Displaced Beachbums

Arrival at the Guam Airport

Yesterday, FG and I picked a bunch of plumerias and she made a lei for FM, who was returning from a two week trip to Georgia. She did a great job and it has the best smell 🙂

First thing this morning, we headed to the beach. Our goal was to explore “Double Reef” beach which is located on the Navy base just down the road from us BUT it was closed due to the ranges being open so we went directly to Ritidian Beach and enjoyed a morning of swimming, snorkeling and sand castle building.  

Double Reef is high on our ‘must do’ list before we leave ~ everyone who’s been there says it’s fabulous and very isolated.

FM is doing very well with his jet-lag but then again he always does.

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Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and all the other hardworking, loving moms I know.  I hope all of you have as good a Mom’s day as I have.

I’ve spent a really fun day with FG and since FM is out of town, it was a true mother/daughter day.

FG brought me breakfast in bed ~ tea and toast. She then showered me with gifts. My favorite were the handmade roses which she made in class. Her teacher is very talented and loves to do stuff like that.

We also spent a little time at Tarague Beach today. Normally when we go down on Sunday afternoon (it was after four), there’s usually no one there. Today it was packed! Glad I left the dogs home on this particular trip.

We fed the fish, picked up some trash and watched the waves crash. The surf was up and I saw the biggest waves I’ve ever seen at Tarague. They were fun to watch but scared FG a little.

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Guam’s been getting some good national press lately. There was the crazy interview on the Colbert Report the other night, then Guam was featured on an entire episode of the Amazing Race. Here’s my photo of the Pit Stop ~ Fort Soledad:

We really enjoyed watching the show even though I wish they would have highlighted more of Guam’s beautiful beaches and the local people. We kept yelling out who we knew and the familiar sights so I know I missed some of what was said. Good thing we taped it and I can watch it again to see what I missed.

Another good happening is Guam’s JROTC (a multiple school unit) earning the overall title at the Golden Bear National 7th Annual Drill meet in California.  Congratulations to them!

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Check out Latitude 13 for a really funny interview by Steve Colbert. Congresswoman Bordallo did pretty well under the craziness known as The Colbert Report.

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Don’t forget to catch Guam, including Andersen Air Force Base, on the Amazing Race this Sunday. Tune into CBS at 8 pm (eastern standard). For us here in Guam, it’s on Monday night at 8 pm.

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The Boonie Stomp yesterday was also a “clean-up” day. There were about 21 hikers and we picked up trash as we walked along the coast from Umatac Bay to Toguan Bay (about 1.5 miles). Sadly, there was a lot of trash along this beautiful hike. It’s so annoying that people think they can dump their trash where ever they like on this beautiful island.

It’s not looking good for us to get a Boonie Stomp t-shirt before we leave. You can only get a t-shirt if you hike 10 Boonie Stomps with the club. FG and I have 5 hikes done and need 5 more. FM has one more than us so he’s got more of a chance and, if he does get one, we’re all going to share it 🙂

After the stomp, we were very hungry and made our way to Jeff’s Pirate Cove. Unfortunately, they were having a really busy day and we waited almost an hour for our food. I get a little cranky when I’m hungry and my impatience started to show after 45 minutes 😉  Good thing it’s a gorgeous setting and the food is delicious otherwise I wouldn’t have waited.  As we waited, Dave and Beverly Lotz came in and joined us. Dave is the resident expert on the Boonie Stomps and wrote the book, literally, on the stomps. We have three of his books on Guam hikes and WWII monuments. It was a pleasure to get some of his recommendations on what we should see before we leave the island.  They both thought it would be a shame if we missed Rota ~ the island next to Guam. Looks like we’ll have to go on ONE more trip before we leave. 

Even though I was really tired when we got home and would have preferred to relax, I didn’t want to miss the casting call for The Guamazing Race. It’s a take-off on the Amazing Race. I think FM & I would have had a good chance at being selected to compete but, dang it, FM will be off island the day of the race.                  

FG was disappointed. She loves the Amazing Race and really wanted FM & I to compete. After all the traveling she’s done with us, she had confidence we’d win the top prize.

Since we were already in Hagåtña, we didn’t want to pass up a chance to have dinner at a newly, reopened restaurant called “The Mermaid Tavern” ~ the original restaurant burnt down last year. It was well worth stopping in for a bite to eat. The restaurant itself is so new and spiffy.  I love the smell of a newly decorated hotel or restaurant. It always reminds me of brand new resorts I helped open in Atlanta and Hawaii.

Anyway, the service was fabulous and the food tasty. Not only did FM and I love it, but FG couldn’t get enough of ALL our food. She kept stealing my yummy chardonnay garlic linguini. The selection of beers was of particular interest to FM. You can tell a restaurant is serious about their brew when their phone number is 472-BEER. I highly recommend the Mermaid Tavern to anyone who lives on Guam.

We don’t have too many more Guam weekends so we plan to make the best of them ~ no time to be tired 🙂

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I wish I could say my lack of blogging has been because I’ve been at the beach but, it’s been all about the move and finishing up with the end of the year items with the spouses’ club and my religious education class.  I’ve really enjoyed volunteering for both and hate to see the year come to an end.

Another thing I’m going to miss about Guam are the beautiful plumerias FG brings home. They smell as good as they look:

I’ve also found a little time this week to volunteer at GAIN (the local animal shelter) and was so pleased yesterday when I saw about 10 sailors from the USS John Paul Jones (a destroyer) who were spending their time “in port” volunteering at GAIN. They were so hardworking and got a lot of things done for the furry critters.

Speaking of critters, we saw our first “in the wild” brown tree snake yesterday. FM was taking out the trash and ran across this guy:

I’m guessing he’s at least 4 feet. We didn’t have the heart to kill him and, even though I’m an animal lover, I’m secretly hoping he’ll make a meal out of the shrews which have taken up residence in our plants.

Here’s hoping we’ll make it back to the beach this week!

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Thankfully, Typhoon Kong Rey made a right turn and avoided Guam almost completely. We’re expierencing very little rain and none of the strong winds. What a relief! We were a little worried the power would go out and we’d miss our favorite reality show “The Amazing Race” ~ as you can see we have our priorities.

Base Command, Kuam News, Pacific Daily News, etc did a great job keeping everyone  informed regarding typhoon. Even though the storm was a non-starter, it never hurts to have practice runs so people get use to keeping their emergency supplies updated.  

Unfortunately, Saipan is still in it’s path so please say a prayer that Kong Rey turns a little more and by passes the CNMI.

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Looks like tropical storm Kong Rey is heading right for Guam. The storm currently has 50 mph winds which extend out 85 miles from the center.  It’s expected to intensify into a typhoon by morning and may hit Guam on Tuesday around 6 am.  For a very witty account of storm preparations and a storm tracking map, check out The Parker Pens.

We’re finishing up with the last of the laundry and vacuuming.  I think we’re as ready as we can be. Of course, I’m more than a little worried about the dogs at GAIN. They are not well protected from the winds or rain.

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When we moved here, we were told the Typhoon season started in June and went through December. I woke up this morning to “storm warning” on the front page of the local newspaper. There’s a tropical storm, called Kong Rey, west of Pohnpei and heading toward the Marianas Islands (including Guam).  My first reaction was WHAT? I thought we were out of the Typhoon Season. Not so, according to the Pacific Daily News. We’re in the secondary typhoon season which really means Guam is always subject to a Typhoon 😦

We started using our storm supplies once we found out we were moving because we don’t want to be stuck with items we can’t ship. Thankfully, we still have plenty of gas for the generator since getting gas now would be a pain. The lines at the gas stations are a little crazy. FM managed to get the last three cases of Budweiser at the shopette so he’s all set 😉

I’m not thrilled with the name of the storm. Translated to English, it’s King Kong, which sounds more than a little ominous!

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