Merry Christmas

To all of those who read this blog, may you have a very Merry Christmas, and may the peace of Him whom we celebrate at this time of year be a part of your life throughout the coming year.

 

Fall Gardening

Fall has over taken me and all the chores are here. The leaves have mostly fallen, and I have started to collect them. 
However, on Tuesday, a young man, Justin, from church, and I got a pick up load of horse manure from down the road, and he spread it on the garden. 

Justin Spreading Manure

While he was doing that, I ground up some leaves to also spread on the garden.

Grinding Leaves

I was going to till it all in, but both of the tillers were on the fritz.
Today (Wednesday) I adjusted the Mantis and it ran better, but it wasn't tilling deep enough for me.
I took a look at the Parmi and found the problems. It was throwing a belt inside the housing. Because, a part that holds a pulley in place had become lose. I  fixed the pulley and replaced the belt and away I went. I got the whole garden tilled.
Tomorrow or Friday or Saturday (tga time), I will collect a bunch of leaves and spread them over the entire garden. 

The TRIP - Day 16

June 28

One evening Outside Our Condo

We got up and did most of our packing and went to church "on the beach." It wasn't actually on the beach, but on the out door seating area of a restaurant. However, you could sort of see the beach from the place that we were at.
It was interesting; here was a group of maybe 40 people singing hymns, praying and listening to a sermon, while at the same time people walked by and were oblivious to the worship of the One who created all that they were seeing and enjoying.
Afterward, we had brunch at McDonald's and then went back and layed out on the beach for awhile.
We finished packing, checked out, and went to the airport  for our trip home.

Goodbye
 

The trip was long and uneventful.
We got back to Indy and said our goodbyes to Larry and Wanda.
We were home; the TRIP was over.

The TRIP - Day 15

June 27

Today, we got up and went to a public park - Honolua Bay. It was about 15 minutes from where we were staying. Gloria had read in her guide book that it had the best snorkeling. The park bordered a highway, and there was no parking lot. Everyone parked along side of the road - we did too. It was about a 10 minute walk to the beach through some woods. The beach was mostly rocks; so, there were only a few places to sit very comfortably.

 Honolua Bay

The snorkeling was the best that we had. All kinds of fish. We saw another eel. We also saw an enormous school of fish. The fish were swimming in a huge circle just sweeping along back and forth. The fish were about 8 to 12 inches in length. Every now and then another fish would spook them and they would scatter like fire works. But, very quickly, they would regroup. We watched them for at least 15 minutes. It was the best thing that I've seen while snorkeling.
There were some biologist there with some books who helped us identify the fish that we saw. And, the best of all, all of it was free.

 Two Snorkelers in Honolua Bay

After we left there, we went to Napili Beach. It was about 10 minutes from our condo. It was the best beach that we visited on Maui. It was too bad that we found the Bay and Beach so late in our stay.

 Napili Beach

After we returned to the condo and cleaned up, we went to Moma's Fish House for dinner. Gloria and I went there 15 years before on our first visit. It was still very good.
Tomorrow, we leave our paradise.

Outside Mama's Fish House

Enjoying the Beach after Dinner

The Trip - Day 14

June 26

Larry and Wanda did the bicycle downhill today, while Gloria and I did the road to Hana.
This was enjoyable for about an hour and a half. It was scenic but slow, ~20 mph with hair pin turns and one way bridges.
There were many water falls that we stopped at. 

 Gloria and I at Ching's Pond

We stopped at Pi'lanihale Kahanu Gardens which had a ancient temple which reminded me of the pagan temples that I learned about in a video study called That The World May Know by Ray Vander Laan.

 The Ancient Temple

 

Unfortunately, we couldn't stop at many spots because they only took cash and we hadn't brought much.
However, we passed more water falls of which we stopped at several. I convinced Gloria that once you saw two falls, you saw them all.
The road to Hana took several hours at 20 mph with all theturns.
When we got there, there was NOTHING! We found a hotel to eat, and started back.
We had a choice to go back the way we came or continue on around the island. We chose to continue. We knew, from the travel guide, that the road got very rough and very narrow. It did! However, the worst parts of the road had been patched over many times. Probably, the last time was about 30 years ago; in some places, the road was gravel..
The road did indeed narrow in some places to about 1.5 lanes - total. We did have to pull over several times to let on coming traffic get by. It took several hours at 20 mph to get back.
After picking up Larry and Wanda from their bike trip, which they enjoyed, we went back to our condo to freshen up for supper.

 Larry and Wanda during Their  Bike Ride

 One of the Sites that Larry and Wanda saw after the Bike Ride

 

We did take out at Okazuza World of Flavors.

The Trip - Day 13

June 25

In the morning, Wanda, Gloria, and I went snorkeling off the beach outside our condo while Larry rested on the beach.

Three Snorkelers and Toes

Later, Larry and Wanda hung out while Gloria and I went to the aquarium. It was very nice. The entire aquarium is powered by wind.

The Maui Aquarium

Afterward, Gloria and I went up the coast to watch the wind surfers, and after that, we went to a fish market to pick up a fillet for supper. 

 Wind Surfers

 

After supper, we went out for ice cream.

The TRIP - Day 12

June 24

Today, Larry and Wanda went golfing; while Gloria and I went exploring.

The first place that we went was a garden. We saw lots of tropical plants and some interesting wild life.

 Some of the Tropical Plants

 

They had free range chickens, which I have been told are the best eating. Unfortunately, we didn't get to taste any. I also saw a beautiful dragonfly. I tried to capture it on pixels (e.g. not film), but it was too fast, and it didn't stay in one place long enough for me to snap a picture.

We also went to Aio Needle state park. Aio Needle is a very steep, and very high mountain where the final battle was fought that unified the Hawaiian tribes.

 Gloria at Aio Needle State Park with Aio Needle

in the Background

After we went back and picked up Larry and Wanda, we rested and had spaghetti for supper.

The TRIP - Day 11

June 23
Today, we went snorkeling on the Fair Winds II. The destination was a partially sunken crater. The captain, John, was a character who was always cracking jokes and keeping you entertained.

 Captain John at the Helm

The trip to the "island" took about 30-40 minutes, during which we had a continental breakfast. The snorkeling at this site was more enjoyable than the previous one; probably, because it was sunny, and you could see better. We all saw an eel that was about 3 feet long, along with a huge variety of fish, urchins, and a few things that we didn't know what they were.
 

 The Four Snorkelers on the Fair Wind II

Our Destination

On the way back, we all set on the upper deck facing the water with our feet hanging over the edge above the walk way of the deck below. I decided to go below to order a video of the trip. On the way back, I decided to sneak around on the lower deck and tweak Gloria's toes. I passed Larry's feet, Wanda's feet, and reached up and tweaked a foot that had purple toe nail polish. e.g. Gloria's feet. WELL, this sweet young thing leans over and says, "Hi." Gloria says, "That's not my foot." OOPS!!! The girl and Gloria had the same color of polish on their toes!
I went upstairs fully embarrassed and apologized to the young lady. Really, OOPS!
The Captain took us to a place where turtles hung out and stopped for a few minutes for us to watch.
After we got back, we rested for awhile and later went to dinner at Aloha Mixed Plate.

Four Travelers at Aloha Mixed Plate

The View from the Restaurant

The TRIP - Day 10

June 22

We got up, today, with it raining. Occasionally, the sun would come out and God would give us a rainbow. - Beautiful.


Larry, Wanda, and Gloria went for a walk while I read and rested. When they returned, we had lunch and went to sit out by the pool. (The raining had stopped and the sun had come out.)
It was a relaxing day.

The TRIP - Day 9

June 21, 2009

I received phone calls from 3 wonderful daughters and a great son-in-law today wishing me a happy Fathers Day. I opened the card that Suzanne sent me with instructions not to open it until Fathers Day, which I had had for about three weeks. I have some very special daughters.

We went to church at a store front Baptist church. Since it was Fathers Day, the preacher talked on fathers. The service was very good. Afterward, we talked to the pastor who told us that he has been doing a beach ministry for 30 years, and that they have had the building for about 3 years. We planned to go to the service on the beach next week.

Beach Ministry Community Church

After the service, we went to lunch and for a short drive. We, then, sat on the beach for awhile enjoying the sun.

Larry on the Beach
Wanda on the Beach

Gloria on the Beach

A Critter on the Beach

We went to a very nice restaurant for supper and then a short walk on the beach.

The Four Tourist at Dinner

The View from our Restaurant at Sunset

Before going back to the condo, we stopped by the grocery store for some supplies.

The TRIP - Day 8

June 20, 2009

We got up and began packing - mostly Gloria. I've learned over the years to stay out of her way. She likes to do things her way, so I just stay back.
After packing up and putting everything in the car, Larry and Wanda wanted to sit by the pool for awhile. So, at this moment, they are sitting out in the sun and Gloria and I are sitting in the shade catching up on our journals.

Gloria Working on Her Journal

The rest of the day was mostly sitting at the airport or flying. However, it was not without incidents.

When we got to the airport, we got in line.When we got to the front of the line, the airline rep looked up our tickets in the computer and couldn't find us listed. Gloria showed showed her our itinerary. The lady looked at it and said, "You have your reservations on Hawaiian Air. This is Interisland Air." OOPS! After getting to Hawaiian Air, we got our boarding passes, and everything went OK.

We flew to Honolulu and then on to Maui.

Getting our car was a story in itself too. We made reservations with Aloha - the least expensive that we could find. Aloha, we understood, doesn't have a site at the airport. They had left a key and paper work with a person at a taxi stand.

We finished the paper work and went for the car. The paper work indicated that it was in section A space 24. We were at section P. A medium walk. So, Gloria and I went off to get the car while Larry and Wanda sat with the luggage.

We got to the end of the parking lot, but didn't see section A or any numbered spaces. We could see all of the other rental care companies a little ways off. So, we headed over there. We first came to Avis and noticed that there were spots numbered A1, A2 .... We walked over to A24, but it wasn't our car.

Gloria got to looking at the paper work and noticed that it said that the spaces in the parking lot weren't numbered; you had to count the spaces. We walked back and found section A and finally found our car. However, I had to pay for parking.

Everyone was hungry. Gloria looked in her guide book and found a pizza place - Pizza in Paradise. So off we went. We got to this hole in the wall, Micky and Bills style place. The pizza was very good.

Pizza In Paradise

The next stop was Walmart for supplies. Then off to the condo. By this time it, was getting dark. The roads were not as winding and hilly as on the Big Island; so, the trip to the condo was enjoyable. When we got there, the manager, Blue, was not there, as we knew she wouldn't. The key was at a prearranged place.

We parked and put the luggage on a cart. when we got to the elevator, only one person could get on with the cart. Gloria was the first one on the elevator; so, she went. The rest of us stayed behind. A few minutes later the door opened, and Gloria and the luggage was still there. She said that she couldn't push the cart off the elevator from where she stood. (It was a small elevator.) We pulled the cart off and she went up by herself and sent it back. I got on with the cart, and we were able to get the cart off and sent the elevator back for Larry and Wanda.

When we got into the room, it was hot and stuffy. We opened up the windows and started fans that the found. There was no air conditioning. The condo did cool off and sleeping was OK.

View From Our Condo to the Right

View to the Left

View From a Balcony to the Right

The day that gave the appearance of being rather routine and boring turned out to have some interesting turns.

The TRIP - Day 7

June 19, 2009

Gloria and I got up at 4:45 AM to go deep sea fishing. We were on the Billfisher II with Captain Howard and First Mate Eric.

However, there was a problem; the captain had not received notification of our reservation and had booked a 6 hour private charter. He asked the man, George, if he minded if we came along, and he said no. The captain gave George a discount on his tour.

George and his wife Fern were a very nice couple. He is 88 years old, and his wife, we guessed, is no younger than 77. She had gone zip lining the day before. Gloria and I both said that we hoped that we were as vital as this couple when and if we make it that old.

There were six poles which Gloria and I were assigned one each and George got 4. The rule stated that you got to land any fish that were on your pole, But, George told me that I could have the first fish even if it was on his pole because it was my first time deep sea fishing.

After about 45 minutes, a fish hit on one of Georges pole. George told me to take the chair which I did. I figured that reeling in a fish was easier than I first thought or it was a small fish. Well, it was a small one about 30 lbs. But, it was still fun.

Me Reeling in my Monster

After that, it was troll, troll, troll. The First Mate changed bait several times, but there were no strikes. It was disappointing that we didn't catch more, but it was fun anyway.

Me with the "Monster"

We pick up Larry and Wanda in Kona and want back to the condo for the luau that night. We had very nice seats – up close (which we payed extra for). The food was OK. The show was very good.

Two Happy Luau Attenders

The Entertainment

Afterward, we returned to the condo to prepare to leave for Maui the next day.