Category: Turistas

Alternate spelling, alternate universe

You may recall from a post a while back that I use my secret agent 007 stealth first name when I order coffee and they ask for a name to write on the cup.

My secret agent name is Lucy. I use that name because it’s:

1) easy to pronounce

2) easy to spell

3) heard clearly over the whooosh whooosh sounds of an espresso machine

I copied this from a friend (who has my same real first name), even borrowing her own made up nom de bebida, because of the ease of use.

Until this past week at the Honolulu airport.

They asked my name. I said Lucy. They nodded and wrote the name. I got my beverage and it wasn’t until I was on the plane that I noticed.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Defies words

I had a day today that defies all possible words.

Started out with a road trip down south of Kona to the very end southernmost of the Big Island of Hawaii.

My destination was Punalu’u Black Sand Beach.

I had stumbled across this gem online while looking for actual beaches. Kona is the newest of the islands and as such, doesn’t have fabulous sand beaches. It has stunning lava coastline, but no happy sandy beach to lay about and catch some sun…or even walk on and put your toes in the water.

So not only is Punalu’u an actual sandy beach complete with watery toes….it comes with sea turtles!

Yes, actual sea turtles!

I was lucky enough to see five today on the small stretch of sand that comprises this amazing, glorious, gorgeous beach.

Then, after I’d spent several hours with the turtles, full of a turtle induced I, I decided to move on to the Volcanos National Park.

Both Kilauea and Mauna Loa were visible and AMAZING.

I took about three hundred photos today, and I’m sorting them out. The volcanos put a muted light haze on the day which my photographer friends will know is KILLER light for taking photos.

So here’s a few to start, more to come:

All photos by Karen Fayeth

Doin’ pretty fine

Lava rock means not a lot of sandy beaches. But it sure is pretty.

For my New Mexico friends, parts of Kona I have seen so far (the non-ocean part) reminds me of The Valley of Fire in New Mexico. Black, stark, and really beautiful.

Humid. Obscenely so. But warm.

The morning vog (volcanic fog) has moved on and it promises to be a gorgeous day.

Irrefutable evidence

That there is my actual hand putting my actual absentee ballot into the actual mailbox.

I will be in Hawaii for Election Day, or rather will be traveling home from Hawaii, so I won’t really be able to keep an eye on the results.

Either way, it will be newsworthy.

But there you have it. I voted.

Now it’s your turn.

I won’t tussle over your opinion versus mine. All I ask is that you make your opinion known.

Vote.

Something to look forward to

I believe in life it’s always important to have something you are looking forward to. Something that helps get your heinie out of bed in the morning so you can slog through another day.

A reason to prevail.

It can be just about anything. Heck, some folks are looking to the weekend. Others to seeing their kids at the end of the day. Everyday stuff is good, no doubt, but I’m talking the big stuff. The “ohmygoshIcanhardlywait” kind of stuff.

For me this year, it was about the wedding. Yeah, that was a doozy. A real big something to look forward to, and man did it deliver.

I remember walking on the beach with my fresh-out-of-the-package husband on the evening after our morning wedding, and I said to him “you know, we need to find something new to look forward to.”

He told me to shush up and enjoy our wedding day, and I did. Soon enough, though, he was saying it too, “we need a new something to look forward to.”

Well, we got one. Yup. Two weeks. Hawaii.

Bam! (said with all the Emeril flair I can muster)

I have never been and it’s almost like a fairy tale to this New Mexico kid to even think about going.

Sure, yeah, economic crisis, yipes, and all of that. But hey, I’m doing MY part for the economy.

The weather in the Bay Area is starting to turn decidedly frosty. The usually standoffish Feline has taken to cuddling *right* on up with her heat-producing humans. Blankets have come out of closets.

And in just two weeks, I’ll be where it’s 80 degrees and in an island state of mind.

Oh. Yeah.

And I’ll come back just in time to start my new job at a new company.

All that added up…not a terrible “something to look forward to.”