Trip to Hilo

I had breakfast at Kings View again. This time I tried the macadamia nut waffle. It was disappointing, they just sprinkled a handful of macadamia nuts on top then added whipped cream. I was expecting chopped macadamia nuts to be spread throughout the batter. On the plus side, they did give a lot of macadamia nuts, much more than I would have gotten if they were chopped up.

The whipped cream looked much better before I started spreading it around.

I went to Hilo today right after breakfast to visit Aunty Doris & Uncle Tom; it's a 2-hour drive. I also wanted to share Mom's memorial slide show. Mom had gone to live with Aunty Doris' family when Hilo Aunty had child #6. Here's Uncle Tom's newly purchased orchid.


For lunch we went to one of their favorite breakfast places, Freddy's Restaurant/Drive-In. In fact, they had been there that morning for breakfast! Uncle Tom had the mini Stew Bowl with Fries, Aunty Doris had the Fried Noodles, and I decided to try the mini Hot Roast Beef Sandwich. When I would drive Vivian around to do errands she would take me out to lunch; she was always searching for a good old-fashioned hot roast beef sandwich but never found it.

L to R: Uncle Tom with mini Stew Bowl & Aunty Doris with Fried Noodles.

I think Vivian might like this one in the full size.

On the way out of the parking lot we saw an unusual sight, a flamingo on top of a van.

The SUV next to the flamingo van is carrying the Hawaiian sovereignty flag.

On the way back to Aunty Doris & Uncle Tom's house we passed by the old Kress Department Store building. Aunty Doris' family (and Mom when she was living with them) used to live behind the building; access was through the alley. There are no houses there anymore due to it being in the tsunami evacuation zone; their family actually slept through a tsunami; they were saved by the Kress building absorbing the force of the wave.

The old Kress Department store.

The alley that used to go back to the houses behind the building.

After I left Aunty Doris and Uncle Tom's house, I went to Target to get some sheets and pillows. There are 3 double beds in the house and only 3 pillows. I also couldn't find more than 1 "set" of usable sheets for each bed; none of the sheets match each other.

So many choices! Though not the colors I wanted.

This is what I ended up with, I also got hypoallergenic pillowcase covers; some of the old pillows are stuffed with feathers from some of Grandma's Rhode Island Red chickens.

When I left Hilo I went over the bridge over the Wailuku River. We used to call it the "Airplane Bridge" because of the humming sound the rubber tires would make on the steel grate. Only people who have ever ridden in a propeller-driven plane will recognize this sound; jets make very different noises.

The "Airplane Bridge".

Happy Birthday to Brian & Akua!