3/5 Rain, Rain, Rain

We had a nice time last night. We went to a wood turner’s opening night reception and saw some remarkable work done by people all over the big island (see photo). There were lots of bowls, but also other pieces that were works of art. There were also miniatures done on a very small lathe. They had a silent auction and we saw two pieces that we liked so we bid on both – hoping that we would get one. Well, we ended up with both! They are beautiful so we are not upset at all. We went for a late dinner near to the hotel and then to bed and our books.

Our intention was to go to the beach this morning and take a swim at the place we saw yesterday that didn’t look as rocky. Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not want to cooperate. The skies were dark and it looked like it would rain any minute. We scrapped that plan and went into town to visit a museum called the Discovery Center and run by NOAA. Mystic Seaport had loaned them a harpoon last year and Dave had helped to pack it up so we wanted to see it on display. They had a nice exhibit on shipwrecks and the harpoon had a place of honor in a lovely wood and glass case over the whole thing. We chatted with a couple of people and then headed over to the Craft/Farmer’s market. By this time it was pouring! We walked around a bit looking at different handcrafts (mostly jewelry) and then stopped in the food market for cinnamon buns for tomorrow’s breakfast. We then drove over to the wood worker’s exhibition as they were having lathe demonstrations today. We ate our lunch in the car (finished up the end of the cheese and crackers) and then went to see what was being made. The first demo was a woman who was making tiny bowls (smaller than the end of your thumb) on a very small lathe. The next fellow was demonstrating how to make honey dippers out of branches (see photo). It was quite interesting and makes us want to give our lathe a try when we get home. We then drove back to Hilo Hattie’s to take a picture (see above) of the 200XL Hawaiian shirt. It was not pouring now, but was still sprinkling and a not very nice day so we went over to see what movie was playing. We found one called “I am Number Four” and decided to read in the car until show time. What we didn’t know was that this was a combination sci-fi/teenage angst movie – neither one is my favorite so not such a great choice. We went to dinner at a local drive in joint and then back to the hotel. We repacked our bags this morning so we are pretty ready to take off tomorrow. We are flying out of Kona, which is on the other side of the island so we will take the upper scenic route around the top of the island and explore new territory on our way to the airport. There is no rush to get there, as our flight is not until 11:45 in the evening. Apparently all of the flights back to the mainland are red-eyes.