Aloha! Again...

As of this writing, the Good to Go with Patti Beth Gang is still cruising our way around the beautiful islands of Hawaii. We’ve learned that Hawaii is the only state that is actually growing. I don’t mean “population” or “financially”; I mean the state is growing. They add on to the physical size of the state of Hawaii… approximately 42 acres a year. This is a result of the fact that islands are part of an active volcanic mountain range and the lava flow hardens increasing the surface. 

We’ve seen species of birds that aren’t in our birding books like the albatross and the white-tailed tropicbird in Kauai. Some of our gang took to the road to view Waimea Canyon known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific.” The 3000 foot deep craggy gorge is a lovely backdrop for waterfalls along its ten-mile stretch. The canyon is more often socked in with clouds that blow in from the coast. It may be nicked named Grand Canyon, but it could be the Denali since, like the Mountain in Alaska, it is so difficult to see.

It’s fun to drive down roadways bursting with colorful flowers. I’m trying to learn the difference between a papaya and a mango tree. The Rainbow Eucalyptus tree added to the beautiful view of the landscape. This tall, straight, fast-growing member of the gum tree family can add six feet a year. Its thin bark peels and shreds off revealing all shades of color. Our timing was perfect and the light shower that came down made the trees more even more vibrant. They looked like they had been hand-painted.

Kauai is known as the “Garden Island”, but I always remember it as the chicken island. They are everywhere. They are beauties with bright red combs, and glossy feathers. It seems that the hurricanes in 80’s and 90’s destroyed chicken coops and the birds were freed. There is no natural predator for the feral fowl and they have done more than cross the road. I couldn’t help but think they would do well at an Oklahoma poultry swap. Fortunately, they serve a helpful purpose in keeping down the level of Hawaiian centipedes that can give you a painful bite similar to a hornet or wasp sting… only worse.

We were lucky and watched pods of humpback whales splash and blow in the water around our ship in Maui. From our higher perspective onboard, we could spot a mother and her young. We could also watch as sight-seeing boats rushed to catch a glimpse and we were able to see these massive mammals come up for air right as the boat headed a different direction. This was even more fun since we were still in our PJs watching the whole scene. 

In Kona, our afternoon nap was interrupted when about 20 dolphins were spotted around the ship. Our personal “Sea World” show gave us the chance to see these graceful beauties slip in and out of the water. We even laughed as some jumped clear of the water and there wasn’t even a treat fish dangling as incentive.

Hawaii is rapidly changing; it is becoming more mainland and less exotic. It’s nice to learn about other living things that are different and interesting. A deeper meaning of the word “aloha” goes beyond a greeting, to a sentiment offering love and peace and compassion. Sometimes we need to slow down and share some aloha.

Aloha!

The state flower is the yellow Hibiscus. The state bird is the Nene. The state fish is the Humuhumunukunukuapua. The next time your crossword puzzle asks about our 50th state, you can thank me.

We are exploring Hawaii, our exotic state that is 2,397 miles west of San Francisco, but you can mail a postcard to Oklahoma for the same price as across town. Before becoming part of the United States, Hawaii was once an independent kingdom. Several flags have flown over this chain of islands including Russia, France, and Britain. The Hawaiian flag was designed at the request of King Kamehamameha I. It consists of eight stripes of red, white and blue that represent the eight main islands. The Union Jack of the United Kingdom fills the upper left corner, a nod to the historical relationship with the British. If it comes up in crosswords, it is the only US state flag with a foreign flag as part of the design.

Everyone has dreamed of getting away from it all and moving to the Aloha state, and why not? Hawaii is the most isolated populated place on the face of the Earth. This means you can travel past a lot of nothing to be in the highest population density in the USA. They even have their own time zone. But it might be worth it. Hawaiians’ life expectancy for males is 75 years, for females, it is 80 - the highest in the US.

Don’t worry about being so far away you have to give up your wheels. On the island of Oahu, residents own 600,000 vehicles, but only have 1,500 miles of mostly two lane roads to drive.

Children are still taught their native language in school. I thought this might be a break since the Hawaiian alphabet consists of only twelve letters, seven consonants and five vowels. The vowels are always sounded; no silent, “tricky” stuff. But then I saw some of the street names and realized like the state fish, they like to use those twelve letters over and over. I might not ever learn my address.

You could guess that the state dance is the hula. We had Hawaiian Ambassadors onboard our cruise ship giving informative talks on the Polynesian culture including hula dance lessons. The men, along with the women, use their entire body to tell stories. Graceful hand movements, swaying hips, lovely skin accented with fresh greenery and flowers....it’s no wonder we all fall in love with the beauty of the hula. Just for the record, Oklahoma has a state dance, too. The folk dance - the square dance. Maybe not quite as romantic.

Degrees of Packing

It was three degrees this past morning of Tuesday, January 16^th when the Good to Go gang left Northeast Oklahoma. Don’t hate, but we are headed to California to join a cruise ship to sail to Hawaii for 18 days. Our timing was perfect. We spent one day in the ice and snow, just long enough to say “Oh, how pretty”. Then before the freezing temperatures got on our nerves, we landed in sunny California. 
 

If you are kind enough to still be reading, of course, we wish you were here! I can imagine the travel agency’s phones have been ringing nonstop as folks are looking for warmer climes and they want to go now! It’s great to have an escape planned from the cold or the heat, but an occupational hazard of traveling for me is packing for that escape.

I know, I know, as a travel professional I’ve packed for hundreds of trips but trust me, it doesn’t get any easier! I have stood in front of a oscillating fan trying to decide which sweaters to pack for Alaska. I could barely stand the thought of hats and gloves, never mind long underwear. I’ve also been in Alaska when it was hotter than it was in Oklahoma. So of course I packed for our Good to Go trip to Hawaii during a snowstorm. As the flurries fell, I fished out flip flops. As locals dashed to town to top off their tanks, I decided on tank tops. I was looking for my sun visor when the snow advisory was broadcast over the radio.

I’ve also headed for warmer temperatures and found myself buying sweatshirts and hoodies to survive the little “cold snap” that “wasn’t supposed to happen”. I’ve worn socks as gloves and cuddle duds as t-shirts. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is never bad weather, just wrong clothes.

That being said, one of my favorite moments of a trip is when the luggage is loaded and we pull out of town. That’s because if I forgot something, it’s forgotten. The adventure begins. While there is always a chance the adventure will be trying to create outfits out of weather surprises, hopefully the memories will be about the destination and the fun of traveling with friends. After all, isn’t that why we travel?

Husband Doug is home braving the weather with you with hopes the good, hard freeze will give us a summer free of ticks and chiggers. (Haven’t we been saying we’ve needed a hard freeze to kill off these and other pests for several years?!?) Oh, and he just informed me that it’s beginning to snow again in Grove… I admit I’m really hoping to use the whole bottle of suntan lotion I packed. But, being the travel professional, I have a couple of pairs of knee socks… just in case.

Booked on the Jungle Book

"Comfort Pig"

If you have been on a flight recently, you will agree that airlines are working harder than ever to fly with full flights. We were reminded of that on our recent flights to California on Southwest Airlines as the flight crew continued to announce “This is a full flight, please take any available seat.” But the thing that caught our attention was the number of dogs that were on the flight. There were four in the first two rows. Flying with a pet is certainly not new as pets that are able to fit in carriers and go under the seat have been on airplanes for years. Of course service animals are allowed on flights, and it’s been easy to recognize a working service dog.

But on our flight, dogs weren’t in carriers, two weren’t even on leashes. None of them were wearing service dog vests. The biggest dog, a beautiful golden retriever, was laying in the floor of the middle seat in the first row, his owner in the window seat. The plane filled up and finally a woman came from the back of the plane to take the only empty seat, the one with the big dog at her feet. She was not happy. I wouldn’t have been either.

Let me start by saying I respect everyone’s love of pets and animals. I’m not a pet owner and after being bitten by a dog, honestly, I’m a bit skittish around them. If I had been asked to sit with a stranger’s dog between my knees for any length of time, I can imagine how I would have felt.

This was a new dilemma for me to witness on a flight. When we got off the plane, I asked the agent what were the rules regarding animals on flight. She stated that pets are required to be in a carrier, under the seat and there is a ticket price for these animals. Service animals fly with their owners for free. She went on to say, an individual can take up to six (!) animals on a flight. She was being very guarded with her comments. I told her of our experience and she carefully stated those were probably “comfort animals.”  The airlines aren’t required to see any badges/vests/or doctor’s notes regarding a comfort animal. They don’t have to be in carriers. 

I told her I was a bit confused. I support the need and use of a service animal, but what I was hearing her say (between the lines) was lots of the “comfort animals” are really, simply… pets. In accordance with the ADA, the airlines cannot ask to see the documentation of the animals’ job. She said that people are figuring this out and going online to get a little “kit” in case someone asks, but then bringing all sorts of animals into the cabin for free. I told her my concern about the big dog and asked if the flight attendants are trained in breaking up dog fights. I was making weak joke, but she was already ahead of me telling me about the dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, snakes, pigs, and yes, miniature horses that she had seen come onboard. I’m sure my eyebrows were in my hairline.

I was already on my next question, “What about the peanuts? If you can’t serve peanuts onboard due to a nut allergy, what about people that are allergic to these animals?” (a fur ball was starting to wad up in my throat just thinking about sharing the seat with a shedder) The agent said that animals were given the first row and people with allergies were to seek seats in the back. (Didn’t make sense to me, seems like that should be just the opposite so sneezers don’t have to walk by the critters.) The last time I sat in the front row, the agent made me store my purse in the overhead bin. It was too dangerous worn across my body and in my lap. If my purse is dangerous, what will airborne pigs be like?

For fun, I did go online to see the service animal “kit” that is available for purchase. The different websites did tout that the animals could fly free, no questions asked. So I’m paying for my luggage and sometimes my carry-on with no leniency on the weight restrictions, yet someone can bring their critter on for free? 

I felt sorry for the agent when I asked her where this all would stop. She looked bewildered and said, “If your flight felt like Jungle Book, I suggest you write the airline.”

2018 is Coming Up Roses

My aunt was very important in the Miami Garden Club. This was back in the 1960’s when the ladies met and sipped tea from a silver tea service. They wore dresses to luncheons where tiny sandwiches were served on glass lunchonette plates. It was fancy. My lovely aunt walked me around her garden and sparked an interest in flowers. Auntie V was the first from our family to attend the Tournament of Roses Parade in California. Sister and I watched the parade on TV with the rest of the world, but she was there in Pasadena, seeing it in person. She described how the floats looked up close, and it seemed magical.

We just returned from a long weekend in Los Angeles where we were able to check that off the Bucket List of several of our Good to Go Gang travelers. It was my third time to go and… the best one yet! We played a couple of days doing the touristy “you can’t come to LA and not do this” things. Our guides were locals that whisked us around so we didn’t have to worry about timing and transportation. We did a Hollywood tour, and of course, walked that star-lined sidewalk. We did a behind the scene back lot tour at Warner Brothers Studio and having just seen the hit film The Greatest Showman, being on the “street” that was used in the movie was great fun. I think all the “Ellen” fans got a kick out of being on the set used for her very popular show.

Our excellent driver/guide was loaded with facts and trivia about the TV and movie industry and touched on something that all of us could remember from all the years that Warner Brothers has been rolling.

We toured the Getty Museum, brought to our attention most recently by the fires that threatened the complex.  We also visited the Ronald Regan Presidential Library and Museum. More than just a collection of “stuff,” the Regan Library is a glimpse into the personal life of a man and how history changed during his terms. A personal highlight for us was walking through the actual Air Force One jet that is there on permanent display.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve on a private yacht cruising the Marina Del Ray with dining and dancing. We used another time zone for our toast into 2018 and were back to the hotel, in bed and asleep long before midnight in L.A.. This was on purpose because we needed to be up early for the trip to Pasadena to take our places for the parade. What made the float watching even more special is that the day before, we had spent time where some of the units were being prepared. We were able to view up close some of the pains taking detail that goes into making these giant floral beauties. 

Remember: every surface area has to be covered with flowers, leaves, or some plant matter. Nothing can be artificially colored. We watched volunteers applying glue to hundreds of chrysanthemum blooms while just as many vibrant orange roses in water vials waited to become part of a background. Tiny purple German Statis petals were torn up and dusted onto larger surfaces. I learned that the color black is usually black beans or poppy seeds. People were all buzzing with energy and focus working on these huge art pieces that were more like a paint-by-number canvas up close.

We enjoyed the sunshine and the adventure of seeing something that has been a part of our lives. Maybe we all need to throw fewer rocks and more roses in 2018. My Auntie V would like that.