Oahu Exploration

After a good night’s sleep, I went to the post office. I had sent a box from Thailand to my friend Howie, but I wasn’t sure about sending a package from Indonesia, so I carried my purchases with me and from here sent off a nineteen-pound box to Howie. I also sent a box on to Martha for reorganizing/sending to others once I got to her house. And I still had heavy bags that were staying with me. I would have bought more in Southeast Asia had I not been constrained by space. Maybe just as well I was constrained! I’m trying to not have so much stuff! U.S. mail - A successful transaction. Another welcome home!



Another thing on my list from last time was the North Shore of Oahu – but I heard that the traffic was terrible, and it didn’t make sense to drive five hours each way when there were other parts of the island to explore – have to leave something for next time, after all (I just hope the next time is sooner than ten years from now!). Plenty of other things to see… unfortunately, heavy rain started, so it really wasn’t a day for exploration, but at least it wasn’t as windy as was predicted. On to the Punchbowl, an inactive volcano that holds the National Cemetery of the Pacific – quite a dramatic setting for our veterans to be buried, with the cone shape and ocean views. I stopped at Pali lookout – very green – and went on to Kailua Beach, a favorite of locals; quiet as opposed to the Waikiki backdrop of high-rise hotels. It was so wet that I got out of the car, had a look, and got back in the car. I drove around the windward side – too wet for a garden or lighthouse walk – so it might have to go back on the list for next time!



I found a web site that listed places frequented by Barack Obama, and that helped frame my exploration day. After all, I saw his house in Jakarta – why not see more Obama sites? Waikiki shops had a lot of T-shirts in anticipation of the inauguration. I went by one of the apartment buildings where he lived when he grew up and past the Baskin-Robbins where he worked as a teen. I stopped at Sandy, a favorite beach of his where he body-surfed. Then to the Blowhole – I didn’t see water blow through the hole, but I did see whales passing by, surfacing and waving their flippers. There are other Obama sites to see, but it was an Oahu exploration day, not an Obama exploration day; I did what fit in!



I drove around Diamond Head – interesting to see it from the side that’s not the postcard shot. Then I went to the Honolulu Academy of the Arts – a nice collection, and I especially enjoyed the art of Southeast Asia – that tied things together nicely! I’d have gone to Queen Emma’a summer palace, but it was closed due to the storm. When I got back to Waikiki, the rain had let up somewhat, so I went for a beach walk. Then on to California Pizza Kitchen, where I couldn’t finish the salad I had missed for so long. American portions are big!

Aloha, Further Adventures!

Now it’s time to set the Wayback Machine – I will scroll all the way back to my return to the United States in January 2009!

I thought that the Drive Across America might be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and even though it came after five weeks in Southeast Asia and a week in Hawaii it was a no-less-significant part of my journey home from Morocco and my big birthday celebration. The fact that the potential once-in-a-lifetime was more or less repeated the very next year (albeit on a train) makes it no less noteworthy. I’ll talk about the Hawaii and the Drive, and then my post-Philippines trip (more of Southeast Asia!) and then Amtrak Across America, and I am sure by then (or even interspersed) there will be still further adventures and tales to tell. Thanks for your patience and for your interest!

If you’re going to land in the United States after being abroad for a while, there might be no better place to land than Hawaii. It’s paradise, after all! The Aloha State was more than welcoming, starting with the hunky Hawaiian immigration officer. He asked where I had been on my travels before returning to the United States and I rattled it off – Morocco, Spain, Germany (the airport – ha! Thought I might forget that one! Now that I think of it, I forgot Gibraltar though), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan – and then (even though he didn’t ask) I mentioned that I had just returned from the Peace Corps. The officer listened to me rattle on, welcoming me back with a smile. It helped that most of the people on my flight were Japanese, meaning that there wasn’t a long line of people with U.S. passports waiting for me to move along already.

I rented a car – a car! Peace Corps volunteers are not allowed to drive a car in-country, and I didn’t rent one in Asia, so it had been a while. Drove to my hotel (it was like riding a bicycle…), an Outrigger in Waikiki. It wasn’t the same Outrigger I’d stayed in ten years ago, but it seemed right to be in one. Then – uncharacteristically, but in some sort of recognition that I had just been on two overnight flights and had crossed the date line (this was January 15th, the second!) and several time zones, I sat on the bed and rested for a bit. As I was resting I flipped through my passport and I realized that the officer hadn’t stamped me back in. I guess that in my eagerness to declare myself back, I hadn’t been paying enough attention!



There were things that were next on the list from my trip ten years ago. I really didn’t spend much time in Honolulu then – Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head and that was about it. This time, I wanted to see the historic part of the capital city – what had been the capital of a sovereign nation before the U.S. toppled it. Turns out that January 17 was the anniversary of the day the Americans overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy. Another part of American history not to be particularly proud of…. On the other hand, it’s a part of what makes the history of Hawaii so fascinating and unique. I went to Iolani Palace, where I learned more about the royal family (very interesting) and how they were treated (not well, after the toppling). Hawaii has such an interesting blend of cultures! On to the State Capitol - kind of blocky, with a big open plaza, through which rain fell. That’s okay – I was in Hawaii! I then went on to a church made out of coral – the history of the missionaries is a big part of the history of Hawaii, and in spreading religion they also did things to preserve the culture, such as writing down the alphabet and language. That doesn’t mean I approve. As I was walking, someone came up to me – he said “Peace Corps, Morocco, Thailand…” I looked at him in confusion and then realized he was the immigration officer! I told him that he didn’t stamp my passport and he said, “that’s okay; we know you’re back.” He then offered to stamp it when I next went to the airport and gave me his number. Another person might have let it go, but I called him when I left Oahu and had him come out and back-date it! Then I wrote a nice letter to his supervisor, not going into specifics but telling him how nice my welcome back was.


I then sat on the beach for a while, and waited for a sunset that never quite materialized. When my sister suggested I go to Hawaii and I told her I was going to Bali, and she said it’s not the same. She was right! The beach in Bali was such a disappointment. Waikiki was not! I later walked along the main retail/restaurant drag of Waikiki – it kind of reminded me of the Las Vegas strip (again, that doesn’t mean I approve). Overwhelming return to American culture – stores, restaurants, crowds, everything expensive, everything clean and shiny and somewhat artificial. But a good way to ease back in, especially when in so many other parts of the U.S. it was the middle of winter!

What foods did I miss? I set out on my walk, looking for a California Pizza Kitchen. I didn’t get very far before I found a P.F. Chang’s, and that’s where I ate! Sad, maybe, but you really miss the mundane. Then – somehow sill awake – I went back to the room and reorganized my stuff, some to mail to my friend Howie for what’s turned out to be very-long-term storage and some for more immediate dispersal as gifts. Ready for the U.S. mail!

Goings on Around Here

I have talked in other blogs about paperwork and visits to government offices; well, I had to do that here recently and it’s always an adventure! My driver’s license is due to expire in January. Registering to vote in New York was fairly simple – I think I did it on-line, and I received my voter registration card in the mail – though I forgot that in order to vote in the primary in this state you have to affiliate with a party, so I missed that opportunity. Getting a new driver’s license in New York is slightly more complicated, but in part that was because I made it into a monumental event – after all, I’ve had an Illinois driver’s license for decades. In New York, you need to show your social security card. Mine is in storage, so I had to go to the SSA and get a duplicate. I have started driving around town a bit more, and even a little bit further east, but somehow driving west made me anxious; again, I might have made this into a bigger deal than it was. Riverhead seems the slightest bit depressing, too – kind of run-down. At the SSA, things were surprisingly smooth – short wait, forms in order. But they don’t just give you a new card – you have to wait a couple of weeks for it to arrive in the mail.


So I had to go back to Riverhead again a couple of weeks later, this time to the DMV. Gotta love the Big Duck you see along the way! The last time I had a New York State license was before they put pictures on them – long ago, in other words. Again, things were surprisingly smooth – I barely waited, in two different queues, before my number was called. Some surprises, though – one, it costs $62 to transfer from another state (it would be even more had it been a regular renewal). I don’t remember how much it cost in Illinois, but I think it was less! Two, you don’t get your license right away – I have to wait for it to come in the mail in a couple of weeks. Back in Illinois, several times I had gone to the mobile driver’s license renewal trailer at Taste of Chicago and gotten it on the spot! Still, it went well, which made it less traumatic. I had thought I might go to the nearby Tanger outlets and/or Target for some needs, but I couldn’t quite steel myself up for that adventure. Someone suggested that I go to Bridgehampton Commons – much more low-key – and I’ve been there a couple of times recently, in and out with needs met.


I’ve had a couple of New York adventures lately, including seeing several friends for breakfast (Alison), lunch (Doris, and Mary and Mercedes – a Peace Corps Response reunion!), drinks (Gary) and cards (Howie). During one visit, I went down to the Village to see an exhibit of Moroccan rugs curated by Alia, who had visited while I was there. Many of the rugs were from Ain Leuh, and it was great to see them again! I love those rugs – I look forward to seeing the ones I bought, someday! I also went to the Park Avenue Armory for a spectacle – Peter Greenaway’s “The Last Supper.” I have never seen anything like it. First, a beautiful travelogue of Italy that makes me glad I went and makes me want to go back, but is also a taste that will tide me over for a while. Then, a dramatic portrayal of the da Vinci painting, with lighting and music. Finally, an add-on mini-lecture about a Veronese painting in Venice. Very interesting!





I also decided to go on a couple of East End hikes – and I decided just in time, because after going on a couple of short ones, the weather got much colder. Not that I won’t still go, but it was nice to go on a couple of nature walks while there were still some leaves on the trees. It’s so beautiful around here! Indoors, I went to the Parrish Art Museum for a simulcast of Opening Night at La Scala – Die Walkure. What a treat! It was nice to see conductor Daniel Barenboim, who I was privileged to see often in Chicago. I am still humming the music, and I would do something like that again! I thought about dressing up for it but didn’t. It was nice to go out for lunch and then for coffee during the intermissions – and nice to see opera during the afternoon! I also went holiday caroling around town with a group from the library. Both the library and the hospital’s wellness center have so many programs – I’m glad I’ve taken advantage of a few of them.

A recent highlight was the Polar Bear Plunge, on nearby Coopers Beach. I decided to observe this year and think about it for the future. Apparently this was a good year to do it – sunny, warm (that is, 37 F air, 42 F water) and with flat surf. But I still wanted to watch one first! It might have been the fastest event I have ever witnessed – glad I got there early to mill and mingle a bit. A cannon went off (by the same revolutionary-era-dressed men I saw on July 4th – I guess this is another chance for them to dress up!) and hundreds of people ran towards the ocean – and in an instant, everyone was running back towards their towels and clothes! Blink and you’d have missed it! Very fun. I hear the key is keeping your feet warm beforehand, that standing on the sand is like standing on ice. I will keep that in mind….you never know; I may do it next year!



And a final note – the last Congressional race in the country, NY1, was decided, in favor of incumbent D Tim Bishop, the person I for whom I had campaigned. Hooray!

Return to New Orleans - Part IV

We had gotten around on our own, except for Sunday, when we signed up for a tour. A swamp tour! Walking in the Barataria Preserve was cool, but boat rides are always fun. We went to the Pearl River, near the Mississippi border. Interesting tour with a great guide – he had lots of stories to tell about life in the swamp. It’s amazing to think about growing up with no electricity and living off of nature’s bounty. And there is a lot of bounty! We didn’t see any gators (it was too chilly for them) but we did see raccoons, nutria and some big water birds. It was peaceful out there. And it was good to help the tourism economy recover after not only Katrina but also the oil spill.


We had a last New Orleans lunch at Ignatius, in uptown, and then went to the New Orleans Museum of Art Sculpture Garden, in City Park. The post-Katrina tour that I took in March went through City Park, a part of the city I had never heard anything about – so I wanted to see more of it. The sculpture garden provided us an opportunity to see both some of the park and some art! There were a few sculptures by well-known names, but more by people with whom I wasn’t familiar – that made it all the more interesting! The setting was pretty and the arrangement was pleasing. We had so many choices of what to do with our last hours there, and I think we picked a winner!




Helen dropped me off at the end of the St. Charles line and went on to the airport. I took the trolley back and met Kristina at her gallery. We walked to Faubourg-Marigny, the hip, trendy neighborhood just east of the French Quarter, and met David, a Morocco RPCV in the stage after ours, for dinner; we then went on to a bar for some swing music. Another evening of great food and live music in New Orleans!


And I was up early the next day for a 7:05 departure – at the Amtrak station! I boarded the Crescent, which they advertise as going from “the big Easy to the big Apple.” I had felt anxious when Helen left and I started to think about the future, but relaxed once I got on the train, there was not much to do but relax and enjoy the next 30 hours! No sightseeing car, no Rails and Trails commentary. I chose not to be in a roomette – it then took most of last week to catch up on sleep, so maybe the roomette would have been worth it, but that’s okay. We crossed Lake Ponchartrain and went through bayou country. Mississippi seemed to be a state of green trees, lots of undergrowth, and trailer homes. Alabama looked similar, except that the area around Birmingham was very industrial.




We got to the Central Time/Eastern Time divide (i.e. the Georgia border) just as it was getting dark, passed through Atlanta, and hit the South Carolina border at lights out (10:00). I had two seats to myself for most of the day, and I finished a book I had started on the plane, started and finished another, and started another. I had lunch in the dining car and dinner in the café car; it seemed that most of the people on the trip had spent Thanksgiving with loved ones and seemed sad to be going back up north. I was in a deepish sleep when, around midnight, they woke me up and told me that someone would be occupying the seat next to me when we reached the next stop; I never really slept after that, but I did doze. Woke up in Virginia – in farm country, near the sites of some of the Civil War battles I’d just finished reading about. I breakfasted in the dining car and imagined the armies marching and digging in over the gently rolling terrain. And then the train hit the Northeast Corridor and traveled a route I’d taken many a time. Sometimes you get on those trains and you see people who seem to have been on the train all night – well, now I was one of those people. No more leaves on the trees. The Chesapeake, Boathouse Row, the swamps of Jersey – no tourist swamp boat tour here! - and on to Penn Station, New York. I’ve loved my train travel this year!

Return to New Orleans - Part III

Habitat for Humanity had only one build day scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend, and I signed us up for it. It wasn’t a priority for Helen, but she knew it was one for me. So at 7:45 am, we found ourselves in the Upper Ninth Ward, ready to build. Aaron the handler has left Habitat and moved on – though he was there helping out; Patrick (who was our handler on our final day in March) left AmeriCorps and is now Habitat staff. It was good to see them again and to be remembered. This house was nine days in – concrete supports placed, frame built. The projects for the day were roofing and siding. I joined a siding crew, which meant being up on a sixteen-foot ladder, holding a heavy piece of siding in place while others hammered, and hammering while others held the siding in place (I was on the blue ladder...I'm not in any of the pictures; just took them from below to illustrate). My upper arms burned while I held that heavy piece, and even though I felt secure on the ladder, I thought that if I were to fall and hurt myself, it would not be good. Helen stayed at ground level and operated the power saw. I’m really glad we did it, even if we did leave at lunchtime.



At a conference, Helen had met the chief architect for Brad Pitt’s Make it Right Foundation, and he had offered to show us around the Lower Ninth on Saturday afternoon. That fell through, but not before we left the work site; half a day was enough for Helen anyway. We had lunch uptown at a well-known local place called Franky and Johnny’s, ice cream at a well-known local place called Creole Creamery, and since we were nearby, went to Audubon Park. I noticed in my book that the park has a labyrinth, so that was our first stop – I love meditating and walking on labyrinths. We were headed for the Audubon Zoo (where, in a song that I know only one line of, the animals axed for you), and Helen mentioned that even without our architect guide, it was more important for her to see the Lower Ninth Ward – so back in that direction we went. There are more houses there than there were in March – but, sadly, still more empty lots than houses and still many houses along the way marked for demolition. The architect called to give us some tips – a bayou at the end of a street that is reclaimed wetland, and a levee at the end of another street that offered a sunset view of the New Orleans skyline – same side of the river, but due to its crescent nature, the view was across the water. That levee was near Global Green homes – yet another non-profit with innovative homes. Lots of issues in New Orleans but also lots of opportunities! The architect also gave us a restaurant tip – Irene’s, in the French Quarter – elegant Italian. So, we didn’t see him, but he did a lot for us!

Return to New Orleans - Part II

On Friday we did the top two things that were on my wish list, despite the fact that they were in opposite directions! There are many former sugar cane plantations along the Mississippi. My book (and word-of-mouth) said that if we were to go to just one, we should go to Laura, a Creole plantation, so that is where we headed! Creole in this context means pre-Louisiana Purchase, born in the colony, French-speaking. There were many people in the area before 1803 – French, Spanish, Native Americans, Germans, others – all French-speaking, and all fall under the category of Creole. The Laura owners were from France, and they owned and operated the plantation for about 100 years; for three generations, the women of the family ran the plantation. A typical Creole house has a ground-level cellar for storage. The office and living spaces are up a flight of stairs; there’s no second story above that. The house is surrounded by porch and the rooms are entered from the outside. A typical house has three rooms in the front and three in the back, with no hallway. The rooms open not only to the outside but to each other, for maximum air flow (though not much in the way of privacy!). No closets, no bathrooms, no kitchen (the kitchen is in an outbuilding). Very interesting! Laura (unlike other plantation tours, so we hear) also talks about the slave quarters and the slave way of life; after emancipation, many of the slaves stayed as sharecroppers. With no other skills, no mobility, no education, and debt, they didn’t have many options – and they didn’t necessarily have a better life once they were free. The only sugar grown there now is in the decorative cane-juice kettles.


If you took a package tour from one of the hotels, you’d probably go to Laura and its neighbor, Oak Alley – a Georgian mansion, so something different. But we had miles to go, so we had time for just the one. I’d love to see more another time! And in looking at the map, I realized we might have been halfway to Baton Rouge at Laura – perhaps another state capital is a possibility. The Laura tour guide told us not to bother with the River Road – it sounds romantic but is slow and there’s not much to see. We stopped for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant – no sandwich, but fantastic non-sandwich Vietnamese food – which was right near our next destination.

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park has five remote sites. I had been to one, Chalmette Battlefield, last time. The three I haven’t been to are the Acadian Prairie Cultural Center, the Acadian Wetlands Cultural Center, and the Acadian Cultural Center, which we were told was halfway between the Prairie and the Wetlands, with elements of each. The one we went to that afternoon was the one with natural beauty and history – the Barataria Preserve. Wetlands, swamp, bayou, canal – we walked on boardwalk trails past cypress, palmetto, cutgrass, Spanish moss, and other trees and flowers. We saw some fauna too – egret, great blue heron, deer. Beautiful!







We got back to town, had dinner, and went to Preservation Hall for jazz – this is something I didn’t do in March, and don’t think I did in my previous visits. People line up outside, go in for a 45-or-so-minute set – there are a few seats and many standees – and then are cycled out so that another bunch can come in. Great music! One set was enough anyway – we had to get up early the next day. We had walked along the riverfront and along Bourbon Street the night before, just to take an after-dinner stroll, and that was the extent of our nightlife. I also made it through a New Orleans trip without beignets or chicory café au lait at Café du Monde!

Return to New Orleans - Part I

Back in March I floated (poor choice of word?) the idea of going back to New Orleans for Thanksgiving – I felt there was more work that I wanted to do, and more things that I wanted to see. My friend Helen, who couldn’t join us in March but with whom I have spent many a Thanksgiving (the Chattanooga trip was one of the most offbeat andtherefore one of the most memorable!) agreed to come along. A beautiful dawn made the early rising worth it – as did getting to New Orleans in the early afternoon on Thursday. We set our stuff down in our French Quarter B&B and walked around, window-shopping admiring the buildings with their wrought-iron balconies. We found a restaurant that looked inviting – and it turned out later that it might have been one of the few places that served a traditional turkey dinner (albeit with some Cajun spice). I was prepared not to have any turkey but when I saw it, I ordered it! With a cup of shrimp-and-corn bisque for a starter. It was fun to walk around and hear snippets of the Thanksgiving afternoon Saints-Cowboys game everywhere.



We went to the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park headquarters to get information for our Friday excursion; I had rushed through there in March, so was happy to go back and absorb more info (and Helen had a chance to see it for the first time). We then took the St. Charles trolley to the Garden District, to walk around and admire the houses there – opulent mansions in a variety of styles. While on the trolley we passed Lee Circle – I’d passed it in March, too, but in the six months that have passed since then, I’ve read the Shaara Civil War trilogy, and Lee is one of the few main characters in all three books. So now Lee gets a photo! Lee Circle has the new National WWII Museum – something I’d like to see, but so far it hasn’t made the cut. It also has a sizeable Confederate Museum; we didn’t get to that either, but might have had the weather not been so nice. We followed a walking tour in my New Orleans Day by Day book, but also made some detours. One of the things I like about New Orleans is the cemeteries – everyone’s buried above ground because the water table is so high. I’ve never done a cemetery tour there, but those are quite popular. More for future visits! At one detour, we passed a house that had a plaque in front saying, “On this date in 1897 nothing happened.” Whenever I think of the Garden District I think of that plaque – I have a picture of my late friend Paul in front of it. Well, it might not be that exact plaque, but it is a plaque in the Garden District that we walked by in 1986 or so. I’m sure that Paul had a hand in our taking the wrong turn and passing that it, just when I was thinking of him….





We had decided on one expensive dinner, and had reservations at Brennan’s. I was still full from lunch, so an appetizer and salad were enough for me, though I did save room for their famous Bananas Foster. I’m still thinking about that dessert. That alone is reason enough to go back to New Orleans!