A Change of Scenery!

Hi, everyone!

The last two days of January, Grandma and Grandpa took me back out to the bay.  We had had almost two weeks of temperatures always below freezing, including some nights that got down into single digit temperatures. The bay was solidly frozen and I could watch the ice fishermen and snowmobilers out on the ice across from us.  On Monday morning, we had a pretty sunrise!  I could see the patterns that the wind made in the snow covering the ice!

When we got back into town, Grandma decided to roast another pork shoulder to make a batch of pulled pork.  I helped!  Then, on Wednesday, it was Ground Hog Day!  There was no question I saw my shadow!  I was sad that meant another six weeks of winter, but Grandma told me not to worry.

Wednesday night, it started snowing and didn’t stop until Saturday morning!  At first, the temperatures were just below freezing.  That meant the snow was good for making snowbeasts!  I helped Grandma make some snowbeast friends to keep me company at the front window!  After we made snowbeasts, we also made triple ginger ice cream!  That gets gingersnap crumbs and pieces of crystallized ginger added when the ice cream is almost completely churned.  My special job is watching to see when the ice cream is ready for the additions!

By the time the snowstorm was over, we had more snow than any other time this winter at the snow gauge!  The back deck and yard looked very pretty under the snow!  Grandma had to get out and rake the snow off the edges of the roof again!  Because the storm started with rain that froze, it was really hard to get the driveway completely clear!  I helped Grandma shovel, but getting the bottom layer of ice off was a lot harder than usual!  At least we had sunny days and above-freezing temperatures in the daytime to work on it.  My snowbeast friends weren’t happy about the warmer weather!

The day before yesterday, Grandma helped me get ready for a change of scenery.  I still had to wear my cold weather hoodie, but she put my aloha shirt underneath!  Yesterday, we got up very early and Aunt Kara drove us to the airport.  The sun was just rising as our plane took off!  Our first flight took us to Chicago.  We got right on another plane that took us to Denver!

We had time in Denver before our next flight to have lunch!  Grandma wanted to try a restaurant in the Denver airport that was in the next terminal over from our departure gate.  We took the train over and ate at Root Down!  Grandma and Grandpa ordered a turkey banh mi and posole.  They were yummy!  Grandpa especially liked the curry lime yogurt dipping sauce for the sweet potato fries!  Then we took the train back to our terminal.  I liked the statue of a local astronaut in between the train tracks!

When we got to the gate for our final flight, I was excited!  We were going back to Kauai!  That’s one of my favorite spots.  I understood why Grandma told me not to worry about having more winter, because winter in Kauai is just like summer!  We took off during a snow squall and couldn’t see anything until we climbed above the clouds.  It’s a very long flight from Denver to Lihue — over seven hours!  I could watch the scenery on the ground until we got out over the Pacific Ocean, but then there were only clouds to watch!  I was really tired from our long day by the time we landed!

It’s five hours earlier in Hawaii than it is at the same time in Fairport.  Since I’m not adjusted to the difference yet, I woke up very early this morning — while it was still dark.  Grandma took me out on the porch to watch sunrise.  I wasn’t bright and sparkly and neither was the sky!  After breakfast on the lanai, the sky was bluer and I was ready for an adventure!  We walked down to the beach to see what wildlife was there.  I’m used to seeing sea turtles on the beach during the day.  There were none there today, but there were signs I’d never seen before about turtles on the beach after dark!  There was a monk seal at the very edge of the beach.  I know not to disturb sleeping seals!

Walking back from the beach, I made friends again with the bougainvillea and the banana trees.  Then Grandma and Grandpa and I drove to Hanapepe to buy bread from my friends at Midnight Bear Breads.  When we got there, the shelves were empty!  The clerk said they had sold out everything they baked three hours earlier!  I was disappointed we couldn’t buy bread and croissants there!  They did have enough bread to make sandwiches, so Grandma and Grandpa and I had two of our favorite grilled cheese choices.

After lunch, we came back to our resort unit and took a walk to Makahuena Point.  There’s a new wall there, built by the developers who have started to build at least one house on the open field.  We looked for whales offshore at the Point, but we didn’t spot any.  Then we walked down to the turtle cove close to Shipwreck Beach.  The big storms of the past two years have eroded part of the cove walls!  Grandpa wasn’t sure the turtles would still like being there, but we saw five turtles right away!  Then Grandpa spotted a whale, too!  The whale did lots of fin splashes!

On the way back from our walk, I made friends with some hibiscus blossoms.  I don’t mind six more weeks of winter when there are flowers in February!

Love,

Lion-san