Happy Birthday To Me!

in

Today is my birthday!! Wanna know what I've done today?

Absolutely nothing! It's been glorious.

I partook in some delicious coffee, I went to the mall and bought a long sleeved shirt (ahem, Pacific NW.....it's May! Warm up soon.....pretty please?), had a tuna fish sandwich instead of a salad and have been lounging on the couch reading for the last several hours.

Historiauntie and Cousin are driving up from Oregon today for a visit. Squuueeee! I'm uber excited! (Cousin doesn't have a blog code name yet.....so for the sake of this post I'm calling her Cousin.....but what I do need to say is that she is absolutely one of my favorite people ever and her birthday is tomorrow we almost share a birthday!)

This is the view I'm currently enjoying:

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Everyone loves a pooch snuggled up on a rug braided by your Grandma.....right?!

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!!!

Back on the road....

in

Aaaaaand I'm off! My time in Hilo was over much quicker than I would have liked. MUCH quicker.

I'm back in airport mode and am headed to the Northwest for two weeks. I haven't seen some of my family in ages and started feeling like I needed a dose of mainland family!

The sad 'leave Hilo day' always comes quicker than expected.

Hopefully I won't be too cold tomorrow! I only packed one fleece!

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Honu Town

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I saw something incredibly cool yesterday. I happened upon four sea turtles sunning themselves while I was out and about with Travel Buddy. Seeing one is cool enough four was over the top exciting. Then, we spotted four more sunning themselves on the rocks. Soon, another turtle swam up to join the first four and then another one swam by! Which means, we saw a total of TEN turtles at the SAME TIME! Being a turtle (Honu) lover means I was so over the top excited I could barely stand it!

I'm convinced we happened upon a Honu town!

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Shell Selections

in

It's a lazy Friday morning in the Nautiemermate household. Yesterday, I celebrated my 'fake birthday'. I'll be on the Mainland for my REAL birthday and Travel Buddy will be far away so my friends encouraged me to have an early celebration. It was fun! I may have had one too many diet seven ups.....which is why it's a lazy Friday morning. Wanna hear something quasi exciting? I'm going over to look at earrings this morning! Is there anything cooler than looking at earrings? Why yes, yes there is. Taking your own shells to make earrings with!

I found a bunch of shells on the ship when we heaved up anchor one day. The anchor was COVERED in mud and of course it fell all over the deck as we cleaned it off. Of course, I had to dig through it looking for shells! There were an amazing amount of beauties. (Looking at them now I will admit they are a little on the rough side and probably won't be getting turned into wearable jewels.). I also found shells in Rota, Spain and Poti, Georgia.

I can't wait to see what I end up with!

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Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

in ,

When guests visit me on the Big Island I always make sure that we visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  I mean really, I live on an island where the potential exists to view molten magma.  How can I not take guests to a National Park where they can learn all about lava and volcanic activity?! The thing is, although I myself have been to the park about ten million kazillion times I still love to show it off!

I never have the same experience twice.  Volcano is tricky.  Sometimes it's gorgeous and sunny.  Sometimes it's misty and sunny.  Sometimes it's freezing cold and sunny.  Sometimes it's freezing cold and misty.

When I visited with my Cousin Rhiannon it was a little chilly, a lot windy and mostly sunny.  Yesterday when I visited with Travel Buddy it was freezing cold, raining with whipping wind.  Still fun!

The other thing is that the climate changes dramatically.  Yesterday, the viewing area around Halemaumau was miserable but as I descended the Chain of Craters Road the sun came out and the temperature increased by about 20 degrees.

My favorite things to do at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:

Thurston Lava Tube, The Sulphur Banks, The Steam Vents, Chain of Craters Road (specifically viewing the sea arch and watching for sea birds living on the cliffs), Kilauea Iki, Jagger Museum and the Halemaumau lookout (which is currently featuring a glowing lava lake), and a pit stop at the Volcano Art Gallery (of course).

 

See more!!

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