The end of 24 and first of 25. Emmie, KTBA X , Hawaii, Las Vegas, and K Falls

Caching up on blogging.  this one covers the last part of 2024 and about the first half of 2025.  

 

In November we took a short trip to Reno, mainly to see a Joe Bonamassa show. He was great as usual.  He was also playing in Portland around the same time, but we would rather fly to Reno than drive to Portland.

We had a nice Christmas, and although we didn't know it would be out last one to share with Emmie.

Marlene spent most of the day of Christmas Eve in Urgent  Care because of foot pain she had been having.  Turned out she had a stress fracture in her foot and had to get a support boot which she ended up being in for over 6 months.

 

In March we lost our sweet Emmie.She was the last of 10 Irish Wolf Hounds that we have had. She was a great girl and we miss her every day.

Not long after Emmie's passing we left on a previously scheduled Cruise.  This was our 10th Keeping The Blues Alive cruise and our 12th overall, counting two Mediterranean Blues Cruises as well

A group picture with all the 10 timers

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In addition to non stop music KTBA X had port calls in Belize and Costa Maya Mexico where we had a snack and a little Margarita.

For Easter we resumed our tradition of going to Seattle to spend the day with Marlene's sister, Maxine and Nephew Paul and his wife Lisa.  This year Rayann who was away in college joined us remote.

In early June we celebrated grandaughter Anna's High School graduation.  It's off to OSU in the fall for her.

This was definitely  a year of travel and the biggest  trip of the year was our 12 day cruise to Hawaii starting from Vancouver BC.  But actually it really started from Vancouver Washington, with a train trip to Vancouver BC.

Beautiful views from the train on the way to BC

After spending an enjoyable day in Vancouver  we said goodby to the city from the deck of the NCL Sun.

We then enjoyed a restful 5 day cruise across the Pacific Ocean to the Hawaiian Islands

Fantastic sunsets on the ocean

Some days were more restful than others

Our first view of Maui where we spent two days.

 

The Needle in Iao state monument

Visits to a suger cane pantation and the Maui Ocean Center

A Unicorn fish

A great visit to the Maui Gold pineapple farm and factory, where we had a through tour and tasted some delicious pineapple.

Our first view of the Island of Kauai, referred to as the Garden Island, and it truly was a beautiful place.  We had two days here as well.  On the first day we took a hop on hop off bus and stopped at several interesting areas including seeing the dancers below.  On our second day we took a tour to Waimea Canyon

 

Waimea Canyon was amazing and our guide took us to some off the beaten path places were we had spectacular views

Waimea Canyon is approximately 3000 feet deep and 10 miles long

The state bird of Hawaii the NeNe crossing the road.  There our severe penalties if you hit one of them

The other bird you see evey where is chickens.

After leaving Kaui we sailed on to the Big Island (Hawaii).  Our first stop was Hilo, and from there we went to Volcanos National Park where we saw a steaming Kilauea Volcano.

 

On our second day on the Big Island we sailed to the other side of the island to Hilo which was a tender port. We took a tour of the whole area, and our first stop was an ancient Hawaiian city called the City of Refuge.

We then went to a Kona coffee farm where we sampled delicious Kona coffee. (and bought some)  We also got to walk through a lava tube which was on the coffee farm's land.

Our final stop of the cruise was Honolulu.  We got off the ship there but stayed an additional 3 days before flying home.  Here we are on Waikiki Beach in front of the famous Duke Kahanamoku statue, and we even ate at the restaurant named after him, twice.

We had a 3 day Hop on Hop off pass in Honolulu and saw a great deal of the city to include the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and the King Kamehameha statue which is in front of the Hawaii Supreme Court building, which we also toured.

And of course the highlight of Honolulu was visiting Pearl Harbor which every American should see at least once in their life.

On our final night in Honolulu we went to a luau where we had some great food and entertainment.

A week after getting home from Hawaii, we traveled south to Klamath Falls Oregon,  to Kingsley Field where we helped the USO prepare over 1400 hotdogs for active service members during the Thunderbirds Air Shore.  On the second day  of the show we prepared breakfast burritos We were assisted by volunteers from the local Les Schwab and Safeway stores.

And then not long after getting back from K Falls we flew down to Las Vegas where we celebrated Marlene's 75 birthday.  We did a few things on this trip to Las Vegas that we have never done before, including visiting the Neon Museum and the famous Sphere.

And to top her birthday Marlene got a beautiful birthday cake which was made at the Aria Hotel and Casino

And we had her birthday dinner at a great steak house, and it included a big sundae, which she dug into with enthusiasm!