I got to thinking recently about our future and what I might want to be when I grow up. I am enjoying the real estate business but I am not sure that I want to do it forever. Besides, there is always the possibility that we won’t want to stay on this rock for the rest of our lives and it is very difficult to restart a real estate career in a new market. So I started thinking about education possibilities. Even if I go to a 4-year school I would still have years of working before I could think about retirement so it might be a good time to look into something new and fresh.

I mentioned to Ashley and Braden the other night that I might want to go back to school but I was kind of stumped when they asked what for. I also mentioned to Lynn that I was considering this and when he asked what I wanted to do all I could come up with was be independently wealthy. So I was stumped. And it was depressing me. I’ve always been a passionate person with lots of dreams and I could not come up with something that I really really wanted to do. I mean, if I go back to school, I want it to be for something that I really love to do and would do it even if I did somehow manage to become independently wealthy.

I stewed on this for a while and could not believe that I could not come up with something. I remember telling Ashely her whole life to follow her passion and chose a career she loved… And now I was somehow passionless? Not acceptable!

I put this on the back burner for a while because it was bugging me. Then all of a sudden, a lightbulb went on in my head. There was something that I have always had a passion for and immense interest in. Something that I knew I wanted to do even as a teenager but had been derailed by other things. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed these other things and made a lot of money doing them, but this original passion always remained with me.

So what do I want to be when I grow up? You didn’t think I was going to tell you did you? LOL…Okay I will… I’m thinking maybe an architect or urban planner. Both are very interesting and exciting possibilities. Either would also nicely compliment my real estate career if I decide to continue it beyond my schooling.

Now I just need to identify the right school and figure out how to balance school and my real estate job. It’s been a while since I worked full-time while also going to school full-time. But I’m really excited. And I believe I have rediscovered my passion.

Day 4 of our little San Francisco adventure came entirely too quickly. The four of us went to breakfast at Lori’s Diner for the last time for this trip with plans to head to the San Francisco International afterwards. A dense fog had engulfed the city and we were all getting notifications of flight delays out of SFO. Just as it had on the way in and so many other times before, SFO was reminding us once again that it is not the best airport to fly into or out of.

After breakfast we went back to the hotel for our luggage and decided we should probably go ahead and get to the airport just in case things changed. We all piled into a Town Car and headed out. Since we were flying different airlines we agreed to save our goodbyes and just meet on the other side of security. Sadly however, unlike most airports, we could not get from our gates to each others gates from inside the security area and could only gaze across the tarmac where we could see each others gates. Poor Andee was devastated.

Since Lynn and I had a short 40 minute layover at LAX and our planes departure time was scheduled to leave 2 hours late we had basically resigned ourselves to the fact that we might be staying in Los Angeles that night. Then we realized that the plane we were to take to LAX had not yet landed and it started getting more doubtful that plane would be allowed to land at all.

After a while I was paged and learned that our airline had changed us to another carrier and it was a direct flight into KOA. This meant we would arrive home hours earlier than we originally planned… if we could make the flight that left in 45 minutes from a gate in another terminal. At Andee’s request, we tried to clear security in their terminal so we could have goodbye hugs before taking a shuttle to our new gate. But as we did not yet have boarding passes for our new flight we were not allowed to go through the security checkpoint there.

We went back outside and basically ran to our new terminal where we got boarding passes, eventually got through security and caught the last boarding call for our flight. We have not been on a flight that wasn’t completely full in years but there were many open seats on this one and we had a isle to ourselves. I suspect some bodies where supposed to be in these seats that were on other flights that did not make it in. Anyway, 5 hours later we were touching down at Kona International… home sweet island home…

Being in a city again always makes me miss them… and the shopping! Take the Union Square Macy’s Men’s Store for example… 8 floors of mens clothing… each floor bigger than our entire Kona Macy’s! Drool… LOL. We were able to fill our shopping hunger and quickly found a number of items we had been having trouble finding here on the rock. And we were mostly able to do so without making Killian completely nuts!

It was a great trip and we’re already discussing the next one. We’re thinking San Diego…

Oh yeah, and Ashley and Braden are coming here tomorrow for a few days on their way back from Kauai! We’re very excited to have the newlyweds. If you’ll recall, this is how it all started so this pretty much brings us full circle. Aloha!

We sat down for breakfast at Lori’s Diner at 9:00 for sustenance and then headed over to Crate & Barrel so Lynn and I could do some shopping for things we can’t find on the island before heading back to the hotel and catching a cable car up Powell. Our destination was the top of Lombard and then a walk to Coit Tower.

The cable car stop was right where we wanted to be and we walked down the famous curvy street snapping photos all the way. It is a really cool street but I think it’d suck living there with all the crowds of tourist and constant flow of cars. Anyway, another thing we had never actually done before. Andee is good at convincing us to do tourist things and it was cool.

Continuing along Lombard we stopped for a PowerBall ticket and then made our way to Pioneer Park and Coit Tower. The stairs were closed which was disappointing so we had to take the old elevator up with an elevator operator I am pretty sure was George Takei. I gotta say that there are some of the best views of the city at the top. There were also very impressive murals on the inside that are totally worth going for. I also decided that if I ever move to San Francisco I totally want to live in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood. And another interesting tidbit, Coit Tower was dedicated on my birthday… of course decades before I was born.

From there we walked back towards Fisherman’s Wharf and had lunch at The Buena Vista followed by… yes more Irish Coffees! Then we headed over to the Hyde Street Pier and SF Maritime Museum to see the boats and we had so much fun!

After the boat fun we headed back to Fisherman’s Wharf for some street vendor crab cocktails and dodging of bird crap before catching the F Train again and taking it all the way to Castro Street. I’ve got to say that The Castro has really changed in the 20 or so years since I first saw it and I think the change is for the better. There are still sex stores and there should be but there were all kind of home decor and hip clothing stores to support and enhance the neighborhood. It feels more like a real neighborhood now to me.  We did some shopping and then went to a nice wine bar there and shared a bottle of wine. Afterwards we headed back to our hotel in Union Square for dinner. It was awesome when I picked up the wine list at the restaurant and discovered it was an iPod… very cool.

After breakfast we got on the F train to Pier 33 to catch a boat to Alcatraz Island which Andee really wanted to do and had booked a month ago. In all of our visits to San Francisco we had never been there and since she really wanted to go we were down for it. It was actually pretty cool.

After Alcatraz we did what I had been wanting to do and we walked the shoreline and made our way over to Scoma’s for an early dinner/late lunch of seafood and wine. It was delicious as always and we had a really great time there. Then we made our way over to the beach past the Hyde Street Pier and walked the San Francisco Bay Trail towards the Golden Gate Bridge. Then we went back and did Ghirardelli Square and then stopped in at The Buena Vista for some Irish Coffee’s… Yum!

Since we had eaten lunch so late we decided to stop at Boudin for a loaf of Sourdough and some cheese and caught the F train back to Union Square. That evening we snacked on the bread and cheese in Andee and Killian’s room while we had evening cocktails. All in all a full and fun day.

We checked in, cleared security and made our way to our gate. Soon we boarded, the door closed and we pushed back. Then we stopped. Then there was an announcement that Air Traffic Control in San Francisco was limiting flights in do to fog. There were many delays and unfortunately, our flight had been canceled. D’oh!

In this age of iPhones and other smart phone devices it is interesting to watch in these situations as everyone just goes to their devices and starts working on alternate travel arrangements. I overheard the captain comment as we left the plane that “all of these iPhone people had already booked other flights”. We were not having that kind of luck though and were being told the earliest we could get a flight to SFO was the next day.

I texted Andee and Killian who were now at the airport for their flight. Eventually we managed to get booked on a flight bound for LAX and then SFO, which coincidentally was the same flight Ashley and Braden were supposed to be on. As luck would have it, none of us left on this flight. We all scrambled to make alternate arrangements again. I booked another airline while Lynn worked with our current airline. Ultimately Ashley and Braden ended up on a flight to Burbank where they would take a taxi to LAX for the Lihue leg of their flight. We ended up on a flight to San Jose where we would take a taxi to San Francisco. This worked but cost us several hundred bucks in taxi fares. Hey, at least we got to fly first class and we actually made it to San Francisco. Andee and Kil arrived about an hour later and Ash and Braden got to Lihue many hours after that.

Our room was next to Andee and Killian’s on the 14th floor of Sir Francis Drake Hotel, as planned. We had dinner that evening in Union Square and then had drinks in the lobby bar and talked until around midnight. There was a very interesting exchange between a couple of drunk people that I won’t get into but it was mildly entertaining and I learned the definition of, and got a live demonstration of, a douche-canoe. Good times

Last Thursday we boarded a red-eye bound for LAX and then SLC to attend and participate in our little girls wedding. I can’t really sleep upright in those little coach seats so I barely remember arriving at LAX around 6:00 AM, which was 3:00 AM our time. We hopped another flight which arrived in SLC around 9:00 AM and my BFF Andee picked us up at the airport.

We had just enough time to down some coffee, Andee made us breakfast, and then we showered and headed to the wedding events, after a stop for RedBulls. After finding the venue we spotted a very excited Ashley waiting inside. She looked so pretty in her wedding dress and it was so nice to take her in my arms and hug her. We were told I would be walking her down the isle and then joining Lynn at the head table with the grooms parents and Ashley’s mom and her husband.

The events of the day went until almost nine that evening. It was all very exciting and cool but I was deliriously tired, wired from caffeine and a little buzzed from Jameson. LOL. The fact that our little girl had just gotten married and all of the attention, socializing and meeting people also had a little to do with how we felt. After the wedding events we joined some of our friends that had been in attendance for a later dinner at RedRock Brewing Company in downtown SLC and had a great time. We finally got to bed around 11:00 and needless to say I slept like a rock.

On Saturday we walked walked around downtown with Andee and her husband Killian so she could show us new stuff we had not seen before. We grabbed some lunch at Siegfried’s Delicatessen which we have missed since we don’t get a lot of German food here on the island.

That afternoon around 3:00 we had the same friends from the night before over for burgers at Andee and Kil’s condo. Ashley and our new son-in-law Braden joined as did Lynn’s parents. I was still in a bit of a daze from the day before but we all had a really good time. As my friend Brittney said on Facebook (and I paraphrase), It’s awesome to have great friends that you can pick up right where you left off even after years of not seeing each other.

For a while now we have been talking about getting a new one, and discussing all of the reasons to do so and the reasons to not do so. We have not had a car payment since like 2005, but since the warranty and free maintenance expired in 2006 so trust me, we have spent plenty on it since then. We have always driven new cars and justified it with the fact that we would rather have a budgeted monthly payment spread out evenly than the large surprises that can come with an older vehicle.

After making every attempt to avoid it, I recently ended up at BMW of Hawaii to have the air conditioning flushed and recharged. This only after taking it other places who ultimately could not work on it and referred me back to BMW. After some diagnosis of the problems I was told that to repair the air conditioning would cost me around $3,700 and there was another $1,500 in work needed. That adds up to a lot of car payments!

So, having anticipated this and doing my homework, I met with the sales manager to see what kind of deal we could work out. I stuck to what I wanted and actually struck a good deal with them. I did not have the work performed on my current car and they will be taking it in trade knowing what work needs to be done, and I get my upfront cash taken care of with the trade. So, I configured and ordered a brand new car from Germany which should be built and delivered sometime in June.

Yes, we have car payments again but we also have free maintenance for the entire period that we plan to drive it. It will also work in my favor in terms of taxes as I will use it so much for my real estate business. It’s quick and it drives… OMG! So ULTIMATELY! Anyway the images are of the car exactly as I configured it on the BMW website.

Volcano House

A little over a week ago I got an email from Aqua Hotels and Resorts letting me know that Volcano House would be opening on Friday, March 22nd, or at least partially opening. I checked my calendar and then asked Lynn if he’d like to go on Saturday, March 23rd… I already had the reservation made except for clicking on “Confirm”. Of course he was all over it because spending a night at Volcano House is something we have been wanting to do forever… and it has been closed as long as we have lived on the island.

So yesterday we headed out there for a little mini-adventure-staycation. Since we arrived a bit early we went into Volcano Village for provisions… you know, wine and snacks. Then we decided to go to Volcano House and see if we could check in early. We were a little disappointed that the lobby is not yet open. In fact, only 8 rooms are actually complete but every one of them was rented! Since Volcano House is perched on the crater rim right inside the national park the views of the caldera are amazing! We almost just plopped down on the couch and stared. But there would be time for that later. So we dropped our stuff and headed out to explore.

Hiking HVNP

We’ve hiked many of the trails that snake Hawaii Volcanoes National Park but we still found new trails we hadn’t done before. We ended up doing several fairly modest hikes and then walked over to Jagger Museum. All in all we didn’t walk/hike much more than 8 miles or so. We had a really good time though, just the two of us laughing and talking as we discovered new things.

After getting back to Volcano House we cleaned up and headed over to Kilauea Lodge for some dinner. We didn’t make reservations so they punished us by sitting us at a table by the bar that had a lot of traffic from the staff. We hardly noticed though as food, conversation, atmosphere, everything was great.  We shared a good bottle of Merlot, some really good fresh bread and we each had a spring greens salad with a herbed vinaigrette. I ordered the Safari Schnitzel (it was made with antelope) and Lynn got the Beef Paupiettes. Everything was amazing. We even ran into a friend from Kona who was there with her husband celebrating an anniversary.

Evening View from Hotel

Back at Volcano House we basically settled in to watch the red glow of the smokey crater and red skies reflected above. There were no TV’s… and it’d be a damn shame to stare at a TV with this going on outside your room! We brought a deck of cards but didn’t use them. We did do a nighttime hike to get some other vantage points but eventually turned back for fear of all of the 500 foot cliffs and cracks and holes in the ground that are filled with fire. LOL. We were on an established trail but only had our iPhones as flashlights and when batteries ran low we decided it was best to go back. We sat in front of that window for hours sipping wine, talking and watching that one of a kind view. We could even see it from bed and I laid there at several times during the night just watching.

This morning we had a light breakfast and did a few short hikes we had not done before (and didn’t even know they existed) before packing up and heading out. On the way back we drove like 19 miles up Mauna Loa… most of it bumpy curvy one-lane road… always an adventure. Stopped at Punaluu for the bathrooms and then back into Kona. It was a great quick trip that left us both with big smiles on our faces. We’ll do it again sometime after Volcano House opens all the way.

Speaking of fruits… We finally planted a papaya tree. It is awesome to look out the windows and see papaya, lime, dragon fruit, açaí and banana all growing in the yard. Not to mention over 6 varieties of palm trees, eucalyptus, ficus, plumeria and all of the other tropical plants that adorn the landscape. No wonder the bright yellow canaries and brilliantly colored cardinals like to hang out here so much.

One of our back lanai chairs broke this week and I am trying to decide if I want to replace it with an identical chair for $30 or replace everything and invest in some nice wicker chairs and couches which will be hundreds or thousands of bucks. Eventually we’ll do nice stuff out there but I am not sure if now is the right time or if there may be other priorities for our money. I may be buying a new car soon just because our current one is getting old enough that it is costing us a lot to fix and I could also use something I know will always be reliable for my job. It’s always something, right?

Anyway, Happy Aloha Friday to all!

The wedding is in Salt Lake City but Ashley and her fiancé will not be arriving there until Friday, the day of the wedding, and then they leave for their Kauai honeymoon on Sunday. Not to put too fine of a point on it, as I do not wish to offend, but we realized that we only really needed to be in Salt Lake City for a couple of days. As such, we are flying in on Friday morning and out less than 48 hours later on Sunday morning.

Wow, long flight for a two day stay, right? Yes it would be… except… we figured as long as we are on the mainland anyway, why not go somewhere we really love and miss? So as the kids are flying to Kauai the boys will be flying to San Francisco. We asked our friends Andee and Killian if they’d like to join us and they were totally in so we’re doing a quick mini-vacation together in San Francisco before heading back to Kona. We are very excited!

Not sure if Ashely and Braden will be able to stop by Hawaii Island after their week on Kauai but it would be great to see them for a few days if they can.

So the picture… Some of you may recall that I lost a lot of photos in a hard drive crash back when we still lived in Hilo. As such, I had to turn to printed photos to find a picture of San Francisco to accompany this post. The picture is not dated so I have no idea what year it was. From looking at Lynn, I’d say it was probably about 14 years ago or so. We went to San Francisco so frequently back then it is hard to recall what trip it might have been.

As much as we enjoy life here in Hawaii and our travels between the islands, it is kind of exciting to be making a trip to one of the truly great cities and being able to do so with good friends. There will probably be many more trips like this in our future, as well as a much anticipated trip to Australia so look for that! Aloha.