What To Do When It Snows...at the Beach

My impeccable sense of timing is still intact, you will be happy to hear. But, before I get to that, a little background information.

You may recall my observation (OK, some might call it more of a rant) about "the same thing happens every year" in November. About Mr. T and his use (or lack thereof) of his 5 weeks of vacation time...whereby he arrives at the final month in the Fuso vacation calendar with nearly as many vacation days to "use or lose," as there are working days left in the month? Well, it seems he isn't the only one in his company doing this...and, at their annual meeting in January, they were all "encouraged" to spread those days off more evenly throughout the year. Brilliant idea! Now, why didn't I think of that?

Ahem.

Anyway. In an effort to comply, we mapped out a more "consistent," shall we say, vacation plan for 2013...with our first days-off being a long weekend over the Presidents' Day Holiday. In mid-February. Which is still Winter, last I checked. What were we thinking?

We managed to book our dogsitter, Ms Jan, and counted ourselves lucky that she hadn't planned a trip to her beach house. That should have been our first hint. Then, we headed to Raleigh on Friday...me to a Friday Favorite concert of the NC Symphony and Mr. T to work with his main salesman at the dealership there.

We were pushed for time as we tried to get on the road, but remembered to stop by the pharmacy to get the new prescription my dr had phoned in...second one for this ear infection that has been lingering. I know, I know...yet another homeless germ has found comfort in my compromised immune system. But I wasn't going to miss our first getaway of the year for some ol' bug I was battling, now was I?

And, we knew before we left HPNC that some severe weather was in the forecast for the state: sleet and snow for Friday-Saturday. But we were going to the coast, for goodness sakes! Snow? Bah! I mean, really, how likely would it be to snow at the...

Have I ever told you about the time Missy M and I had to fly from Columbus, OH, to Pensacola, FL, to "rescue" Nana/Momma/Edith? She had made a car-trip with her friend Thelma to Destin for a week at the beach in March of 1993. Th. fell while walking in the sand and wound up in the hospital with a stress fracture in her back. Momma didn't want to drive Th's car (which was too small to accommodate an injured passenger) back to OH by herself, after Th's son drove his van to FL. What else could possibly go wrong, you ask?

Well, on the morning we were leaving Destin, we awoke to snow. In Florida. At the beach. In March. We decided to push on with our plan to drive that little Toyota back to Pickerington, and off we went. Up and over the Back Bay Causeway bridge...which had iced over...in 35 mph winds. I kept saying "if we can just get a little further North, it'll be OK." Right. We nearly mired up to the running board of the car in the single-lane ruts on Interstate 65 in Alabama...making it as far as Montgomery before the State Troopers closed the road. I think we got the last vacant room at the last Holiday Inn in town.

Snow at the beach? You'd think I'd learn...

We did have a fun day in New Bern today...the calm before the storm, so to speak. Never been to the state's Colonial capital before. Spent some time at Bradham's Pharmacy, the Birthplace of Pepsi-Cola...enjoying all the memorabilia and the excellent film on the history of our favorite soft drink. One of my earliest memories is Daddy singing the jingle "Pepsi-Cola hits the spot, 12 full ounces and that's a lot." Only, I remembered it a bit differently from the one in the video: "Pepsi-Cola hits the spot, just a nickel not a lot." Either way...tells the story, right?

We strolled one of the lovely downtown streets of this 300+ year-old city, with its beautiful churches and all sorts of antique stores and cute little shops. Loved looking at all the decorative bears...you know, ones like the horses in Louisville and the cows in Chicago? Since we have been to Bern, Switzerland (for which New Bern was named by Swiss settlers), we "got" the reference to the Bear City, as "bern" is the old German word for bear. We bought fancy cupcakes at a local bakery. Got some doggie treats at a local pet boutique. And then checked out Tryon Palace, restored home of Royal Governor William Tryon and first Capitol building for the state. As the weather conditions were deteriorating, we decided to leave our tour of the house and gardens for our next trip...and get back across the causeway bridge to our hotel in Atlantic Beach (or, Pine Knoll Shores, to be exact) before any precipitation made an appearance...and made the roads as icy as all the signs were warning it could.

Once we were back on the island, known as Bogue Banks, we felt a little easier, so we checked out Fort Macon and picked up some shells on the beach...until hunger and the increasingly cold winds caused us to scuttle to a much-mentioned local eatery, the Channel Marker. Yummy Shrimp Scampi! A good choice, indeed!

We decided to save visiting the NC Aquarium, which is located a couple miles away here in Pine Knoll Shores, until tomorrow. I'm imagining we'll be happy to have an indoor activity, don't you think?

By the time the sun went down, we were back in our room...snug as bugs...and enjoying our dessert (remember those cupcakes we bought in New Bern?). We each fired up our iPads and tapped into an e-reader: Mr. T was using Kindle; I had a book on Nook I'd saved for "vacation." Gotta love technology! And we were as gleeful as little kids when the snow started to fall outside our window.

It's been falling steadily all evening, although none is sticking, so far as we can tell. I tried to take several pictures, but they didn't really come out. What does tell the story, though, is this screen capture I took of the Weather ap, showing the bright colors of the precipitation. Blue is snow, in case you are wondering.

And that big blue dot in the middle of all that swath of blue weather? Well, that's "our current location." At the beach. With the snow.

By The Beautiful Sea

Faithful readers...in posts past, you have read much and often about my Happy Place...AKA: The Beach. Hooray and hallelujah, I made it! And Mr. T and Missy M are here with me. Who could ask for anything more?

Here is the view from our balcony, where I am writing this post:

We arrived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, just as the sun was setting yesterday afternoon, after driving from HPNC in the rain much of the way. And even though the GPS (fondly known as McGee) in Mr. T's ride had difficulty finding our hotel's address, we eventually tapped into our memory banks, recalling our stay here just last September, and made it on the third try.

This Hampton is really quite a gem, having all oceanfront rooms with balconies and porch-rockers, and one of the cleanest, freshest beach properties we've ever encountered. But we were thrilled to open the door to our eighth-floor room and find that the Hilton Honors Diamond Desk had upgraded Mr. T to a two-bedroom, two-bath suite with a kitchen! Wow!! It goes a long way toward making all that travel he does and all those nights he spends in a hotel worth it.

Today has been just gorgeous here, although we can see evidence of storms out at sea. After breakfast, we headed to the beach...a very short walk indeed! We have these neat folding chairs that have their own shade-covers attached, and we staked out our spot on the sand. Missy M didn't waste any time getting into the surf, while Mr. T and I took a little stroll down the beach. Then I joined M, while T took a tan. Later, we convinced him to get wet, too.

Tonight, we're visiting The Sea Captain's House (a favorite for long-time MB vacationers) for the first time. Since we have always stayed in the Pawleys Island area until last year, we are newbies for many of the MB-area eateries. Of course, we'll have to head to some of our favs in Murrells Inlet before we go.

Tomorrow's prediction calls for rain...but we simply don't care. The three of us have wanted...no, needed this trip for so long, and we refuse to be bothered by precipitation. Unless there are gale-force winds (NOT predicted), you will probably find us right here on this balcony...reading, writing, chatting, or napping. And enjoying every peaceful moment. Ahhhh...

Cheers!

Summer Reading

I love a good book, don't you? And what better time to read than Summer? A cold glass of iced tea...lotsa lemon...and a slice of this warm banana bread I just took outta the oven (recipe below). It's still pleasant enough to park myself under the umbrella at the table on Missy M's deck, where I can enjoy all those container gardens I planted last week...and still be accessible to her if she needs anything. Her wifi is strong enough to give good service, even outside, so my iPad and I are connected...know what I mean?

Of course, I used to swear that I'd NEVER read an ebook. No. It had to be hardback or paperback, or nothing! Not even a papyrus scroll was considered good enough to qualify as a "real" book in my book.

Well...it all happened so gradually, you know.

First I started with audiobooks. I detest any long drive by myself, and the drives I was making to and from Atlanta for work were l-o-n-g. So, I borrowed from the library one or two classic Agatha Christie mysteries, on CDs, read by favs David Suchet and Hugh Frasier (the definitive Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings, in the TV versions of Poirot, respectively...in my humble opinion). And, then I fell down the rabbit hole, I suppose.

When I got an iPod, I began to download new audiobooks as well as classics. And when I got my iPad, well it was just one small step to downloading ebooks. Of course, by this time, it wasn't about listening to books while driving. It was all about easy access...whenever and wherever...and there has been no turning back.

Now, don't get me wrong. I haven't abandoned "real" books. Since I've been at Missy M's, I have ordered two large boxes of books, delivered to our front door by a very overworked UPS person (he has also had to deliver our dog food, which comes in 40-pound bags...:) and M's quilting and knitting orders...which seem to arrive every other day like clockwork. Here's the evidence:

Most of these books are gardening-related, I must admit. And I will be reviewing several of them over on my gardening-related blog in the next post. I have downloaded gardening ebooks, but I find them to be few-and-far between, shall we say? Gardeners as a group are not known to be early...or even mid-to-late...adopters of new technology. So publishers don't seem to be in a real rush to get gardening titles on their ebook lists.

Two of my favorite fiction authors have hit those lists lately, though: Margaret Maron and P.D. James. And I have followed up on recent e-mails about their e-book titles with e-nthusiasm. Ahem.

Via ebooks, I have caught up with Maron's fictional Lieutenant Sigrid Harald, NYPD series, and I am working my way through James' series starring Adam Dalgleish, rereading many but this time in series-order. I have downloaded and utilized the free Nook reader ap from Barnes and Noble, as I like it a little better than the iPad's iBook reader (although I like the way iBook allows me to organize my bookshelf).

And just as I am about to get weary of London (where the current James' book is set), I came across the Summer of 2012 Reading List from Deep South magazine:

http://deepsouthmag.com/2012/05/2012-summer-reading-list/#comment-7223

Hooboy howdy. Where in the world do I begin?! I was instantly attracted to several of the authors (John Grisham and Dorothea Benton Franks, to name a couple), and I feel a strong pull to read the book about Helen Keller, whose biography I read as a child...although it now appears that not everything was mentioned in that version.

A couple of the selections mention that they are second or more in a series...and I am tempted to locate the first books before I read them. I like reading things in order, don't you? Of course, that just means the list just got longer.

So, how will I decide? Believe it or not, it will probably be "which one(s) can I get as an ebook/download?" I'm sorta in neutral at the moment, not able to hop in the car on a whim and head to the bookstore. And I don't have a library card locally, so I can't reserve and checkout any of the listed titles while still here in KY.

Decisions, decisions.

As I am currently using my Shells & Waves avatar on Facebook...and concentrating on the beach when needing to relax and go to my happy place...and looking so forward to our SC beach vacation later this summer...I think my first read from the Summer Reading List will be...

Dorothea Benton Franks' Porch Lights, which just came out a couple of days ago. Believe it or not, I've just purchased it, downloaded it into my Nook Library, and sneaked a peak at the first few pages.

I "discovered" DBF one summer vacation in Litchfield, SC...read all her books to that date in one week, and even got an autographed copy of her Pawleys Island book at the local bookstore. She really brings the Low Country alive! And since that is one of my favorite places on Earth, why not be transported there in words and story?

Now, let me see if Commander Dalgleish can get these two murders in the Little Vestry solved, so I can pack my figurative bags and hop a literary flight outta Heathrow...and touch down in Charleston, near my destination of Sullivan's Island. I can almost hear the sea gulls calling, can't you?

==================================

Thursday's Banana Bread

3-4 over-ripened bananas, mashed
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup nuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with Pam. Set aside.
2. Mix together the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar and mix well.
3. Sift together the dry ingredients. Add to the wet ingredients. Stir batter until moistened. Stir in nuts. Do not overbeat.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Place in oven on middle rack. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, tenting the top of the loaf with foil during the last 20 minutes to prevent overbrowning. Test for doneness.
5. Remove to cooling rack to cool before slicing. Enjoy warm or cold, with butter or softened cream cheese!

Changes in the Wind

Did I read that right?  The thermometer that registers the temperature from the Way Back Garden said 56 degrees this morning when I came into the Morning Room for my coffee.  Yippee!  I love cooler weather!! It also said that it was 72 degrees inside...way too warm to light up the fire. Drat.

Still, outside the wind was blowing in from the northeast for a change, rustling the leaves that have fallen...not necessarily because of the approach of Fall; more probably because they just were too hot and tired, trying to hang on the trees here at the end of Summer. The Tulip Poplar trees are the biggest contributors to the mess on the deck at the moment.

So what to do, on this day of no appointments?  I decided to finish up my Fall garden planting. Yeah, I know...most people did that several weeks ago.  Since my life has been in flux since June, though, I guess I can be forgiven for not following the seed planting calendar exactly in 2011. 

Mr. T had already cleared, weeded, and tilled several rows for me, so I got busy planting the seeds and onion sets I'd gotten yesterday from Soviero's Tri-County Garden Center (my fav).  I now have peas, beets, 4 kinds of leaf lettuces, collards, 7-Top turnip greens (grown only for the greens...:), and onions.  It can begin raining any time now.

This weather is a bit odd for September, to be sure.  But I'm not whinging about it...no, not me.  I'm too excited about getting to break in Mr. T's birthday present, a new outdoor fireplace!  Noooo, I'll take unseasonably cool weather over, say...a hurricane any day.  Especially since we got our vacation at the beach in between the hurricanes (Irene and Maria) and the dip in temps.



Charleston and Food...
a Great Combination!

We had a wonderful, relaxing, regenerating week in South Carolina.  Missy M, who has been working night and day on a work-related project, joined us as we headed to Charleston, one of our all-time favorite cities, last Sunday.  We got checked into our room, then made our way to the Charleston Crab House for dinner.  We did a little shopping in the Market area, then went to the Battery to complete our mini-tour.  Unfortunately, Knit! was closed, so no knit-shop shopping today.

The next morning, we turned north on US 17 toward Myrtle Beach, our destination for the week.  Along the route, we stopped in Georgetown, SC for lunch at another fav, The River Room. 



Missy M checks out the menu at
The River Room in Georgetown, SC

This restaurant has great food...and a fantastic view of the river dock and harbor (see photo, right).  We were fortunate to get a window table, so we got to watch the boats...and the clouds...on this beautiful special day.  You see, it was both Mr. T's birthday and Labor Day...a holiday in every sense of the word!

Back on US 17, we stopped to shop in Pawleys Island Shoppes, the home of the original Pawleys Island hammocks.  We got our "shabby chic" T-shirts/sweat shirts...and tried to go to Island Knits, only to find it, too, was closed.  What's going on here?  Was Mr. T calling ahead??  Ah well...

Enough already.  Let's see some sand and ocean, for goodness' sakes!


We made it to Myrtle!


Just a few more miles north, we came to our destination, The Hampton Inn and Suites, on the South Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.  Never been here before, since we usually stay away from the craziness that can be MBSC, choosing saner Litchfield to the south.  But, we thought it would be OK since things change around Labor Day...the official end of Summer around here.  And, we were right!

This is a fabulous place!  We had a large room on the 11th floor, with two comfy queen beds, a fridge and microwave, and a balcony looking out on the ocean...complete with two rocking chairs!  There are 4 pools, 2 lazy rivers, and a whirlpool on the property, and the beach access is easy-peasy:  walk out of the door on the lower level...you're there!  Comfortable areas, indoors and out, with rocking chairs and hammocks to read those beach-books (or, in the case of Mr. T and Missy M...those Kindles and iPads...:).  They had a two breakfast areas to service all the rooms in the two towers; full breakfast is provided in the room rate.  And the very best part?  Didn't cost a dime...nope, nada...all on Mr. T's Hilton Honors points.  I love a bargain, don't you?



Sunrise over the Atlantic...
last morning in Myrtle

 It was exactly what we all needed. That photo (right) of the sunrise over the Atlantic, taken on our last morning, says it all.

And, I am happy to report that we did finally find a knit shop that was open:  Knitting Up A Storm in North Myrtle Beach.  Stopped by on our way out of town.  Two of us loved it...one of us chose to wait in the hot car.  Bet you can guess who is who.  I got this yummilicious yarn called Cocoon by Rowan in colorway Seascape...which I thought would help me recall a warm, beach day when there's snow on the ground; it's an 80/20 merino wool and kid mohair combo.  They had a free pattern for it that I am using to knit a braided cowl.  So far, so good!

Gardening. Travel. Knitting. Good times with family. Sounds like things are back to normal.  Well, maybe not "back," but certainly on their way.

It helped to have reclaimed the front bedroom as a guest bedroom, setting up the bed where the hospital bed used to be; sorted and donated most of Momma's hanging clothes; and cleaned and cleared the front bathroom...all of which I was able to do before we left on vacation.  And, when we got back to HPNC from SC, Missy M tackled the chore of sorting the dreaded jewelry drawer.  She found several of Nana's things she wanted to keep, so that did my heart good.  Now, the only big chore left on the list is "finish cleaning out the dresser drawers"...and I know I can handle that one soon.

It's been six weeks today, and I still think about Momma several times each day.  About how much she would have loved going to the beach.  About how she would have wanted to turn the fireplace on this morning, even if it was too warm in the house.  About how she would have been excited that it was football time again...and that the Braves are probably going to see some post-Season action.

The difference now is that I am noticing many, many more smiles and fond memories...far, far fewer tears and sad thoughts.  The bereavement counselor is right:  it IS a process, and everyone's experience in dealing with the changes is different.

Indeed.

Aloha! Part 4 - Riding the Waves...and Returning to the Mainland

Mr. T in Lahaina Harbor - Day 6 - Ready to Sail!

Can it be? A whole month has passed since we boarded American flight #14 for our return trip from Maui. Unbelievable. I guess I'd better try to finish my posts about our vacation, hadn't I? [Talk about "old news"...:)]

Let's see. In the last post about Day Five, we were rippin' and flippin' on the Road to Hana and back, weren't we? [Ahem. That's from a saying about the towns connected by old Highway 51 in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, where I grew up.  "Rippin' (for Ripley, TN) and flippin' (for Flippin, TN) around the Curve (for Curve, TN), through the Gates (for Gates, TN) down the Halls (for Halls, TN), to visit the people in Dyersburg."  The things we remember...:)]

Anyway...



Honu - The Hawaiian Sea Turtle

 Our story is up to Day Six...Thursday...and it's time to recount our catamaran sailing trip from Lahaina to the island of Lana'i on the Trilogy I.  We left our hotel after morning coffee on our lanai, allowing plenty of time to drive to Lahaina, park, and board our beautiful boat (in photo with Mr. T, above/right).  The crew served us breakfast of hot cinnamon rolls (fabulous!), fresh fruits, cold juices, and coffee, as we enjoyed the wind and sun on our faces.  That sun, reflecting off the water, was exceptionally hot, and several of us joked about the SPF of our suntan lotions:  if you put another layer of SPF 50 on top of the original layer of SPF 50, do you get SPF 100?!  During the trip "out," we spotted one of the giant sea turtles (or, honu, in Hawaiian)...a first for many of us.  My photo (left) doesn't do the experience justice...but it all happened so fast!

Got all the equipment?  Check!  Let's snuba!!

After about an hour, we were mooring on Lana'i and being welcomed with shell leis (nice touch).  A short walk to Hulopoe Beach...and then Mr. T and I were receiving instructions from Trilogy crew member Denver for our next adventure:  snuba diving!

Snuba is a cross between snorkeling (where you wear a mask for viewing underwater, with a short breathing tube, which means you have to stay close to the surface to get air) and scuba diving (where you have to obtain certification to use air tanks underwater).  With snuba, you are "tethered" to a floating air tank by 20 feet of air tubing, meaning you can do shallow diving without worrying about the tank...or without going through the certification process.

Now, I always loved Sea Hunt when I was younger (much, much younger...:)...the original series starring Lloyd Bridges as diver Mike Nelson.  Always thought I'd like to scuba dive, but have never taken the time to take any classes or obtain certification.  This seemed like an easy compromise.  And, we "knew" it was meant to be since Lloyd's son Jeff was actually a fellow passenger on the Chicago to LA leg of our trip to Maui!  A sign!!

Is that Mike Nelson?



Ooh!  I see lots of fishes!!

In theory, snuba is an easy process, even for beginners, especially if you have snorkelled before (which we have) and are reasonably good/confident swimmers (which we are).  In practice...not so much.  I loved getting to see the beautiful fish and underwater reefs "up close and personal," but I really struggled with two things:  getting my mask to "hold suction" without filling with water, and wearing the weight belt, especially on the surface.  I dealt with the first thing as best I could, according to the instructions that Denver had given us; the second thing was much harder for me to deal with.  Even though I had the air line regulator firmly clamped between my teeth...and it was working just fine...I couldn't turn off my rising feeling of panic when the weight belt kept pulling me underwater...just like it was designed to do...when I was "on the surface" trying to get my fins/flippers on.  And neither Mr. T nor I liked having the snorkle tube attached to the mask...we didn't use it, didn't need it, and it just got in the way.  Still, I wouldn't give anything for the once-in-my-lifetime experience.  We had underwater cameras so we could document that we really, really did it...and there's the evidence up there in those photos!

Mr. T chills out to some tunes on Lana'i

  At the end of the 45 minutes, we were thoroughly and absolutely exhausted.  Unlike some of the other passengers who headed off to the Four Seasons for shopping or drinks, we relaxed on the beach (photo, left) until time to return to the pavilion near the dock for our BBQ chicken dinner and fixings, cooked by our captain and crew.  Delish!  

Patricia on the Trilogy I return voyage







Then, back on the Trilogy I for the sunset cruise back to Lahaina.  Even though we had little wind, the crew hoisted the beautiful spinaker for our sailing pleasure (photo, right).  And, we were thrilled to see a couple of the flying dolphins as we neared the harbor.  A lovely afternoon and evening.


Red skies on return cruise at sunset



Wheeee!  Let's do that again!





Such an exciting and exhausting day on Thursday meant we had earned a Play Day on Friday.  We spent most of the day lounging around the pool and playing in the Raging River.  Just a couple of kids are we, as you can see from our splish-splash photos!   



Mr. T makes a big splash



Body by Botero



I also enjoyed the special Art Tour of the grounds of our lovely resort, conducted by one of the Artists in Residence.  The Grand Wailea is home to the largest corporate art collection in Hawaii, featuring the works of legendary artists including Botero (photo, right), Leger, and Chihuly...whose glass sculptures we'd seen at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens a couple of years ago.

Our last sunset on Maui...taken from Humu

On our last evening, we enjoyed our final sunset in paradise from our perfectly-placed table in Humuhumunukunukuapua'a.  This restaurant, named for Hawaii's state fish, appears to be floating on a lagoon, with fantastic ocean and sunset views (see photo, left).  A perfect ending for a perfect vacation.

On Saturday, it was time to say goodbye to the Grand Wailea at noon (check out time).  Still, we had a few more hours to spend on Maui before our 9:00 p.m. flight, so we headed toward Maalaea Harbor where we enjoyed a yummy "last meal" at Buzz's Wharf (where we got some of the best Shrimp 'n Fish 'n Chips I've ever had!) before spending the afternoon at the Hawaiian Aquarium at the Maui Ocean Center.  Colorful and exotic fish (see photo, right)...without fiddling with masks, air tubes, or fins!  Woo hoo!!

I wouldn't want to meet this guy in the ocean!

Our flights home were l-o-n-g, and thankfully uneventful.  Still, neither of us could manage more than a cat-nap on any of the 3 flights (Maui to LAX to DFW to RDU).  I knitted most of the way and listened to two audio-books.  Mr. T. finished up one book he was reading and got a good start on another he'd purchased at Border's just as we were leaving Kahului for the airport.  By the time our heads touched our own pillows in our own bed in HPNC, we had been awake nearly 30 hours straight...and coherent thought was becoming a challenge for both of us.  The toughest part?  That last 90 minute drive from Raleigh to High Point!  Excruciating.

Would we do it all over again?  You betcha!  Would we do anything differently? Possibly add another day or two in order to see the North Shore (Kaanapali and Napili), which we missed.  But, we can always say we were saving something for our next trip to Maui!

Mahalo!

Aloha!

• Two first class tickets to/from Maui:  225,000 American Airline Advantage miles (points) + $30 in fees
• An ocean-front room with lanai at the Grand Wailea Waldorf - Astoria for 8 nights:  280,000 Hilton Honors points (+ $0 in fees...:)
• A rental car from National Car Rental for a week and a day:  70,000 Hilton Honors points + $100 in fees (more or less)
• A wonderful vacation in paradise for Mr. T and me:  priceless!

We're back!  At least, we are for the most part.  My body may physically be in HPNC, but my brain must still be on Aloha Time...running slowly and six hours behind.  I don't feel jet-lagged, but I do have my days and nights a bit mixed up.  Staying up til 1:00 a.m. here.  Trying to sleep in until noon-ish, if the dogs would just let me.  Maybe I'm trying to stay on vacation. 

Mr. T seems to have made the transition back to the real world OK, as he is off to Raleigh today.  Me?  I'm trying to make a dent in the mountain of dirty clothes, while I tackle the 201 emails in my inbox and the 576 photos we took on two digital cameras.  I'm working on a DVD complete with Hawaiian music to commemorate the trip...as well as a Photo Book, hence the reason I stayed up so late last night.  I'm also searching for someplace that will develop a couple of disposable cameras we used for our underwater shots.  Thought I'd take a time out to post today. 

We had a fabulous time celebrating Mr. T's Big 6-0h birthday all last week.  That photo up there (above) was taken on our first morning (Saturday) when we awoke to find that our "ocean-view" room had been upgraded to "ocean-front." Since it was dark when we finally arrived the night before...and we were so exhausted after an 18-hour travel day that took us from Raleigh to Chicago to Los Angeles to Kahului, Maui airport to the resort in Wailea, HI..., we didn't realize just how close to the Pacific ocean we had been sleeping.  We opened the shutter-style sliders that had successfully covered the sliding glass doors onto the lanai to that stunning, breathtaking view.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Get the camera!

Day One started with room service breakfast, served on our lanai.  How absolutely lovely.  We then spent the rest of the day recuperating and relaxing on the beach and in the ocean.  We also took a walk around a portion of the grounds of the Grand Wailea resort, which is over 40 acres, all told.  There are beautiful waterfalls, fountains, statues, sculptures, flowers, paintings, and mosaics everywhere you look.  Even a chapel with the most amazing stained glass windows (left).

In the heat of the afternoon sun, we did take a break from the beach to drive to the local Safeway for some necessities:  milk for my coffee (as I can't stand that powdered stuff in the packets), juice, yogurt, bagels, cream cheese, and snacks...plus water, Diet Pepsis, beer and wine...and a Styrofoam cooler to keep everything cold.  The hotel provided the ice for the cooler (which we kept in the ginormous bathtub)...and their own wonderful Hawaiian-grown coffee for the in-room coffeemaker.  As much as we enjoyed that first breakfast, we weren't eager to spend that much money for room service every day...and we really didn't want to get dressed to go to one of the restaurants on property at the start of our day.  We loved the view from our lanai, and we intended to take advantage of it as much as possible!  We even found a pizza place, The Round Table,  in the Safeway shopping center; take-away pizza and some local-brewed beer (Fire Rock Pale Ale)  on our lanai for the front-row seat on our first sunset (right).  Perfect.  We're starting to relax now!

Day Two began at 3:00 a.m.  It was Mr. T's birthday, and we wanted to see the sun rise on the top of Haleakala Volcano...a two-hour trip up and around one of the winding-est roads you can ever imagine.  In the dark.  Even with our early rise, the summit (10,023 feet) parking lot was already full by 5:30 a.m. on this holiday weekend, so we were directed to another viewing point, Kalahaku Overlook, at 9,324 feet.  A bit lower, but still cold (49 degrees) and still above the clouds (as you can tell in that photo, left) and with a better view as it turned out.  Not only did we get to see the sun rise at about 6:04 a.m. ...amazing..., we also got to see a rainbow in a valley whose view would have been blocked at the summit.

While most of the crowd made their way back down the winding road, we drove up to the summit for the view...which was so clear this morning that we could easily see the Big Island of Hawaii in the distance, with the peaks of volcanoes Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa visible, rising above the clouds.  We could also see down "our" side of Maui to Wailea beach...as well as the cruise ship entering the port near Kahului on the other side of the island (where we spotted the rainbow earlier). 

That's a photo (right) of a chukar we took at the summit...we were just fascinated by all the birds we don't see in North Carolina.  We chatted with a park ranger (as this whole area is a National Park) about some of the birds we had spotted, and she directed us to a natural area called Hosmer's Grove near the entrance to the Park (back down the winding road)...where we found a huge stand of eucalyptus trees, but too many children playing too loudly in the nearby camping ground to spot many native birds.  Still, we got to see rain in the rain forest area of the island...rain and sun at the same time!

As we made our way back to sea level, we toured through the Up Country of Maui, starting with coffee and cinnamon rolls at Grandma's Coffee House.  Then on to the Tedeschi Winery (didn't care for the pineapple wine, but loved the white chocolate candy) and then to the Surfing Goat Dairy Farm (loved the cheese).  Saw the lavender farms...and lots and lots of sugar cane, waving in the wind.

We finished the Big Day at Mama's Fish House, a highly-recommended restaurant in Paia, on the north side of the island, where we saw yet another beautiful sunset.  (Follow that link to listen to some great Hawaiian music by HAPA. Just minimize their window to allow the music to keep playing, while you return to this site in another window...you can hear the music while you continue to read.) The food was fabulous, as we had heard (the Park Ranger nearly swooned when she found out where we were going that night) and read (great reviews on Trip Advisor)...fresh everything...the service excellent...expensive, yes, as is everything on Maui, but well worth it for the occasion.  They had even created a birthday card in Hawaiian and placed it on our reserved table.  Every person who stopped by the table wished Mr. T "Hau ' oli la Hanau, Thomas!"  Our waitress snapped that shot of us just as we were finishing our last bites of macadamia nut-encrusted mahimahi stuffed with lobster, shrimp, and crab, served with jasmine rice (me) and seared salmon with tropical fruit salsa (Mr. T) (left).  Then, she served him a complementary ice cream sundae with fresh coconut slivers!

Day Three was a "rest day."  After breakfast on our lanai, we got our color-coded bracelets (a requirement by the resort to use the pool and beach facilities:  towels, chairs, umbrellas, etc.; they use a different color for each day of the week) and blue-striped beach towels, which we used to "reserve" a couple of chairs near the in-pool, swim-up Volcano Bar, where a waterfall runs all day (as you see in that photo of my toes and the pool, right).  Yes, the pool could be a bit noisy, since it was a kid-magnet with all of the rushing river rapids and water slides, but we needed a break from the sand in our suits.  And they kept the music playing all day long!

Before beginning our pool-side tanning and reading session though, we took a stroll on the beach walkway that ran in front of the resort, heading to the right/north of the property...30 minutes out, 30 minutes back.  A nice stretch of the legs.  This gave us the best views of the Ma'alaea Harbor, on the West side of the island, as well as the West Maui Mountains and Iao Valley State Park area.  We also spotted some folks snorkeling around a reef (left) and decided we'd like to try that, too.  We'd do the walkway the other way (south) tomorrow.  So much to see, so much to do.  Must remember to relax and decompress.

As the day before had been a big food consumption day (and Day Four promised to be another one), we gave our tummies a rest day, too, with snacks by the pool for lunch and Subway sandwiches on the lanai for another wonderful sunset supper.  We'd gotten some of the goat cheese spread at the Dairy...add crackers, fruit, and pour a little wine...and we were in the zone.  The Happy Zone!

I'll give us all a break and save the rest of the story for another post.  Come back to read about our snuba sailing excursion to the island of Lanai, our harrowing ride on the road to Hana, and our up-close look at a stingray and a hammerhead shark, as well as our dining experiences at Pacific'o in Lahaina, Buzz's Wharf in Ma'alaea,  and Humuhumunukunukuapua'a', right here on Grand Wailea.

Mahalo!

Life's a Beach!

We've just returned from our recent trip to the beach...Pawleys Island, SC via Charleston...possibly our most-favorite family vacation spot. No matter where we've lived, we always seem to return to this general area when we need to play in the sand and surf and soak up some history. We started going to the Litchfield Resort when we moved from NC to Ohio back in '90 and fell in love with it. Our time in NC had taught us that most folks from the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem area headed to the Myrtle Beach, SC, area when they wanted to go to the beach. Seemed odd because NC has beautiful beaches, too. But, we found that Myrtle was just a bit more commercialized than we wanted to contend with...on vacation. So, we began to spend a week each summer about 30 miles south on Highway 17...and a complete world apart from Myrtle.

Pawleys Island is said to have been one of the first "vacation" retreats in this country, serving as an escape from the heat and humidity of the interior rice and indigo plantations for the planter famlies. And even though Hurricane Hugo devastated several of the beachfront properties on the Island, there are still many Arrogantly Shabby homes from 100-150 years ago, in the National Historic zone! As a matter of fact, that's probably one of the reasons we feel so at home here...there is so little pretense. While I can't even begin to list the changes that have happened in the few years it has been since we were there last, thankfully most of them were good ones.

We took a Shelling and Lighthouse Boat Cruise on the Carolina Rover out of Georgetown, SC, enjoying a wonderful 3-hour tour to North Island. We collected what we thought were conch shells, but learned later from the guide that we actually had whelks. This is the largest shell I've ever picked up on the beach...I've seen them in the gift shops, but I had never seen them "in their natural habitat."

One of the reasons I was so excited to have found so many beautiful shells was that I wanted to create a shell "sculpture" to submit to the World Beach Project, which is being sponsored by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. While they haven't begun accepting submissions yet, I do plan to send one or two in soon. Here (photo) is a one view of the shell project I created on Pawleys Island Beach on Thursday, May 24, 2007. Note - the flip-flops with the SC state flag symbols!

Of course, we didn't spend all of our time in the sun. We knew that there were several knitting shops in the area from Myrtle to Charleston, and we were able to visit 3 of them. Woo-hoo! Here's a shot of our favorite one, called simply "Knit," located at 87 Wentworth St. in downtown Charleston. It was a fabulous place for two yarn-a-holics such as Maredith and me! She reminded me that she had purchased more British yarn (mostly Debbie Bliss) on this trip than she did on our trips to either England or Scotland!

Of course, all good things must come to an end... Why is that? I've heard that saying all of my life, but I still have trouble with it. I'm not entirely certain that I agree with it.

For instance, we've just celebrated our 31st anniversary...and we are hoping that the end's nowhere in sight! We were back in MO by the 29th, so we celebrated at a local restaurant, JBucks. Mmmm, tasty! You know, it's been a great ride so far, and we're looking forward to heading into our sunset years together. [I took this picture (left) of the sunset on our return trip from North Island to Georgetown, SC. Thought it was appropriate to the discussion...]

So, with Memorial Day, our anniversary, and our beach trip in the rearview mirror of 2007, it's time for Summer to "officially" begin!

We're still working on the bridge, the pond, and the waterfall in the back yard, and the garden is looking pretty good. I hope to post some photos of the finished products soon. Stay tuned...!