We have not been on a long vacation since our last trip to Key West Florida several years ago. I have always wanted to go to Alaska but Teresa is not taken with Alaska like I am. So we decided to compromise and take our next vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Actually, I am almost as excited about going to Hawaii as I would have been about going to Alaska. I was able to find plane tickets at a really good price so I  jumped on them. We will be staying on the west side of the Big Island for 4 days and then we will spend 3 night on the east side of the island.

One of the places we will be staying at is a converted Shell service station that is now a Zen Buddhist Bed &  Breakfast. It is run by a Japanese lady named Akiko. We will be staying in the Mango Tree cottage which is is the middle of a rain forest. The other place we will be staying sounds as exciting as Akiko’s. I want to see Volcano National Park as well as the botanical gardens. There are many other places that will be on our list and we expect this to be the best vacation of our lives.

In other news, I have  just returned from the optometrist where I have been fitted with a pair of multi-focus contact lens. I hope to be able to do away with my reading glasses for good but it may take another visit or so to get the prescription right.

Summer is here and I will be getting the pool ready to use. We have already had a couple of 90 degree plus days so it will be nice to have a pool to jump into. I have given up trying to mow the back yard and have contracted to have the back yard mowed and trimmed for 35 dollars. As we anticipate moving soon it did not make financial sense to buy a riding mower and the people that do the yard do a great job.

There is a lot more I could say but I will save it for another day.