#10-31 Redmond to Albany, OR 8-15-2010

Marissa and I took turns sitting in the passenger seat while Frank drove to Albany. She took these pictures with my Android Phone. They turned out really nice. They are pictures of the three Sisters. August and there is still snow on the mountains!

We arrived in Albany, and had dinner with Don and Mary. It was one of their granddaughter’s birthday. Kali turned 20, and in a couple of days, another grandchild, Hallam, also had a birthday—so we had 2 birthday celebrations with cake and all the good stuff that goes with it.

Above is Hallam Stearns with his haul of birthday presents!

We spent one night in Albany at The Blue Ox RV park. Then drove 35 miles back down to Coburg, OR to have the final work done in the RV. The part was finally delivered to the service center while we were at the Rally.

While we were parked at The Blue Ox RV Park we met a couple of technicians that used to work for Monaco and Country Coach and he led us to another guy who does Audio/Visual installations, so we decided to stay in Coburg and get our AV system updated. Of course, it is taking us much longer that anticipated! But, we will be getting rid of some of the components that over-filled the cabinet, and overheated the components. Yea!

#10-30 Redmond, OR—FMCA Rally 8-9 thru 8-14, 2010

Marissa’s bedroom was the living room couch bed. It has an air mattress built right in the bed. She was really good at blowing it up with the little electric blower! Gidget loved sleeping with her.

We were parked in Lot B on 5th street, on the way to our RV, we pass the A lot, 5th Street. There were rows and rows of RV’s. The count was over 2,000. The weather couldn’t have been better. Warm with a slight breeze and cool enough in the evening for a light jacket.

The first big show of the rally was the award winning “Texas Tenors” from the America’s Got Talent Show. Frank’s nephew, Joe and wife Carrie came over and went to the show with us. They were wonderful!! They are better live than on TV. The airlines lost one of the guys luggage so they performed in their casual clothes instead of their western costumes. I think seeing all the RV’s (with all our clothes with us) made believers out of them. Marissa just adored Marcus! We both bought their CD.

I think Marcus is excited about getting his picture taken with Marissa!

The second night was a band billed as a tribute to Jimmy Buffet. They were awful. I really felt sorry for them, because most of the audience left after the 2nd or 3rd song. We had to leave too, the singing was bad, the music was too loud, and the songs were too long. We came back to the coach and played cards!

The last afternoon of the rally the Red Hat Ladies had a tea, and Bernie and Red put on a show. Marissa and I went and had a great time. We both loved the dress and hat that Red wore! Bernie and Red are funny and talented. They are originally from Liverpool, England and spend the summer in Canada, and do their shows in the winter in Arizona and South Texas entertaining all the RVer’s. They were the only people at the rally with a pull trailer instead of a Motor Home. They had lots of funny stories about learning to be RVer’s.

Joe Proulx, Franks nephew, came ,over and had dinner with us on Saturday. He and Frank had a really nice visit. Marissa and I went to the outdoor venue and saved Frank a seat for the final evening performance by “Forever MoTown”. Below is an album of pictures of the Motown singers performing. They were excellent.

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The FMCA rally made the daily newspaper. You can see just a small area of RV’’s parked in rows.

We also hit the road on Sunday, heading to Albany to meet Marissa’s Mom and Dad at her Uncle Donnie and Aunt Mary’s.

#10-29 Crooked River Ranch and Bend, OR

We made a fast trip from Rogue River to Eugene the day after we returned from Hawaii. We had an appointment to have work done on the coach on the 28th. We spent almost 7 days in Coburg at the Monaco RV service center, (they have free parking in front of the center with water and 50 amp elec, and a dump site right there.) They worked on the rear bedroom/bathroom slide adjusted it, the Colorado awning adjusted it, a new meter put in for reading he amps, a new cover for the control panel and other things checked out and repaired if needed. We also went across the street to the Cummins shop and had the Onan generator tested and serviced. We were waiting for a new toilet seal kit, but it didn’t come in so we headed to Crooked River, OR for the Holiday Rambler pre-rally. Which, as it turned out was only about 12 coaches just camping together and having a good time.

Above is the view we had from the back of our RV at the Crooked River RV campground. It was just breathtaking. In the first picture if you look really hard, below the bluffs on the left hand side you can see part of the golf course. We stayed there 4 nights. While we were camped, Jeff and Kirsten drove to Bend for a Softball Tournament. They brought our granddaughter, Marissa Martin with them to spend the week with us.

For two days, Jeff played four, 7 inning games. The fields were beautiful and we had perfect weather. A slight breeze kept it from getting too hot, and there were plenty of shade pop-ups and lots of drinks!

Kirtsen tried to keep score and her buddy Stanley, wanted her to play with him. Jeff is the pitcher for the team. He is coming over to check on the scores. They came in third over all. They only lost two of the eight games.

Saturday afternoon, Franks nephew, Joe, and wife Carrie came by the baseball field and we went out to dinner with them while Jeff and Kirsten joined the other teams for a dinner out.

We caravaned with the other coaches from Crooked River RV Part to the fairgrounds at Redmond. It is always fun to watch a bunch of motor homes headed down the road in a line.

#10-28 Leaving Hawaii

In the lobby of the Hyatt, I made a new friend.

Waikiki beach. You are lucky if you can find a place to put your chairs or blanket. I just people watched while the guys took a nap. The beach is crowded, and so is the ocean, as you can see by the photos above.

Tall hotels and condos, along with immense Banyan trees. Quite a contrast.

At 4:30 pm on Friday’s the hotel puts on a show. We had lei making demonstrations and dancers.

The ladies are teaching a guy the hula and the man dances the "dance of fire" videos

Back at the park beside Waikiki beach. The clock is accurate and it is almost 7:00 pm. Time to have dinner and watch the sunset.

There is nothing like a Hawaiian sunset. The palms, the ocean and the sun. Serenity. Below is the swimming pool at the Hyatt. I couldn't resist taking a picture of it after sunset with the Tiki torches and the lone swimmer.

We say good by to the Waikiki Hyatt and head back to the condo for our last two days in Hawaii.

Ala Moana Shopping Center. WOW!

We had half a day, after we checked into our condo before we could use the room, so after spending the morning doing laundry (a big laundry room at the condo’s) we took off and went to the Ala Moana Shopping Center. I remembered it being a beautiful and different “mall” than we have on the mainland. It is all outdoors and not only is is full of great shops, eating places and sculptures it can be educational as well. We strolled along the koi ponds, had lunch and coconut/pineapple ice cream and Dixie even bought a new pair of shoes (big surprise!) We rode the city bus ($1.00 each senior, each way) and it was an easy trip and well worth our time.

The next day we took the mini-tour of the island, just so we can see those sights before we board our planes back to the mainland. Charlie back to Las Vegas and the two of us back to little Rogue River, OR to pick up our RV home and Gidget!

Diamond head in the left top corner.

Hanauma Bay, some of the best snorkeling in the islands. It is a sunken volcano crater. It is also on the city bus route.

And, you take this tram down to the beach from the bus stop.

This is Eternity Cove. The movie From Here to Eternity was filmed here. It is a popular spot for swimmers.

Eternity bay video showing the swimmers and the rock climbers!

The city were our bus driver lives. She told us the commute into Waikiki takes her an hour because the traffic is so heavy. Oh, but what a beautiful place to live!

The kings residence. We are back in Waikiki now. And the traffic is heavy.

Bye Charlie. Our last dining out together. “I think it is cocktail hour!”

Charlie left at “0” dark thirty a.m., and we left around noon on the 26th of Aug. We arrived back at Medford airport at 11:56 pm and Mark and Teresa were there to meet us. While we were gone, our sweet son, Mark, worked on the Suzuki and now we can roll down the passenger side window. Thank you so much!!! Lots of love.

This was an amazing trip, and I hope everyone who reads this blog enjoys the pictures and comments.

#10-27 Visiting the Islands

Maui

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Maui Plantation

Beautiful landscaping. A tropical paradise—and a perfect setting for a wedding (which was going on as we took the tour)

A very unusual flower!

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Flowers, Banana trees, Coffee bean bushes and Sugar Cane fields were all viewed from a tram with a really cute young girl driving it. She even showed us how to husk a coconut.

It was a weekend and we even got to go to the swap meet!

A real Woody was parked inside the gift shop. Very Cool

We waited by the bus under this beautiful flowering tree. On to our next stop which is Iao Valley.

Iao Valley is a box canyon. During the tribal wars one battle was fought in this valley. Because there is only one way in/out the men who were boxed in fought until their death. The story goes that there were so many bodies at the mouth of the canyon they formed a dam that stopped the flow of water in the river.

Charlie and I hiked up to the lookout and took pictures of the Iao Needle. Frank stayed below, he said he didn’t need to get any closer. I needed the exercise. We spent quite a while on the tour bus getting here. It was quite a hike. The picture below was taken about half way up to the lookout point.

Above is the river that flows through the valley, and below is a recreation of a village house that represents the kind of living that would have occurred during the habitation of the valley. This was a really interesting tour.

Kona, Hawaii (The Big Island)

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Kona was the only port we entered where we had to use shuttle boats to get into the dock. The orange covered boat is actually one of the lifeboats off the ship. The ship is in the second picture. And you can see we had kinda cloudy weather. It almost was trying to rain!

Our tour today was to a cove to go snorkeling. By the time we arrived at the cove the weather cleared and we snorkeled with about 100 other people. I was sure we were going to get hit with a flipper! Charlie and I snorkeled, and Frank stayed on the boat. He just didn’t feel comfortable enough in the water. His control of the right leg is still not 100%.

On our way back to Kona (about a 30 minute ride from the cove) we stopped at a lava cave. I hope you can see the beautiful color of the water. It is a protected area and it was just beautiful. Our boat captain took us all the way into the cave, and showed us the rock crabs that cling to the rocks.

Then we proceeded to another cove where the dolphins feed and play. Below is a video of one baby dolphin that was really having a great time jumping out of the water. There must have been 20 or 30 dolphins swimming in this cove. It was an awesome sight!

In the background is the baby dolphin jumping and in the forground you can see the fins of the adults swimming

On our way back we were lucky enough to watch the landing of a big tuna. Hopefully you can see it laying across the middle of the boat. It must have been at least 150 lbs. Lucky fisherman!

Kauai

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Our tour on the Island of Kauai was seven hours long. We really saw and did a lot!

Here we are at the “Grand Canyon” of the Hawaiian Islands. Thirty years ago when we were here with my Mom and Dad, it was all fogged in and we couldn’t see it at all. The view from the view point was staggering and very colorful. Kauai gets the most rain of all the islands. Somewhere between 300 and 400 inches a year in some places. No wonder it is the “garden isle.”

The Grand Canyon of the Hawaiian Islands. Beautiful!

Legend of Spouting Horn Video. One stop on our way back from the Canyon.

The Spouting Horn in action in video above.

Wailua River and Fern Grotto on Kauai Island

Just before we stopped to have lunch, our driver let us walk to the lookout point to view the falls and the river below. It was beautiful.

After lunch we drove to the Wailua River and caught our boat for the trip up the river to the fern grotto.

On board the boat we were entertained by singers and dancers. It made the trip go by fast. This is a river that is well used by the public. We say dozens of kayakers.

The fern grotto and park were almost destroyed by a hurricane in the 90’s and closed for an entire year while the parks department worked on it. It is now owned and maintained as a state park.

When last I visited the grotto, you could actually walk up under the hanging ferns. Now the ceiling is unstable and there have been rocks the size of a small car that have fallen off. So it is unsafe to walk under.

The hanging ferns under the rocks inside the grotto. A small waterfall soaks them all the time.

The State park built this viewing platform and now the weddings and visitors to the grotto can only get this close to the cave that the ferns are growing out of. It is still a beautiful sight. The Hawaiian wedding song is sung and danced to for every tour. It was beautiful. A great ending for our longest (7 hours) island tour.

The picture below was taken by our tour guide and the fern grotto is in the background.

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Above the flowers in the park were beautiful .

The back side of Kauai. Steep cliffs and small valleys where at one tine villages were established. Only accessible by small boats. These pictures were taken from our ship as it passed by the island.