This update starts with April 6 and shad fishing on the James with Jay Wetsel and Mike Ostrander. The fishing wasn’t as good as last year when we went out but we each caught 10 or 15 shad. When things were really slow and we still had some time, we went downriver a little bit and caught some herring at the outflow of the sewage treatment plant.
After a rough winter of very low temperatures and frozen pipes, all of which happened after our great trip to Baja California, we headed to Maui, Hawaii to join Jill and family for their Spring Vacation in early April.
Even before the very, very long flight got started, we had a bit of adventure- the first flight was at 6 am and that morning we had a thunder storm band come through. Evidently lightning hit a transformer at the airport and American Airlines had no computers running. The check in line was out the door as the personnel were trying to check in everyone manually by hand including the bag tags. And they vowed the plane was not going to leave until everyone in line was checked in. Surprisingly we were only an hour or so late. We knew we would miss our connection but got lucky and reached a human being to get us a spot on the next best flight out of Dallas. While on board and in flight we were told we had to leave security to pick up our bags and then recheck them to our final destination, but somehow the AA team figured out where everyone was going and re routed the bags. They did not arrive in Maui with us but they came in later that night.
Jill and family arrived the next day and we all checked into the condo Jill found for us, which was roomy and well located.
Each day Connie and I got in good long walks along a path right by the ocean, the kids had plenty of pool time and ocean time, we had good food cooked on the grill at the condo by Graham, and even had a good adult night out for dinner thanks to RoLaLa, ie Rosa Laura, Jill and Graham's Italian nanny.
On Sunday my med school friend Rick Sands, wife Melissa, and 2 year old Esme came to spend the day. The last time we were in Maui (and Hawaii) was in 1993, right after Rick began to work there. We caught up on friends and stories and had a great visit. Melissa left us some of her home made granola in gratitude for my sending them some Virginia peanuts at Christmas.
Here's Rick and Esme at his office:
At that 1993 visit we stayed at the Hyatt Wailea which was right across the street from the condo this time. So we went over to see the Ala Nui statue which turned out to be a that of a large woman smoking a cigarette.
One of the big events of the trip was our road trip to Hana, which took all day, something like 51 miles out, 617 curves, and 60 or so single lane bridges. I had to buy a tee shirt with all those details on it. Connie and I completed the loop by continuing on on pretty primitive roads most of the way and visited Charles Lindbergh's grave overlooking the sea.
The next trip in a very busy April was to Palm Beach to celebrate Leesa's birthday at the condo and on the Sarah Beth. Michael and Beth came also, and a special surprise was a visit by Vishesh and his fiancé. Michael, Gordon, and I took A&T to Lion Country Safari where we had an ostrich try to peck us through the window, and Gordon took some great photos of August doing yoga with Beth on the beach at sunrise.
One last thing about Hawaii- I only added about 4 new bird species but one of the more unusual ones for me was the Red Crested Cardinal-
Then it was my 45th reunion at W&L and a stay at the Georges. I also got an afternoon of trout fishing on Buffalo Creek in and caught between 10-12 rainbows and a small brown trout. I fought the biggest one I have ever caught there for about 30 minutes and got him to the net but I was too slow in telling my guide and friend John that he had spit the hook so we didn't quite land him. I can't forget to mention that the reunion weekend was also our 34th anniversary- I am a very lucky guy.
This was followed by a frustrating trip to Mossy where I moved about 10 fish, but was too inattentive to hook any of them.
Michael's friend Yogi and Valerie's wedding was at least 3 days long the weekend of May 7. First there was a henna party for Beth and Connie and the women while the guys had a BBQ at the Nelsons. Then there was a preparty at Harki and Viju's house, and then the full Indian ceremony at Berkeley Plantation with Yogi coming in on a white horse and lots of incense, and fire, and wonderful Indian music. it was also great to meet so many of Yogi's Indian relatives.
On May 14 I had a meeting in Lexington and so I took advantage of it to try Buffalo again. It was a little frustrating in that the fish weren't biting as well as usual but I caught a few including two big ones. But I now know there are some extremely scary sized fish in that stream. We saw monsters coming out of the water to feed on things we weren't throwing.
