Good Bye, Kellie!

Lori drove Curtis & me to the airport early this morning; we went to Hilo for cousin Kellie's Celebration of Life. Kellie passed away in late June in Idaho, where she lived; there was a service there earlier. This was a smaller family & friends gathering at Aunty Doris & Uncle Tom's house. We got to meet Kellie's life partner John and Beryl's husband Galen, as well as a bunch of Kellie's friends. Cousin Gail & her husband Larry were also there. Galen had also made a nice slide show of Kellie. And of course, there was a lot of good local food. It was a very nice gathering. We had to leave too soon.

With her goats at home in Idaho. (from slide show)

On the beach in Hawai'i. (from slide show)

Taking a selfie with sister Beryl (L) in Waimea. (from slide show)

Uncle Tom & Aunty Doris (at R) with lunch. Background Sharon (L) and John.

When we landed in Hilo, we got our rental car at Alamo. It's a lot different than in Kona; you walk across the street from the airport baggage claim to the rental kiosks. The cars from all the different dealers are parked in the same lot in back in numbered stalls; they sign you in, give you the keys, point you in the direction of their batch of cars, and off you go!

While in the Honolulu airport I saw a magazine called Menu at one of the tourist info kiosks; I grabbed it to help us find a breakfast place in Hilo. It turned out to be only for Maui; since we had time, I headed back to the kiosk to find one for the Big Island. It turns out that kiosk and the next one I found only had info on Maui, the 3rd one had info on Maui & Kaua'i. On the 4th, & last one that I saw near the A gates, I found a dining guide for Hawai'i Island; it was really thin. And not helpful. On the plane I asked for one of Hawaiian's complimentary road maps; they usually have info on dining places and sometimes even have coupons; not this time. At the Hilo airport we were finally able to find a much more substantial guide to dining on Moku o Keawe.

Nice pictures, but not helpful.

Still not helpful. I think they want you to use the online guide.

Not much here either.

Here's a sample of what is in the map.

Yay! Hit the jackpot!

After all that, we ended up going to one of Curtis' old breakfast haunts when he lived there in the early 1980's. Ken's House of Pancakes was still there! It gained cred for that; still in business after all those years. The breakfast menu was large and many things looked good; I had a difficult time deciding but eventually chose the Hombre Omelette. Curtis tried the Breakfast Burrito. Both come with rice or hash browns or a low carb/keto substitute; Curtis got cottage cheese, I chose tomato slices. They also both come with toast or pancakes; Curtis got wheat toast, I decided to do the whole grain pancakes since it is a pancake house! Both meals got good reviews; we also decided to return once a year for breakfast to try other items. When we were here in April we went to Cafe 100; an old standby that was around when Mom was living in Hilo before World War II!

Breakfast Burrito with cottage cheese.

Hombre Omelette with tomato slices and whole grain pancakes with guava syrup.

While looking through the menu, Curtis was disappointed to find out that there was no special for Monday. He thought today was Monday; you can tell he's really getting in to this retirement thing!

When I started my breakfast venues spreadsheet earlier this year I used the O'ahu Drive Guide map to split the island in to zones so we knew approximately how much time it would take us to get to the restaurant; I assigned Oʻahu Zones 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, and 3. The Big Island is Zone 4. I also assigned Las Vegas Zone 9; Washington is Zone 8. If we decide to check out those places on Maui I'll have to assign it a zone also.

This was the first time that I had flown in to the Hilo International Airport (ITO). The pilot crossed the Kaiwi Channel and flew between Lana'i and Moloka'i, then between Moloka'i & Maui to get us to the Alenuihaha Channel and then followed the easterly edge of Hawai'i Island. I was able to see Upolu Airport and the wind farm along the airport access road, Kynnersley Road, the towns of Hāwī and Kapaʻau, and Pololu & Waipio Valleys. I was able to get a photo of Aunty Doris & Uncle Tom's house from the air, but not the apartment building Curtis lived in when he was there. When we landed, it was drizzling so we knew we were in Hilo!

Nine minutes before sunrise on the way to the airport.

Lanai City.

Front to back: Maui, Molokini Island, and Kahoʻolawe.

Some cinder cones on Maui.

L to R: Kynnersley Road, Hāwī town, Hāwī wind farm, Upolu Airport.

Aunty Doris & Uncle Tomʻs house from the air!

I really liked the decor and the landscaping at the airport; they used a lot of native plants including a lot of hāpuʻu. Judging by the size, some of their hāpuʻu must have been at least 80 or 90 years old! They had orchids growing on the trunks of many of them; I would like to do that to the hāpuʻu at the Kohala house.



While we were there we discovered how bad Curtis's memory really is. He had lived with Aunty Doris & Uncle Tom for a few weeks when he first moved to Hilo for work when he was right out of college; the last time he was at the house was at Beryl & Galen's wedding in the early 1980's. Aunty Doris said he was bar tending for them; he nodded in agreement, thinking she was slipping in to dementia. When he mentioned it to Beryl she confirmed that he was the bartender! He didn't remember anything at all about it! He also couldn't remember the pool table that was in the living room or the size of the back yard; thinking it was much larger. Though he did remember where his apartment was. He also tried to remember where some of his old eating places were; he thinks Sakura is the okazuya he used to go to to pick up dinner and Koji's was where he got his Sunday meal for football viewing. We did not stop at either place; they were closed when we went by in the morning.

Curtis points at his apartment in the basement.

We left in the late afternoon; the celebration was still going. Aunty Doris tried to give me food to take back; she thought I was staying in Kohala. Gail said the next time we come for just the day to give her a call and she would run us around town. And, of course, it was drizzling when we left.



As we were on our way to the airport we decided to take a quick detour and see if we could find the place Hilo Aunty & Uncle used to live. It was behind the old Kress store; the building is still there with it's very unique marquee though it is no longer a department store. We found the alley way that accessed the residences in the back and drove in; none of the wooden buildings are there but the space is still there. Since this is in the tsunami inundation zone residential buildings were removed a long time ago. Since I was driving I wasn't able to take any photos; next time. May be if Gail is driving us next time she can show us where everything was.

Lori picked us up when we returned. As they were driving me back, she got a call from Jenny who had gone to pick up Grandpa & Grandma Maui from the adult day care. Apparently Grandpa Maui was having something that appeared to be a seizure. We were conveniently near the off ramp to get to the care facility so we were able to get there in a few minutes; by then the seizure had stopped. We helped load them in to Jenny's car. Lori rode in the back seat with Grandpa Maui in case he had another seizure on their way home; they drive right by the emergency room to get home. Curtis took me home in Lori's car.

While I was walking around looking for magazines about dining places, I saw the USDA display on what items can be taken to the mainland. Here is the information you need to know when you are returning to the mainland after visiting me.



Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Leno, Kuʻulei, & Charlene!