Not a perfect day

Our cruise ship next stop was in Hilo Hawaii. We were late, which meant that the people who were trying to get off the ship were backed up by at least and hour. AND it was raining. But we persevered and got off the ship to a waiting car driven by Arynne's friend Lizby. 

She drove us thru town and on to the Rainbow Waterfalls. Beautiful. 

Then a tropical drive to the botanical gardens that are so beautiful we hardly even noticed that it was raining. Yeah, right. Those flimsy ponchos don't do shit. We got soaked. And there were so many trails, one of us took one trail and another took another. How are we going to meet up? But we did. The gardens were so beautiful that we hardly noticed the rain. Besides, it's a rain forest right? It should be raining!

Look at the size of those leaves!

While I went touring with the girls, Jim, Devon and Jo Ellen went on the Volcano tour.

I think I had the better rainy-day tour, in the rainforest! They're supposed to be seeing the Kilauea crater here. 

Next up was the Booch Bar in Hilo. Did you know there is such a thing as a flight of kombucha?

I had previously arranged to meet up with Johanna and her husband Bill, who live near Hilo. I haven't seen Johanna since we were in grade schools together in Anchorage Alaska. 

Here we are - over 60 years later!

Here is Johanna with her husband, Bill

Day 5 Hawaii cruise

Next stop, Kona. We had booked a snorkel excursion and I almost cancelled it for fear it would be another rainy miserable day and I didn't want to be out on a small boat for hours. But Jim said, no, we need to get in the water at least once! 

Sure enough when we woke up and looked outside we couldn't see much for all the clouds and rain. Apparently the water was quite rough as well and delayed the tenders from starting their shuttle service to shore. They never did catch up all day long and everyone complained about spending much of their day standing in line for the tender .

Our excursion was scheduled for noon, so we had plenty of time. I took a hula class at 9. What fun. It was all about the hand gestures for 2 songs: ..shells, and Going to the HukiLau. Hula skills are divided into top half and bottom half. The top half tells a story with the hands while the bottom half does dance steps and hip motions with bent knees. The basic step is 2 steps left and 2 steps right with gently swinging hips - that movement is called 'Kaholo'. Then there is standing still and rotating hips in a circle- that movement is called umi. Our teacher told us "Don't do kaholo and umi at the same time" Sounds like words to live by to me! 😂

I learned that the fancy hip movements are from Tahitian dancing, not Hawaiian hula. Aha!

After hula it was time to get in line for our tender to shore and our snorkel trip. The sun was coming out and it turned into a gorgeous, hot, day.

Before going to the snorkel spot, the boat crew said we could spend a little bit of time looking for whales. Some call it whale watching, they call it whale finding. And they did! What a treat. We didn't see a breach, but the tail slaps we're impressive. 🤙

Then it was time for snorkeling. They had to get in the water in order to tie up to the submerged buoy, interesting. We brought our own masks and used their tiny flippers and then a snorkel. The water was 77 degrees we were told. Not as warm as I normally like it (over 80), but not bad. I was cold when we first jumped in but warmed up ok. Visibility was wonderful, very clear. Saw plenty of small tropicals '- lots of yellow tangs, black trigger fish, one giant trumpet fish and small cantina made up of volcanic rock with a little bit of coral growing in them. It felt great to be in the water! 

Then it was back to the line for the tenders to the ship. It was hot and the line was probably 200 people. NCL personnel we're hanging out cold towels with tongs, just like you get the hot towels to wash your hands at dinner, these were ice water soaked wash cloths to put in your head. 

I was SOO glad that Jim didn't let me cancel this excursion! What a fantastic day!

My husband Jim

Today is a very special day. It's Jim's 70th birthday and we're celebrating on a cruise ship in Hawaii with a group of 12 other people who came with us. 

The Rest of the Story ...

This seems like a good time to tell about Jim, a little about his life, how we met and why I've loved him for over 30 years now. 

Although we didn't meet until we were both about 40 years old, we shared similar upbringings. His was a middle class family with 2 kids - one boy, one girl. Mom and Dad were loving parents. Jim claims the title of a momma's boy - as a youngster he spent most of his time with Mom. As a young adult he learned at his Dad's side. "Capt. Jim" was his father and he was a boat handler in the Navy. Jim became an excellent boat captain under his tutelage. They delivered yachts between New Jersey and Florida for several years.

Both parents were in the Navy - that's how they met - and they lived wherever the Navy took them. The first big RV trip was in a little travel trailer. With 2 kids in diapers they traveled cross-country from Patuxent River, MD to San Diego, CA. Then came kindergarten in Key West, Florida, starting grade school in Jacksonville, then off to Iceland!

Such is the life of a Navy brat. But, when the Navy wanted to send his Dad to Vietnam, as a boat driver for the Navy Seals, Jim Sr. said, "No." The attrition rate was just too high for a man with a family. So he quit the Navy and settled in New Jersey where other family members were. Jim spend his formative years living on Long Beach Island - LBI. How Idyllic. LBI was known as where people who could afford it went for their summer vacations. They roll up the sidewalks and turn off the street lights during the winter! Jim had to take a bus across the causeway to the mainland in order to attend High School. I think there was a special comaradery amongst the "Island kids."

After high school, he helped run the family business - a deli/restaurant called the Pumpernickel. It was on the Island so was a summer business. Winters were spent in Forida. His girlfriend, Jo Ellen also worked in the restaurant and they were soon married and had a son, Devon. Years later after they had split up and I was dating Jim, Jo Ellen took me aside and thanked me for making Jim happy. She could see that he and I were better suited than they had been. She ended up coming to our wedding, and we've just been one big, happy famiily ever since.

Both Jim and I were passionate about learning new things, especially technology. I remember the moment I fell in love with him - he invited me to his house for dinner. No, he didn't order pizza - he cooked. I don't remember what he made but I was very impressed that he would invite me over for a home-cooked meal. Then he took me to the computer room and showed me something he'd been playing with - sound. At Jim's computer was the first time I ever heard a computer play sound. I know that sounds mundane now, but in 1993 Windows and multimedia was brand new. It was love at first listen!

And, guess what? He was a scuba diver too! My Mom got me into scuba diving back in 1982, and  we belonged to a club called Undersea Adventurers. When Mom and I were booked to go on a dive boat called the Shenandoah to the Bahamas, I asked Jim to go too. And the rest is history! 

I ended up hiring him at my computer training center as a Network Administrator and that worked out so well that I married him. 

We were geeks even then! Our wedding was on a water taxi in Fort Lauderdale, and we wore our propeller beanies! As part of the ceremony we tore off the patches that read "Bride" and "Groom" to reveal embroidered "Husband" and "Wife"

He helped me grow the business to the point that we were able to sell it and then we decided to sell our house, buy a motorhome and live in it as we traveled the country. 

How I got so lucky as to find someone willing to go with the flow and stay by my side, making the most out of whatever life presented, I'll never know, but I am oh-so-glad. 

In technology, I am the software person and the teacher. He is the hardware guy and the production engineer. In life I am the big picture decision maker and he is the implementer. I say, let's live in an RV and travel the country, he makes it happen. I say let's start a YouTube channel and he makes it happen. I come up with the content and he makes it look good. 

I don't know how any couple could have a better partnership than we do. We'll each have ocassional suggestions for the other, but mostly we leave each other alone to work our magic, knowing that when it comes together, we'll both be happy with the result.

Check out the photo album "The Rest of the Story" for more photos and story about Chris and Jim. 

Day 4 Hawaii cruise

Day 4 was rainy. We were in Hilo and Jim and I separated for the day. I went with arynne and Terra. Arynne friend Lizby lives in Hilo and drove us around.   Jim stayed with Devon and Jo and took the volcano tour. We both got quite wet. 

Even in these miserable conditions I loved the scenery. Rainbow falls is so classic with lush surroundings, and we spent the most time at a botanical garden ... Just WOW. And since it was a rainforest, it seemed appropriate to see it in the rain. 🌈

Then we went to lunch at the Booch Bar. Like a brewery, I got a 'flight' of kombucha. 

My friend, Johanna, and her husband, Bill, met me for lunch and caught me up on their lives. Johanna and I went to grade school together in Alaska. They've been living in Pahoa, just outside of Hilo for 11 years now. Her passion is her dog, IPO and going to nose training. Bill has a website for his photography tbfphoto.com

They drove me back to the ship after a drive around Liliokualani Park and a photo op 

Rainy season - Whale Watch cancelled 😒

After planning and double planning, communicating with everyone involved, arranging transportation for 12 people, and getting excited … on the day of our whale watching excursion I get the message: Cancelled. 😞 

Now what?

I asked the taxi driver for recommendations and he told of a public aquarium right at the harbor where we were set to go whale watching. 

Well alrighty then. This is the reason why I believe in being flexible! Can't waste time lamenting what isn't happening. Just go do something else.

Blessed be the flexible for they shall not get bent out of shape.

Nice place. 10 of us went. There was a special planetarium-like theatre with a 3-D presentation on whales. Cool. You wore the 3D glasses and there were times when you felt like you could reach out and touch the nose of a whale right in front of your face. 

On the ship

Our Hawaii Cruise for Jim's 70th Birthday - everyone was invited!

Saturday went smoothly. We had a delicious breakfast in the hotels cafe, then relaxed in our hotel room till check out time at noon. Catching up on emails etc. We met up with Jo and Devon downstairs, and also Gail West! I waited to call the Uber until we're all on the sidewalk ready to go. It arrives in 1 minute!

Then we're at the ship, drop off our luggage, check in and get our shell necklace leis. Very little waiting on lines. We go straight to the bar to wait for our room. Then lunch at the buffet and our room is ready. I'm so glad we got a balcony. 

At 6 we met up with our group for meet and greet. It was fun hearing everyone's story - no one was shy. I was sure upset with myself though because I didn't take any photos. I also didn't ask about people's plans for the week. A real missed opportunity to learn from each other.

Sunday was a free day for us. Late morning we decided to exit the ship and walk around. It was a futile effort. First, the exit involved about a half mile of walking a corridor of barbed wire. It felt like prison. Then we discovered the botanical gardens we're closed on Sunday. The only place to visit was Longs Drugs. So we just walked back. We did find a little Beach on the way to our our feet in the ocean and take a photo.

Back on the ship it's time for the pool deck. Ahhh, this is the life. When we get hungry we find something to eat. At 3:30 a dolphin game is on. It's always fun to watch football in a bar situation with people cheering their teams. The day was topped off with a great Polynesian show.

During the day I worked about the next day ..  checking on our dinner reservation in a long line at guest services, and coming up with various ways for all 14 of us to get transported to the whale watching spot.

Charmed, I’m sure

What a day! New Year's Day 2024. We woke up in our sweet little camper van, parked in Marie's driveway. We were there for a great New Year's Eve party and we didn't want to drive home. Woke up early and got on the road in order to be home and ready to present Fun with Photos over Zoom for the tech for seniors show. 

It went well, then we got back to work preparing for our Hawaii trip. The last thing on my list was to get Google fi working on my Samsung. I'd already given it a couple tries and was just getting myself deeper in trouble, first trying to set it up with my google voice phone number. That worked but it canceled my voice number … NO, that's not what I meant! So it took another couple hours and $23 dollars to undo that mistake. 

Ok, back to a working voice number, whew! But I still have no service on my Samsung. I try to activate the eSIM on google Fi and get all sorts of error messages. I get on a live chat and they try to walk me thru activation with an old physical sim - after more error messages I realize it has expired. I was told I have to go get a new one. Delivery would be in 2 days, but we get on a plane in 1 day. 

SO

Jim ordered a Sim from Best Buy and we hop on the car to go get it. I try one last time (after rebooting the phone) to activate the eSIM. Lo and behold, it works this time. I have a working Samsung AND it answers to my voice number. But we still need to pick up our order from Best Buy. Oh well, good to have a backup right?

We get there and decide to wander around. A Tiny chromebook (11inch) calls my name and I'm in love! I'd been dreading taking my heavy laptop on this trip, and my current chromebook I hate (can't see the keys, lousy  camera)   This little thing - Lenovo … is on sale for $279! And today is tax free day. Merry Christmas to me!

Meanwhile, Jim is trying to pick up the SIM and they can't find the order. Turns out he hasn't completed the process. Hey! We didn't need it anyway. All of this was just the universe's way to show me the chromebook I wanted!

I came home and set it up. I love it. I can pack it and be ready to go without unhooking my main computer station. Perfect!