Category: TRAVEL (Page 40 of 45)

After a full day of Hawaiian sun, I am now Red Man, a crispy critter with a glowing nose like “Rudolph the Reindeer.” I have seen a lot of grazing goats on the island and a few weasels, but no deer of any kind. I thought I might melt, or at least my tennis shoes, on my run this morning, plus the pavement around the pool had my bare feet hopping. It’s refreshing to once again be in the air-conditioned comfort of our suite, overlooking the koi ponds and waterfalls on the grounds of the Fairmont. My wife has no business meetings this evening, so we can enjoy an early dinner at Brown’s Beach House. Actually, it will be almost bedtime at home in Portland by the time we start to break bread. Hopefully, it will be accompanied by a fabulous sunset.

We just had a knock on the door, as a conference sponsor had some cold beer and macadamia nuts delivered to the room. I’m not much of a beer drinker, limited to a couple of glasses at our weekly Leadership meeting of retirees and wanna-be’s. My wife does not drink beer at all, so she thought wine might have been more appropriate, especially since she’s the attendee. The automotive industry still tends to be very chauvinistic, as evidenced by their annual males-only golf outing. I understand her frustration, but grateful they they at least let her attend this event. After all, it is the twenty-first century!  

We’re surrounded by volcanic pumice, but have seen little evidence of the active volcano on the other side of the Big Island. There were some quakes just before we arrived and the news footage is unbelievable, but we haven’t even experienced any “vog,” a common island mixture of moisture and volcanic ash that shifts with the wind. It was blue skies all day today with just a few wisps of clouds and temperatures in the mid-eighties. I feel guilty complaining about the heat after months of gray skies and rain, but it’s the “Goldilocks” in me saying, “it’s too hot or too cold…when will it be just right?”

I’m stalling on making that step under the shower, avoiding that feeling of burning needles touching my sensitive skin. The Portland weather conditions are not conducive to maintaining a tan, so I’m once again going through that painful process of sun conditioning. In a few weeks, any signs of brownness will molt away like a snake shedding its skin, and the pale me will return. Pale Man. Red Man. Tan Man. Peel Man. I’ve always thought of a tan as both a status symbol and a hard-earned vacation souvenir. I’m sure that days of excessive sun like this will come back to haunt me, but I’m drawn to the warmth of the sun and a distinct tan line. Anemic-looking white skin is not appealing to me, but neither are skin cancer and age spots. In two days time, just as I’m comfortably adapting to the burning rays, it will be time to leave. Plus, our next stop is New York City where any signs of the sun will be blocked by the Manhattan sky-scrapers, and it’s hard to find a “sunny side of the street.”

“As the sun sets slowly in the west,” concluding another day of retirement bliss, I’m thankful to be both alive and “Red.” Hopefully, tomorrow it will start to turn “brown as a berry,” and I’ll have that tropical glow that’s been missing during the Portland winter. At the moment, however, I feel like I was left in the oven just a little too long. Aloha and Aloe! 

With the volcano erupting on the other side of the Big Island, it seemed only appropriate to go to Roy’s for dinner on our first night on the Big Island. After all, they are known for their trademark chocolate souffle dessert, also known as molten lava cake.  The chain was founded by James Beard Foundation Award Winner Roy Yamaguchi in 1988 in Honolulu, and has been one of our go-to dining favorites. This location in Waikoloa was our seventh Roy’s experience including the original site, Sarasota, Chicago, San Francisco (See Post #208), and two Maui properties. Plus, when we moved to Austin, Texas the Roy’s was bought by Bloomin’ Brands, and re-branded Fleming’s Steakhouse. That company also owns Outback, Carrabba’s, and Bonefish Grill, each much less pricey and more family-oriented than Roy’s, who specializes in Pacific Rim cuisine.

Our favorite dish from Chef Roy is misoyaki butterfish, and the restaurant was in easy walking distance from our Marriott resort room. This afternoon, we moved down the beach to the classier Fairmont Orchid for an auto dealer’s convention. My wife will be attending mandatory receptions and meetings while I will pick and choose only those that serve food and alcohol. With the exception of airfare and a few incidentals, I’m now on her company’s dime, living the retirement dream. I’ll try to behave myself as her arm candy.

We spent the day by the Waikoloa Beach Marriott pool this morning, taking advantage of Marriott Rewards Points, and then began to familiarize ourselves with the Fairmont amenities, our home for the next three nights. The San Francisco Fairmont was the first in a current chain of seventy-five properties. (See Post #210). I once attended a wine tasting event in the ballroom of this prestigious Nob Hill hotel.  I’ve also stayed at the New Orleans Fairmont and enjoyed their elaborate holiday decorations, but most of their hotels are typically out of my price range.

It was 84 degrees for my run this morning, sweating out the complimentary wine from last night’s beach side cocktail party. After I cool down a bit, I’ll head down to the pool and join some of the other spouses. I did get a bit fried yesterday, so I’ll take plenty of cover. I will also book our flights to Thailand next year, as we continue to plan ahead. It will be our first experience as a Marriott Vacation Club owner, utilizing resort accommodations in both Bangkok and Phuket.  Evacuations continue of the other side of the island as lava continues to pour out of the mountain, so it’s probably best that we confine ourselves to the safety of the leeward side. Molten lava cake has a lot of calories, but it’s not destructive to property and animals

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During a “hectic” day of errands, I stopped by the refrigerator for some leftovers. I often do that, but fail to take the time to look at all the magnets that we have collected in nearly 20 years of travel. Even though I’ve been traveling a lot longer than that, the tradition of collecting magnets is my wife’s project. She will buy postcards and magnets at each location we visit. The postcards are for her 96-year old mother. Apparently, assisted-living facilities are a lot like going to camp as a kid. You don’t want to be left out when it’s time for the daily “mail call,” so my wife sends her short messages on these cards every day to remind her that we are always thinking of her no matter where we go. She will accumulate a stockpile of these postcards and address them every night to fill-in between her prompt twice-a-week phone calls.

The magnets stick to the outside of our kitchen refrigerator, although we have lived in places where the surface was not magnetic. In these cases, they would attach to a washer & dryer or accumulate in a drawer. Regardless, there are now hundreds of these magnetic memories in our current kitchen. As meticulous as my wife tends to be, I’m still surprised that she allows this “clutter” in her kitchen. To me, it’s like putting a bunch of bumper stickers on a Mercedes. “I’ve been to Wall Drugs” or “my other car is a Rolls.” However, I’m also grateful that she’s found an inexpensive way to souvenir shop, because we’re not wealthy enough to buy a diamond in every port.

It is fun to read these magnets, and recall the memories of being there. There’s one from every city & state we’ve lived in, amusement parks, Broadway shows, every famous monument we’ve visited, popular regional sayings, and humorous quotes. She also collects Limoges boxes, Disney pins, Broadway cast posters, Playbills, and signed cookbooks to preserve her memories. Since we both once worked for an NBC Television affiliate, she once had an impressive assortment of peacocks. We left them behind when she moved to a competitor, and have thought about now collecting foxes. I still have a strained-glass peacock in my office that was a gift to us from a former engineer, who had it custom-made by an Illinois craftsman. I’m much worse than my wife when it comes to collecting, a passion that’s grown since retirement. (See Post #146).

Everyone probably has a collection of something, and many of these items become great investments. For example, my grand- daughter likes snow globes, while my son gathers plastic collector cups. When I watch American Pickers, I’m always amazed when collecting turns to hoarding. Fortunately, we don’t have a barn where rusty junk tends to somehow reproduce, as “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” Magnets are at least easy to move, as has been the case with our media careers. They don’t take up much space and they’re the least expensive item in any gift shop. Furthermore, as a recent retiree, I’m in to downsizing as opposed to adding possessions. As far as my mother-in-law is concerned, who once ruled the antique auctions and was forced to diversify, I just hope she’s not saving every postcard my wife is sending.

A wise man once advised me, “always immediately ask for the third room when checking into a hotel.” If nothing more, when said with a smile, it’s a conversation starter about getting the best room available. I usually don’t have to make this request when I’m staying at a Marriott Hotel as a snobby Platinum Elite Member, but in retrospect it would have saved time and frustration. (See Post #46 ) . I arrived here in Santa Monica for an early check-in, immediately asking if our room had a bath tub. They switched the reservation accordingly, so we unpacked in room request #2, thinking that all was well. As we left the room for our anniversary dinner last evening, a young child was screaming in the room next door, sending a caution signal to both of us. Our room had an adjoining door, always a bad sign when you want privacy and quiet. Disturbing neighbor noises easily funnel through, and we both knew this might be a problem. Sure enough, we woke up this morning to screaming and yelling, called the front desk to complain, and tried unsuccessfully to get back to sleep.

Before we left for our walk/run on the beach this morning, we went to the front desk and requested to be moved to the third room. The third room is always the best, in this case a quiet corner location with a much better view of the beach, although some window washing might be helpful. This is, however, a great hotel with top amenities that we enjoyed on our last trip. The Santa Monica Pier at the end of Route 66 is nearby, as are many top restaurants, including The Lobster where we celebrated last night. Tonight we will return to Ivy on the Shore for what is sure to be another great night of dining.

We spent this afternoon at the pool, exposing our pale Portland bodies to the California sun. There was a bit of a cool breeze, so we never had the desire to take a dip. I know I’m getting old, as every noise seems to disturb me. The pool gates kept banging shut, a hot-rod car was revving its engine nearby, lounge chairs scraped against the surrounding concrete deck, and conversations were just too clear. I thought that losing your hearing, as my wife frequently complains, could be a blessing in later life, but instead background noises seem to be magnified. She should be aware that I also had “father’s ear” when my son was born 44 years ago, so the innate ability to tune-out has always been a strength of mine. I was not able to ignore the child’s scream this morning, the loud restaurant chatter, or the poolside disruptions, so maybe I am now just simply old and cranky!

Our complaints this morning were just rewarded by Marriott management, There was just a knock on the door, so my immediate tendency was to think about another annoying disruption from housekeeping. Instead, a tray of chocolate covered strawberries were delivered as an apology, something that I paid $40 for yesterday as a surprise for my wife. We were both surprised this time with a gift that couldn’t have been more appropriate on our anniversary weekend. (See Post #502). Here we are in our “third room” eating chocolate covered strawberries and awaiting a great dinner. Life is good!