Showers and Sunblock

Before I forget, it can rain during the day. Not cold and blustery mind you, but at least here on Hilo, showers in the morning aren’t uncommon. So (fill in your name in addition to Marise, Mike, Graeme, Jill, etc) you might want to bring along an umbrella, poncho, or lightweight rain jacket if you plan on being out and about.  The original plan for today – me hanging out and Dani on a hike and volcano sightseeing  ran into a challenge yesterday. The tour guide had a vehicle breakdown and couldn’t locate an alternative. Result was that her trip was cancelled and we really didn’t see a good alternative.

So hiking into town it was. And off we went with the intermittent showers spotting my glasses, adding weight to our clothing, and squeaks to my sandals. If I had had any sense – I would have talked to the operator of the Hoppa-On, Hoppa-Off van that was hanging out in front of the terminal. In fact, it is the first thing I have seen that even remotely resembles the Hop-On, Hop-Off double deckers that seem to populate all major European  Cities as well as tourist locations in the US (NYC, SF, etc). 

As routes go, we exited the port and hung a left at the first street which ran all the way into Hilo. It was almost 3 miles into town (counting all the zigs and zags to stay with the sidewalks). Again, pedestrian crosswalks and signals at all the major intersections. 

We found a fun little coffee shop – The Palace Grounds which opened less than a month ago at the former Axe Lounge after having to move from its previous location. Excellent coffee, chai, and a public restroom. From there it was out and about town, The “Farmer’s Market” looked to be more like a flea market and we skipped it.  Of note in town – there is an excellent used book store called Bookbuyers, candy, toys, souvenirs.

 

Also of note is the Hilo Discovery Center located in an amazing historical building.  

It just reopened in June. Upstairs an amazing art exhibit of what can be done with recycled trash. 

There were also sections on the marine life from the area –

and the unmanned ocean monitoring systems –

Dani stayed in Hilo longer than I did, following signs about sugar cane juice and met Ziggy. 

I walked back

noting ducks 

canoes that hold 5-6 

thinking about living somewhere with a high risk of tsunamis, volcanos, and the damage that can accompany both natural and man made disasters. 

 

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About Holly

fiber person - knitter, spinner, weaver who spent 33 years being a military officer to fund the above. And home. And family. Sewing and quilting projects are also in the stash. After living again in Heidelberg after retiring (finally) from the U.S. Army May 2011, we moved to the US ~ Dec 2015. Something about being over 65 and access to health care. It also might have had to do with finding a buyer for our house. Allegedly this will provide me a home base in the same country as our four adult children, all of whom I adore, so that I can drive them totally insane. Considerations of time to knit down the stash…(right, and if you believe that…) and spin and .... There is now actually enough time to do a bit of consulting, editing. Even more amazing - we have only one household again. As long as everyone understands that I still, 40 years into our marriage, don't do kitchens or bathrooms. For that matter, not being a golden retriever, I don't do slippers or newspapers either. I don’t miss either the military or full-time clinical practice. Limiting my public health/travel med/consulting and lecturing to “when I feel like it” has let me happily spend my pension cruising, stash enhancing (oops), arguing with the DH about where we are going to travel next and book buying. Life is good!
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