Wow, what a year we have had! I know that every year is a blessing, but this has been such an extra special time for us. For the past few years, as we discussed Rick stepping down as department head and going on sabbatical we knew we wanted a chance to go overseas. Rick's involvement over the years with so many organizations and work with colleagues really paid dividends. His experiences at both Ljubljana University and the University of Queensland were exceptional and I was so glad to be part of the experience. It was a great way for Rick to transition out of administration and for us to spend lots of time together. We decided it was a test drive for retirement.
I had good intentions to post a few things once I got to Hawaii, but having slow Internet (must be on Island time) and then the holidays with Nick and Amanda didn't allow me many opportunities to put something together until today. We are now in Volcano, HI just a few miles from Volcano National Park, staying in yet another nice VRBO rental. This place is a cute little cottage surrounded by the rainforest and for some reason this place has really fast internet. Nick and Amanda left Friday morning to return to Eugene and today we drove to Volcano National Park for our last 3 nights. We will fly to the mainland on Tuesday evening. There are so many fixed feelings about this adventure coming to an end. Obviously, I am ready to be back at my home, sleeping in my own bed, not living out of a suitcase. I will be happy to cuddle with the pets and see my friends. It will be good to be back in a regular routine, although I do think it may take some time to adjust. Rick and I have spent so much time together that it may be an adjustment not having him around so much. However, I'm always sad when it is time to leave Hawaii. I really do enjoy the Big Island and always feels so good when I am here. The worse part about going home is that we will be returning in the dead of winter. We have been avoiding cold weather since last spring, so except for a few days this summer in Canada and a few days in Slovenia we have enjoyed summer like weather. Not looking forward to bundling up in a coat and sloshing through snow or cold rain.
A few weeks ago Rick and I were boarding a plane in Auckland and heading to Honolulu. For me it was a long flight, I was in so much pain from my fall. My mouth was full of cuts and I could barely talk or eat. The next morning we went to a walk in clinic at Longs Drug and the NP was able to prescribed a "magic" mouthwash to help with the pain. She felt like I was healing nicely, no sign of infection. So between the magic mouthwash and the miracle balm I had purchased in New Zealand I was on the mend. Our week in Oahu was fairly low key. We stayed in Kailua on the east side of the island, a VRBO suite just a few blocks from the beach. We went to the North Shore to see some surfing, hiked Diamond Head, had dinner with friends, visited Pearl Harbor and had dinner at Dukes on Waikiki. After dinner we were walking down the street and suddenly heard someone shout "Perdue". We turned around and it was Kendley Davenport and Pam, VT grad and member of the HTM advisory board. Such a small world! Oahu is a beautiful island, but it so busy with all the traffic.
Then we were off to the Big Island. As soon as we landed, Rick and I look at each other and gave a sigh. Rick decided to upgrade to a convertible and I have to admit there is something about tooling around on an island with the top down. We spent most of our time at the beach and although it has been a little cool and we have some good size waves instead of the nice flat water that I like, it was still very relaxing. We even saw whales playing off shore from the beach. We went to a few of our favorite restaurants and visited one of our favorite towns, Hawi. We played golf a couple of times and it was so much fun when we got to play the course at Mauna Kea. Wow, what a beautiful but difficult course. For the first time we visited a Vanilla Farm which included a delicious lunch and tour. Nick and Amanda joined us for part of our stay. It was fun showing Amanda around the island and they went off for a couple of days to explore on their own. We played Settlers of Canton most nights and watched beautiful sunsets from the lanai of our rental house.
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| Surfers on the North Shore |
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| North Shore of Oahu |
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| Views from Diamond Head |
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| Pearl Harbor Arizona Memorial |
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| Kona Brewing Co on Oahu |
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Hula Daddy Coffee Farm on the Big Island
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| Celebration dinner for Nick and Amanda's engagement at Roy's. |
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| Amanda entertaining us on Christmas Day |
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| Nick and Rick were in charge of the grill |
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| Big Island Country Club. |
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| Snorkeling at Mauna Kea |
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| Walking along the shore at Mauna Lani looking for turtles |
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| I just love seeing turtles |
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| Amanda enjoying the turtle |
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| Sunset from the lanai |
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| Morning on the beach |
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| Amanda and Rick in the water |
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| Vanilla Farm Tour |
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| Did not know that vanilla bean comes from an orchid that only blooms for 4 hours. |
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| Watching Oregon Ducks at Tropics Ale House with Nick and Amanda |
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| Golf at Mauna Kea |
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| Drinks at Fairmont Orchid |
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| We had a huge storm on the island Friday night. This dry creek bed turned into a cascade. We could actually hear the roar of water from the house. The runoff turned the ocean a coffee brown along the shoreline |
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| The result of the runoff from the rain. |
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| This is the bedroom of our cottage in Volcano |
