Underway with Meg

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Small Boat underway

Outriggers

Underway on the USCGC WALNUT

My short fly by to check on the house in Alexandria and the fam in California done, it was on to Hawaii.

So what did I do in the first few days after I was out of the Coast Guard? Well I was out on the 1st of July, swore in to the Reserves on the 7th of July and flew out to Hawaii for a week underway with Meg on the WALNUT on the 15th of July. So much for flying solo.

It was great to see Meg and get underway again. I hadn't seen Meg since her and Bob's wedding so we had lots to catch up on. The house she and Bob have is even better than the last, no pool but instead of one deck overlooking the ocean they have three! At least Bob was back East so I was not assigned any home improvement projects (Bob I still think that garage was our best transformation ever). You can bet I will be back to visit! Unfortunately there was only time for a quick dinner then off to bed as we had to get up early. We got underway from Hono in the morning and steamed overnight to Hilo, on the Big Island. Meg had warned me about the possible rough ride as we were in the Pacific. I reminded her I was a California girl and fully aware that a calm day on the Pacific is an 8 foot swell. But I was lucky and we had a perfect ride. Meg being the ultimate hostess slept on an air mattress on the floor and I got the Captain's bed! First, Meg makes a bed like no other. I swear if there was an Olympic sport of bed making Meg would win a gold medal. I never sleep as good as I do in one of Meg's guest beds. The girl’s got talent. Second, laying there curled up in bed with a nice slow roll with no bridge watch to worry about was heaven. Meg was luck to get rid of me because this is the life!

We pulled into Hilo in the early afternoon and liberty was granted in time for us to grab dinner in town and explore downtown Hilo. The next day we got underway to work some ATON around Hilo. It was another perfect day. Meg was able to cut loose for part of a day and we explored the volcano and lava fields. We had dinner in Kona overlooking the water. Finally the day before I left Meg and I broke loose for a few hours and hiked down this beautiful trial to the ocean just outside Hilo. We had just gotten to the bottom of the trail ocean side and I was taking a photo of this beautiful waterfall when Meg's cell ran for the fifth time. She couldn’t get good reception at the bottom of the hill and had to run up. She was apologetic but we had to head back...."No worries I understand, I am not that much of a civilian yet." So when people ask me if I feel like I am out of the Coast Guard the answer is no, but that's ok at least now I get most of the fun stuff. Super proud of Meg!

Off to Thailand via Japan next to start the Asian leg of the trip..............

Oh, the pictures of Mr. Frog: My niece was really worried when I left that traveling alone I would be sad and scared so she gave me one of her stuffed animals to take with me to keep me company. It took several tries to find the right sized traveling companion (The first stuffed animal was bigger than my backpack!) but Mr. Frog was just right. I promised I would take pictures of him with me to show her.

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Photos

Volcano
Big Island

Warning signs everywhere!
Big Island