I earlier mentioned that my very first airplane flight was when I was around 10-years old from Honolulu to Maui.  I was born at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu in 1940.  Grew up in Kakaako and when I was in high school, took a trip to Hilo.  The first 18 years of my life was otherwise spent on Oahu.  I left in 1962 for Los Angeles to spend the summer living with my older brother, who got me a summer job at the Naval Civil Engineering Center, Port Hueneme, California.  Then spent 3.7 years at Stanford University. During our junior year, most of my friends decided  to join the first full year of John Kennedy's just announced Peace Corps when they graduated.  So I had to do something similarly sacrificial.  To explore my possible future, I found a summer job with C. Brewer in Hilo.  Lived in the Boys Club, and adjacent was the little league field of a team I watched.  They went all the way to Williamsport for the Little League World Series in 1961. The Big Island became home after I

There is no port large enough to handle cruise ships in Kailua-Kona, so the Pride of American is moored a mile or so out, and you need to ride a tender to shore. Had an excellent lunch with the usual assortment of drinks. We chose not to go to shore, for   we were here on the Seabourn Odyssey only a few months ago , so here are a couple of photos from that experience. Went to dinner at Jefferson's, the ship's French restaurant.  Had an excellent escargot with endive salad. The main entré consisted of rack of lamb and Steak Rossini. The piece of foie gras over the steak was really large, and fabulous. Closed with ice cream, Irish Coffee and cognac. But all that led up to my birthday cake.  I turned 83 today. We were supersaturated with food and drinks, so gave the cake to a family sitting close to us.  The young boy was thrilled. Went to see comedian Tom Foss in the Hollywood Theater. Then went dancing with Jessica Louise on her guitar in Pink's Champagne Bar. This morning,

  For those new to this blog site, I'm on a 7-day Pride of American cruise through the Hawaiian Islands. Yesterday and today, the Big Island. This island has the audacity to call itself Hawaii, so the state has to differentiate it by calling it the Big Island of Hawaii.  And big it is. With an area of 4050 square miles, it is 41% of the State of Hawaii. Is bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined, about the same size as Connecticut and slightly smaller than the country of Qatar. Picking up from yesterday in Hilo, there is what I did on this side of the island. Lunch of Mexican Tortilla Soup and assorted curries and such on mixed salad. With a cone. We caught a shuttle to downtown Hilo and were met by my Blue-Bar Pigeon and friends. Walked through the Farmer's Market.  Rambutan. Soursop. Dragon Fruit. Longan, a cousin of lychee. Garlic and ginger. A large Jackfruit.  As long as my cane. Mangosteen, said to have curative powers. Did you know coffee also comes from Kau and P