California Comes to Volcano

The parade of visitors has ended. It's a bittersweet feeling - wonderful to have seen folks and nice to be back to our routine. Having friends and family visit was great. It was an opportunity for us to show people this place we have chosen to live. I hope that they better understand that in some way moving here made sense. It isn't THAT crazy of a thing to have done. Having our California peeps come and enjoy themselves here made me feel that now we have this contingent to confirm our sanity back on the mainland. Weird, yes. But, hey...this is me we're dealing with.

The visits were great. Each with a totally distinct personality - - just like the people visiting.

Mom came for the longest time. Lots of adventure. Up for anything. Hanging out and doing nothing also a popular pastime. We explored almost the whole island. I took the liberty of falling into tourist mode and learned about some great new places (new to me...not the island).

Mark A. came for a week and a half. Arrived with fantastic wine and a will-do-anything attitude. Mark (S.) sure took him up on that! Pictures in the photo album have titles like "Death March". Joking references to the trip as "Fat Camp" aren't even much of an overstatement after the miles of running, hiking and cycling...all on the same day.

Michael and Fumiko had the shortest trip. Only four days to pack in the whole island. My skills as tour guide were tested. A bit of a whirlwind. The rain made planning activities a bit tricky, but true to Volcano form the weather came through for us on the last day. The rain stopped, the sun and blue sky appeared and we were able to show off the great national park and ... well ... the volcanoes.

We are back to the quiet of our forest now, complete with neurotic pets (we are counting the number as 2 1/2) and even more neurotic people (hey, we're honest with ourselves). Volcano is a bit of a wacky, weird, wet place. Feels just right. It was great to be able to share.