jimsjoint

Wet Woody Wednesday at the Riva Grill

Getting to (know) Okinawa

We dropped Kate off at Oakland airport on Wednesday morning. She had stop-overs in Las Vegas and Albuquerque on her way to Dallas.  Arrived Dallas 9:30 PM (thanks to "papa " Fraley for shuttling Kate to the hotel and getting her settled). 6am flight brought her BACK to San Francisco for a short layover (don't ask why she couldn't just leave from SFO, thats the military way) before she got on the Boeing 777 for a monster 12 hour flight to Osaka Japan. Short layover then another two hour flight to Okinawa.  According to my calculations she just landed in her new home (for two years anyway) a couple of hours ago!!

So where the hell is Okinawa anyway?  Its 6400 miles across the pacific. Its 900 miles south of Tokyo and part of the Ryukyu Islands. Its about as far away as one can be. If you look at the little speck on Google maps, you will see what I mean. She is just as close to Taiwan and China as she is to Japan.  They are on Japan Standard Time zone, which is 16 hours ahead of us. As I write this its 8:02AM Friday in Cali and 12:02 AM Saturday in Okinawa.

The weather?  Tropical. Yahoo weather shows the high is 88 and the low is 81, everyday! 

Sounds good to me!

Now we wait for that first call or email.

Tahoe to Tahoe and in Between

Seems like we were just up in Tahoe for the Downing anniversary party, and here we are getting ready to go up again this weekend for another vacation. In between our Tahoe trips we have been busy. Weekend before last we were up in the city for a Flaherty family reunion at MaryAnne and Bob Short's house. MaryAnne is our cousin. Her mom and my dad were brother and sister.  I brought along some old photo albums and pictures. Also brought a couple of Toto's pizzas since Toto's is/was a San Francisco and Daly City tradition.  It was great to spend some time with family at something other than a funeral. Thats what MaryAnne said and its true. Its up to us cousins to keep the family connected now that all the children of Michael Flaherty and Kate Halligan (my grandparents)  have passed away.

Kate came home on Wednesday!!  Its been a LONG five months since we saw her last. She completed Marine combat training in North Carolina and the Communicati0n cable/ antenna systems apprentice course in Texas. So great to have her home, even if only for a few days.  She is home for a week before she heads to Okinawa (her permanent duty station) for the next couple of years.

We had a little homecoming/21st birthday/going away party for Kate on Saturday. Low key and nice. All her best-est friends were there. It was great. After the party, Kate and Kelly hit the road for Southern California, spent the night in Ventura (thanks Heather!), then made their way to 29 Palms so Kate could say hello and goodbye to some Marine buddys. They come back tonight. Then we take her to the airport and say goodbye (this time for at least a year) on Wednesday. *mental note to get passport.*   Kate and Kelly already have plans for July 4th 2010 in Tahoe.

So we will be at our timeshare on Ski Run from this saturday to next saturday. Spending the first few days with Sheri Carruthers and a three of her kids. Hopefully the end of summer crowds will be fewer. Its going to be a kick back and relaxation vacation. 

Tahoe Ramble

We were up there Sunday to Sunday.  Our first EVER Tahoe vacation without the kids. Used our timeshare week at the Stardust Resort.  Monday morning we took advantage of one of the resort activities, a guided bike ride down to Eldorado Beach, Regan Beach and back. Since we had our bikes, and have always wanted to take part in some resort activity, we signed up the the ride. It was fun for us.  A nice easy (how slow can you go) ride down Lake Tahoe  Blvd to El Dorado beach.  Kenny, the resort manager and tour guide, educated us on Lake Tahoe.  It was a beautiful morning for a ride. The view from El Dorado Beach was fantastic. After the "Tahoe talk" it was back on our bikes and onto Regan beach to feed the geese. Right before we got to the beach, Barb got a flat tire!   I had a spare tube with me so I did a quick (8 minute!) tire change and we were back with the group in no time.  

Monday night Michelle and Olivia arrived, and we spent most of the rest of the week with them, getting ready for the big anniversary bash that would take place on Saturday. It was real nice to spend some quality time with our newest buds. Tuesday night we were just kicking back in our room watching the news when all of a sudden we see a bro John picture on the local news!  The weather guy for channel 2 in Reno is ALWAYS using bro John's pics in his weather forecast, so it was really cool to see one of his pics show on on the news while we were there. The Hope Valley picture was another stunning shot. Bro John has turned into a great photographer.

The rest of the week went by fast. Wednesday was the beans and rice tour. Thursday people started arriving. Weirdest thing about Thursday was the hailstorm that blew through.  We were on the deck at the Downing's cabin when a HUGE crack of Thunder clapped over head, then big drops of rain and hail started falling.  Friday morning we took a bike ride from Downing's cabin down to Pope Beach to check out the digs for the party. We made a BIG batch of salsa (which was VERY popular by the way) at the cabin while party prep went on all around us.

Saturday was the party. Spent most of the day at Pope beach. Played horse shoes, swam, ate, drank and visited with all of Michelle and John's family and friends. All good people. Michelle's aunt Pat lives in Gardnerville and promised to look up bro John since she is in Scolari's almost every day. As the day stretched into early evening people started to filter out. After the sun set behind Mount Talac, it was time for us to go. Since we were leaving first thing Sunday, we said our goodbyes to everyone and thanked Michelle, John (and Olivia) for their hospitality and friendship.