack owned by an old Japanese man. He had several choices of starters--like ahi plain, ahi with shoyu sauce, a crab salad, and something else I just can't remember. We chose the ahi with the shoyu sauce (which is soy sauce, and we recommend Aloha Shoyu Sauce). Then, there is a table of various condiments where you prepare your poke "to your taste." We settled on green onions, some sort of garlic mixture, and the mayo sauce. It was heavenly.

Our friend, Melissa, had suggested that we try Carl Smith's beach because the floors were less rocky and it was easy access. Unfortunately, it was Saturday and the beaches were packed. We ended up at Richardson's beach at the end and sat on a wet, grassy knoll to have our poke and take in the sun and to watch the locals fish. We then moved down to the cool pools to go for a swim. Hanging out down there with us were about 4 sea turtles beached to take a nap. And beached they should have been because the water was FREEZING!

We did venture out a ways and I will even be willing to say we stayed in for about 20 minutes. I decided to go in when I was shaking. I asked Julie how in the world they could stand the water this cold. Julie's answer: "It's almost January and you're in the water. What's your problem?" Point taken.

We hung out in the sun for about an hour before we headed back up the hill to get ready for our evening festivities. Unfortunately, either the swimming, sun, or poke did not agree with either of us and we were house ridden for the remainder of the evening. That's ok because in the course of reading books about Hawaii, we discovered a real gem, The Secrets and Mysteries of Hawaii by Pila of Hawaii. This nifty little book covers all the freaky stuff that goes on here and I, of course, became enthralled with this book. I haven't put it down since.

As for the evening, we all went to bed early. We were going to need our strength when meeting Pele tomorrow.