[Yes, chickens. Wild chickens. Gorgeous chickens. They’re everywhere . . . here on the way into Iao State Park.]
[And it was raining again . . . what a surprise! But in this instance, it worked. This seems to be a place best seen in the rain. Reminded me of the landscapes in Avatar.]
[The main theme here seems to be – “Danger.” Good thing it rained so hard we didn’t venture far. I took this video and then we headed back “to town” to see if there would be a change in the weather.]
[In our hour or so drive around the vicinity, we stopped in at a McDonald’s and then this was the only picture we took (at a small public golf course).]
[We went back to the park though the weather was still foreboding. But the rain held off long enough for us to hike up to the overlook.]
[Driving out, with the Super at the wheel, she stopped at these poinsettias and said, “Take a picture,” then drove forward 5 more feet and said, “Take a picture” . . . her wish was my command.]
[This is looking out from our hallway window, right outside our room, of the hotel’s patio area, including an outdoor restaurant, a bar, and a swimming pool just off to the right. The building in the background is also part of the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel, an old original along this strip.]
[And our beach . . . ]
[OMG, more rainbows! They’re everywhere! But what makes them unique, at least to me, sometimes you can see where they hit the ground. I’d never seen that before?]
[The Black Cliff at the north end of our beach. That girl stood hanging over that edge for several minutes at a time, but she never did jump (of course, I could never even stood at the edge) . . . ]
[But a guy did dive in, with a back flip no less.]
[Our last sunset over Lana’i.]
[Sweet little buttercup, shy little buttercup . . . ]
[Dinner and show outside, at our own hotel, hadn’t done that all week! We bid aloha as the next day we would be off to the Big Island.]
Kilometers are shorter than miles. Save gas, take your next trip in kilometers. ~ George Carlin.
Granted, this is a really strange opening picture. But then I’m a really strange kind of a guy. After years of invites, we finally decided to go to Hawaii. We would spend a week on Maui the week before Thanksgiving with Basketball Dan, who was there for his 21st consecutive Thanksgiving; and Thanksgiving week on the Big Island with our friend Roy, who moved there four years ago. Still, that doesn’t explain the opening sentence. It’s bad enough that this “Thanksgiving story” post-dates the “Christmas card” already posted.
Well, upon return home, I discovered all but the last day’s photos on Maui had “disappeared”? Oy! (OK, that wasn’t exactly the word I used). Professional help couldn’t find them either. So I will try to piece together as best I can those first six days from photos the Super took with her tablet and those I posted on Facebook. I’ll probably be doing some guessing regarding chronology. So, I think this first photo is the first one the Super took as we’re lounging in MSP on Thursday, November 19, girding ourselves for the excruciating 8 1/2 hour flight to Honolulu.
And so this is Maui . . .
[We landed in Kahalui (after a 3-hour layover in Honolulu) and drove in the dark, in the rain, to Ka’anapali, arriving 21 1/2 hours after leaving Alexandria. Not a trip for the faint of heart!]
At the Super’s request I am now captioning ABOVE the photos . . .
[After being roused with smelling salts, we were greeted with leis (of course) . . . ]
[Which way to our bags?]
Greeter: “You’re looking for a pupu platter? ‘Pupu’ means appetizer. If you want beef, that’s ‘pipi.’ So, if you want a beef appetizer, that’s ‘pipi pupu’ (pee pee poo poo)!” Tom: “Well, that sounds like my kind of dining!”
[They’re under my eyes!! (I’ve always wondered why, the world over, you find those “wet floor, piso mojado” cones, when wouldn’t it be just as easy to mop it up as to go get a cone?]
[This was either from MSP to Honolulu or Honolulu to Maui. I couldn’t tell because I was visually impaired . . . ]
And now from off the top of my nearly empty head (and referring to the map above) I’m going to try to resurrect the five days on Maui from November 20 – 24. It rained – a lot – and it was too hot (mid to upper 80’s) and humid for my tastes, but with day trips I think we saw everything there was to see on the island (?). We were on the NE coast, and as I recall on our first day we drove up the NE coast as far as it was safe to take a rental car – Basketball Dan was staying in Kahana where we would catch up with him later – and to Lahaina (“our town”) where they play the Maui Basketball Classic every year (the draw for Basketball Dan) and where cruise ships tender passengers in for . . . shopping expeditions? Then we had day trips to Wailea (and south of there into the lava fields), to the top of Haleakala (misspelled on the map) where the weather did us in, the famous Road to Hana drive, and walking the beach – the Super wishes we would have spent more time just “beaching” it.
[We took a similar photo in Maui but it was “lost.” We weren’t going to send it to the Echo anyway – our 15 minutes of fame has long since expired.]
[Some early photos in and around our Ka’anapali Beach Hotel. The Super made a friend the first night . . . ]
[It’s only 8 miles from our beach to Lana’i in the background . . . ]
[In our hotel and around the neighborhood. It was while we were at the Hula Grill and Barefoot Bar that I saw my first thong bikini – obviously I made many subsequent visits . . . ]
[Our trip up Haleakala offered some spectacular views along the way. But the clouds were coming and going. When we got to the top, visibility was about 50 feet – we waited and waited but it never cleared. The caldera, in which Manhattan would fit, was invisible to us – the internet photos are what we missed. Arrgghhhh!]
[The Wailea trip was like going from Naples to Marco Island in Florida, i.e, hope you have a triple platinum American Express card! The Wailea Grand Hotel was quite the place and these are the only photos that survived from that day (gee, must have Facebooked ’em). The drive south of Wailea through the lava fields to the end of the road was terrific – too bad we lost those photos.]
[The Road to Hana is only 65 miles long but with 600 turns and 50 narrow bridges it’s considered an all-day round trip. It was a bit too long for me. They tell you to buy a box lunch before you start and eat it when you get to Hana. Searching for a box lunch place we found a ginormous guitar and later the Super must have caught me at an overlook. I engulfed a California roll when we got to Hana.]
[Then it was time for our dates with Basketball Dan, at first dinner at Roy’s at the Ka’anapali Golf Club (in the last, our waiter said “grimace”), then the next morning he wanted to take us to the best place for macadamia nut pancakes. Of course it was raining as he stood outside in line (black jacket over his head) – after about 15 minutes of not moving we bagged it. We tried a couple of other places, getting wet again in the process, before settling on I believe the Sea Horse, which was quite acceptable.]
[BTW, the dinner at Roy’s was a reprise of the one we did in Scottsdale in 2009 . . . ]
Well, that’s just about it for Maui. We’ll try to do better next time.
People always ask me, “Were you funny as a child?” Well, no, I was an accountant. ~ Ellen DeGeneres
We still appreciate all the cards and letters we receive from those who remain loyal to the United States Postal Service. Seriously, we do. We just don’t want to work that hard ourselves anymore. By the way, the season once again raises that eternal question . . . why is it that I like boy choirs but don’t care for boy bands?
Kona, Hawaii (above), November 30, 2015, photo by T. Obert. Be there! Aloha!
OK, it’s Christmas letter time again. Like when the end of November rolls around and you feel like a term paper is due. But this end of November we went away . . . for two weeks. You can tell to where by the title of this missive, which will bear no relationship to anything contained herein. Why? Because I don’t have enough time to process the thousand-some Hawaii photos in time to meet the holiday deadline. They will be presented in later additions (I know, you can hardly wait). Oh, and the following photo has absolutely nothing to do with this post other than . . . I just like it (and it applies to me).
[Editor’s note: Throughout I will use the pejorative terms “I” and “me” when referring to myself; I will use the term “we” when referring to Ruthie and me in the sense that this will be a combined missive; and I will use the term “the Super” when referring to the person in charge.]
Christmas letters are designed to make you recall what has happened since the last time you wrote a Christmas letter. I.e., what have you done in the last year that could possibly be of the least bit of interest to anyone who didn’t live it themselves. So, for most of us, that would be not much. But we soldier on. I have a blog. I can look back and see what happened and think . . . really? What I discovered, and what I sometimes forget (I’m sure it happens to you, too?), is did that really happen this year? Aside from the usual plethora of theater, music, and sports always available to us in the greater Alexandria metropolitan area, I discovered we took three significant road trips this year and two other trips that required crossing expansive patches of ocean. Oh, and I had my 50th class reunion this year, something that only comes around 50 years after you have graduated from high school.
The following requires further explanation. We were looking for a Christmas video but Lennon’s “So This Is Christmas” wasn’t quite ready for prime time. So, we went with a tried and true, and keeping with the Supervisor’s designated theme, just substitute “Hawaii” for “Biloxi”:
The year, in pictures . . .
MARCH
[Remember this? It’s called snow. And a reminder that Jami and Danny have been living with us for over a year now and are settled Alexandrians.]
[Our first road trip, mid-March, through South Dakota on the way to St. George, Utah, at the invite of Jeanne and Ken Howell.]
[Through the Oregon Trail in Wyoming, Colorado (stopping to visit Aunt Pearl in Loveland and the relatively snowless ski areas of the state), and on to the national parks of Utah . . . ]
[Then with Jeanne and Ken in St. George, where girls just want to have fun!]
[Ultimately leading to hiking Zion National Park with – guess who? -fellow Alexandrians, Kathleen and Bruce Pohlig. In the last photo, Bruce is explaining that they came by air.]
[Yes, we went to Vegas one day (because it was in the vicinity).]
[On the way home, we stopped at Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort in Utah . . . ]
[Then it was on to the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, and Crazy Horse (our first visit there).]
APRIL
[Back home, yard work with Jami, and getting into the swing of things at the golf club and the winery before . . . ]
[We were winging our way to our next grand adventure, a river cruise from Budapest to Bucharest.]
[We spent our first three days in Prague . . .]
[My signature pose over the city; and Ruthie with her sister Rita and friend Karen, who had joined us on day two.]
[Then our last day in Prague.]
[On the road to Budapest, pay to pee.]
[From our hotel room in Budapest, looking across the Danube at the Buda Castle. We’ve had worse views.]
[Joined here by fellow cruisers, the Gross family of Anne and Bill, and Bert and Kathy, who first went to Vienna rather than Prague . . .]
[The above photo we’re leaving Budapest heading to the next stop in Hungary. Below, Rita is with our boat’s program guide, Cornelia, who just happened to be in that same position on our Southern France cruise the year before!]
[Croatia was next . . .]
[Then Serbia . . . ]
[Then we cruised through the Danube’s Iron Gate . . . ]
MAY
[Bulgaria, anyone? . . . ]
[And finally, Romania . . . ]
JUNE
[Summertime at home. Lake Carlos clouds, Father’s Day, the Super and Jami with fellow Hoosier, Don Shelby, as Mark Twain at Theatre L’Homme Dieu, and my old high school was torn down.]
JULY
[Grandson Tom and fellow Purdue undergrad and close personal friend Celia came for a while.]
[We celebrated the golf club’s 100th anniversary and our usual summer music venues.]
[We took a new route to Camp Brosius, Ruthie’s Indiana University alumni camp in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.]
AUGUST
[Our first road trip to Minnesota’s great north country.]
SEPTEMBER
[A Gopher football game lounging in the President’s Suite.]
[Grape Stomp]
OCTOBER
[50th reunion on Homecoming weekend.]
[Applefest with Dad Hasz and the twins (Megan and Bethany will be running for Gophers next year); Halloween with Anthony Miltich and Lisa Lynn.]
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
We spent the week before Thanksgiving on Maui; the week after on the Big Island. Photos from Maui (except for the last day) have disappeared into celluloid heaven for reasons unknown – I suspect it’s an international travel agency plot to get me to go back there! But . . .
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR AND, HEY, LET’S DO IT ALL AGAIN NEXT YEAR!
Santa Claus wears a Red Suit, he must be a communist. And a beard and long hair, must be a pacifist. What’s in that pipe that he’s smoking?~ Arlo Guthrie
[The JV done good! This was against Fergus Falls on Thursday night. So now I have completed the triumvirate plus one of girls and boys hockey and basketball.]
[Allegedly hockey fans, though were caught leaving after the 2nd period apparently not realizing the game wasn’t over yet?]
[This was at the end of the first period. We had reason for concern as it was as even as the shots on goal would indicate. I had not taken any photos yet because when we arrived for the JV game, all the seats in the top two rows were taken (the nerve of some people!) so I would be shooting entirely through the glass panels and wasn’t sure how that was going to take. And we were joined by fellow Super Fans Teddy and Jerry Hockey and Professor Pohl so we spent most of the 1st period catching up on things. Oh, Mack Strong (16), junior forward, got the goal.]
[Noah Hittle (15), senior forward, drops by the bench just to see what’s happening.]
[The freshmen wunderkind, Jack Westlund (10) and Ben Doherty (8). At least for this game they were every bit as good as advertised.]
[Wade Smith (25), junior defense, demonstrates the snowplow stop.]
[There’s a scrum, and in the end the ref points GOOOOAAAAAALLLL. Wyatt Wittenburg (9), senior forward, with the honors.]
[Our man Hittle again.]
[And again? Maybe an attraction for clean-up hitting first basemen?]
[My goodness . . . I caught a puck going into the net! I believe this was Mr. Westlund’s goal.]
[Doherty and Westlund again.]
[Mr. Smith and Mr. Strong]
[Strong circles in the offensive zone. I believe he is the leading scorer returning from last year’s team.]
[On the bench assisting the brain trust is Micah Christenson (27), junior halfback . . . er, forward. I don’t know why he was in civvies, but the tie and helmet are a nice touch, both requirements.]
[There may not be crying in baseball, but there is hugging in hockey! I assume this must have been after Nate Folsom’s (5), junior defense (see below), goal, and for reasons I have already forgotten the goal created excitement beyond the norm?]
[Mr. Folsom (see above) – we have had occasion to socialize with members of his extended family, including his grandmother who was seated to our left during the game where at one point the puck flew over the glass, over her head (thankfully), and then was kick saved by me. Unfortunately, I was wearing sneakers, not goalie skates, so it . . . hurt!]
[Mucking it up around the Otter goal . . . ]
[Still mucking . . . it’s Mr. Strong.]
[Had to get this. The Otter coaches had several animated discussions with the on ice constabulary. I have no idea about what . . . so maybe they had a point?]
[By the end of the 2nd period the Cards were in total control. That may explain the sudden disappearance of the alleged hockey fans.]
[The highlight of the evening was the new puck shoot board. Looks nice. The old one had a lot of mileage on it and looked like 27 miles of bad road.]
[And it produced a lot of excitement! The young lady in jersey No. 10 stepped up first and, obviously a player, drilled one right through a $25.00 slot from the blue line. Then the smiling hockey mom stepped up and slapped one right down the middle through the $100 slot! Most of the time you can tell most hockey parents have never touched a stick, but she looked like she had game. Anyway, I believe that is only the 2nd time I have seen two winners on the same night.]
[It’s during late game time outs that the team discusses apres game fine dining.]
[We did not play the 3rd period the way it should have been played. For some reason, we kept taking penalties, including a 5-minute major . . . with a two goal lead? We played a good portion of the period playing shorthanded – the good thing was we were able to kill them all off. We were fortunate that Jack Powell (21), junior defense, scored what may be one of the prettiest goals for the whole season by deking past two defenders and backhanding the puck into the upper corner. Strong scored his 2nd goal (above), and the team’s last, on a power play at the end of the game.]
[If can play every game like we played in the 2nd period, it will be a good year.]
Follow-up for the snowbirds: We had the Richie Braun annual “For Those Who Stay Behind” soiree at Arrowwood Friday night. A good turnout of 23 senior golf league members (and alumni) and spouses for all you can eat pasta and stir fry – at our ages, 1/2 of one plate is usually plenty! I have to report that Dusty had seconds, but he said it was dessert. I forgot to take pictures . . . it happens. Go back in the blog archives and look at photos from past such soirees (always the 2nd Friday in December). But I believe I was thrown off my game by the fact the Super went without even wearing a coat – it’s still summer here? – and WASP and Aagard were also hosting their annual Christmas parties here. We could hardly get out onto County Road 22 to get there as it was a steady stream of holiday party revelers – think rush hour on “The 5” in LA! Oy!
[The only proof of our attendance – our annual gift from Al & Diann. Thanks again to them!]
How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo? — Jacques Plante
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