Field of Lights

After returning to the hotel this afternoon, we had enough time to take a much-needed nap after our kayak tour and then get cleaned-up for our evening activity, Sensorio (aka "that Field of Light thingy") in Paso Robles. 

So, what exactly is Sensorio? A walk-through art installation just east of Paso Robles on the north side of CA-46, Sensorio is an array of solar-powered fiber-optic lights "planted" on the hillsides throughout the venue. At night the spheres are illuminated with changing colors. 

7:37PM

Redemption

Given how our kayaking adventure in Hawaii turned out last summer, you might think that I would not pick up a paddle ever again. And yet, there we were at the marina in Morro Bay State Park at 9:00AM this morning, getting ready to embark on a half-day kayak tour with Central Coast Outdoors.

However, this time I was hopeful that our experience would be much better than the last one since the waters of Morro Bay are protected from the open ocean by a four-mile long sandspit. And I was assured that the sit-inside kayaks are much harder to tip over than the sit-on-top kind. 

Morro Rock

Corona-cation

Life in the time of COVID...

It's been almost five months since that word became embedded in our vocabulary, along with "new normal" and "Zoom meeting". Within the span of a few days in mid-March, our family had completely "pivoted" by:

• Cancelling R's trip to Vegas with the guys for March Madness, M's spring break missions trip to Washington, DC, and J's and my trip to Illinois.
• Moving M out of his dorm at UCLA, with him finishing spring quarter of his sophomore year remotely from home.
• Finding out that the unplanned extension of J's spring break would morph into never returning to the high school and, sadly, a drive-thru graduation ceremony in place of the traditional pomp and circumstance.
• Working from home, although there are limits to the scientific experiments I can carry out from the kitchen table.

Aloha, A Hui Hou...

Since we're taking the red eye back to the mainland tonight, we got almost an entire day as a bonus to our time on the Big Island. Rather than finding another spot to snorkel and having to pack wet swim stuff in our suitcases, we decided to hike out to Kīholo Bay instead. The scenic viewpoint just off Highway 19 gave us a great view of the bay...

Find Your Beach

No rush to get out the door this morning since our only plans were to go to the beach. Instead of breakfast at the hotel, we went to 808 Grindz Cafe. There was a bit of wait to get seated, but it was worth it! R was the only one who ordered something we hadn't already eaten on the island.

Macadamia nut pancakes

Ring Around the Island

There was no need to get breakfast after we checked out of the hotel because R's cousin gave us a big bag of "made in Hawaii" snacks last night. Maebo's One-Ton Chips are my new favorite!

Kona Chips were a big hit, too!

Before leaving Hilo, we stopped at Big Island Candies to buy some of their signature dipped shortbread cookies to bring home. Added bonus - free samples!

Last stop - Two Ladies Kitchen to fetch more mochi. Pre-ordering is definitely the way to go, since we could skip to the front of long line that had already started forming this morning. Their strawberry mochi is so good!