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).
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).
No comments:
Post a Comment