Kayaking to Secret Falls

I love kayaking! That’s not to say I’m good at it, but I love floating down a calm river past gorgeous scenery beneath a bright blue sky. That’s what we did on the Wednesday we were in Hawaii. Here are a few highlights. For this tour we selected Kayak Wailua from an ad in a tourist magazine. We could have …

Hula, Pigs, and Poi – oh my!

Tuesday on Kauai was a day of Firsts for me. I attended my first luau. I took my first hula lesson. And I ate poi for the first time. Okay, let’s get the poi out of the way first. One word. YUCK. First of all, it’s kind of a grayish-purple, which I did not expect. Second, it runny. I was …

Thar She Blows!

While in Hawaii we did a snorkeling and site-seeing excursion up the Na Pali coast on a catamaran called the Lucky Lady. What fun! As we pulled away from the pier, we saw a humpback whale leap out of the water – a full breach. That’s a spectacular sight. One of the crewmen on the Lucky Lady told me, “I …

Have I Mentioned the Garden Island?

How could you visit the Garden Island of Kauai and not see a botanical garden? We selected the Allerton Botanical Garden, and were not disappointed. Our guide, Martin, was from Brazil originally, but he was so knowledgeable, and the gardens were stunning. There were many Italian-style statues and fountains in the gardens, which were designed by Queen Emma. Martin told …

First Views of Kauai

I’m sure everyone who visits Hawaii has the same reaction – the views are incredible! Lush foliage, tropical vistas, gorgeous beaches. Yeah, okay, I’m the same. Oh my! I fell in love immediately with the island of Kauai. We flew from Oahu to Kauai on Saturday evening after visiting Pearl Harbor. It was dark when we checked into our resort, …

Visiting Pearl Harbor

Continuing my recap of my recent Hawaii trip, let me tell you about one of the most moving experiences of the week. We flew to Oahu for one reason – we wanted to visit Pearl Harbor. What an incredible day. I have about 350 pictures from that day, so there’s no way I can share everything I learned. But here …

Where has Ginny Been?

Here’s a clue: That, my friends, is Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. The picture was taken from our hotel balcony on the morning of our first full day in Hawaii. I rarely post pictures of vacations during the week I’m traveling. Why advertise my absence? But when I get back, I like to post pictures and relive memorable moments. Over the …

In Search of the Perfect Hat

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Breeder’s Cup, a highly important race among thoroughbred racing enthusiasts. Of course you KNOW that a lady dares not show up at such a classic racing event without first visiting the proper milliner. Hatware is of utmost importance if one wants to be accepted in polite horsey society. So I set out …

Holy Moly, I’m a runner. How did that happen?

For the first (mumble) years of my life I avoided running like the dedicated couch potato I was. Even if pried myself out of my office chair to exercise, running was the last thing I would ever do. Then a couple of years ago my daughter voiced an outrageous, ridiculous, totally impossible idea:  “Let’s get a group of girls together …

Stuck in the Middle is NOT stuck!

I don’t usually make a habit of watching the bestseller lists, but when I have a book promotion going on I can’t help but take a peek. Imagine my delight when I hopped over to Amazon.com to see how the free Kindle promotion of Stuck in the Middle, book 1 in the Sister-to-Sister series, was going and saw this: The cool …