Government Work in Hawaii

 

We left Argentina to welcome my two new grandchildren into the family, visit, take a break from the road, as well as complete government work like renewing driver's licenses and passports. It was a brutal trip on Colombia's Avianca Airlines, for those of us in this world condemned to the perpetual misery of economy class. Luckily, we had a four hour layover in Bogotá  between Buenos Aires and JFK. We were able to stretch our legs and have an expensive meh of a meal at one of Guy Fieri's restaurants. We are house sitting until October in this house, near Kalapana, Hawaii.

I stayed a few days visiting Lilly's family in Fishkill, New York. She dropped me off at the Poughkeepsie train station where I caught the Amtrak Empire Builder to Manhattan's Grand Central Station. It is a very peaceful and scenic ride, passing through West Point and the small towns on the banks of the Hudson River.

I then caught the Amtrak Northeast Regional from Grand Central to Charlottesville to visit my brother. My Mom joined us for a night and then we two headed to her house in Richmond.

One day I met the ever loquacious Chef Richard at Buddy's, a old school dive that has been around a long time.

Another day my Mom and I went to the peaceful haven  arboretum of Hollywood Cemetery to visit my father's family grave site and checked out his new government issued USMC gravestone.

Another day we went to a restaurant recommended for their ceviche. I was expecting something similar to this one in the above picture, which I had recently had in Arica, Chile.

Instead, what came was the above dish. This was how it arrived, nothing was touched or eaten yet. Say what? Don't want to be a ceviche snob about it because there was some fish on the bottom. A nice $27 salad one might extol.

Several days later my Mom dropped me off with my worldly possessions (and I have so many worldly possessions because I have to carry a summer and a winter wardrobe) to catch the Amtrak Northeast Regional again. This time northbound to Arlington, Virginia to meet my first grandchild.

Owen the Warrior reacted to grandpa's first visit with horror.

Messi frigging rules in this family.

Mom and Owen.

Giles wears many hats now days.

Then it was off to Boise, Idaho to visit my second grandchild, Olivia.

Mom and Olivia.

Hunter and Olivia.

Messi jersey from Buenos Aires for Hunter and a Indigenous outfit from Peru for Olivia. 

Hunter wears many hats these days.

Many days, we went walking on a portion of the Boise River Greenbelt. It is a scenic 25 mile pathway through the city, along the Boise River, that offers all manner of outdoor activities as well as restaurants and this wine tasting venue.

Starting in the 1800's, people started immigrating from the Basque country to Idaho, searching for their pot of gold. Like many people, they didn't find it and instead became shepherds in the booming sheep business. Boise has a Basque block with a Basque Market and restaurants. They offer all the Spanish Basque classic dishes: paella, chorizo, tapas, jamon serrano, pintxos and of course Manchego cheese.

It was then time to head to Oahu to visit my brother and his wife before heading to the Big Island. I was thinking that my travels from Buenos Aires to New York, Virginia, Idaho and now Hawaii must cover like 25% of the Earth. Time for some down time.

One day we went to check out the controversial  Wai Kai Wave Project Controversial because...a wave machine on the island that is the birth place of surfing and home to the famed North Shore, where surfing is free? Controversial because of the huge amount of fresh water it uses on an island already water challenged? Controversial because prices start at $70 per 45 minute session, which puts it out of reach for the local kids? The locals can work there but not go there, a la the White Lotus. WTF?

So we went to a local beach, White Plains, where the waves are gentle and is not too crowded, considering how close it is to Waikiki. Probably won't read about the common property crimes here in Hawaii as you peruse the Hawaiian Airlines magazine on your flight over, but many a tourist returns from a day at the beach, to find a shattered window in their rental car and all those devices they left on the seats gone. Talk about a hassle.

Four years off island, many Mexican and South American beaches under the belt and carrying a few extra kilos from all that cacao in Ecuador and the bife de chorizos every other day in Buenos Aires....it is good to be home!

We are house sitting in this house near Kalapana. We are watching the owner's children  cats and maintaining the garden and fruit trees.

The garden before we got to it....

and after a couple of weeks of weeding and planting and making our own compost. I haven't had a garden in over 10 years... good to be back in the game.

Some type of Bok Choi Chinese cabbage. Collards, Kale and other leafy greens do very well in Hawaii.

This is a Laurel Bay Leaf tree that I bought on Amazon about seven years ago. It was about three inches tall when I planted it near the backdoor of the Kalani kitchen. When the 2018 lava flow help close Kalani, I transplanted it into a pot, where it sat on the owner's porch while she built this new house. I dug compost into the Bay's bed and these squash, potato and cherry tomato plants were volunteers from the compost.

Just wandering around again, reminded me how beautiful Hawaii is.

Here is the transfer station in Pahoa, where one takes their garbage. A 2015 lava flow was threatening Pahoa and they closed the station. The lava got this close, breaching the cyclone fence and like that, the lava flow stopped.

Big turnout for my 66th birthday bash.

When I first arrived at Kalani 1n 2013 I had an Obama flip phone that didn't have very good reception in these parts. So I would make my long distance calls from this pay phone near the front gate. The young 'uns coming and going thought this hilariously funny. They would hoot and holler and take pictures of me with their iPhones, at my expense I might add. 10 years later I am kinda up to date phone wise.

This is Pohoiki (Isaac Hale) Beach Park. Before the eruption of 2018, this was a busy landing dock that led to the open Pacific. All manner of tuna fishermen, surfers and kids swimming would have been right here. When the lava hit the sea, it exploded, creating mega-tons of new black sand and taking out most of the erstwhile busy park and campgrounds.

I had forgotten that SPAM is a national treasure in Hawaii.

Uncle Charlie's Band kicking it out on the Big Island. He opened with They Call Me the Breeze, an old J.J. Cale song. In high school I thought Lynyrd Skynyrd did it better. Some 50 years later, Uncle Charlie ain't no slouch.

They call me the breeze

And I keep blowin' down the road

Well now they call me the breeze

 I keep blowin' down the road

I ain't got me nobody

I ain't carrying me no load

Ain't no change in the weather

Ain't no changes in me

Well, there ain't no change in the weather

Ain't no changes in me

I ain't hiding from nobody

Nobody's hiding from me

And that's the way it's supposed to be

Well, I got that green light baby

I got to keep moving on

Well, I got that green light baby

I got to keep moving on

Well, I might go back to California

Might go down to Georgia

Or I just might stay home

Took over 13 weeks but I just received my new state of the art US passport. Good until June 23, 2033. Will I still be a wanderin' and a ponderin' a decade from now?

Thanks for stopping by