Getaway to Whistler & Horstman House

Last weekend we went to our condo at Whistler BC located in Horstman House.   We own a 1/4 share of a unit there, getting access one week in four.  However, we usually leave it in the rental pool and only visit a few times a year.  Horstman House is very family oriented and has a great outdoor pool, open all year round, a gym, and a games room.  It is situated near the end of Blackcomb Way, close to the entrance to Lost Lake Road.  Good in the summertime as well.

On this visit, we took our friends Myra and Jan - Jan is a great downhill skiier and loves skiing on Whistler Mountain.  Also drove up my sister, Linda, her husband, Shelly, and their companion, Joan, to their place on Blueberry Hill.  There had been lots and lots of snow in the week before and the weekend was gorgeous - lots of snow, and finally some sun.

Neil and I plus Myra walked to Rainbow Park, about 1 1/2 hours return.

Rainbow Park - the lake, in the distance, is frozen over

Neil was very happy because there were lots of families walking their dogs.

The snow was so deep - here Myra is sitting on top of a picnic bench

The seven of us went for dinner to the Tandoori Grill - our most favorite restaurant in Whistler.  Outstanding food and great service.  They always recognize us even it we are there only a few times a year.    They have great reviews too!

Jessica Parker Kennedy interviewed in Glamoholic

My friend Toni, sent me a link to an interview with her daughter, Jessica Parker Kennedy, by Glamoholic:  http://www.glamoholic.com/9/9.html 

Be sure to read the interview and see the gorgeous pictures!  Here is the cover photo from Glamoholic (by Emily Soto):

Jessica looks so wonderful in a long ball gown.  She plays Melissa in "The Secret Circle", which starting broadcasting new episodes last week.

Movie: Salmon Fishing in Yemen

Went Monday afternoon with Bonnie to see "Salmon Fishing in Yemen" at the Fifth Avenue Cinemas.  Cute movie - certainly helped cheer us up as the weather was bitterly cold, windy and depressing.

Ewan McGregor as Dr. Alfred Jones, a fishing scientist from the  Agriculture Department of the British Government, is asked to make the dream of a Yemen Sheik to introduce salmon into mountain rivers in Yemen come true.  Seems like a hairbrained scheme, and the movie deals with overcoming skepticism, disbelief and all the obstacles of making happen.  The Sheik got the idea because he has a fishing lodge in Scotland and loves flycasting for salmon in the Scottish rivers.

Here Dr. Jones lays out a scheme for the project

The love interest is Emily Blunt portraying Harriet, the Sheik's assistant/public relations person in Britain.

Emily Blunt as Harriet

Yemen Sheik & Dr. Jones discussing how to make the dream come true

The movie was filmed in Scotland, London and Morrocco.  Of course, after many trials and tribulations, the plan worked, and Dr. Jones got his girl.

Hawaiian Cruise - Maui & then Home

Our last island stop in Hawaii was Maui where we anchored off Lahaina and tendered into the town.  A very hot day and, because we have stayed on Maui several times before, we decided to just walk around the town for a few hours rather than take a tour of the island.

Neil on the Boardwalk in Lahaina

HAL Oosterdam anchored off Lahaina

Milt from London, ON & Bonnie from Vancouver

Mark from Vancouver, and Audrey from London, ON

Bonnie & Neil

Sunset our last night at Sea

And then home to Vancouver.

Hawaiian Cruise - Kauai Part 2

After leaving the Grove Farm Plantation, our tour took us to the Kilohana, which contains the historic 16,000 square foot mansion built in 1936 by sugar baron, Gaylord Wilcox, the nephew of George Wilcox, for his family and for entertaining.  The mansion is still there, now filled with restaurants, antique shop, art galleries, gift shops. 

The estate's 104 acres can now be explored via the Kauai Plantation Railway, which winds its way through the working plantation of sugar cane, fruit orchards, animals and forests.

Kilohana Mansion

Pineapple Fields

Kauai was a beautiful island, with the residents determined to keep it as rural as possible.  Large box stores have now been banned.  Hope they succeed.

Hawaiian Cruise - Kauai

Our next island stop was Kauai - the history of this island has been impacted by the development of sugar plantations in the 19th & 20th centuries.

We chose a shore excursion which included a visit to Grove Farm, which is an historical sugar plantation site on Kauai.  Founded by George N. Wilcox in the 1860s, the farm was chopped out of a grove of trees, giving the farm its name.  The American Civil War ruined the sugar plantations in the American South, and George had the education and vision to transform his acreage into a thriving sugar plantation.  It became a great source of income for Hawaii.

George N. Wilcox - from the Grove Far Website - History section

George was the son of Christian missionaries to Hawaii (remember the stories in James Michener's "Hawaii"), and was sent to study engineering on the mainland.  The first thing he did to the farm was to engineer an extensive irrigation system to bring water from the mountains to the fields.  Over the decades he built many structures for the running of the plantation including housing, equipment sheds, offices, guest cottages, animal pens, vegetable and fruit gardens, and pastures for cattle and horses.

Grove Farm - taken from the website

The buildings and the home have been restored, preserved and established as an historic site and living museum with the main house, farm, office, workers homes and private cottages beautifully maintained amongst the tropical gardens, orchards and rolling lawns.  It is one of Hawaii's earliest sugar plantations.  We had an excellent tour guide who gave us a sense of the life in the late 1800's and early 1900s.

Approach to the Main House from the Parking Area



Guest Cottage

Valley from behind the Main House

Grove Farm Main House - Living Room

Touring the Main House was a delight - the native "Koa" hardwood had been used throughout the house for flooring and window trim and it was gorgeous.  Beautiful graining and stain.  The Koa tree is now a protected species.  The rooms in the house were large and cooled by breezes from the verandas.  The home was very elegantly furnished.

Library

Kitchen cupboard holding pots and cooking utensils

Kitchen Stove - reminds me of the one my mother had when I was a young girl.

George Wilcox never married, but brought his brother, Sam, and Sam's wife Emma to the farm.  Sam and Emma raised six children on the farm, of which two of the girls never married and lived on the far, playing significant roles in politics, historic preservation, education and public health on the islands. 

Hawaiian Cruise - Part 3

After our full day of touring the North Shore of Oahu, we went back to the ship, rested, and then headed out to Waikiki by taxi from the Aloha Tower.  What a disappointment Waikiki Beach was!  I was shocked at the changes since I had last been there (some time ago).  Not only has the beach eroded away, but tall highrises have been built right up to the edge of the beach, and throughout the blocks back from the beach, making it a steel jungle.  Heavy traffic was backed up on all the streets!

Gone are the lovely tropical gardens which used to surround the hotels, with their exotic flowers, and torch lights which made for such romantic walking in the evenings.  I will never return to Waikiki again!

So I took our friends, Bonnie & Mark, to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel where we walked through the lobby, enjoyed the furnishings and pictures, and then walked to the water side, where we watched the sunset.

Royal Hawaiian Hotel & Neil

View of Diamond Head from Royal Hawaiian Hotel



Beautiful sunset.