July 1, 2014
No red shirts, no parades and no Maple leaf flags fluttering in the stifling heat of Hawaii. Talking to a real estate guy downtown he told me at least half his clients are Canucks, though he pronounced it Canooks, I knew what he meant. In a place where most of the names are unpronounceable due to a lack of consonants. It didn't seem worth the effort!
" What do you do on Canada Day" he asked me. " The same as you do on the fourth of July. Minus the senseless hand gun violence." I said. He thought I was joking.
The last time we weren't home for Canada Day we were in Australia. There were pockets of red and white all over the place. We wore our Thrifty Foods Canada Day shirts and were saluted by the Aussies every where we went that day. Aussies don't need much inspiration to hoist a Fosters or ten.
Here, with the Fourth so close, our American cousins are much too preoccupied with their own affairs. Red white and blue bunting festoons the lamp posts and giant banners hang across the roads proclaiming the birthday of the greatest nation on earth. All the while sending their young to die in foreign countries and having gunfights on Bourbon Street. Yep, the Yankees know how to get their Doodle up!
However this is not a political blog, this is a diet blog. One that has been utterly pathetic. Not the blog. My diet! Since the wedding I have been a bad boy. Too many Bud Lights and not enough exercise! I should know better. I have known me my whole life. I know that my history dictates that I will take the easy way out and have no problem justifying it to myself. I'm riding a toboggan down the slippery slope and convincing my self that I'm in control of the sled! Granted, it's been only two days, but I feel bloated and sluggish.
I didn't get much sleep last night after the wedding. I was going to skip the blog for a day and crashed about 1:30 am, only to wake up three hours later craving the keyboard. The result of course, was me being tired and cranky all day. It sucks being Lisa when I'm like that.
Lisa has finally embraced the Internet. She is a full blown Googler. Let's ask Google is her new mantra. She asked the all powerful Wizard of Google, what's the best, beach on the Big Island? Anaehoomalu Beach at Waikaloa was the answer.
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| Anaehoomalu |
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| Beautiful beach, too many vowels! |
Turns out, Google
is full of shit. It's true that this beach, with too many vowels is pretty to look at, and it is the only one we have found that is actually covered with sand, but we aren't sun tanners. I don't want to lie on a beach turning my already burnt skin into shoe leather. I want to snorkel, I want to swim and I want to explore the surrounding area for dead things and such. The water was so murky you couldn't see the bottom in five feet of water.
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| Murky water |
There were few fish, even two hundred meters off shore on the outer reef. All in all, a major disappointment.
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| Even the Sea Turtle couldn't see |
We spent a few hours there swimming and for the first time since we have been here I had time to read my book. The King of Torts. John Grisham
. The best thing about the place was they had beach chairs.
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| A relaxing moment with a good book |
When we packed up and left we headed back towards the condo. Lisa saw a pickup truck turning out of a road with no signage. Follow the yellow dirt road. Paved for a couple of hundred meters, then dirt. It turned out this was the entrance to a state preservation area. There were several cars parked at the end of the road so we parked Sparky and headed down to the water. It was a typical Big Island beach. Lava rock shoreline and nasty surf.
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| A typical Big Island beach |
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| What the hell is this? |
After a shower we headed out for happy hour.
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| Happy hour Lisa |
All the places in town do them between three and six. Three dollar beers and fish tacos. Mahi
Mahi
with papaya salsa and coleslaw.
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| Fish Taco and a Virgin Pina Colada |
We were there for an hour or so then walked along the waterfront looking at the galleries and the tourist shops.
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| Farmers market fruit stand |
We came across a farmers market selling overpriced fruit that wasn't as nice as the road kill fruit we collected on our travels for free.
The place we went for Happy Hour has a beach on their lanai. I only mention it because I had gotten sand under my sandal straps and it was causing a blister on the top of my foot. For the life of me I could not get the sand off the straps. I hobbled back to Sparky, went back to the condo and changed my shoes.
We were going to the Kona Brew Company for dinner. It was recommended by several people we met. When we pulled into the parking lot there was a substantial line waiting to get in. We took our place in line and waited for about twenty minutes. The restaurant was open air and lush with vegetation. We ordered chicken wings and a pizza. (Bad Squatch)
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| Bad Squatch |
The food was good, the service was good and the atmosphere was excellent.
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| Inside the restaurant |
On our way home we stopped and bought some Tshirts
for the Grandkids
and called it a day. I was pretty much a jerk at this point! Tired and cranky and no fun to be around.
I was in bed by 9:30 and asleep by 9:31. I woke up at 5:00 am and wrote this blog. We are packing for our flight home and will be heading to the airport around 10:30.
Overall this was an okay vacation. The condo was good, the wedding was fun and of course I was with Lisa. The beaches were a disappointment and I won't be in a hurry to come back here. Perhaps if I hadn't been to Kauai first I wouldn't make such a hard comparison. Next Hawaiian vacation, Maui. But first, one day at home and then off to Alaska with Momma Lee and a dozen other family on a cruise ship. I probably won't complain about the beaches.
That's all I got.
Till next time
Peace Out Y'all
©2014 Dave Squatch Ward
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