Here's a fun tag from my cousin's blog.... Come play!
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you have of me.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don’t want to play on your blog, or if you don’t have a blog, I’ll leave my memory of you in my comments.
I realize that I have been perfectly spoiled growing up in the California Central Valley. As a child I used to go right into our backyard and pick oranges off our tree and grapes off our vine. I love the summertime especially because of the multitudes of fresh fruits.
Since I only have a tiny swatch of earth behind my condo, I rely on my local farmers' market to provide my fruit. We have a fabulous one every Saturday from 9 am - 1 pm. I love to wander through the stalls and get a little bit of everything from each one! I got a whole bag of apricots last Saturday - they are my favorite - and they were perfectly ripe and so yummy.
I know it's a big push these days to be "green" and buy local produce. No need to convince me. I feel so pastoral going to the "market" and coming home with my food. I love shopping outside in the sunshine. I love watching all the people milling around.
If you want to find a farmers' market near you, go to the Dept of Agriculture website where you can use their search tool to find one. Then enjoy the fruits of your labors!
While staying on Molokai, I found the one library on the island in the main town of Kauakakai. It was so cute! While standing there admiring it I had an epiphany. Someday when I am an elementary school librarian, I want to have a bulletin board with pictures of me in front of libraries wherever I have travelled! (That just proves what I nerd I am but who cares!)
So, I quickly got my camera out and had my son take a picture of me in front of the Molokai Public Library.
Later, when we were on Maui, I found the Lahaina Public Library and added that one to my collection.
So, now I have two pictures to begin my library travel photo collection! Wonder where I'll get a photo next?
Not to forget... we also spent two days on Maui. There is a boat that goes from Molokai to Maui twice a day. It's about 1 hr 45 min to cross... but bring your Dramamine! I got soooo sick on the way over! Here are a few pics of the hop to Maui...
This was the hotel we stayed at in Lahaina - The Plantation Inn - very nice!
This was the view from our restaurant - Cheeseburger In Paradise - the first night. You literally looked out the window onto the waves crashing across the sand.
The next day we drove around west Maui. This was a cliff-top view of one of the great snorkeling bays.
The road around west Maui turns into a one-lane cliff-side experience! This was a great little town with superb banana bread sold road-side.
Back in Lahaina - we had to get a picture of the huge banyan tree. It was so pretty there!
This post is dedicated to amazing places I saw on Molokai. They call it the "most Hawaiian isle" because it is the most untouched by commercialism. There isn't a single traffic light on the island... that would be because there's no traffic! Rush hour? What's that? The one main town has one main street. The island has one main road. It was the perfect antidote to too much Bay Area! Here are the pics to prove it...
If you follow the main road as far as you can go east on the island you end up at Halawa Valley and Bay. There's a waterfall back there and the river winds down the valley until it meets up with the ocean at a black and tan sand beach.
If you follow the main road as far as it will go west, you end up at Popuhaku Beach, an amazing 3 mile stretch of golden sand and aquamarine water. Just be warned - the wind whips the sand up so fast - your legs will get a blasting! See who is on the beach? That was it.
Most of the west side of Molokai is this beautiful contrast of bright green vegetation and bright red soil. The ocean on the north is in the background.
If you take the one section of the main road that branches off to the middle north of the island you end up at the top of the highest sea cliffs in the world and in the middle of a forest. Here we are hiking to a lookout where you can see the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the north side of the island.
Also on the north side of the island, to the west of the sea cliffs, you find Moomomi, a series of beaches and sand dunes. Again, I loved the contrasts - red soil, tan sand, and black rocks. The spot just behind the big rock in the water was great for swimming.
Molokai was an amazing place!
I realized that it's a new month now! The end of June just flew by - it'll do that on a tropical island (or three). And I did get some good reading in last month! Here are the books...
Flipped - Wendelin Van Draanen - I absolutely LOVED this book! Recommended by my sister and daughter I picked it up this month and couldn't put it down. Not only is it a fun boy/girl story it has some really thought provokers. Read this one!
Chasing Redbird - Sharon Creech - I've read almost all of her books now and picked this one up as a quick read at the end of school. Like many of her books, it's about a girl and a journey she goes on and what she learns along the way. A good read.
Chicken Boy - Frances O'Roarke Dowell - It's so fun to read a book from a young man's perspective. This one has great characters and a narrator you just love. Lot's of funny dialog too. My favorite line was, "You can hypnotize a chicken - but why would you want to?"
Fire Study - Maria Snyder - The third book in the Poison Study series and it keeps up with the rest. Thankfully this one had almost no adult moments. Pretty sure another one is coming out and I'm waiting for it!
Austenland - Shannon Hale - This was pure fun fluff! I got it to read on the airplane to Hawaii and nearly finished it by the time I got there. It's short and sweet. For any Jane Austen fans... especially those for whom Mr. Darcy makes their socks go up and down... it's a must-read.
Nobody's Princess - Esther Friesner - I picked this one up off the New Book shelf at the library and was very happy with the gamble. It's a retelling of Helen of Troy (Sparta) and follows Helen before she gets "abducted". The next part of the story is in Nobody's Prize - I've got to get my hands on this one next.
To Hawaii With Love: Spy Goddess Series #2 - Well... I picked this one up simply because I wanted to read a book in Hawaii that was set in Hawaii. It was pretty funny but very predictable. Besides, it took place on the Big Island and I haven't made it there yet.
Remembered Death - Agatha Christie - Well, I ran out of books on vacation with three days to go. Luckily, the condo we stayed at on Molokai had several shelves of books in the pool cabana. Needless to say, the vast majority of them were romance novels or other unreadables, but I did find one Agatha Christie mystery. I read almost every single one when I was younger, but time and age have made me forget whodunnit. So I picked this one up and thoroughly enjoyed the mystery all over again. ANY Agatha Christie is a good read!
That's it for June... on to July!
This post I thought I'd get a few fun family pictures in...
My dad, boogie boarding at Laie Beach!
The cousins at Waimea Valley.
Me and my sisters at the PCC. (Can you tell I was trying to take the picture?)
