Yesterday was our first full day in HI. Jeanne had to work so we headed to the Pink Mocha Cafe for frou-frou drinks and snacks. Starting at 10:30 the three mainlanders had hour and a half massages, compliments of Jeanne. Mother’s Day present for Gerri and me, graduation for Becky. Then we hit Costco, Target, and Safeway to load up on food for the beachside house we head to tomorrow. Made shrimp scampi and garlic bread and we ate on the lanai as the sun set. Today started out with an early morning walk on the lava and sand beach. From there we took a tour of the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory and got to learn about how to make chocolate from pod to end product. This farm has 1600 cacao trees on one acre of ... read more

Let the adventure really begin. Today was a red letter day. We had to drive about 90 miles to accomplish it, but we got our covid tests and are all negative. Thank you, universe. Had a lovely breakfast with Gerri’s friends before we headed home to laundry and packing. I took grandkids out for dinner and we had a blast talking about upcoming trip for Becky and new college semester courses for both. 6:30 am can checkin for flight to LAX and 11 am for flight to HI. Am much more relaxed and excited about trip now. Worrying about which test we would have to get and timing to get it was nerve-wracking. But type and timing verified today. Had results in less than three hours. We got to do it to ourselves and only had ... read more

The summer of 2021 is almost officially here. Yesterday my granddaughter graduated from high school. Big difference from when her brother graduated three years ago. Then entire families jammed into the field house at McDaniel College. This ceremony took place in an agricultural exhibit hall with only 4 tickets per family. Becky says it is called the cow palace. A big open cement floored building with giant fans slowly spinning and sprinkler heads that looked more like rain shower heads than commercial sprinklers. Giant signs announcing upcoming events instead of sports champion flags. Plastic wobbly chairs instead of bleachers. The weather held off until graduation was over and then the rains began. It wasn’t too bad at first, so we joined the throngs headed to the high school where photo op areas were set up. It ... read more

Well eveyone, it is about that time. We should be on the road heading for Carol’s house before nine am tomorrow. So time to catch up on last two days. Yesterday was lighthouse day. We thought about going up to Bar Harbor but figured over three hours each way would cramp our style. Instead we headed to Boothbay and Pemaquid Lighthouse. On the way down the peninsula we found Fort Edgemore, a Revolutionary and Civil War fort set on a promontory overlooking a breathtaking cove. It looked so peaceful. Was built to protect a port further inland because of rumors in both wars that the port was a target. Never materialized though. Bunker looked like an Eagle’s nest home, with eight sides having windows for cannons and slots for riflemen. Onward we drove to the lighthouse. ... read more

We have been so busy that I forgot to blog, so here go three days at once. Thursday dawned chilly and damp. Seems we had a storm and cold front blow in overnight. But... since we had been proactive and bought trolley and harbor cruise tickets before storm hit, we bravely put on coats, grabbed umbrellas and headed across Casco Bay into downtown Portland. We had given ourselves a lot of time to get there and find a parking space because the website warned us, and we ended up parked right next to the boat at DeMillos floating restaurant, a converted ferry. So we wandered a few blocks and ended up stopping at the Holey Donut where we picked up a couple of wild blueberry donuts. Really rich, took us two days to eat them. The ... read more