Movie Date: "Young Messiah"

Aloha Everyone,

General movie goers prefer lots of action, intrigue and violence.  "Young Messiah" is showing only once a day at Century 18 Sam's Town theaters. One wonders why?

This film, based on Anne Rice’s Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, belongs to the genre of historical fiction.  It is about Jesus Christ at age 7 when his family was living in Alexandria, Egypt. The tale takes young Jesus and his parents, Joseph and Mary, through an arduous journey, to return to their hometown of Nazareth.

Filmed in Italy, there are some beautiful pastoral scenes amidst atrocities committed by Roman soldiers. Nearly two hours long, the movie is well scripted, excellently cast with superb acting.

Please enjoy a couple of desert flowers blooming in this RV park.

Aloha -- Cathi

Interior Cleaning & Reorganizing Honu

Aloha Everyone,

Our storage and closet spaces in Honu is adequate, but limited. Therefore, it is imperative that we constantly clean, organize and maintain the amount of load we carry around in our "home." If we purchase something new, then something old is donated to charity or thrown away.

Today J.J. and I found our "replacement" slippers.

Longhorn Casino & Hotel located in the vicinity of Las Vegas KOA Sam's Town is a convenient place to stop for lunch. There is a large parking lot for Honu. The restaurant serves good value quality food. J.J. had Mixed BBQ Platter and I had the Veggie Burger. Our bill inclusive of tax and tip was $22.45.

Most of the day was spent working on documents which need to be mailed out. 

For dinner, I prepared roast beef sandwiches for us and fresh strawberries topped with Greek yogurt and dark chocolate.

Aloha -- Cathi

A Perfect Weather For Driving

Aloha Everyone,

Beautiful, clear blue sky with floating alto cumulus clouds greeted us on our first day back on the road.

During our stop in Victorville, we accomplished three things:

First to have a lunch. Johnny Carino's Country Italian was a great choice. J.J.'s Spicy Sausage Pizza and my Spinach Artichoke Pizza were prepared to perfection. J.J. and I exchanged our RV travel experiences with our server, Cheryl. 

 

The second task was to get some documents printed. We walked to Staples located at an adjacent property and took care of it.  

And finally, we moved Honu just a short distance to Walmart where we purchased some provisions. 

We arrived in late afternoon at KOA Las Vegas Sam's Town in a comfortable 62 degrees temperature.

Aloha -- Cathi

Maintaining Relationship Of Equanimity With Our Granddaughter

Aloha Everyone,

J.J. and I are not exactly the conventional image of grandparents. Our current home is Honu. We try to maintain our coming and going in our granddaughter's young life as uneventful and routine as possible.

Mondays are one of the very long school days for our granddaughter. We dropped her off at school at 8:00 AM and waited for her after school band and Tang Soo Do practice to end at 5:00 PM.

For dinner, we made fruits and vegetable salads including a couple of her colored Easter Eggs as toppings. J.J. cooked one of his specialties, roast lamb. For dessert, we enjoyed the mouthwatering 3 layers chocolate cake.

Aloha -- Cathi

Easter Celebration With Family & Friends

Aloha Everyone,

We all have family traditions. Some traditions like with my Mother can be  traced back for about 10 generations. For our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, their Easter tradition goes back only several years.

One of their very good friends have two young daughters, the older one is same age as our granddaughter. The two families have been sharing many events in their children's lives including celebrating birthdays and holidays.

When the 3 little girls get together, there is magic in the air. They find joy and laughter in almost everything.

Three dozen eggs were carefully dyed in bowls with an assortment of colors. Different techniques were employed to try to make their eggs the prettiest.

I accompanied the two mothers and the girls on a walk around the neighborhood while their fathers stayed behind and hid the colorful eggs.

It was a perfect Easter. The sumptuous dinner; sharing photos from recent road trips; conversation and friendship. The girls said their farewells by 8:30 pm. They were not thrilled that tomorrow is a school day.

Aloha -- Cathi

Making New Memories With Our Granddaughter

Aloha Everyone,

All things have a beginning, middle and end. Our 6 days, 5 nights road trip came to an end. It was a wonderful family trip. There were a number of first time experiences for all of us. For our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, this was their first road trip in Honu. Their first visit to the two of Utah's national parks. It was my first time to hike in these two parks. And for all of us, it was our first visit to the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.

Each of us came away with many memories. But as the days and years go by, I wonder what would be carved in my memory. It may be the quiet moments my granddaughter and I shared on the balcony of our room at the Lodge. The evening was very chilly but the soaring sandstone cliffs lit by the setting sun were magnificent and majestic.

Or perhaps I will remember sitting with her in the back section of Honu, listening to her sing the Animaniacs' 50 State Capitols. By our return trip, she had memorized them.

These are the props my granddaughter and I used in coming up with our imaginative stories.

We are truly grateful for having this opportunity to spend quality time with our family.

Aloha -- Cathi

Kolob Canyon Hike then Return To Las Vegas

Aloha Everyone,

Wonderful people we meet as we travel with Honu is what makes our RV adventure truly wonderful and enjoyable. Today we had a chance encounters with two such couples.

Len and Vita are from Albany, NY.  Len was a chemistry professor and Vita was a speech therapist. They are both retired and were curious about our RV lifestyle. We invited them to see the interior of Honu and to check out our blog so they can see where we have been.

Warm and kind individuals, Len and Vita invited us to visit them the next time we are in their neighborhood.

David & Marla from Twin Falls, Idaho were traveling with their children. David is an Air Force doctor who has worked at the Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu. They have Hawaii connections  including that their youngest daughter was born in Honolulu.

Kolob Canyon's Timber Creek Overlook Trail is at the elevation of approximately 6,000 ft. Snow still remains on the shady side of cliffs shimmered in the noon day sun. The short hike was exhilarating.

Tonight we are back in Las Vegas. J.J. and I went to catch the early showing of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2"

after we dropped our son and his family at their hotel in Green Valley.

Aloha -- Cathi

Hiking in Bryce Canyon

Aloha Everyone,

The major difference between our previous visits to Zion and Bryce Canyon is that I have chance to experience longer trail hikes.  

Both of our sons and their wives enjoy hiking and so does our granddaughter. For me, a great Mother's Day or birthday gift is an invitation to go hiking!

First J.J. drove to the major vista points within Bryce Canyon National Park. Being about 4,000 feet higher elevation than Zion, the temperature was nearly 20 degrees cooler. Also, much to our granddaughter's delight, there was a great deal of recent snow on the ground.

As with most of national parks, Bryce Canyon offers several day-hiking trails. Many of them are interconnected. We agreed on Queen's Garden, which is considered the least difficult trail into the canyon. Approximately 1.8 miles round trip took us less than an hour to finish. This trail was a great place to see Hoodoos up close looking up rather than down from the top of the canyon. The name Hoodoos refers to tall skinny spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins.  At the end of the trail, we came to the spot where using one's imagination, we can see Queen Victoria sitting on top of a Hoodoo.

Bob and Kimberly from Michigan were also at the park enjoying the spectacular and unforgettable scenery.

Aloha -- Cathi