Sandy's travels

Thought I would post some pix of us from Hawaii. The top photo is Cousins, Tracy and Joanne sitting with Captain Jack, followed by myself and Joanne, Tracy showing his morning exuberance after a walk, Joanne working in her petite point horse, and lastly a selfie of my grandson Josh, when he was here in January, with me in the background.

Our time here in Hawaii is quickly winding down. It has been interesting and educational to spend almost three months here, seeing the flowers, birds, and lifestyles of both the residents and winter populations of snowbirds. As I've walked about the area, I've been captivated by the different colours and sizes of some of the flowering plants and the trees. The Hibiscus for instance, just look a the variety just in these few photos. The native yellow Hibiscus is the state flower. The yellow one pictured here is a hybrid as the native yellow appears to be plain with a small bit of orange veining. Our next few days will be spent packing, cleaning our condo and catching a few more hours at the pool. My next post should come from Mexico where we plan to spend the month of April! Til then, Aloha from the Big Island and Maholo (thank you) for tuning into my travel blog!

Last evening my cousins went to the Luau at a local resort....the same one I had attended in January with my grandson Josh. Friends from Australia had arrived for a weeks vacation on Sunday so while my cousins were at the luau, I visited with my friend at her room which looked right down on the luau grounds. We caught up on each others families and friends and sipped wine while we watched and listened to the music and dances. It was a lot of fun because this gave a different perspective on the luau. The pit where the pig is roasted is called an Imu or earth oven. We watched as they dug away the soil heaped over top, then peeled away the coverings and banana leaves to where the pig was unveiled inside its wired case. The Master of Ceremonies directs the participants by table to the all you can eat buffet which can feature all sorts of meats and seafood including the roasted pork, salads, vegetables and desserts. Once the meal has been served, dishes are cleared away for the show...

Hilo has one of the best farmers markets on the Island as far as I'm concerned. Lots of beautiful fresh produce, fruits and vegetables and flowers. Tropical fruits such as papayas, lychee nuts, avocados, bananas, pineapples, durian, and others. Also, with the large oriental populations there are many different types of produce unfamiliar to us as well as baked goods, prepared goods, smoothies, cold drinks, puddings, bento boxes, Portuguese breads and many many other delicacies. I love walking through and just looking. Flowers in all their tropical splendor can be bought for $5.00 a bunch and include orchids, jasmine, anthuriums and others I can't even remember. So beautiful. The market is open every day, but not all vendors are present then. Mainly Saturday is the best day and Wednesday has quite a lot as well. I don't know the criteria for a stall at the stalls across from the produce section but there was a lot of imported clothing, mass produced jewellery ...

Self explanatory....

Wednesday morning saw us heading out to take the saddle road back across to Hilo. We arrived just at lunch time so found a little cafe for a quick sandwich and then walked over to the Pacific Tsunami Museum, just across from the waterfront. The museum is dedicated to education and awareness of tsunamis so that no one should ever die due to a tsunami. If you go to hIlo, the museum is located at 130 Kamehameha Avenue and is now open Monday through Saturday, 9 to 4 pm. The first photo (credit: Cecilio Licos) was taken of people fleeing before the waves hit on April Fools Day, 1946 around 7:00 in the morning which was about an hour before most businesses opened, or the death toll could have been a lot higher. This tsunami was a result of an 8.6 earthquake off the Aleutian Islands and because there was no warning system at that time, people were unaware, even though it took 5 hours for the first of 9 waves to hit shore. There were 159 deaths throughout the Hawaiian islands that ...

The top photo portrays the hawaiian Goose known as Nēnē (sounds like naynay). It is the official state bird and is found exclusively on Maui, Molokai, Kauai and big Island Hawaii. The Nēnē is evolved from the Canada Goose which most likely arrived here around 500,000 years ago. It is the worlds rarest goose, it's populations being depleted by introduced species such as pigs, cats and Asian mongoose! The second photo describes a rare fern found on the volcanos!