Ogii's family celebrating New Year in Mongolia.
There was a lot of traffic in the opposite direction.
Rain.
Dropping off the convertible.
Walking to the other rental car agency.
And picking up the other vehicle.
This one has a better spot for my phone.
I dropped Ogii off early at the hotel and asked if she could work in the lobby, and the clerk said we could get into the room now, even though it was only 7am and check in isn't until 3pm.
A double rainbow.
With some plants.
And a palm tree.
This palm tree had fallen down.
Nice aloha on the back of the truck.
Ogii was a little cold in the room, so she was by the heater.
Cloudy mountains.
Sunbeam through the clouds.
Big waves.
The Pride of America.
Ocean mural.
Lots of writing.
Very pretty.
Ogii had found Wow Good Korean BBQ for dinner.
We haven't had this in a while.
The booth backs were very high, so it was quite private.
Lots of meat.
This tree had a ton of loud birds in it.
The next morning I stopped by Four Sisters Bakery for their butter rolls.
I had forgotten it's cash only; good thing Google reminded me.
There's an ATM nearby.
At this Minit Stop.
Now onto the bakery.
Nobody else here now.
The rolls.
Sea turtle mural.
Purple mountains.
"E noho iho I ke opu weuweu, mai ho'oki 'eki 'e" is a Hawaiian saying meaning "remain among the clumps of grass and do not elevate yourself." Basically, don't get too full of yourself.
The rest of it.
Kids.
Nice sunrise.
A line of people getting coffee.
Flying back home after work. Since we were bringing a bag of four dozen butter rolls, we had to check our bags.
Grabbing a quick dinner.
What does Ogii see?
A rainbow.
The observatory on the mountain above the clouds.
Making sure the rolls are OK.
Leaving Maui.
Arriving in Honolulu.
A short layover before our flight back to Kona.
Unpacking my travel contact lens solution.
This one expired in 2019. I better not use that.
Ogii saw a baby whale breaching many times by boats.
Uber Eats has 50% off Domino's.
Except the offer is only for delivery, and delivery isn't available.
I still want Domino's, though. This looks like their supreme.
I like the tracker that tells you what stage of being made your pizza is in.
Driving it home.
Behind a Domino's delivery car.
I had a free hotel night as a yearly bonus and also enough points for a free hotel room. I had to call to book them both in a single trip, though, and the call took 20 minutes.
Sunset.
Pretty colors.
Some upcoming shows we want to watch. Scrubs, The Pitt, and Ted Lasso.
We were driving north to go whale counting. We were supposed to bring clipboards. I bet Home Depot has some, although they're not quite open yet.
$54 for a clipboard? That's insane.
And this one is $27. No, I'm not paying that.
Especially when Walmart has them for $3.
Back to Walmart. Thankfully it's not too far.
Cheap clipboards.
Some leftover Valentine's Day candy.
And it's 50% off.
Easter candy.
I think they have too many Peeps flavors when they have Dr. Pepper.
Some clouds lit up by sunrise near the airport.
And by a field.
The Queen's Shops are having a Chinese New Year festival.
They've started decorating.
Water lilies and fish.
With the sun reflecting on them.
A little food court.
If you don't want to spend more at the more expensive restaurants.
Nice entrance.
A long fence.
A nice house.
Headed down a little road.
To the ocean.
Private gate.
Turning into the parking lot.
Some of the houses nearby.
With a walking path near the ocean.
To the other side.
They have a great view.
Our fellow whale counters.
Telling us what to do.
They had an umbrella strapped to the back of their chair. That's a good idea.
Everyone looking.
Including Ogii.
We looked for a spout first, and then zoomed in with binoculars to watch for actions.
A list of some of them.
The rest.
My phone says it has 4 bars, but it doesn't get a signal here.
We're pretty far north, though.
Everyone still watching.
A found a shell.
With a clam inside.
It looks like it's still alive, so I put it back into the water.
We saw around 60 whales.
A little memorial.
For Puerto Ricans who came here in 1901.
Driving back to Kona. The Mauna Kea Resort has beautiful landscaping.
At Kahaluu Beach Park, where Lance and Sarah were snorkeling.
They have a free sunscreen dispenser.
And buckets and graspers to pick up trash.
We went to Kai for dinner.
Nice bench.
The walk-in tables weren't open yet, so we wandered around the area.
I like this design at Crazy Shirts, but they didn't have my size.
I wanted a reef triggerfish shirt, but they didn't have one I liked. I looked on Amazon, but the picture isn't of the fish.
This picture isn't even close.
I think they're all AI crap that they don't even bother to try to make look correct.
Ogii with a shark.
Old photos.
An area with a few small tables.
And an arcade game.
Andy's Cafe.
A gallery.
The blue seascape is animated.
I'm not paying $6000 for 8 animated scenes, though.
This guy has some very stylized paintings.
As does this woman.
A woman and a cat.
We've seen his stuff on cruises.
The waterfall is neat.
Back to the restaurant. They're making pizza.
Many drinks.
Our drink matches Ogii.
Bread.
Appetizers.
All of us.
Pork scaloppii pear marsala.
Bistecca toscana.
Chocolate macadamia nut tart.
Another brightly-colored drink.
The stones in the side of the table top kind of look like 411.
This tree is flowering.
As is this one.
One of the neighbor's pigs.
Colorful sunset.
Teaching them how to crack open a coconut.
Got it.
Lance's turn.
Everyone watching.
Sarah.
And me.
Pink sunrise.
March 1st. Ogii's first present to me.
A gecko on the back of the router.
Jennifer was in the class ahead of me. She's now the president of the Texas Optometric Association.