Pearl Harbor and the Pride of America

We awoke to a beautiful Hawaiian rainbow.
Fortunately, we both slept well and with our body clocks still on east coast time, our 6:30 AM alarm didn’t feel so bad. We made some in-room coffee, ate our ABC muffins and yogurt and met our tour bus driver for our ½ day tour of Pearl Harbor and Honolulu.

Just 3 days before our visit, the site was filled with WWII veterans, survivors of Pearl Harbor, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the attack. The memorial is on the U.S. Naval Base, about 45 minutes west of Waikiki. After a short documentary film on the Pearl Harbor attack, you board a Navy shuttle boat to the Memorial.

The Arizona Memorial was quite moving….the oil still seeps out from the ship on the bottom of the bay.

After visiting the memorial, we drove through the National Cemetery of the Pacific, known as “The Punchbowl”. The long drive was lined with gorgeous banyan trees.

From there, we drove through downtown Honolulu’s Chinatown and their corner “lei stores”. Honolulu is a much bigger city than I expected and the traffic is non-stop. The freeways are jammed, even on a Saturday morning. The downtown business high rises blend into the hotels and condos of Waikiki Beach to the north.
We got back at 1:30 and grabbed our bags to head to the ship. We had an entertaining ride with a Korean cab driver. He had us in stitches talking about his life as a cabbie and his over achieving children.

The Pride of America docked in Honolulu
Photo courtesy of Flickr
When we arrived at the port, we checked our bags and looked at a line that looked blocks long. We, however, were able to walk directly to the front of the line and got processed through immediately.

After the obligatory "photo" inside, the long lines continued, but we followed the signs for VIP’s and were personally escorted to the ship and greeted with a glass of champagne and met James, the concierge.
The “suite” guests had use of the Lazy J Restaurant for breakfast and lunch. While the rest of the ship was fighting for space at the Aloha Buffet, we were treated to a lovely, quiet lunch before making our way to our room.

On the 12th floor, down a private corridor of suites, we found the bright green door leading to our “Bird of Paradise Suite”.

What a sight—we walked in to find a bottle of Moet Chandon champagne chilling in a silver ice bucket, plate of cookies on the counter, fresh fruit basket and a gorgeous tropical flower arrangement on the table. Within minutes, our personal butler, George, rang the bell and took us on a tour of our suite.
He showed us how to use the coffee/cappuccino machine, the 3 HD TV’s (in the living room, bedroom and bathroom), the Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom and the hot tub on our deck! The room was paradise.

The kitchen area was complete with stocked refrigerator, wine and champagne glasses and cappuccino machine. (George left us a liquor list to choose the wine/liquor that we needed for the week.)

The décor was tropical—murals and carpeting in shades of fuchsia and green. Our living room had a small dining table, sofa and 2 chairs and a glass coffee table as well as a deck outfitted with a PC.

Outside the sliding glass doors, we were delighted to find our HUGE deck—a table and 4 chairs, two lounge chairs and our own private hot tub.

With views of Honolulu harbor from the deck, we could have stayed there forever.
The View of Honolulu from our Balcony
But, there was still a bedroom, walk-in closet and huge bathroom to explore.

What a joy to have a huge walk-in closet with make-up station. We had more than enough space to unpack everything from our over-stuffed suitcases.

Our Walk-In Closet
In the bathroom, we had double sinks, a gigantic walk-in shower, bathroom and a large Jacuzzi tub. (And, for that time when we “entertained”, we had a ½ bath, as well).

Since our luggage hadn’t arrived, we decided to take a tour of the ship. The theme is “Americana”—from the giant seal of the U.S. in the lobby, to the themed restaurants, “The Liberty, Skyline, Jefferson’s Bistro, Little Italy, East Meets West, the Aloha Cafe and the Cadillac Diner”. Only weeks away from Christmas, the ship had a large decorated tree on the grand staircase.
We had dinner at the Liberty Restaurant….mahi-mahi, shrimp, key lime pie. We got back to the room to find our luggage (even with my smuggled wine boxes). After unpacking, we just relaxed in our gorgeous suite and watched the ship leave Honolulu, bound for Maui.

Honolulu

Alarm at 2:00 AM and by 3:15, we were on our way to Orlando. First class check-in was painless (even with our over-weight bags). It didn’t spare Mom from the body search at security.
We weren’t terribly impressed with our morning First Class flight. They did serve breakfast, but I’d forgotten about the rule, “Never order eggs on a plane”. We slept on and off and before we knew it we were in San Francisco. Even though it was only 3:00 East Coast time, the bar at the Buena Vista and an Irish Coffee. It was the beginning of our holiday!
The flight from SFO to Honolulu on a 777 was wonderful. The flight attendants were pouring wine, non-stop and the dinner of macadamia nut crusted chicken was worthy of a five-star restaurant.
We got into Honolulu at 2 PM Hawaii time (7 PM on our body clock). We’d been up for 17 hours! After fetching our luggage, we got a cab to Waikiki Beach and the Mauna Loa Surfrider Hotel. We got an orchid lei when we arrived and checked into our ocean view room in the Diamond Wing. Our 6th floor room had beautiful views of the ocean on our tiny balcony..

The Moana Surfrider is the oldest hotel on Waikiki Beach and has a plantation style design.
I’m not sure if we were jet-lagged or suffering from the effects of too much wine, but when we found our way to the beach side bar under the huge 75 foot banyan tree, ginger ale sounded a lot better than a Mai Tai.

We enjoyed our first Hawaiian sunset, sipping our ginger ale, then walked across the street to pick up some provisions for breakfast the next morning at the ever present ABC stores. After walking through the International Market, we stopped in the food court and shared some Korean b-bque before heading home for an early night. (Our “Heavenly” bedding was, in fact, heavenly—and could be yours for a mere $3900.)

Christmas in Honolulu-- The Lobby

A Weekend in San Francisco/Mendocino

We had an amazing time in SFO....aside from the horrible experience of flying these days. We had to fly from Orlando to Atlanta, make a quick dash to our connecting flight and continue to SFO. The flights were PACKED--not a seat to be had. So, my strategy of reserving the aisle and window left me giving up my window for a middle seat. I did load up the iPad with podcasts and audiobooks for John--so he was relatively quiet on the flights.
Steph met us at the airport and we got to drive back to her house in their new Nissan Leaf--an all electric car. Very cool--and very comforable. She did explain that they have something called "range anxiety"....the dashboard gives you an estimate of how many miles are left before you need to recharge....but the actual miles remaining can vary based on what kind of driving you're doing...if you go up a hill, the number of miles available drops.

We got to their new house and it was gorgeous. You walk up the front stairs and when you come into the foyer--the first thing you see is a full wall of windows overlooking the city of SFO and the Golden Gate Bridge. It was stunning!

On the other wall- you have a view of the bay and Alcatraz. We got the full tour---- the ground level is the garage (a real + in the city--and a requirement if you have an all electric car). There was also a huge playroom for the boys (complete with guinea pig cage with Oreo and Chocolate), a guest bedroom with ensuite and a mini-kitchen for guests. They had a gorgeous snack basket for us--fresh fruit, munchies..... The second floor is the kitchen/dining room/great room and living room (with gorgeous salt water fish tank). One floor up is the master bedroom and the boy’s room. Then on the top level is Steph's office and a media room--with a huge attached deck with hot tub.

Jim made a great dinner for the 6 of us...the boys were there for the evening. It was so wonderful to spend time with William and George.

"Seaweed"
We met Seaweed, their Siamese--who, of course, wanted nothing more that to have me pet her (I'm seriously allergic to Siamese, so she had to be content with sitting on the table and staring at me....as if daring me to pet her). We had a very early night....a 4 hour time difference made us a bit jet-lagged...
The next morning, Steph had to take William to a school event, so Jim took us to his business showroom (Restoration Timber) that gets reclaimed wood from old barns, has it processed and sells it for flooring and cabinetry.
A few hours later, Bob and Camille came by to pick us up for the trip north to Mendocino. It was a four hour drive on twisty, turny roads....gorgeous scenery--California redwoods---to get to this little village (made famous by the Grateful Dead and the Sir Douglas Qunitet song, Mendocino).It's an adorable little town right on the coast with gorgeous views of the ocean and filled with hippies, eco-wineries, and self-absorbed California tourists. Outside of tourism, the major revenue producer is marijuana! Of course, California allows medical marijuana...but according to Bob, almost everyone has their own crop.
We got the tour of the town--only about 6 blocks long--and checked into our lovely inn. It was lovely. When I went online for reservations, they were having an online special (must be their slow season---just after the fall and before Thanksgiving)...so they were offering any room in the inn for $199. We got a $400/night room for a mere $199.

The view from the Inn

We stayed in the "Barn"-- a huge room with stone fireplace, stocked with kindling and firewood, sauna and jacuzzi tub in the bathroom and our own private hot tub on the deck. So much fun to just be decadent for two days and nights.

Our Room --in "The Barn"
We got to see Bob and Camilles new 'cottage'. They spend half their time on the boat in the SFO harbor and half time in Mendocino. The cottage is lovely--so homey and warm---an eat-in kitchen, living room, bathroom and two bedrooms. They put in gorgeous distressed oak flooring throughout the cottage.

Camille has a real shoe fetish...she loves designer shoes. I had to show John her HUGE collections--shoes stacked in every closet--just so he'd stop giving me a hard time about all of my shoes...as if!!

Mendocino was lovely--we took a walk to the lighthouse on the coast on Saturday morning, hit Bob's favorite pub (they allow dogs---in the restaurant---where their little Chloe is a regular).



The lovely "Chloe"
On Sunday, we left our gorgeous room and headed back to SFO with Steph and Jim. We took a detour and stopped to see their Sonoma house. The little town is filled with wonderful stores...blocks upon block of very cool places. There are wineries EVERYWHERE---it's like Napa Valley, but less touristy. And, their house---it's going to be beautiful. I wish we could have seen the before--when they bought it, Steph called it a McMansion--and it was filled with Tuscan style furniture. Well, they decided to completely renovate it--so right now, the entire house is in shrink wrap while they complete the work. They're hoping it will be done in June.... The main house is huge---it's going to have a huge stone fireplace, gourmet kitchen, a widows walk to take in the views.

Inside the Main House
Outside is an Olympic size pool, an outdoor kitchen, a playhouse for the boys and an adorable guest cottage. It is so beautiful.

The Sonoma house--in "shrink wrap"

The views in Sonoma

Bob, Chloe, Camille, Debbie and John

Steph, Camille, Bob holding Chloe, Jim

Halloween at the Freezer

Our "Home away from Home"---The Freezer on Halloween

House-hunting in Daytona Beach

We got into Daytona Beach Saturday night in the pouring rain--truly torrential downpours. Fortunately, it stopped long enough for us to get set up. We were staying at a very expensive resort-- that was just AWFUL! Fortunately, we had a concrete pad--as the other sites were on the soggy grass. But, it was surrounded by huge trees--so, no TV for 4 days--and our nights were sleepless with pieces of pine trees crashing on our roof. At least our days were busy--so we didn't really have to spend much time hating our campsite. We were trying to cram in a weeks worth of looking in 3 days.
Sunday was so awful---pouring rain, again--nothing really looked very inviting. With the rain and gray skies, even the waterfront homes looked depressing. We did find a few good dive bars. On Sunday, we stopped at a place on the Ponce Inlet (the inlet across from Daytona and Port Orange)-- a place called "Boondocks". They let us bring Chloe into the bar and we spent a lot of time talking with the locals and getting some good info about the area. One of the women at the bar stopped by to chat with Chloe---turns out she's a realtor--so we decided to give her a try. Can you believe--the realtor that we have been emailing for the past few weeks--never did call us!! I thought the market was depressed--but this agent couldn't even find the time to call us back!! I'd even done all the work for her--sending her the listings that we wanted to see. All she had to do was schedule the appointments.

Our first stop was in Daytona--a HUGE house on the ICW. The house was built in 1933--2600 SF, 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths. This place not only had the huge main house, but a garage, a shed AND a 2 story "guest cottage"--with 1400 SF, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath. The place was being rented--by some not so wonderful renters. They had a fight the other week and the guy had kicked the door in. They weren't in, so we couldn't see inside--but we peeked in the windows--what a disaster! But--the property was amazing. The lot was so large that he had rented out spots in his yard to bike weekers to park their trailers... I told John that we could host our own rally there!! Interesting place, but a bit much for us, I think.

The "Guest House"--right on the ICW
So, we were off to meet Pam and see several properties in Port Orange (just south of Daytona--and evidently the safest, lowest crime place around). The first house was GORGEOUS! It was a two story Victorian right on the ICW with a boat house and dock, wrap around verandas on the first and second floor--and such a warm and wonderful feeling. He even had approved plans for a guest cottage in the rear of the property. The lot was huge--87 feet of riverfront but went back 490 feet! It had a two car garage (with a huge storage space above--could also be used for a guest room) and a shed. The lot was so big, you could have both a guest cottage and RV parking. But, the price was a bit much and even though it had a new roof and had obviously been well-cared for, it would have been alot of work to maintain.

Believe it or not, the next place was right next door--a gorgeous Southern style house--two huge verandas and BRAND NEW--just built in 2002 by an engineer--it was SO gorgeous--and so well built! It had a wonderful open floor plan on the first floor and 3 bedrooms upstairs.

After our full day, we headed to Boondoggles, had two carafes of wine (we did share some with Pam) and decided that we probably aren't ready for home ownership quite yet. I must get all of these random thoughts into some kind of spreadsheet -- as well as try to get some sense of what it would cost us to have a house and continue our motorhoming....lots to think about....

Time to head South

We had the awful drive from Salem to Florida--3 LONG LONG days. We were driving through North Carolina the second day--and staying about an hour away from an old Deltak buddy. We got into the campground about 5:30---and Larry kindly offered to drive over to meet us. He arrived about 7:30 with his new girlfriend. By that time, I'd already had two glasses of wine...and nothing to eat. More wine and a shared pizza....we had a great time--but the day after was miserable. Nothing like a hangover with 500+ miles to drive! John did let me rest for awhile on the sofa while he drove.

Flying Tents in Salem

We left Sunday afternoon and drove to Salem. It is always so wonderful to arrive at Winter Island---just looking out the window to see the boats in the harbor is so uplifting. Chloe is in heaven--we've had some of her favorite people over for cocktails --Charlie (the guy who used to run the campground) and his wife, Debbie and the other Charlie (John's old army buddy) and his wife, Gail--and of course, John's ex- Jane. All of that, plus she makes the rounds every day to see all of the locals lining the harbor. The weather has been gorgeous--so everyone is out enjoying the last bits of sun and warm weather--and they ALL know Chloe. She is going to hate us when we take her away from here.

Charlie, Debbie, Jane and Gail
Seems like every time we come to Salem, something awful happens. 3 years ago, we crushed our front bumper--last year, it was the slide that wouldn't go back in and this year, our neighbors left their portable tent up in a storm and it smashed into our car!! They knocked on our door last night about 10 PM to tell us how sorry they were. It looks like someone took a bowling ball and threw it at our front windshield. The entire windshield is caved in, the rear view mirror is destroyed, there are numerous dings on the car. I just spent the last 3 hours talking with insurance companies. I'm watching them happily leaving the campground--no worries on their part, but we have an undriveable car! Anyway, trying to get any straight answers from insurance agents is a challenge. I called their agent, who told me that it would probably be next week before their adjuster could get out. So she suggested that we call our car insurance company. If we file a claim with them, it goes on our record.... and it goes on and on. Finally, we got our insurance company to schedule the windshield replacement (no cost to us)--but they don’t do the rear view mirror--so we have to wait until the adjuster comes out and then try to get it fixed in a reasonable time. I don't know if it's legal to drive without a rear view mirror??? I am so frustrated!!!!!! I guess the good news is that we'll have a semi-driveable car today....but it hasn't done much for my mood. And, we still have to deal with the body repairs..... Oh well--is it too early for a drink??