Ain't life s'poze to be poetic? I sure hope retirement can live up to my expectations.

I didn't finish my description of the weekend. On Sunday Wakana and I set out to find the KAL Memorial. This is a black obelisk put up in memory of the victims of the crash of the KAL jet in 1997. You can see it from across the vally when you drive over Nimitz Hill and you can see that a road goes right up to it. We were determined to drive over and see it. We first tried to get there from Chalan Pago. We ended up at the Ordot Landfill. Then we tried a side road and ended up at Leopalace Resort. The gate guard told us we had to get there from Nimitz Hill. I didn't remember any road that would do that but we headed over there.

On the way we stopped to look at the old Spanish fort, Santa Aguedo, that tops the cliffs in Hagatna. There are three old cannon up there, filled to the muzzles with old cans and trash. The view is spectacular. Off to the north you can see all the way to Ritidian Point. To the south the view ends at Anigua. But the water is a rich tropical blue and green and the white surf pounds on the reefs making it a marvelous blend of color and action. At our feet was the Agana Boat Basin. They don't have marinas here, only boat basins. Inshore of that was the whole town of Hagatna running up to where it becomes Tamuning and farther up the coast the big hotels in Tumon.

Coming back from the view we stopped and bought a green coconut from the vendor. We talked about coconuts, the weather, tourists, and fiestas. He notched one end with his machete, turned it over and used the notch to hold it steady while he clipped a small piece from the other end. This resulted in a small hole into the milk. He added two straws and handed it to us. Once we finished the milk he took it back and slice off a piece of the husk to form a spoon. Then he chopped the coconut in half and used the "spoon" to remove the meat. He added soy sauce and put a squirt of wasabi on the rim of the husk. Wakana used the spoon to cut the pieces smaller, dipped them into the soy and the wasabi, and we ate them up. Good stuff!

Continuing on our way to Nimitz Hill we stopped to take a look at some old WWII Japanese caves that formed the last headquarters for the Japanese on Guam. They were closed up with a locked gate but Wakana has been in there and she says it goes way back into the hill. She says there are a couple of kilometers of caves in there.

We headed up the only road off of Nimitz Hill that looked like it MIGHT lead us in the direction of the KAL memorial. It lead us north however, continually climbing Mount Tenjo. Soon we began to see wonderful views through the high growth of vegetation on either side. We emerged in a neighborhood of very expensive houses still climbing the hill. We could now see radio and TV transmission towers ahead of us. The road changed to gravel under our tires and finally we stopped where we could see deep puddles ahead. There was an opening in the vegetation with rich red mud showing where the four-wheelers had been playing. The land beyond looked firm so I pulled the pickup in there. The vista was a wide mountain valley full of jungle and grasslands. Way off on the other side we could see the houses that line the Cross Island Road, my way home every evening. There were slashes in the valley where the dark red soil showed clear. Wakana says the soil has concentrations of bauxite that retards the growth of vegetation. The slashes certainly look natural.

We had a little trouble getting out of that spot. The mud was very slippery and I had to make a couple of runs at it before we slid back on to the road. On the way back down the mountain we could see the long view of the northern part of the island. The land is rough with deep valleys and steep shouldered ridges, green with jungle and grass. Far off to the east we could see the Pacific Ocean. At one point we could see both the Pacific on our eastern side and the Philipine Sea on the western side at the same time. It was an amazing view.

By then we were tired and we headed back to the house. We stopped briefly at Polaris Point to view the carnival and get some flavored shaved ice. Then home to rest and relax. A very nice day.