The Letters From The Big Island: Part 1 - The Oldest Lady With The Bestest Location

This trip was to be an adventure, a way of saying that after being married 30 years, we still knew how to have fun. the first thing I wanted to try was a Bed and Breakfast, which I had shunned before. Here, on the Big Island, a B&B seemed much cheaper than a hotel, so we tried out a place that turned out to be most interesting.

Amy, our hostess was 91 years old, and sharper than me. She gave me something to hope for, a chance to believe that growing old doesn't necessarily mean the wheelchair and endless re-runs on TV. We spent the night in her very old sprawling house, mere feet from 100 foot cliffs down to the ocean. It was near one of the two main towns on the island, Hilo (pronounced 'heelo'). She had dogs, a cat, and a lot of personality. 

A major plus for me was she happened to live right next to the only active surf spot I found on the island. In fact, after exploring the island for 10 days, it was the only place I saw any surfers out. I stood at the mouth of a river that the local surfers used to paddle out and shot photos for over an hour. Girls were ripping it up out there. It was head-high and looked easy except for the rocks everywhere. I even saw a guy about my age, looking very out of shape, getting some waves on a longboard. 

I got up early the next day and shot my first Big Island sunrise. I was stoked beyond belief and it was only day two of our journey!