Sandy's travels

Sunday, what's a pair of women to do?  A couple ideas, one was to go to the Painted Church....oh no, it's Sunday!  Unless we wished to attend a service that wouldn't work!  Then I said to Val, we should go see the Watusi and Zebra down the coast.  I couldn't recall where they were, but I knew they were down the south coast road between Ka'u and Captain Cook so off we went.   We stopped at a community market first near Captain Cook, where all sorts of folks had a tent up selling their wares.  We bought some island oranges....oh gosh they were soooooo good.  Bought a loaf of garlic stuffed bread....sampled it before hand and it was yummy.  Leaving there we got back on the road heading south.  You pass by some old lava flows.  Some lighter brown indicating they were very old and some blacker younger flows.  It's unimaginable how high they flowed and how they traveled.  These would have come from Mauna Loa which means long low mountain or volcano.   We seemed to dri

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.  Yesterday Val and I went up to Safeway to buy some vegetables and I don't think I've ever seen a grocery store so stocked with flowers, chocolates and fuzzy stuffies!  The Americans seem to almost go overboard on celebrations like this.  Today my Aussie friends, Ken and Meredith have gone to the north end of the island while Val and I stayed home, she nursing her cold and cough and me with my left leg up in the air from swelling!  What a pair we are!  I phoned at least 6 restaurants trying to get reservations for dinner, forgetting it's Valentines Day!  So far as I know we are in a wait list for the Outback Steak House high I hope Ken and Meredith will like, it's Aussie! We haven't been doing much the past several days with Val's cold keeping her down but we hope to give 'Er hell again soon!  A few photos from the past while, Aussie friends, trees and other things....I think I must have around 25 or more sunset photos....

My son and daughter in law left here on the 31st to return home so I was on my own for several days until my friend Val arrived at 11:05 pm on February 5th.  Photo #1!  All of my visitors have travelled by Westjet which means late arrival and later departures.   So far since Val arrived we have done a little travelling and shopping and laying in the sun.  Not too much at a time though because the sun is very hot and close.  One day we went into Kona for lunch and were so pleased to get a table beachside when the wind came up and you could watch a squall coming closer.  It all happened very quickly and we all moved to the back of the restaurant while the shutters came down and it absolutely poured so hard the outdoors was almost invisible.  Then just like that it disappeared!   Today my Aussie friends Ken and Meredith arrive so I will go out to the airport to greet them and provide a bag with wine, water, cracker and cheese and fruit.  They will have been travelling approx. 19 hours so

Thought I'd post some more photos from our trip to the gardens.  There is just so much to see that you miss a lot and return trips are advised,

With Ray driving yesterday (again), we took the Belt Road to Waimea and from there made our way to the Hawaii Botanical Gardens on Hilo side.  With it being the wet side of the island it is a perfect environment for lush greenery, trees and flowers.  Orchids are attached and happily growing there and blooming in abundance.  So many varieties of plants, both native and imported. There are a couple of waterfalls on the property and the walkways take you down to Onondaga Bay for some perfect views of the waves coming in.  The garden is now a non profit Scientific and Educational Institution as well as a Nature preserve and sanctuary.  This was my second trip through and I will go again, you simply cannot see it all in one trip!  They have a website at http://hawaiigarden.com .   Photos follow....

Yesterday as we were heading southward on the Island towards the Kilauea volcano we made two stops, one at the Painted Church and the second at the Place of Refuge.  I thought I'd just show a few of the photos of the interior of this interesting church and a bit of its story.    This church sits high up on a hill and is actually St. Benedict Roman Catholic Church.  It received its name due to  the inspiration of a Belgian priest. Father Jean Berchmans Velghe who served only a few years at the South Kona sanctuary, but long enough to do extraordinary things as an untrained artist working with ordinary house paint. After having the wooden structure moved uphill from an oceanfront site in 1899, reflecting the migration of parishioners, "Father John" set about  decorating its interior  with six main murals reflecting scenes from the Bible and religious life, octagonal columns beribboned in red and white paint with Hawaiian translations of phrases from St. Benedict's medal

And that would be travelling over the Saddle Road, high up between the two old volcanoes, Mauna Kea which means white mountain and Mauna Loa which translates to Long low mountain.  As we drove and reached the military base we could see clouds gathering, like right at road level and sure enough it sprinkled or rained as we made our way closer to Hilo side.  Upon arriving in Hilo the rain let up and we were dry all the time we were there.  We viewed both sides of the market and bought a couple of things.  It was very muggy having rained before we arrived.  Leaving the market (we were very fortunate finding a parking space right beside the venders!). We went looking for a bakery called Lanky's where we were directed to buy Monkey Bread, did that and drove down to the ocean to Queen Liliuokalani garden, which is so beautiful and peaceful and done as a Japanese garden.  We strolled around and took lots of photos, some of which I'll post below.  Finishing our explorations there we vi

Woke this morning early and looked out on greyness and thought I was at home!  But as it turned to daylight, there it was, the palm trees, gently rolling surf and then the sun came cheerfully up over Moana Loa.   Downtown Kona today was a nightmare trying to get through creeping traffic to Palani Road.  One of the reasons was a giant women's march about abortion.  Hundred and hundreds of marchers tying up cross traffic and part of the road closed off.  Eventually I got out of there as I was heading for Costco to get a roast chicken to have for dinner tomorrow night.  Ray and Michelle are arriving tonight on west jet.   I flew out here on Air Canada and my flight got in at 1:30in the afternoon.  Gave me ample time to get car organized, get a few groceries and get in and settled.   West jet on the other hand arrives with passengers at 10:45 and leaves with homeward bound passengers at 11:45!  😳 I bought myself a bunch of anthuriums, sometimes known as Flamingo lilies and sometimes c

After breakfast this morning my chauffeur Josh and I got in the car and drove up the coast northward to Hamakaua Macadamia Nut factory so he could get some more Mac brittle.  I picked up a couple bags myself.  Then we backtracked to Mauna Lani Resort and shopping mall and checked out a very high end shop carrying brass animal sculptures and really lovely paintings.  One of the sculptures I liked was $8,000 so I need to really think about that for awhile! 😳 While we were at Mauna Lani we watched 2 4-D shows, the seats move, you get a spray of mist or two during the show and puffs of air.  I liked it but Josh thought it was awful!  Oh well, everyone doesn't like the same stuff. Leaving there, the wind was blowing pretty hard, so we carried on south to Waikoloa Resort and Tiffany's as Josh had ordered a ring but changed his mind to a different finger so they will try to get one in his size over from Maui for tomorrow so another drive up coast.  Back in the car again, we continued