A Trip Untraveled

Did what I could’ve done months ago: cancelled a December trip to Hawaii we’d booked last March. Judging by the empty seats (middle seats are blocked, blue seats are available), people don’t want to travel. I’d snagged exit rows on all flights, but it was not to be.

My Kind of Souvenir

Woke up to coffee from Hawaii Big Island. I’d ordered it a few days ago from a small company in Kona. It feels good to have a bit of Hawaii in our home on this snowy day.

Restarting a Paused Trip

Had we not returned from our trip to Hawaii Big Island two weeks early, we would’ve returned home today. Made plans to complete our Big Island trip in December. We’ll visit Volcanoes National Park and the Kailua-Kona area, as originally planned.

Hasty Departure

Au revoir Hawaii Big Island. It was time to pause our stay in Hawaii: tomorrow, a stay-at-home order goes into effect for the whole of Hawaii. We’ll return in December (ultimately it was December 2021) to complete the journey when the island will be back in business and trails have been reopened.

Hiking Abandoned Roads

Hiked another barricaded, abandoned road in another lovely valley. With the closure of Volcanoes National Park, and state and county parks, we’re improvising with abandoned roads, back-country roads and former sugar cane haulage roads.

Balancing Coronavirus Risks

Every morning we read the New York Times, the Washington Post, and our local paper, the Star Tribune. We took out subscriptions to all three newspapers within days of the 2016 presidential election because we need to support good journalism to hold the US Administration accountable. Today, the news is uniquely disturbing. Most of us… Continue reading Balancing Coronavirus Risks

An Abandoned Valley

View from an abandoned road in an abandoned valley. We clambered around a barrier then walked along the decaying road, down into the valley, past towering, lush vegetation, across a mossy bridge, and onwards towards the Pacific.

Living on a Fruit Farm

Our perches for the next week in a VRBO cottage on a fruit farm on the wet (east) side of Hawaii Big Island. We can help ourselves to fruit, including a lone avocado on the tree to the left, taunting us, out of reach.