It's been so long since I wrote the last blog that I don't even remember where we've been. Since you don't know where we've been, it won't matter if I made up some stuff to fill the missing months that I don't remember :)
We came back to California at the end of last September 2010 to get ready for our trip to see Pamela (Jeannie's daughter) in Chicago. We left for Chicago the week after we got back. We lucked out again with the weather being in the 80's.
We also spent a night in Shipshewana which is Amish Country in northern Indiana.
The day after we got back from Chicago, our friends from Costa Rica came to visit for a week. Went to Tomalas Bay oyster farm for a picnic and did touristy bay area site seeing things. The following week we drove to Lake Wildwood and spent a few days with Uncle Milton and Aunty Lovelle at their home. It would have been fun spending time on the lake but it stormed the entire weekend. We still had a great visit indoors. Before we went home we stopped at Thunder Valley Casino to deposit some of our hard earned money.
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| Jeannie and Laura |
After Halloween, we spent a few days in Las Vegas with our friends Ed and Marlene. We had a great time and saw a couple of shows.
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| Do you recognize these two people? |
I had Thanksgiving 2010 dinner for all of my family but my brother's family couldn't join us this year. And for Christmas, we missed Jeannie's son David but her daughter Pamela did fly in from Chicago. After Christmas we headed back to Hawaii for New Years Eve. Had a nice dinner at Ruth Chris. Then after dinner we went to visit Ed and Marlene who were also in Hawaii at the time, then to Audrey's and back home to shoot off fire works. This was the last year that fireworks were legal. We spent the week eating and doing things with Ed and Marlene around the island. Before going to Hawaii, I started a root canal and the temporary filling came out, the pain was so bad I had to go to the dentist on New Years Day. Good thing Jeannie has a dentist friend there. Spent 3 weeks in Hawaii before going back to California.
We were back in California for a month, then headed out for our next adventure. We flew to Costa Rica on Valentine's Day 2011 to spend 2 weeks with our friends Rick and Laura. Did a lot of driving on unpaved
mountain roads. We climbed into the mountainous outskirts of Quepos on unpaved roads to our spice tour, but if we had stayed on the main road, we could have gotten there faster but this was more adventurous and scenic.
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| vanilla bean |
Villa Vanilla is a sustainable farm sitting on 152 acres – 27 acres are used for agriculture and 125 are designated as secondary forest. Using natural and organic methods, Villa Vanilla produces vanilla, black pepper, allspice, turmeric, cocoa, and Ceylon cinnamon.
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Rick and Laura's home in Costa Rica
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| Cooling off in Rick's pool |
One of Manuel Antonio’s most notable landmarks, El Avion is built around an old Fairchild airplane and features great ocean view.
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| Dinner at El Avion |
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| View of the town of Santa Elena from our room |
Stayed overnight in Monteverde. That night we took a coffee tour and night time nature walk. It was pretty cold because we were so high in the mountain. Saw some interesting animals at night and tasted some very good coffee from Don Jose’s plantation. We stayed at the Tree House Hotel which is centrally located within the town of Santa Elena. We left Monteverde the next morning to drive on more dirt roads and over more mountains to get to Sarchi, famous for their ox carts.
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| Had lunch and shopped in Sarchi |
Rick and I went to Los Sueños zip line. They take you up the mountain in a tractor and come down on 14 cables and the last one is 2400 feet long and going down at speeds up to 45 mph.
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Rick and I are
ready to go |
We couldn't leave Costa Rica without seeing some crocodiles and macaws.
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Tárcoles River
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Following our trip to Costa Rica, we flew to Miami, and boarded our Carnival Valor ship for a western Caribbean 7 day cruise. First stop was Grand Caymen Islands, where we got the chance to swim with the stingrays. Went to the turtle farm and then to Hell.Yes, there really is a town named HELL.
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| To Hell and back! |
Then our next stop was to Roatan where we went sight seeing and ending on a river cruise to see the Mayan ruins.
Our last stop was Cozumel where Jeannie went on a shopping & museum tour and I went scuba diving.
After our cruise we spent a few days in Miami and went to see the Everglades before heading home
When we got home after our cruise, Audrey and Weiland came to California for a weeks visit in March 2011.
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| Audrey and Weiland |
After Audrey and Weiland left, Jeannie's friends Sandy and Derrick from the Big Island came to visit us in April 2011. Derrick came for 3 reasons: eat, eat, and eat! It was dungeness crab season so they ate their fill then went to Half Moon Bay and bought at least a dozen more to take home. There were so many crabs, Derrick had to go to Sports Authority to buy an ice chest to take them on the plane.
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| This is the way to eat crab, after someone takes all the meat out of the shell |
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| Shucking oysters aren't that easy |
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| Derrick the master sucker |
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| Ed |
In the beginning of May 2011, our friends Ed and Marlene invited us to Incline Village in Lake Tahoe for a few days of gambling and fishing. It was in between winter skiing ending and summer season not quite started yet so it was pretty slow in all the casinos. We gambled in Northshore, Southshore, and even went into Reno to try our luck.
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| Alvin, Ed, Ken |
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| Ed and Marlene |
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| Ed and Marlene |
After we came back from Lake Tahoe, we headed to Manhattan Beach for my nephew's graduation from
Loyola Marymount University. And since we were in the Long Beach area we booked a 4 day cruise for Ensenada and Catalina Island.
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| Visiting Catalina Island |
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| Just arrived in Ensenada to check out the blow hole |
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Our favorite bartender
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| Dancing with the wait staff |
After our cruise we stayed a few more days in Southern California and went to Knox Berry Farm, Universal Studios and Disneyland. We had a nice little mini vacation.
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| Desperate Housewives Wisteria Lane |
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| Universal Studios |
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| Didn't make a single one! |
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| Blues Brother's car |
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| Disneyland It's a Small World |
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| Waiting for the submarine ride |
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| Knox Berry Farm |
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| Knox Berry Farm |
Now it's the beginning of June 2011 and it's time to go back to Hawaii. Jeannie's daughter Pamela came with 2 of her friends to help celebrate Jeannie's 62nd birthday. We had a party at the house with all of Jeannie's friends, then we had a nice dinner party for Jeannie at Buca di Beppo with just her family.
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| Jeannie and Ken |
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| Jeannie and daughter Pamela |
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Jeannie's friends at her Bday party
Brian, Roy, Judy, Ed, Violet, Ken |
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| Birthday Girl |
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| Pamela, Jeannie, Stephanie |
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| David, Jeannie, Pamela |
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| Ken, Jeannie, Pamela, David, Jenise |
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| Jeannie's best friend, Audrey |
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| The Bday Girl with the Pope |
Now it's September 2011 and we're headed to the Big Island to spend a week with Jeannie's friends Sandy and Derrick. We spent the first night with them in Hilo, then the next day we all drove to Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island. We stayed there 3 nights then drove back to Hilo to stay with Sandy and Derrick for another 3 days before returning to Honolulu. While we were at the Prince Hotel we went next door to the Mauna Kea Beach Resort for their famous Clambake! The Big Island's most remarkable seafood buffet, the Mauna Kea Clambake is dining beachside under the stars. Indulge your appetite for all the Keahole Maine lobster, sashimi, shrimp, crab claws, oysters, mussels and clams you care to eat, plus prime rib of beef and a decadent dessert bar. If anyone is on the Kohala Coast on a Saturday, you have to go to this Clambake.
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| Yummy |
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| All the lobsters you can eat at the Clambake!! |
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| Derrick, Sandy, Jeannie |
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| Sandy, Jeannie |
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| at the City of Refuge |
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| Dinner at Huggo's in Kona |
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| Black Sand Beach |
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| Black Sand Beach |
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| Volcano National Park |
Now you are up to date with Where is Ken and Jeannie. We will be going back to California in Mid-October 2011 and will be starting a new blog when we get back.
mountain roads. We climbed into the mountainous outskirts of Quepos on unpaved roads to our spice tour, but if we had stayed on the main road, we could have gotten there faster but this was more adventurous and scenic. 
One of Manuel Antonio’s most notable landmarks, El Avion is built around an old Fairchild airplane and features great ocean view.
