Who Said Vacation Was for Sleeping in?

Just now catching some time to write in my blog. So I will share about yesterday now and share a second post about today later tonight.

We decided it would be a cool thing to go the Arizona Memorial and Pearl Harbor on Independence Day, but we knew we would have to get up early to get our tickets since they "sell out" quickly.  I told the boys I wanted to be in line at 7:00 a.m. when they started handing them out, and we accomplished that goal fairly well. Our ticket for the Arizona was at 12:00 p.m., so we decided to go to breakfast and then come back to explore the other exhibits at this National Monument.

After a quick search on Yelp, Joe found us a little hole a strip mall cafe located just a mile or so away. We ate a yummy breakfast at Koa Pancake House. Joe was very excited to discover they had coconut syrup for his banana pancakes and David had a red velvet waffle. After we finished our large portions (well except for the waffle), we headed back to Pearl Harbor and tried to decide what we were willing to spend money on based on the time we had until our time for the Arizona Memorial. We walked through two exhibits on the events prior to  and during the attack. David and I decided to pay for a self-guided tour of the USS Bowfin, a submarine that was launched exactly one year after the attack and was nicknamed, the Pearl Harbor Avenger. We got to walk through the tight spaces and learn a lot about this particular one submarine and submarines in general.

It was finally time for our scheduled appointment which started with a 23-minute film with actual footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor. We then boarded a boat that is owned and operated by the U.S. Navy for a trip out to the memorial. The rangers of the Park Service explained that the Arizona Memorial was a joint project between NPS and the U.S. Navy. There were very specific rules we had to follow and we were not allowed to use our phones except for photos (no texting, phone calls, or emails) out of respect for those who lost their lives. It was a somber experience looking over the side of the platform at remnants of a ship that became a watery tomb. The Arizona is still leaking oil one drop at a time. You can see the oil as it collects on the surface and moves with the current away from the memorial. The thing I found most significant was how the survivors of the attack have responded. Many of them upon their death have had their ashes interred with their shipmates. It was really quite touching and the entire experience made me glad that we don't forget our dead. It is good that we have these memorials to remember those who lost their lives defending our country.


Well, you would think that would have been enough for one day, but we still had the afternoon, so once we finished the Arizona Memorial tour, we headed north to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was a gorgeous drive along the coast with the lush tropical mountainside on one side and the ocean yards away on the other side. At times the sea would splash over the wall onto the road. The scenery was so beautiful and exactly what I imagine when I think of Hawaii.

We arrived at the Cultural Center at 3:00 p.m. and spent the rest of the day and evening wandering through the six different islands of Polynesia. We learned a little about the culture, watched a few shows, and even learned how to dance like a Tahitian. It was fun and the Tongan show was really funny and involved audience participation. We stayed for the luau and got to see dances from representatives of the different cultures. We watched the pig come out of the ground, tasted poi, and sampled a variety of food both Hawaiian and American. We shared our table with a family from Indiana and we enjoyed getting to know them a bit. The final event of our visit to PCC was the night show, Ha: Breath of Life. We got to see many dancers and the show was well done. The boys were most impressed by the fire throwers. I was a little skeptical that the exhibits and dances we saw were authentic representations of the cultures, but Joe did a little research and it sounds like much of what we saw was fairly accurate albeit a little showy.

The day ended with the hour long drive back to our Airbnb. On the drive home, I announced to the boys that I'd really like to hike Diamond Head in the morning and do it right when the park opens at 6:00 a.m. So after some grumbling about having to wake up at 5:30 two mornings in a row, we settled down to a few hours of blissful sleep.

Read my son David's perspective here: http://favoritesonsspiels.blogspot.com/

Book 'em Danno

This year my in-laws are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on Maui and most of the entire McKay clan is showing up to join in the fun. There will be 22 of us staying at a villa on the beach, but more on that when the time comes.

Today is Day 1 of our Hawaii trip. Although we saw several police cars, Steve McGarrett and the rest of the Hawaii 5-0 team were nowhere to be found.

Since no one in our immediate family has ever been to the Hawaiian Islands, the three boys and I decided to get started a few days early and be typical tourists in Oahu.

We arrived at Honolulu International Airport around 1:00 p.m. and after waiting in a very slow, long line, I was able to pick up our rental car at Hertz. I had high hopes for Hertz, especially after our adventure at Christmas time with Alamo and Enterprise. Ahh, but that's another story.

We found our little car and realized that our four suitcases weren't going to fit in the back, so David's suitcase was relegated to the third spot on the back seat. Note to self: I need to get a bit larger car when we get to Maui since Matt will be joining us. After fumbling around in the back for a while, Zach announced that he would be sitting in the middle spot since apparently the passenger seat behind the driver was missing the part that the seat belt clicks into. Weird. What is it with us and car rentals?

Once we were all cozy and buckled in, we headed to the Dole Plantation where we hoped to learn about pineapples. On the way, David commented that he thought it was strange that Hawaii would have Interstate highways. We drove on Interstate H1 and H2, but last I checked, there isn't a way for the highway to go into other states. Isn't that the definition of "interstate"? Plus the numbering systems was the opposite of the rest of the U.S. The odd number was traveling east/west and the even number was north/south. As we drove, we listened to the soundtrack from Lilo and Stitch to help us get into the Hawaiian mood.

The Dole Plantation was your typical tourist trap, but for Joe our pineapple lover, we had to go so he could get a Dole Whip. We walked through the garden and read about some of the different plants, and then took on the challenge of the World's Largest Maze. The race was on to collect the icons from 8 different stations. David was first and was through in about 35 minutes. I was last to finish with a time of 70 minutes.

It was time to check in at our Airbnb, so we drove back toward Waikiki and one of the freeways we drove on was H2O1. How fun is that? We found the house and met our host, Chris. Turns out we are just down the road from the Rainbow Drive-In, a classic dive for tourists and locals alike. So that was where we had dinner. David and I had cheeseburgers and fries, but Zach and Joe tried the famous Loco Moco which is a hamburger patty covered in gravy on a bed of rice and a fried egg on top of it all. While eating outside at the picnic table, it began to rain and we got to see a rainbow in the sky which was quite apropos.

A 15 minute walk in the opposite direction took us to the beach where we walked out on a pier  and watched the surfers and the kids in the water. Even with the intermittent rain and breeze, we can definitely tell that we are in the tropics. Fortunately, our room has air conditioning. It's only 9:00 in Hawaii, but my body says it's midnight, so it's time to put this head to rest. Tomorrow will come early and we have more planned than we have time for.

Want to read about our first day from another perspective? Here's David's blog: favoritesonsspiels.blogspot.com

The Final Day

I think I slept the best our last night of the road trip. My nephew Alex graciously gave me his bed, and it was the first time this trip that I fell asleep quickly. We were up early and went to Marc & Jackie's church. They had a new pastor and an interim worship leader, and it was nice to worship with them and their church family.

After church we went to brunch at a local cafe. The food was really good, but the company was even better. We always enjoy time with the Newbury Park McKays. It's so fun to see my "little nephews" all grown up and cracking jokes. We laughed and joked and discussed the Mazerunner series with my nephew, Ian, who had just finished it the week before.


With our tummies full and satisfied, we went back to their house. Alex always has a new game to introduce to us, and this one was a bit complicated but still fun. It is based on the show Firefly. We all had to make friends and make money while avoiding the Reavers and the Alliance. Both Joe and I like this cult T.V. show, but Zach is the biggest fan and he would have loved the game. Alex will probably come down our way one more time before summer ends, and he promised to bring the game so Zach can play it too.

Meanwhile Mark was planning his own trip with Jackie to Yellowstone and the surrounding areas. I knew they were planning a trip, so I had every intention of passing off our bear spray to them. Unfortunately, they are flying, and you can't take bear spray on a plane, not even in the checked luggage. Bummer.

We ended our time with this special family watching the movie Mazerunner. The boys and I hadn't seen it, so Ian pulled out his blue ray and we watched it comparing it to the book. The story line was a little different as it always is in book adaptations, but the message of the book and the underlying themes were there, plus it had plenty of suspense and the maze was definitely menacing. We then watched the trailer to the next movie Scorch Trials which is coming out in September.

By 7:00 p.m. we were packed up and headed home. Traffic was cooperative and we pulled into the driveway at 10:00 p.m. glad to be home, but sad our yearly adventure was coming to a close. This was my fifth road trip with my adult sons. I am so grateful that they continue to go with me. We have a blast and I will always remember these times with them with so much fondness and joy.

Now it's time to unpack and do laundry while I think about next year's destination...

For another perspective:

David's blog: http://favoritesonsspiels.blogspot.com

Joe's blog: https://joesage.wordpress.com

The Life of Disney

Yesterday morning we were up early, checked out of our motel, and on the road to San Francisco by 8:30 a.m. We had an hour and a half drive to the Presidio where we planned to spend a few hours at the Walt Disney Family Museum. The museum is not owned by the Disney corporation. It is owned and run by the family of Walt Disney and it is very impressive.

We thought we'd spend a few hours in the museum, but in reality we were there for over five hours. This museum is filled with anything you would ever want to know about Walt Disney, his life and his accomplishments. There were 10 galleries filled with information, photographs, posters, artifacts, videos, and even voice recordings of past interviews with Walt Disney. The galleries were in chronological order starting with Walt's childhood and ending with the final gallery about his death and ongoing legacy. It was really amazing all that he accomplished in his 65 years of life. It was fun to learn about animation and film-making, and do some of the hands on exhibits. While watching one of the Silly Symphonies, I was certain I saw a hidden Mickey. The boys didn't really see it, but I know it was one. There were many things to see, but my favorite part was a cool model of Disneyland. It was not a model from any particular year, but instead contained many of the parts that Walt had imagined over the years.

All the individual drawings required for 10 seconds of animation

Model of Disneyland

After I purchased a tin replica of an E Ticket for the ballroom wall, we left the museum a little after 3:00 p.m. and drove to Marc and Jackie's house for the night. We arrived around 10:00 p.m., chatted until after midnight, and then it was off to bed for a good night's sleep.

For another perspective:

David's blog: http://favoritesonsspiels.blogspot.com

Joe's blog: https://joesage.wordpress.com

Sweet Treats and Reads

Morning came too quickly yesterday. I thought I would just crash when we got into our room in the wee hours, but it took me over an hour to fall asleep. Then 3 1/2 hours later, I was awake. I knew that breakfast was over at 9:30 and it was likely the boys would sleep through it. So I went down to breakfast, ate a bit and then loaded a plate and bowls of food for Joe and David. Back in the room, the boys were stirring, but no one was ready to get up yet. So the food went into the fridge, and everyone slept for another hour and a half.

Eventually, we had to leave, so it was back in the car, as we headed to downtown Eugene, Oregon. Downtown was really cute and the city would have been a fun place to wander and explore, but Voodoo Doughnuts was our destination.  We couldn't resist all of the crazy varieties, so we bought a dozen and shared three different doughnuts before walking back to our car. On the way back to the car, we came across another little shop that sold gourmet miniature cupcakes. The cupcakes at Toadstool Cupcakes were calling my name, so I bought 6 to share with Marc and Jackie.

An hour later, we were back on the Interstate 5 and traveling south. We had decided the night before (or should I say earlier that morning) that we wouldn't go to the Lassen Volcanic National Park since it was a bit of a detour and our late start and tired bodies, would have made it an unwise decision. The sign on the door of Voodoo Doughnuts claimed it was a National Forest, so I was reassured that our road trip could still include four national parks!

The rest of the day was spent driving and listening to the second book in the Mazerunner series: The Scorch Trials. This is one of my favorite parts of our trips. Every trip we listen to a book. Sometimes it's only one book if it is a short trip, but on our longer trips, we usually listen to a series. It helps to pass the time, and it's a lot of fun discussing the book and predicting what we think will happen next.

We pulled into our motel on the outskirts of Sacramento around 9:30 p.m. and had Voodoo doughnuts for dinner. My goal was to be asleep by 10:00 p.m., but it was after 11:00 before I finally dozed off for the night. We'll be up and out no later than 8:30 this morning per David's request. We have about a two hour drive into San Francisco and the one thing we must do is the Walt Disney Family museum. David has been waiting all trip for this day and I'm looking forward to it too.

For another perspective:

David's blog: http://favoritesonsspiels.blogspot.com

Joe's blog: https://joesage.wordpress.com

The Highs and Lows of the Pacific Northwest

Yesterday was a day filled with ups and downs, excitement and exhaustion, laughter and annoyance. You can read the details on David and Joe's blogs. I'm too tired to spend a lot of time describing our excursions with well written prose, so I'll just include a timeline of the day.

• 6:00 a.m.: Rise and Shine
• 7:00 a.m. Chat with Lynne before she heads out to work
• 7:30 a.m.: Start thinking a quick trip to the border would be fun. Decide to go to the Peace Arch Park. Should be easy to find, after all it's at the border.
• 9:00 a.m.: Say goodbye to Garry and head north on Interstate 5
• 9:20 a.m.: Take the Peace Portal exit, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere that looks like a park
• 9:25 a.m. Ask Google for directions and follow the directions driving parallel to I-5 on back roads.
• 9:30 a.m.: Back on the freeway and faced with a fork in the highway - to the left and up a ramp or straight ahead. Google says go straight
• 9:31 a.m.: Look up and see a sign that says Peace Arch on the ramp we didn't take and realize we are headed to the border.
• 9:32 a.m.: Slow down and start looking for a U-turn or someway to turn around to no avail
• 9:35 a.m: Cross some yellow zone while waiting in line at the border, set off some alarm, and annoy the agent.
• 9:37 a.m.: Explain to the Canadian border agent that we made a mistake and don't want to go to Canada.
• 9:39 a.m.: Drive through an opening in the barricade and join a long line of cars waiting to cross into the U.S.
• 10:00 a.m.: Waiting in long line of cars
• 10:15  a.m.: Talk to several Customs and Border Protection officers while waiting in the long line. Both explained how to get to Peace Arch Park once we got back over the border
• 10:30 a.m. Set off another alarm because my car blocked the view of a camera or something like that. Explain why we are in line to cross into the U.S. without passports. Answer several questions about where we are from, why we are so far north, and where we were born.
• 10:35 a.m.: Get sent to secondary inspection point, instructed to leave keys in car, walk past other cars being searched, and go into building to stand in a line.
• 10:50 a.m.: Hand over our driver's licenses to an agent, and sit on a bench to wait
• 11:15 a.m.: Still waiting
• 11:30 a.m.: Finally cleared to return to the U.S. after a few more questions, our licenses are returned.

Final thoughts: Never did get to see the Peace Arch,  frankly don't really want to now.

• 1:00 p.m.: Arrive at Mavi & Bob's place, get a tour of the house and see all of the work Mavi's been doing painting and building. Tell her our border story, and hear about her nanny job and her dogs. Eat yummy snacks prepared by Mavi.
• 2:00 p.m.: Hugs goodbye to Mavi

Final thoughts: It was great fun to see Mavi and see her doing well. I know it's been hard for her leaving family and friends in San Diego, but she is making a great home for Bob and herself and living her life to the fullest. Very proud of that Mavi, girl!

• 2:30 p.m.: Pull into the parking lot for the Boeing tour and museum (The Future of Flight)
• 3:00 p.m.: Tour the really really big facility where 747s and other really big airplanes are built and assembled. Learn lots of stuff about airplanes
• 4:30 p.m.: Walk the through the museum and gift shop (which seemed bigger than the museum) and learned more about flight and planes

Final Thoughts: Airplanes are really big.

• 5:00 p.m.: Leave Boeing and hit major traffic
• 6:00 p.m.: Still in traffic
• 6:45 p.m.: Drive around Seattle looking for a parking place
• 6:55 p.m.: Arrive at Doc Maynards Saloon in Pioneer Square to go on the 7:00 Underground Tour
• 7:15 p.m.: Listen to a funny rendition of the history of Seattle
• 7:30 p.m.: Walk through musty tunnels under the streets and sidewalks of Seattle looking at the original storefronts, and leftover debris from 100 years ago.

Final thoughts: I love old relics and the history surrounding them. The added humor and stories from our guide made this a perfect tour for me.

• 8:00 p.m.: Walk 10 blocks to Pike's Place avoiding aggressive panhandlers. Look at the Big Wheel, but decide not to ride it.
• 8:30 p.m.: See that everything is closed, so walk back to our car

Final thoughts: Yeah, nothing here.

• 9:00: p.m.: Drive to Space Needle
• 10:00 p.m.: Go up to the top of the Space Needle, take photos, ooh and aah.
• 11:00 p.m.: Leave Seattle, hit a lot of traffic

Final thoughts; Seattle traffic is worse than San Diego traffic, but the view of the city lights is spectacular from the Space Needle at night.

• 12:00 a.m.: Driving
• 1:00 a.m.: Driving lots of road work
• 1:30 a.m.: Detour in Portland, bridge is closed for repairs. Take a 20 mile detour around the outskirts of the city
• 2:00 a.m.: Back on I-5 with Joe driving
• 3:00 a.m.: Joe driving in the rain
• 3:30 a.m.: Roll into the parking lot of our motel in Eugene.
• 4:15 a.m.: Decide there is no way we will be able to go to the Lassen Volcanic National Park the next day.
• 5:00 a.m.: Lights out and everyone trying to get as much sleep as possible
• 10:30 a.m.: Drag out of bed
• 12:00 p.m.: Check out and hit the road for Sacramento

Final Thoughts: Driving until 3:30 in the morning sucks. I get really grumpy and I'm not much fun to be around when I don't get enough sleep.

Homeward Bound

As we begin the journey southwest to San Diego, we have much to be grateful for and more to look forward to. We left Coeur d'Alene around 11:30 and were on Interstate 90 headed toward Seattle in no time.

The drive was uneventful and once we got out of Spokane,  it lacked much scenery. Joe commented that he didn't realize that the middle and eastern part of Washington was so sparse and boring. Our destination for the evening was Bellingham and visiting with our friends, Garry and Lynne Baxter. We knew it would take us about six and a half hours, but forgot that we'd be hitting Seattle at rush hour. We've been away from big cities for awhile and I wasn't prepared for the stop and go traffic. Google maps suggested some different routes that would save us a little more time, but I'm not sure they really did.

We arrived at Garry and Lynne's house around 6:45 and they fed us a delicious meal of taco salad and Garry's famous nachos which consists of nacho cheese and chili mixed together. I can remember when Garry would make these nachos every New Year's Eve or other special event. It's been eight years since Garry and Lynne left San Diego and moved to Bellingham, but they haven't changed. We had a really nice time catching up and laughing at Garry's joking around. He even gave me a Road Atlas so that I won't get lost when our cell phones don't have a signal, and Lynne continues to save bread tags for me!

Garry and Lynne seem to love it up here and I can see why. They have a nice home with a wooded area right next door. I'm sitting here at the dining table looking out the window at trees, plants and even some blackberry vines. How fun is that to have blackberries growing wild next to your house? Well, I guess it isn't that great since the vines grow and spread rapidly and requiring continuous pruning. But still, I think it's pretty cool and I hear Lynne will make blackberry cobbler when there are berries to pick. We'll need to make a return trip in blackberry season.

We spent the night at the Baxter's B & B as Garry kept referring to it, and it felt like it really was a Bed & Breakfast, because of Garry and Lynne's gracious hospitality. Lynne made yummy mini egg and sausage casseroles in muffin cups for us even though they had just returned from their own trip to the midwest the day before. What a woman!

Bellingham is only 20 miles from the Canadian border, so before we head south to Seattle, we need to make the quick trip north so we can wave to our Canadian neighbors.

For another perspective:

David's blog: http://favoritesonsspiels.blogspot.com

Joe's blog: https://joesage.wordpress.com