Mae Travels: St. Lucia

Mae Travels: St. Lucia
A nice post from one of our friends/Kona Lisa Coffee lover costomers blogs. Love this picture and glad they are having a nice time there.

Summer

During a birthday phone call I was reminded that I hadn't blogged in awhile. Yes, that is the story. I don't tweet but I do the rounds on Facebook which seems to take up some blogging time. Plus summer has been a fun time here. After heading off to Tennessee and sharing a week at Myrtle Beach with the family we brought two of our grandchildren back here to Hawaii with us. Sydney, 15 and Casey, 12 were the lucky ones. Or should I say the ones who didn't have other pressing summer activities at home. Sydney lives in Tennessee and had been to Florida and therefore been in the ocean. But, Casey lives in Michigan and Myrtle Beach was were first time to play in the ocean. We all had such a great time there that Ron even suggested that we go back there next year. That was a thought but just yesterday I was able to get a reservation for all of us to do Wisconsin Dells, the water park haven of the Midwest.
Sydney and Casey had decided that they wanted to stay here 3 weeks and on this island we knew it wouldn't be hard to fill up their days. The middle two weeks in July produced some extraordinary surf swells at the beaches and gave the girls a chance to put their boogie board and body surfing skills to work. They did Ho'okene, La'aloa, Makalawena, and Hapuna Beaches and never complained once about those waves knocking them down. Imagine that! We snorkeled at Two Step and swam in Kealakekua Bay. On a Monday we headed up north to the Pololu Valley lookout and some zip lining. Casey and I did the zip lining and Ron and Sydney did a spectacular helicopter ride over the Waipio valley with so many waterfalls that Ron lost count. Casey and I actually zipped over one or them on our tour. Another day was spent hiking in the National Park, the one with the volcano. Being we were near Hilo the next day was spent shopping there and driving up along Hilo's noth coast. On a scenic drive to Onomea bay we stopped at a one lane bridge to photograh a waterfall. To our surprise, sploosh, and a diver jumped off the bridge into the pool just below the falls. Soon another group of locals came and lined up for the breathtaking leap. The girls decided that would be one activity they would pass up. On the way home we used the Saddle Rd. and stopped at the Mauna Kea astronomy center for stargazing and storytelling on the mountain.
Well they have traveled safely back to their respective homes with all their gifts and souvenirs and I still miss them. We are already looking forward to that Wisconsin Dells trip and bringing back more family next summer.

Similarities

Following the picture of the penguin egg in the earlier post and since it is Easter Sunday today, I envisioned more similarities of our island with the marvelous scenery and experiences in New Zealand. And one was this week. First I have to say I thought Thursday mornings outrigger paddle was the best. Everything came together so perfect as we paddled over some of the clearest ocean water on the planet. It reminded me of the clarity of the inland waters we espied all over New Zealand. Just so you know, I love the grandeur of our earth, so visual tourism is special to me. The scenescapes of New Zealand still float in my mind and are still hard for me to describe. It's one of the few places where I was awestruck over and over. Strangely in editing and reviewing these pictures I came across one I was sure was New Zealand but then realized it actually was taken here on Molokai. Travel enables you to experience the climates, the people, the smells and the moments you can't have except in that place at that time. Message to myself seems to be that I am ever greatful for this Hawaii adventure and appreciate the charm of all the cultures floating in the blue Pacific. Another message I seem to be getting is that the last paddle is always the best. Especially when the last one had a large puffer fish come to check out my toes as they dangled from the canoe.

While In Hawaii why not a trip to New Zealand

 
 
 
 
When we discovered New Zealand is the same distance away as a trip back to the midwest it was a no brainer. From beautiful scenery, great homestays, weather extremes, and a downright good time it's would be hard to mention all we saw and did in our 17 days. So I won't but here is just a sampling of pics showing the diversity of New Zealand.