Window to the World: 2009

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Our 50th State - Hawaii

As promised here a few pics from our trip over to Oahu and Maui.

We got a fabulous package deal from Hawaiian Airlines and flew from San Francisco to Honolulu. We stayed at the Hilton on Waikiki Beach with a view of Diamond Head and the ocean. The view was great, the hotel was ok.

downtown Honolulu

The view from our hotel in Waikiki, Diamond head

Luau.....the Pig !

From Here to Eternity.....beach scene !

The Waikiki beach area is very crowded and very upscale. There is also a huge Japanese population and it is a favorite vacation destination for them. It reminded me a lot of Tokyo. We toured the Island, saw Pearl Harbor and the Arizona monument and climbed Diamond Head. It was 4 days and very expensive. Although a highlight not to be missed is the Polynesian Cultural Center run by the Mormon Church. Everything you could possibly want to learn about south pacific island nations is presented in a fun and exciting format capped off by a huge luau feast and dazzling stage show.

On top of Diamond Head

the view from Diamond Head toward Waikiki Beach

On the Arizona Memorial

Arizona Memorial

Spectacular Hawaiian sunset

We then flew over to Maui and met friends Bob & Betty Sobeck in Lahaina. We stayed at the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel next door to their family condo at Whaler's Village. Maui is spectacular and very casual and relaxing. We enjoyed the fabulous weather (80's) and abundant sunshine along with some great dinners, some fun sightseeing, a Cirque performance and golf at Kapalua's Plantation course, home to the PGA Mercedes Championship.

An outrigger at Mama's Fish House

Surfin'

Cirque

Golf at McKenna in Maui

On top of Haleakala, with Bob & Betty

the 605 yd. 18th at Kapalua

Great vistas at Kapalua

More great views

Lefty Bob at Kapalua

Number 1 at Kapalua

Enjoy the pics.

Gene & Laurie

Long Time Betwen Posts.....

Hello & Holiday Greetings.

It's been a month since my last update and much has happened in our lives during that time. First off, we are now in Tucson, Arizona at our winter RV site in the Voyager RV Resort.

Voyager is a full service, active adult resort with every imaginable amenity from pools and hot tubs to hotel, restaurant, beauty parlor, health clinic and golf course. We were here all last winter and have made many friends in the complex and surrounding area. There are about 20+ guys I play golf with twice a week and Laurie has her fun band, Red Hats and painting. This is a fun place to spend the winter and Laurie's cousin and husband live in Tucson as well.

Last tine we spoke our travels had us in northern California and we spent 15 glorious days in Hawaii. I'll post pics from there shortly, but after returning from our 50th state we did some sightseeing around San Francisco and Sausalito and headed south to Monterey for the Thanksgiving holiday.

We figured that since we could not be with family for the Day, we would find a beautiful locale, a great restaurant and enjoy a quiet, relaxing dinner overlooking the ocean. Which we did at the Intercontinental Hotel's bay front restaurant.

Unfortunately, the day before Thanksgiving we received a call from the Marlborough, MA police that Laurie's brother had passed away suddenly. He was 67 and it was unexpected.

Air travel on the holiday weekend is chaos and we were forced to wait until the following Tuesday to get a flight back east. We relocated to just outside Los Angeles and spent 6 days handling the affairs and cleaning out his apartment. Our daughters, son-in-law and grandchildren came up from Long Island and we could not have done it without their help and support.

After returning from Massachusetts, we headed for Tucson and have set up here for the winter.

Christmas is here and we exchanged some gifts with grandkids while back east but we won't get to see them for the holiday.

We're meeting friends in the desert, near Gila Bend for New Years Eve at a BLM campground. Should be fun to have a pot luck dinner, campfire and a group campout again.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and we wish each of you a healthy, prosperous and safe 2010.

Gene & Laurie

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Sunny California......well almost !

So we bade farewell to the wet, wild and windy Oregon coast and headed south to Crescent City, California and lo and behold the sun came out, the temps came up and we said Yea ! Unfortunately it was short lived since we woke up the the next morning to a rainy and cold sky.

Crescent City Lighthouse

But Crescent City is the start of the impressive Redwood forest and we were certainly impressed with their size and magnificent beauty. But you can only look at trees for so long and the weather situation was really getting to us so, we headed south toward San Francisco and better weather.

Small car......BIG tree

They really are impressive !

............Even in the rain !

An overnight stop at an Indian casino netted us a free night of camping, $10 each of free gaming monies and some good food. Plus we met another couple who were traveling in their motor home and enjoyed some great conversation.

We've found an Elks Lodge in the wine country of Napa & Sonoma and will stop there for a while. Reasonably priced, safe, secure and convenient. Our plan is to leave the coach for 2 weeks while we visit our 50th state and find the warm sunshine of Hawaii.

Last minute packages from the airlines are offering some great deals and we took advantage of it. Plus it's less flying time from the west coast !

Enjoy the pics of the redwoods and we'll talk again soon.

The Oregon Coast

The Oregon coastline is billed as some of the most spectacular shore line in the world. It certainly lives up to it's billing. Rough, rocky, imposing cliffs, beaches and scenic little seaside villages for miles upon miles. During the summer months this has to be superb; during a rainy fall it was quite the opposite.

Rough and angry surf on a rocky shoreline

While it's beauty comes through regardless of the weather and an "angry" Pacific Ocean crashing on the shoreline most of our 10 day trek along the coast was in cold and rainy conditions. We selected several towns to stop in and sample the rugged beauty and uniqueness of the region.

Haystack Rock - Cannon Beach

The end of the Lewis & Clark Trail

Where the Columbia River meets the Pacific

The Columbia River end !

Cannon Beach, Lincoln City and Florence Oregon are all quaint seaside villages with special characteristics each. Cannon Beach has Haystack Rock and the convergence of the Columbia River and Pacific Ocean as well as an old growth forest. Lincoln City is a collection of what was several smaller villages and is now sprawled over 7 miles and offers some sandy beaches and spectacular sunsets. Florence offers a quaint seaside village and harbor setting while being the gateway to the Oregon Dunes National Park and miles of fabulous sand dunes.

The new Delta kite flys in Lincoln City

Riding the Dunes

Miles of fun riding in the sand

Unfortunately, most of our ten day visit was in rainy and cool conditions but we persevered and the sun came out on rare occasions making the beauty even more spectacular.

A quick stop toward the end of the coast road

The sun sets over the Pacific

We'll let some pics tell the rest of the story of our days on the coast. We'll head south to California and the redwoods. We'll talk again soon.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Mount St. Helen's & Portland, Oregon

Hello:

So we flew back to the west coast and headed south. We made a quick stop at Mt. St. Helen's and were really surprised to see that a major portion of the mountain is actually gone........spread out over a valley some 14 miles in length. The destructive power when this let loose had to be awesome. We drove up to the observatory, viewed the exhibits and the movie and drove around the local area.

Cold........Mt. St. Helen's

Mt. St. Helens

Unfortunately, it was cold and after looking at the mountain and volcano we opted to move along to Portland the next day.

We again parked at the local Elks Lodge and set off getting the new tires for the Honda: the price was right, no sales tax and they did it in about an hour while we got some shopping done at Costco.

Portland is a neat mid sized city with lot's of eclectic shops, a clean and modern downtown and a very progressive transit system. You really don't need a car if you live in any of the suburban areas and work downtown. We visited the art museum, did a walk-about-town and saw Pioneer Square.

Downtown Portland

Pioneer Square, Portland

We actually met another couple from Zephyrhills and Emerald Pointe RV Park in Portland ! Jim & Jodi Giroud, who also own a lot in the same RV park as us were parked in the Elks in Portland. They too had just finished touring Canada and Alaska and were working their way south to Arizona for the winter. We swapped stories of the road, shared some laughs and plan to meet up with them again in Arizona this winter.

Our next stop is the Oregon Coast,

Enjoy the pics

Gene & Laurie