Hawaii: Monday, Feb 16 and the "Circle Island" Tour

Sal the bus driver (I kid you not), originally from New Jersey (complete with accent, even after 24 years in Hawaii) picked us up at 7 am and we settled in for a LONG day. He knew an incredible amount about Hawaiian history, geology, flora and the homes of celebrities. We were on a very comfortable, large bus and made about 8 or 9 stops over the next 12 hours.

In case you have never met my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, here is a picture of our partners in crime.

We went counter-clockwise heading south down the coast and stopped first at a coffee farm for sampling (Royal Kona). Next stop was a black sand beach (Punalu'u), which is supposedly a nesting place for hawksbill turtles (lots of info here). Mickey and Joan saw some in the water, but I did not see any. The black sand, formed by the lava obviously, was sparkling and beautiful. I did also find a big pond just behind the beach, which is used for growing freshwater fish and took a pic of a couple of white and brown ducks resting on the shore.

We stopped for lunch at Volcano Village and had our first bite of macademia nut pie for dessert. There was a gift shop next door with some stunning and expensive Hawaiin quilts--the first one inside the door (queen size) was $10K. I took pictures of a couple small ones with turtle motifs.

Went through a lava tube and I got some pictures of a honeycreeper in the trees overhead when we came out (the little red bird).

We saw one of the small craters, Kilauea-Iki. The big crater is apparently closed to tourists at the moment due to gases being expelled. This first picture is looking down about 1,200 feet--some tiny dots down there are people walking around. We also went to Jaggar Museum which had lots of information on the vocanoes, and Hal got to hold some of Pele's hair--fine strands of glass expelled from the volcano.

On up the coast to Hilo where we made stops at the candy company and Rainbow Falls.

All of this was accompanied by a running commentary on history, the monarchy, the plant life, the volcanoes, past tsunamis, current building codes....and bad puns. Do you know what Hawaiian outhouses are called? "Lava-tories!" On the factual side, did you know, for example, that Hawaii is the largest beef producing state in the U.S.? Hawaii in particular has enormous cattle ranches. We drove for miles through the famous Parker Ranch which covers pretty much the northern half of the island. On through Waimea, a stop at the macademia nut company, and then down the coast through Wailoloa and home by about 7:30. Phew!

Hawaii: Packing Assistant, Arrival and Getting Settled

Either Zen was indicating she wanted to go with us on the trip, or she was just trying to help Hal get his suitcase really tightly packed. At any rate, he arrived in Hawaii with an extra dose of cat hair on his clothes.

We drove to Portland on Feb. 14 to spend the night with Mickey and Joan. We got up at 3 am on Sunday (Feb. 15) to get ready and head for the airport. With the time change, we arrived in Kailua-Kona about noon local time, went to pick up the car, dropped luggage at our accommodations, headed out for sume scrumptious fish tacos, and then did some grocery shopping.
The most wonderful things about being here: the lovely warm, soft air; the background sound of the ocean;  the sounds of birds from morning til night; bougainvillea blooming everywhere. 
On our first full day, we attended a presentation by the concierge on local activities, went to Costco and Target for more food, attended an owners' update (i.e., sales push), drove down the coast a bit, and rented snorkel gear. We also booked a "Circle Island" tour for the next day as the most expeditious way to get an overview of the island for future planning purposes.

Sept. 29, Monday: Last Day in Stone & on to Heathrow

We are currently tucked up at the Park Inn Radisson at Heathrow, having had a huge and pretty tasty dinner at The Pheasant Inn about a 20 minute walk from here. Fairly uneventful trip from Stone to Heathrow, and I am so very glad to have delivered the ginormous Volvo back to EuropeCar unscathed.
Tilly is so smart, she has learned to fetch the mail when it comes through the mail slot in the front door. In fact, when the mail arrives, she makes a beeline to the door at full tilt, barking all the way.

Of course Ted thinks he should get a treat as well.
After packing up this morning we walked into Stone along the canal, had a coffee, posted some maps  to Di and Brian and then headed back to Peter and Margaret's. Had a nice sandwich with good crumbly cheese and some tomatoes grown by Peter.
Stone is quite an old town as these panels of the High Street demonstrate.

Peter and Margaret promised to be our personal guides to York and the Dales when we come back to England!

28 Sept., Sunday: Outing to Trentham Garden

This property which originally belonged to the Duke of Sutherland, went derelict and was then rescued by a private development organization that has opened an extensive collection of shops, including an enormous "garden center" to generate support for the renovation of the Italian gardens. I wanted to buy these planters shaped like hedgehogs,

but settled for replacing one of my bone china tea cups at the Aynesley shop. The house is still not yet renovated, but the gardens are really nice.

There is a big lake with a gravel path all the way around.

There are wire sculptures of "fairies" to be found hiding in the woods

as well as other art, like this willow structured bird.

I particularly loved this statue of a fairy with the down from a dandelion blowing away. The quote underneath says, "Wishes Do Come True."

There was a statue of Perseus slaying Medusa, a replica of one by Cellini, at the end of the garden,

some beautiful dahlias and tons of still blooming begonias. Here is a "group photo" of Hal, Margaret, Peter, Tilly and Ted.

I got a picture of Margaret tidying the garden this morning.

It has been an unbelievably sunny, gorgeous day, today, so we are all sitting around on the patio this evening.

27 Sept., Saturday: Blists Hill and Ironbridge

As promised, here is a picture of Tilly (left) and Ted (right), staring over the patio wall in Peter and Margaret's back garden (thanks for the picture, Peter!).

We had a very busy day today. Drove to the museum dedicated to the birth of the Industrial Revolution, called Blists Hill. Very compelling wall-high and fully surrounding video exhibits when you walk in that gives you an up close view of mining coal, smelting the iron, etc. Then you walk out into a recreation of a Victorian town that was absolutely brilliant. Here is a picture of Hal with Peter and Margaret as we were just starting out.

There were volunteers everywhere, in costume, like this man making a rag rug,

 this woman in the "squatter's cottage"--which was about 300 years old-- who is crocheting/ knitting,

and maybe, best of all, the school master who was striding through the town chastising wayward visitors. He said to Hal in a stern voice, "Take your hands out of your pockets young man and stand up straight." Hal said his mom used to say the same thing :-)

They had amazingly fitted out shops like the pharmacy,

the bakery, etc. Here is a woman taking bread from the oven;

the "carpenter, wheelright, and undertaker" was giving a brief tutorial on the fine points of grave robbing.

The draper's shop advertised Singer sewing machines and had all kinds of fancy hats.

There were so many entertaining signs, I just had to take pictures.

Hal made friends with a huge horse pulling a large cart through the streets of town.

Of course the town grew up around the coal mines and the furnaces.

We watched the wheel pull up the cage going down into the mine shaft.

There was a functioning steam engine.

Overall, it was really well done.
Afterwards we drove to a tile museum--so many pretty things I wanted to buy! Then wandered up the road to a crafts mart where, among other things, women were making lace--which looks unbelievably complicated with so many bobbins, but Margaret gave it a try.

Then off to the first cast iron bridge, in the town of Ironbridge, which was built in 1779 over the River Severn, the longest river in Britain.

We were joined by Petere and Margaret's friends Anne and Dave for dinner at a wonderful Thai restaurant in Stone. By the time we got to bed about midnight, we were pooped!