9/ 27 -9/28 - Aloha Spirit in North Bend, Indiana

9/27 and 9/28 - 2007
We arrived in Chicago at 4:30 in the morning. We rented a car and drove to Elkhart, Indiana to pick up our Honu Hale. It was lunch time when we got there so we had to wait for Gary to get back. He spent almost 3 hours going over everything with us. It was gassed and ready to go but we weren't. It was just way too much information to process on top of jet lag. He assured us we could pick it up the next day. There was also a problem with the title and the corrected copy hadn't arrived yet.
Jodi Awaya, who I use to work with in Honolulu, had invited us to stay with them. They live in South Bend which was just 15 miles from Elkhart. They have two dogs named Kona and Kai and a beautiful Townhouse which is very close to Notre Dame. We went to a darling pub for dinner and drove around the campus which was very impressive. We ended up staying a second night because it took us forever to get all that we needed for the Motor Home and to return the Rental Car. By the time we got the Motor Home packed it was dark. We went to an Italian restaurant which was very good.
We had breakfast with Jodi at Perkins which is a very nice family restaurant that was located right next door to their place.
Hated to leave Jodi and Jon and their wonderful hospitality but we wanted to go back to Elkhart and actually stay in the Motor Home. We wanted to make sure all worked and most important we knew what we were doing.

Full Moon-Talk Story at Mauna Lani Resort

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we were invited by our neighbors Linda and Tony to go to the Mauna Lani Resort to attend the Talk Story session that they have monthly. We didn't quite understand what we were going to so we weren't dress for the evening coolness. The wind was blowing like crazy so it was more like "freezing".

This program happens once a month on the Saturday closest to the full moon. You never know who will be there but there is music, singing and talking story. We got there early and the crowd was assembling as you can see in the bottom picture. By the time it got dark and the program started there were tons of people all with beach chairs, mats, food and various liquids. The full moon was gorgeous as it came up through the clouds.

We were so lucky to be there when Raiatea performed. She is only 19 and is a multiple Na Hoku Hanohano Award (Hawaiian music Oscars-sort of). It cost big bucks to go to one of her concerts.

The format of the program is the performer sings or plays something then Danny Akaka (Senator Akaka's son) "talks story" with them. They are all sitting on rocking chairs on the front porch of the Cottage. Very informal but very special in the gorgeous surroundings. We were fascinated when Raiatea said she grew up in musical family on Molokai but they didn't sing in Hawaiian. When she went to her brother's Song Fest at Kamehameha school when she was 15 years old she heard someone sing in the old Hawaiian Falsetto. She fell in love with that type of music. She went back to Molokai and taught herself to play the Ukulele and to speak and sing in Hawaiian. Two years later at 17 she won her first Na Hoku Hanohano Award. Today she is a very famous performer both in Hawaii and Japan.

Unfortunately we left at half time because we were freezing to death. We only had shorts and tee shirts on and the wind chill factor was at least 65. Even the tourist had jackets on. It was great and we are looking forward to going again in the near future.