Luau - Food - Drinks - Dancing - Flowers - Music - Roasted Pig

Monday night was Luau night. Our Luau was held at Sea Life Park - a small theme park on the east coast of Oahu. It started at 5 PM - the sun had already set over the pali cliffs. We were under the stars and the hang gliders circling overhead on the winds rising up the cliff faces. As it got darker - the gliders could only be identified by their colorful wing lights - like fire flies.

Quite frankly - I did not look forward to the event. I had attended a Luau at Sea World in Florida in 1980 - and thankfully they were not handling out weapons or cyanide pills - or I would have taken one in honor of Hitler. :-)

First we weaved - then we drank then we ate - finally we danced. By 8 PM is was over.

Lulu and I were called up on the stage as the longest married couple at 44 years. Next thing you know you are in the Baby Boomer Last Man's Club. They gave us necklaces and flowers. Robin - Drew - and the kids came on stage to dance with us. I must admit it put a tear in my eye. I am very proud of my family - and this whole Hawaiian show worshipped family.

Meet Our Hawaiian Landlord

Doris Markland in her Waikiki condo

The view from Doris's 22nd floor condo

We have been visiting Hawaii since 1994 when Lulu used to teach summer courses at the University of Hawaii. On our first two visits here - we house sat for other college professors - but then I stumbled across Doris Markland and her condos.

Doris is spending here 41st straight winter in Waikiki. The rest of the year she lives in Norfolk - Nebraska.  She owns two condos in the Waikiki Banyan Hotel. I do not even remember how we connected with Doris - it was before extensive Internet use.

Each condo has a bedroom - bathroom - kitchen - living room - and covered porch. The condo also includes a parking garage - an exclusive item in a busy beach town. The condos are completely equipped with towels - dishes - free wifi - TV - etc.

When Doris is not using the condos - she rents them out - usually through a rental service. In our case - she rents them directly to us. We have referred many people to her - and everyone has been very satisfied.

On the 6th floor - there is a gigantic deck with pool - tennis court - basketball goal - two hot tubs - and barbecue areas. The grills are coin operated. When Lulu used to teach here we would have picnics with the students on the deck. There is also a laundry.

The building has 38 floors - half the apartments face the ocean - half of them have a mountain view. The beach is a one block walk away as is the only Catholic church in Waikiki. Our lobby is open air - no doors.

Doris is a published writer. She is also 90 years old. Her husband of 63 years died a few years back but that has not stopped her from wintering in Hawaii.  After 21 years of coming to Hawaii - this is the first time we met his lovely lady.

As they say on TV - the rates are too good to publish here. Ask me.

On the North Shore - the Famous Pipeline

Everhart Christmas in Paradise

New Years Day was Christmas dinner for the Everharts. They all got together at Duke's Canoe Club in Waikiki. Liz and Keith has just arrived after an 11 hour jet ride from Washington DC. Duke's Canoe Club is named after Duke Kahanamoku - the famous surfer and Olympic swimmer.

A gift to Lulu from Keith and Liz was a Cornwall County flag. Lulu's great grandfather emigrated from Cornwall when the tins mines there had a downturn.  

Rainbows are the symbol of Hawaii. You see them almost every day.

We are all still pretty jet lagged - getting up very early - and getting very sleepy by 6 PM. 

Duke's Canoe Club is right on the sands at Waikiki. In the background is the famous Diamond Head Crater. It is a 762 foot tall extinct volcano. There is a path to the top - we plan to walk it this trip. On the top is a gun bunker from World War II.

Videos of Our Rental Condo in Hawaii

Christmas Guests in Tallahassee

The Wakulla Springs boat tour was shortened by a balky
 gasoline backup engine.  The electric engine nursed us home
 and a refund of our money. 

Plenty of gators awaited our balky boat gasoline motor.

A great dinner with family. Jack and Tami Cox.

Chicken - mashed potatoes - corn - cranberries.
The gravy was named a new food group.

Lunch and drinks in Apalachicola at a favorite
seafood spot. 

Apalachicola was once the capital of the
world oyster industry

Lulu's brother Jack and his wife Tami - visited us over the holidays. We did a lot of neat things together - but the best was a wonderful chicken meal that Tami made for us. 

We also attended an FSU womens basketball game - visited Wakulla Springs - went to Carabelle Beach - had lunch in Apalachicola - and walked the sands on Saint George Island. 

After they took us to the airport for our trip to Hawaii - things went downhill. A police chase of a stolen car ended up on the street in front of our house. Then there are rumors that they got matching tattoos - I guess the police chase of 20 Barney Fife cop cars scared them into the tattoo parlor and an early retreat from our town. :-)

It was really a great visit and fantastic chicken.

Suspect Arrested Following Police Chase in Tallahassee

This car ended up right in front of our house - scaring our house guests to leave town early. 

By: WCTV Eyewitness News
December 30, 2015

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A man was arrested after leading police on a chase through Tallahassee in a stolen vehicle Wednesday evening.

According to the Tallahassee Police Department, on Saturday, a white Buick Enclave was reported stolen by its owner to the Tallahassee Police Department. 

On Wednesday at approximately 6:15 p.m., the car's owner saw the Buick on the roadway and called police as she followed it. 

The driver of the stolen vehicle drove to the area of 9th Avenue and Terrace Street, near Thomasville Road, where a marked patrol car attempted to stop it. The driver refused to stop and turned down Pine Street, a dead end. The driver of the Buick then put the car in reverse and struck the marked patrol car, a vehicle being driven by a passerby and an unmarked police car, as the suspect attempted to flee the area. Fortunately, no one was injured.

TPD officers attempted to stop the Buick, but the driver refused to stop.

Based on the suspect's disregard for public safety, a short pursuit ensued. The driver of the Buick eventually crashed near the intersection of Clark Avenue and Seminole Drive. 

The Tallahassee Police Department says two occupants, a driver and a passenger, both ran away from the car. 

The driver, 22-year-old Rashad Long, was apprehended a short time later with the assistance of the Leon County Sheriff's K-9 Unit and helicopter. Long received minor injuries, was treated by EMS and will be taken to the Leon County Jail for processing.

TPD is continuing to search for the female passenger at this time. The female is described as a black female, approximately 5'6" tall and wearing a plaid shirt. If anyone has any information about this case, please call TPD at (850) 891-4200.

Happy New Year From Hawaii

View from our Waikiki condo - looking north

Happy New Years from Waikiki to all our friends and family. Lulu and I got here at noon yesterday. Drew and family got here at 3 PM. Keith and Liz are in the air as I type - on a straight flight from Washington DC - an 11 hour flight. He does have wifi so you can wish them a Happy New Year. 

We have staying in this condo - owned by my friend Doris from Nebraska - since 1994. We stayed here 8 times - never met her - but are going to meet her this trip. She has two condos in this building. 

The weather is perfect here- sunny - 80s - breezes. We can sleep with the glass doors open. 

Lots of fireworks here - we were already in bed - were awaken by them.

Off to the beach now. 

Aloha

Just landed in Honolulu.

80. Sunny. Breeze.

Will spend a week here with kids.

Two Electric Cars Meet At The Pump

Two 2012 Nissan Leafs at the free charger at
Kraft Nissan on Mahan Drive in Tallahassee

Wr just got back from a trip grocery shopping at Walmart. On the way there - we drove by the Nissan dealer to look at cars. Sunday is a great time to visit car dealerships because many of them are not open - there are no salesmen to pester you.

We stumbled upon a new free electric filling station. This young couple was filling up their 2012 Nissan Leaf - one just like ours. They are from Monticello which is about 20 miles east of here. They own a pecan farm - and we swapped stories about our electric car adventures. They do not have a 220 volt electric car station in their home - so they charge it on a 110 station which takes much longer.

This station at the Nissan dealership is the 440 volt variety - you can get a full charge in 20 to 30 minutes. Of course it can only do one car at a time. A full charge that would power you almost 100 miles costs about $3.50. So it is a nice fringe benefit of buying a Leaf - free fuel. A full fillup costs the same whether you do it on a 110 volt - 220 volt - or 440 volt charger. It fills much faster here - plus you do not have to pay anything.

I have never charged my car on a fast charger yet - but I would like to try. To get a 440 volt charger on your home would require a special electrical line. The 220 volt line I have is just like a 220 volt line you have for a dryer or an air conditioner.

I did not catch the guy's name - but if he sees the picture he might email his name for the caption.

Christmas Breakfast Brunch With George and Joel Dawson

Lulu and I were home alone for Christmas this year. Our family will get together for New Years in Waikiki.

Our good friends and neighbors George and Joel Dawson had a wonderful Christmas Brunch where we all had ham and eggs. George and Joel are in the front row. George took this picture with a tripod and timer. Joel is wearing her mother's red Christmas jumpsuit.

I will be adding a list of guests to go with the picture above.

Tallahassee set a record yesterday for Christmas. It reached 81 degrees - although it was overcast - foggy - and humid. We had to have the air conditioner on because it was so muggy.

The rest of the day we video-chatted with the kids - and opened presents. Lulu cooked a turkey with filling for supper.

Christmas Eve in Tallahassee

Santa at Governors Square Mall

Lulu and I are staying home this year. The kids are up north - we will see them in Hawaii in a week for New Years. All our packages are wrapped and sent.  It is the first time I can remember it being just the two of us for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Maybe next year we will just drive a motor home north for the holidays - who knows where we will be. 

We took a walk over to the mall to see the last minute shoppers. Santa was busy. We had a little Chicken Fila for lunch in the food court - while shoppers cruised by. The mall looks great - it was recently renovated - all new interior surfaces. Lots of new white - gray - and tan tile.  It cost $7 million - that is a lot of tile. 

It is 70 degrees and overcast outside - looks like rain coming. Christmas Day is predicted to be 83 degrees here tomorrow beating our previous high of 80 degrees recorded in 1983. 

Lulu is preparing her grandmother's famous potato filling for dinner tomorrow. It is always so good and feels like home.  A minute after I took this picture below of Lulu cooking - she sliced her index finger. She is good now and I can get back to posting this.

Last night we drove over to the other Tallahassee Mall renovation. It is going to be called The Centre at Tallahassee. A guy is dumping $77 million into it of his own money. It features a 9000 seat concert theatre - with two sides open to the outside. It is a gigantic room - it could have many uses. The seats are portable. They have an ice skating rink there now - it has ice - but it was not open for business.  funny - because all the lights were on. Tallahassee may be the only place in America with two new outside concert venues - and no inside ones. 

The holidays are not complete without driving to Southwood to see the Christmas Decoration. Two years ago - I guy had his house so fancy - it was featured in Good Morning America. This is year it is unrecognizable. Go figure. 

Recently renovated Governors Square Mall - today

Lulu making potato filling

Everhart 8 stockings - fireplace - 9 foot craigslist tree

My iPhone With Separate Keyboard Was A Dismal Flop

Normally I travel with my laptop and camera. With those two items I am able to publish my webpage stories. My Sony RX100 Camera produces high quality pictures and video. I can easily take the RAM chip out of the camera and put it in my laptop. It makes for a quick and easy way to take a picture and write a story to go with it in seconds.

I bought a very nice keyboard that plugs into my iPhone. With it I can type stories very easily onto the iPhone - and quickly email them to my web page. But the biggest problem is that I am then limited to pictures that I have taken with the iPhone.  I guess that is the rub - being stuck with phone quality pictures - when you have what in my opinion is the best pocket camera on the market - collecting dust. I ended up taking two pictures of everything - one with the camera - and one with the iPhone. Yuck - yuck - yuck.

After the first day - Lulu said that I should admit defeat and use her laptop. So I did. I will send the little iPhone keyboard back to Amazon.

The keyboard itself works very well. It is easy to type - especially with the little stand I bought for $6 to hold the iPhone. If I just wanted to post text stories - it would be ideal - but in my opinion the best part of the Internet is videos and pictures. The words are there just to set up the visuals.

One other minor problem - the keyboard took up the lightning port - the same port you use to charge the phone. So you could type or charge - you could not type and charge at the same time.

PS - Friday - The keyboard is in the mail on the way back to Amazon.

The Stockings Were Hung By The Chimney With Care

Safely Home From 4 Days in Texas

The Alamo - we had the place to ourselves 

LBJ Library 

Christmas Tree in Texas State Capitol

We got home before midnight last night from one of the best trips of our lives. It all started out with Lulu needing 1000 miles to get her Delta Gold Medallion. She booked the trip because it was cheap and it was to a new place for both us. It turned out being a fantastic 4 days of fun.

We left Tallahassee at 5 AM Sunday - got back last night before our Nissan Leaf turned into a pumpkin. Deltas 4 flights were on time - it was nice they put us in first class on the away out.

In San Antonio - we loved the Alamo and Riverwalk. Staying in the Gunter Hotel where Robert Johnson made his famous recordings was unexpected and haunting. The Riverwalk in itself is a worldwide attraction we hope you get to see.

Austin is a little liberal enclave in the middle of a very conservative state. The locals love to call it Weird Austin. The LBJ Library is well done and gives a great synopsis of the 1960s. The Traveling Beatles Exhibit was another nice bonus. The University of Texas and the Texas Capitol - coupled to the vibrant music industry - make Texas a really different place.

Gruene - a small historic register town - accented the heavy German influence on Texas. A most interesting exhibit on the 1936 Nazi Olympics at the UT Stadium - was both eye opening and fair.

A visit to Texas is not complete without a couple steaks - and we were not disappointed. Because the college and the congress were home for the holidays - we had the places to ourselves. The Christmas decorations were outstanding - and we lucked out with perfect weather - 60s and 70s - sun and no rain. Texas is famous for heat and humidity that makes Florida seem temperate.

We did not spend much - $400 for 2 plane tickets - $400 for 3 hotel nights - $100 for a rental car. We have to eat meals everywhere - so that is a wash. Lulu got her miles and she also got 100 straight hours with me. Watch out what you wish for :-)

One Last Trip to the Alamo Before We Caught Our Plane

I had a great conversation with this gentlemen about
the large German influence on Texas.

Lulu wanted to shop in the Riverstreet Mall - so I walked over to the Alamo for one last visit. The historic Texas shrine is featured in all the USA history books - it certainly does not disappoint you. 200 Texans fought to their death there to make Texas and independent country from Mexico. Today's Texans are quite proud of this old mission - although it was a dismal defeat - it became a rallying point that they used to defeat Santa Anna a couple months later. They captured the Mexican president - and this led to Texas becoming the Republic of Texas for 10 years. 

Davy Crockett came toTexas seeking a new start.
He had been a member of the US Congress.
He also starred in a movie series for Walt Disney.

Gruene - A Cute Little German Town in Texas

This house reminded me of my upbringing in the 1950s.

Today we visited Gruene, Texas - a whole town on the national historic register. It started out in the 1840's as a German enclave when Texas was still a separate country. Henry Gruene set up a grist mill on the Guadalupe River. He also purchased a cotton mill to separate the seeds from the cotton. A small company town developed around the mill. The town had a general store - a dance hall - among the other company homes in the community. 

After the cotton industry died a terrible death to the boll weevil - the town went ghost. In 1950s - a developer was canoeing down the river - saw the old water tower - and explored the town on the bluff. The buildings were in relatively good shape. the guy bought the town - and restore the buildings. He worked to get the town on the national historic register. Today it is a tourist mecca. 

The town can be found halfway between San Antonio and Austin - just off I-35. The old wooden dance hall still hosts top music attractions. Today the place was pretty quiet - but by th time we left town - the parking lot was filling. 

Lulu loved the shops - I like the architecture. The Germans erected plain - functional - but durable buildings. 

This bed an breakfast had 31 rooms - right next to the dance hall.