American Oceania - Epilogue

9/17/17, “Epilogue”

Aboard HA 50, En route HNL-JFK

“How was it?”  “Did you have fun?”  “You look like you got some color!”  “You have pictures?  “You’re making me jealous!”  Those are the questions and exclamations that will await me when I get back to New York tomorrow and over the next few days.  However, the questions I will pose in this Epilogue will be of a much stronger variety.  All trips must end with a reflective entry and a recording of The Return Journey, which this Epilogue will provide, along with providing a brief overview of the past few days, which will be intended to set up the next stages of my travel writing.

To me, though, of far more importance is what I call the final reckoning.  To that end, I must pose two simple questions.  Was this the best birthday ever?  Was this the best trip ever?  To both questions, without so much as a moment of hesitation or need for any debate, the answer is, “Abso-fucking-lutely.”  What could even come close?

I think perhaps the previous best birthday was when I went to Victoria Falls.  That trip was amazing.  My first trip to Africa, and I loved every minute of that trip.  The part of Africa I went to was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen.  I saw one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and then spent the day seeing wildlife at Hwange National Park.  I walked across the border to Zambia to have my birthday dinner there, which was, by far, the cheapest birthday dinner I had had in recent memory, but it was good, so good.

I wrote in that entry how I was alone, but happily alone, as opposed to the year before when I was miserable in a relationship.  I wrote in that how much better it was to have two female friends whom I loved as sisters than it was to have a girlfriend who was causing me an untold amount of stress.  The name of that trip was “Wildest Dreams,” due to the fact that the recent Taylor Swift music video was apparently filmed there.  Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine that one of those two friends would accompany two years later on what would become the greatest birthday trip of all time.

That trip was a perfect trip.  I was at complete peace.  I was in a very good place in my life, and nothing was bothering me.  I wish I could say that about the past year, but I cannot.  However, I can say that for the past five days I have pretty much been at complete peace, that I gladly traded my pipe and entry-writing each night for watching reality TV, that I gave up a few extra NPS units in exchange for a worry-free five days, that I didn’t care what was on the itinerary, or even if there was an itinerary, so long as I was having fun.  And fun I had.  A lot of fun.  More fun than I had ever had in my life.

Or perhaps not.  There have been other trips that have been fun, maybe even more fun, but it was a different kind of fun.  It was antics and hijinks and building the kind of inside jokes that remain funny for a lifetime.  I do not wish to compare the fun of prank calls and “walking slowly” to the fun of drinking and smoking on a beach until nothing else matters in the world or achieving pure nirvana by doing the same in a hot tub.  They are different kinds of fun.

I suppose this leads me to my next question, now.  Was this the best trip ever?  The previous title-holder was Rio 2016.  The highlights of that trip were the Opening Ceremony, seeing the Natural Wonder of the World in the Harbor of Rio de Janeiro, seeing the New7 Wonder of the World in Christ the Redeemer, and, of course, the Games themselves, days at the Gymnastics venue and nights at the Aquatics venue.

I will never forget those nights that I saw Michael PHELPS and Katie LEDECKY in the pool, and least of all will I forget that last night when I stayed until they broke the down the entire swimming pool area.  I will not forget cheering on the Final Five as they dominated the gymnastics venue.  I will not forget Aly RAISMAN and Simone BILES proving that they were absolute maniacs on the floor.  None of that I will forget.

That said, nor will I forget any moment of this trip.  After the highly fulfilling 11 Days that led to me being able to say, “Mission Accomplished,” it was followed by the most enjoyable five days of my life.  I knew that successful execution of the first 11 Days on its own would be sufficient for this trip to be considered the Greatest of All Time.  Further, the past five days celebrating my birthday on their own would have been sufficient, but they were not on their own.  They were combined into one trip that is, without a doubt, the GOAT.

I have recorded the first 11 Days in great detail, and I will give a brief description of the rest of the trip later, but in terms of the final reckoning, of the past five days, which, as a whole, were the best five days of my life, of the 11,000 days I have been alive, the top three days of my life were all on this trip, two of the travel days being more stressful and time-draining than anticipated.

The past five days of celebrations were filled with beach days, a sunset cruise, even a proper Hawaiian luau, and, of course, great feasts and plenty of drinking and smoking.  It would have made any Hobbit proud.  Even Bilbo himself could not have done better.  Those are not things that are normally associated with my travels, other than the smoking, of course.

Sure I have had great meals in my travels, but, unless it’s an iconic restaurant or a first Official meal, usually I eat on my trips for sustenance, to provide nourishment for the next activity.  The meals on this trip were to try new places, to eat whatever we wanted, when we wanted.  The drinking was to have fun, to make all of the activities that much more enjoyable, in contrast to my usual travels where I will just have a drink with dinner or one at the end of the day with my cigar or pipe to relax.

There were no new Stadiums or Stamps or Plaques once I said, “Mission Accomplished,” and my reader will note the difference between what I am recording in this Epilogue and what I have been recording in the entries I have previously written in this Travelogue.  The first 11 Days of this trip, was the epitome of my typical travels, and they were a remarkable success.  The past 5 Days were the most enjoyable of my life.

As much as I love the Olympics, how could Rio 2016 possibly compare with American Oceania?  The simple answer is, it can’t.  American Oceania wins against Rio 2016, it wins against National Parks of the American West, it wins against Eurotrip, it wins against Alaska, and it wins against anything else that might try to claim that title.  It was, without a doubt, the GOAT, in every way, shape, and form.

Now, some reflections are in order, both about this trip and the mission as a whole.  In this trip, I discovered a new way of travel, one that I would not have done on my own.  Hawaii had a few NPS units that I left on the table, and, had I been on my own, I would have used these past few days to visit each and every one of those units.  I would not have gone to the beach.  I would not have taken a sunset cruise.  I would not have gone to a luau.  I would have missed out on all of those things in exchange for bumping up my NPS unit count.  I would not have had so much as a quarter of the amount of alcohol I had, though I probably would have had four times as many cigars.  I, quite simply, would not have had fun.

I had fun.  I was in paradise with my best friend.  We did whatever she wanted, and for that I was glad.  I did not have to worry about setting an itinerary, or holding to one.  I did not have to worry about getting my stamps at VCs before they closed.  In fact, during the non-travel days, I did not have to worry about anything.  This was a trip of pure celebration, and it was very expensive trip, for which I am incredibly thankful to have been gifted as a joint graduation/birthday present, but when I spend my own money on travel, I do it in service of the mission, to get my Stamps and Plaques, to steadily increase my counts of countries or WHS or NPS units or whatever else I’m counting.

I choose not to spend my own money on relaxing.  I can relax in my apartment for the price of a cigar.  I can relax almost anywhere the stresses of my life cannot follow me.  I do not need to spend large sums of money on flights and hotels to relax.  When I go to Morocco, I will not spend four days in Casablanca.  I will spend the trip trying to visit every WHS in the country.  When I go to Curacao, I will not spend the day on the beach, I will spend it visiting the WHS there.  When I go to Thailand and Cambodia, I will not spend it on resorts.  I will celebrate New Year’s in Bangkok and then spend the rest of the time visiting my WHS.

That said, there will be trips in the future that are similar to this, and I have learned that, with the right person, I am willing to spend money on a vacation that is not designed to increase my count.  Next summer I will take the Trans-Siberian Railroad from Moscow to Vladivostok with another friend, a week on a train with only the potential for one new WHS the entire ride.  That will be a trip for us to relax, and it will be a good use of my money.

My friend and I have discussed making this an annual trip, a different island in the Pacific every year.  She lives in LA, and there are no shortage of islands with direct flights from LAX that would make for a nice meeting place for us.  While I will be able to claim a new country on each trip and visit whatever WHS the country has, if it has one, those trips would be designed like these past few days, to celebrate and relax, not to maximize the number of new countries and WHS I can visit.

I would see those trips as a good use of money, the same as I see the Trans-Siberian Railroad and African Safari trips I am planning with my other friend.  Those would all be trips designed to relax, and I will include more trips like that in my future travel planning, now that my mission has been accomplished.  That said, I will set new goals, manageable goals that won’t drain all of my time, energy, and money, and most of my travels, as far as I can foresee, will be in service of those new goals.

I have enjoyed this mission very much.  I have enjoyed maintaining my spreadsheet.  I have enjoyed planning these trips, almost making an art out of it.  It is a unique skill, and a finely honed one at that.  I will continue to use that skill as I finish visiting all of the NPS units in the country, but my trips will be fewer and further between now, as I want to save money for my future, and I want to start working on building that future.  Traveling the world for the past five years has been fun, but it has been draining, and it is no way to work on building a future.  I do not know what my future holds, but a burden has been lifted after this trip, in more ways than one, and, whatever my future holds, I am ready to meet it head on.

Now, I suppose my readers would like a bit of detail on the end of the trip and the birthday celebrations, so I shall oblige, but in so doing, I will preview what my travel writing will look like in my 30s.  This picks up after I closed at HVNP.  Getting caught in the rain, I raced to put away my laptop and walked around a bit to take more pictures.  More rain as I was publishing, but publishing the entry was more important than the laptop’s survival.

I then went back to my hotel, the Volcano House, which offered breathtaking views of the crater, got some souvenirs, and had lunch.  My lack of appetite from the beginning of the trip continued throughout my time in Hawaii.  A few bites of fried fish, a little rice, poke, and a tiny coconut dessert, along with coffee, at the hotel restaurant served as lunch.  Then I had time to kill, and lots of it.

I lit up another cigar and went for a hike to see the steam vents, glad to be getting in a proper hike.  I still had time to kill before I had to drive to the airport to pick up my friend.  I was actually bored.  I waited as long as I could then got ready and drove to the airport, intending to stop at Target to pick up a new pair of shorts so that I could ditch the cargo shorts that had served me so well for the past year and on this trip but were now too big.  As I was driving, I got sideswiped by an SUV who was trying to pass me.  He kept driving.  I thought about calling the police, but I was afraid they would tell me to wait for them, which would have meant being late for the pick-up.  I chased after him and got his license plate.  I kept honking at him and flashing him and signaling him to pull over.  He did not and kept going.

I found a pair of shorts at Target and was soon at the airport.  I patiently waited for my friend, excited to see her again after not having seen her since we planned this trip on the first of the year.  Then, there she was.  We greeted like the old friends that we were and waited for her luggage.  It was going to be a week to remember.  When we got in the car, she blared music from “Lilo & Stitch” and “Moana,” because what else would we play.  We had dinner at the hotel, ordering a crab cake appetizer and a bowl of edamame, the two small dishes to share serving as our entire dinner.  This would be a common theme throughout the trip.

I was in Hawaii with my best friend, I had just completed my five-year mission, I was about to turn 30, and we had five days together to celebrate.  Nothing could go wrong, and nothing did.  We went for a nature walk to see the lava venting up, and it was a completely serene experience, despite the fact I slipped and cut up my leg and foot pretty bad on the rocks.  When I say that nothing went wrong, I do not mean that absolutely nothing went wrong.  Plenty went wrong, of course it did, but it was the little things that went wrong, not the big things.  It was the little stresses, not the big ones.  Nothing went wrong that in any way spoiled the trip.

When I think about Rio 2016, I do not think about losing my ticket the first day.  When I think about National Parks of the American West, I do not think about missing our connection to Vegas or the fight about going to Denny’s.  I think about waking up and seeing the Grand Canyon.  I think about the crazy drive on an almost-empty tank to Canyonlands.  When I think about this trip, I will always think only of the good things, not of the little stresses, not of sunburn and scraped knees.

The next day was my birthday, and we woke up for a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel, followed by a drive to see the coastal side of the park.  This was when the fun began.  The top went down and the cigar was lit.  Music blaring, we drove to the coast.  I was now showing my favorite person in the world my favorite thing to do: visit a new World Heritage Site.  We found great viewpoints, and we ignored whatever warning signs we saw, and we made an adventure out of it.  Then came the rain, and the up went the top and out went the cigar.

We flew from Hilo to Honolulu, where I would celebrate my birthday dinner in what led to that day being called, “A Long-Expected Party,” another Lord of the Rings reference.  Getting the car was a hassle, in no small part due to the language being set to French, and we stopped at a place called Ono Seafood to get poke bowls on the way to the hotel.  We were staying at the Trump International in Waikiki, and we both agreed when we got there that Donald was a better hotelier than he was president.

First we went to a place on Waikiki Beach called Duke’s Barefoot Bar.  As we walked there, we saw these sunset booze cruises, which we both instantly agreed we had to do the next day (having the hotel concierge later arrange it for us).  In fact, as we ordered two rounds of strong island drinks, we joked that we would be going on a four-day bender.  It was then that I knew that this would be the best birthday celebration ever.  I am quite sure we consumed more calories in the form of alcohol and sugar this trip than we did in terms of actual food, given how little we ate.

Dinner was at Hy’s Steakhouse, Hawaii’s “most iconic restaurant,” which would mark my 27^th out of the 51 restaurants on the list (50 States plus the District of Columbia).  Our lack of appetite being a common theme this trip, we ordered a scallops appetizer and a beef wellington, along with mushrooms, all to share, that serving as our entire meal, but those were their specialties, and they were beyond good.  To drink was a bottle of sparkling Hawaiian rosé.  I was glad to have someone to help me with that, after spending my previous birthday celebrations drinking local alcohol alone, Bermudan rum in 2013, Andorran wine in 2014, Zambian and Zimbabwean beer in 2015, and Tuscan wine in 2016.  Cheesecake and bananas foster serve as dessert.  The meal, from start to finish, was beyond amazing, and this was just the beginning.  We had two full days plus the two travel days left in the trip.

The next day was our first beach day, but, first, morning activities of breakfast and a spa treatment.  As I said, Donald doesn’t mess around.  I’ve had a lot of great hotel breakfasts, and this one was certainly comparable.  We were both glad that we would get to go back there the next morning.  An assortment of hot and cold food served us both well.  Then came our spa treatment, which wasn’t exactly my thing, but it was a new experience.  It was now time for our first day at the beach.  We went to the local store for snacks (pineapple and Macadamia nuts, of course) and liquor (rum, of course).

We then drove up to Lanikai Beach on the north side of the island, top down and music blaring, of course.  I was loving every minute of this.  Now, my readers know that I am not much a beachgoer, but this was fast becoming the best day of my life.  I am not a fan of water, but I am a fan of anything I can do with alcohol and a cigar.  Being here with my best friend, celebrating my 30^th birthday, made it all the more better.  This was the best day ever.  I don’t say that lightly.  It was.  The day went by too fast, and we didn’t even have lunch, just a little bit of our snacks.

It was time to go back to Waikiki for our sunset cruise.  Now, drinking on a boat with a friend was not a new experience for me, but it’s one that never gets old.  This was Thursday night, and, in New York on a Thursday, I would go out for dinner and a movie with a friend.  That is exactly what we did.  We went to a seafood place by the theater called Niko’s, and we still hadn’t found our appetite.  We ordered two appetizers and a main, again, all to share, and we barely ate half of what was served.  The movie was the Stephen King horror movie “It.”  We saw it at Regal Dole Cannery, which is considered the most haunted place in Hawaii.  I’m sure my reader knows that I would not have done this on my own, but the movie was great.

The next day was a travel day, and it was entirely too stressful.  We enjoyed the Trump breakfast again and then drove up to see some Polynesian gardens, but we couldn’t go in, as we realized once we got there that we were risking missing our flight.  When we got to Maui, we were staying at the Kohea Kai Resort in Kihei.  We smartly decided that we would do a late lunch instead of dinner.  We went to Coconut’s Fish Cafe where we got coconut shrimp, which we had been wanting to get all trip, along with fish tacos.  We finally hit our stride and got the perfect amount of food for our second meal of the day.

Then we overdid it.  We went to Maui Pie for dessert, getting two slices of pie to share.  It may have been the best pie we ever had.  We stocked up for the morning and went back to the hotel, watching more reality TV, which had become a daily activity for us, before going for a sunset walk on the beach.  That last part I would have gladly done on my own.  Cigars and sunset and walking go very well together.  My cigar went out while we were walking, so I saved it for when we went to our hotel’s hot tub later.  That was when I achieved pure nirvana, sitting in the hot tub with my cigar and drink was beyond perfect.

We lamented that we only had one full day left, but we were determined to make it the best day of the trip, and not only was it the best day of the trip, it was the best day of my life.  Out of 11,000 days, this was #1.  Breakfast at the hotel was a letdown, but it didn’t matter.  Our appetites were getting smaller by the day.  We went to Makena Beach and spent the day much the same as we spent the previous beach day, drinking and smoking and running out of fucks to give about anything that was going on in our lives back home or, for that matter, anything happening anywhere in the world besides that beach.  Eventually, the elements got the better of us and we decided to call it a day.  Back to the hotel to get ready for the grand finale of the trip: a proper Hawaiian luau.

The end was here, but it would be an end worthy of memory.  It was, to be sure, an evening to remember.  We stopped in Lahaina town to do a little light shopping before heading to the Old Lahaina Luau.  It was open bar and a buffet with exquisite local food, including the iconic roast pork.  We drank and took pictures and had the time of our lives even before dinner and show started.  We went to the buffet, and I made a plate with a little bit of each.  I wasn’t even that hungry, but it was so good that I ate every bite.  Then the show started, a traditional Hawaiian dance show, and it was a spectacle on par with Gandalf’s fireworks.  It was the perfect way to end the trip.

That brings me to today.  Travel days are always stressful, and this one was more so due to the fact that we had to make our connections back home at HNL.  After a meager breakfast, having eaten too much last night, we headed back to Makena, this time to find the famed Secret Beach at Makena Cove, but we only had enough time there to took a few pictures.  We struggled to make our OGG-HNL flight and actually almost missed it, but, once we were seated on the flight, the stresses evaporated, only to be replaced by the hardest part of the trip, as we began saying our goodbyes.

This was the perfect trip, and we had such an incredible time together, that ending our fellowship was extra painful, but all good things must come to end, and we had to return to our separate lives on our individual coasts.  We picked up foodstuffs for ourselves and as gifts for others before heading to her gate, as her flight was first.  I dreaded the moment that I knew would soon come, the final goodbye.  I didn’t want to go back to New York.  I didn’t want this trip to end.  I didn’t want to say goodbye.  The boarding announcement came too soon, and we said our goodbyes.  My flight boarded soon after, and I got on knowing that now the trip had finally come to an end.

Only this Epilogue remained to be written, and I spent about three hours writing it, my dinner uneaten as I wrote, despite the fact that I have barely eaten all day.  I am proud of the job I have done in this Epilogue, just as I am proud of the accomplishment of my five-year mission.  I now feel that I am ready to face my 30s head on, and I am excited to see what this decade brings.  I do not know where I am going on my next trip, so I cannot close this trip in the usual way, but I can now declare this trip closed with this Epilogue, and I have already closed out the Travelogue itself, other than this Epilogue, so we will need to see how I wind up recording my travels in my 30s, but this document, after 1423 pages and 1,156,950 words is now closed.

American Oceania - Day 11 - Mount Doom

9/12/17, “Mount Doom” (Goals 16/17 and 17/17 Complete)

Volcano, Hawai’i, Hawaii (Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park)

Mission Accomplished, and not a moment too soon.  With 15 hours left before I turn 30, I have completed all 17 of my Goals, and my Quest has come to an end, atop a mountain, just like Frodo and the Quest of the Ring.  I have endured a lot during my Quest, but nowhere near as much as Frodo and Sam, to be sure.  I have said, “US Complete.”  I have accomplished all 17 of my Goals.

I planned it this way by design, for this moment to occur on my last day as a 20-something-year-old.  I have been planning it this way for five years.  So much could have gone wrong along the way, but it all worked out in the end.  I have, at long last, accomplished my mission.  This is quite possibly the proudest moment of my life, the fact that these were Goals I set for myself and that they were accomplished through sheer determination, that I endured, that all the overnight drives and Days on short sleep and long plane rides and wounds and hurts and stresses have now been remunerated with this moment.

This is called Kilauea Volcano, but, to me, it is Mount Doom.  I now have five days left in this trip, and I will be picking up my friend at the airport tonight, and we will be have the five days to do nothing but relax and whatever activities we choose to do.  And, yes, like Frodo after the Quest of the Ring, there will be time for feasts and celebrations, but there are no more Stadiums to visit, no more States or Territories to check-off, no more World Heritage Sites to see.  For once, I will be able to take time to relax and not worry about the mission.

Now, I have said this will be the final entry in this Travelogue, but, Frodo recorded the Return Journey and what happened after the Quest.  I will do that, too, in some way, but not in this Travelogue.  To end this entry, I need only record what brought me from my hotel in Pago Pago to this spot atop Mount Doom.

After I closed yesterday afternoon, I published my collages, and then I realized I had a lot of time to kill.  That was when I made my one and only tactical error of the day.  I should have immediately headed out instead of waiting around to post some more photos from the day.  There were two National Historic Landmarks I wanted to visit, and I had already lit a PDR.  I headed out after a bit, but both were somewhat inaccessible.  The first was the Government House, which was visible from the street, but the hill where it was situated was restricted.  I took my ceremonial picture from the street.

I then tried to go to Blunt’s Point Battery, and the trailhead was a challenge to find.  When I got there, it said it was a 2-hour hike.  That was longer than I wanted to do, so I figured that I would just walk until I found a good view.  It seemed that the trail was closed off anyway once I got a little ways up, so I was thwarted there, too.  I then went back and in search of the barber shop, but it had closed at 4 PM, and it was slightly after 4 PM.  If I had headed straight out, I would have been there in time.  Instead, I bought razors and shaving cream.  I then got a cup of coffee and went back to my hotel.  I lit up an Oliva and published my photos for the day.  It was almost time to check-out of the hotel, so I packed and got ready.

I still had a lot of time to kill.  I finished my cigar and checked and double checked everything.  I was getting closer and closer to “Mission Accomplished,” and I wanted to make sure nothing went wrong.  When I could think of nothing else to check and had finished my cigar, I headed across the street to Sook’s Sushi, a Japanese restaurant for dinner.  I will not detail the gross incompetence of the wait staff there, but I did manage to get a stir-fried beef dish, which was quite good.  I then had an Ardor and headed to the airport after my pipe.

I returned the car to the Avis office, which was not marked on any map or signed in any way and I only found it through memory.  The agent drove me to the airport in the same car, and I checked in and was soon in the departure hall.  Every step closer I got to HVNP, the fewer things there were that could go wrong, and the more confident I became.  It was two hours before we boarded, and I slept comfortably for the flight, descending into HNL before I knew it.

I had two hours to make my connection, and I cleared border control quickly once I had my bag, which was the biggest question mark.  I headed to the inter-island terminal, and I had enough time for breakfast before my flight.  I was feeling highly relieved.  There was almost nothing that could jeopardize the mission at this point.  I went to Stinger Ray’s, the same place where I watched the US Open a few days ago, and the waiter was rather incompetent, as well, seemingly not understanding the basics of coffee.  I asked for a plain cup of black coffee with my breakfast, and what he got me was very weak.  It tasted like an Americano.  Long story short, it was just weak drip coffee, and I wound up getting a cup from Starbucks.  Breakfast was Spam and eggs, and it was quite good.

I then went to my gate, and we soon boarded.  When we landed in Hilo, I knew there was now almost nothing that could jeopardize my mission, short of a car accident perhaps.  I got my car quickly, lit up a Flor Fina, and drove to the NP.  I figured I would do the VC and Plaque first, then change into casual clothes for my hike.  The VC was right across the street from my hotel, so I went there first.  I did my business there, and I was proud to have completed my WHS brochures.

This was actually happening.  I then went outside and found someone to take my picture with the Plaque.  That was that.  All that remained was a ceremonial picture at the Volcano.  I went to the hotel to change into my casual clothes and then headed out to the viewpoint.  Now, nothing could go wrong.

I got to the museum that led to the trail, lit up my Romeo y Julieta Churchill and walked to the viewpoint.  It was a great view.  I took my picture and announced between sips of water, “US Complete.  All 59 US National Parks.  Goal 16/17 Complete.  All 23 US World Heritage Sites.  Goal 17/17 Complete.  Mission Accomplished.”  I then took some time to get my photos ready to post.  Once I posted, I sat down right in that spot, where I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close, along with closing out this Travelogue, for the Quest has been achieved, and all is over, as Frodo said atop Mount Doom after the Ring had been destroyed.

American Oceania - Day 10 - 5 Years, 17 Goals

9/11/17, “5 Years, 17 Goals”

Fagatogo, American Samoa

And then there was one.  Of the 300-some data points required to complete this five-year quest, to complete all 17 Goals I set for myself, only one remains: Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.  It is my last National Park and my last US World Heritage Site.  By visiting National Park of American Samoa this morning, I am down to just one last data point before I can say, “Mission Accomplished.”  It has been a grueling five years, and, when I set out to see the world that fateful July night in Kentucky five years ago, I did not realize what it would entail.  When I set my first 4 Goals that night, I did not know that 13 more would follow.

When I tried to visit every Olympic Stadium, I did not realize how challenging that would be, and, once I did, I did not think I could possibly succeed.  That is true twice as much for visiting every North American WHS, all 109 of them, including places in Central America that I was only able to visit with the help of some tour guides whom I was very fortunate to find, along with a new friend that I made from Mexico in the process, someone whose mission was to visit every WHS in his home country.  Together, we did it, we did what he thought was impossible, and I agreed, though I would never admit it.  We made the impossible possible.  I am thankful to everyone who has helped me along the way, in every way, shape, and form.  This was not something I could have done alone, and the people who helped me made all the difference in the world.

I have had bad fortune and good fortune in this quest, and if it were not for some random streaks of good fortune, this mission would have been a failure.  I have arrived at sites minutes before they closed, or after they closed and still been allowed to enter.  I have entered sites that were not supposed to be open to the public, thanks to an unlocked gate or door at an Olympic Stadium.  I have had my share of run-ins with security officers and government officials.  I have had flat tires and other car troubles that were far worse.  I have chartered planes and boats and hired private tour guides who lived with me for multiple days.  I have done it all.  I have always put the mission first.  Now, only one last data point remains.

I have been asked what the 17 Goals are, since I have never publicly enumerated them before.  This will be my last chance to write about them before I complete my mission.  In fact, this is my penultimate entry.  I will publish as soon as I finish writing, and then I will write one more entry at HVNP, which will be the last entry I write in this Travelogue.  Once my mission has been accomplished, this Travelogue will be deemed closed.

Here are the 17 Goals in order of priority: US States (50), US WHS (22/23), CAN Provinces (10), CAN WHS (18), Continents (7), NA Countries (24), Olympic Stadiums (27), US Territories (5), CAN Territories (3), US National Parks (58/59), US Winter Stadiums (4), Wonders of the Ancient World (6), Natural Wonders of the World (7), New7 Wonders of the World (7), NA WHS (109), CAN Winter Stadiums (2), US National Memorials (32).  None of those 17 Goals have been easy.

Visiting all 50 States was a slow churn, but I am glad to say that I completed it at the beginning of this trip with my first Official meal in Hawaii.  US WHS has been a lifelong mission for me, and some are easier than others, Taos Pueblo providing a unique challenge, but I have methodically been working my way through them, and I will finish that Goal tomorrow at HVNP.  CAN Provinces was another slow churn, and the drive across the prairie was no easy task, but I visited my 10^th and final province of Newfoundland and Labrador this summer.  All CAN WHS was very challenging, in no small part due to the remoteness of some of them.  Most of them can easily be visited by car, and Wood Buffalo NP can be visited by car, but not easily.  Nahanni NPR is another story.  That requires a chartered flight and luck with the weather.  We got lucky.  With Gros Morne NP this summer, I completed that Goal.

Visiting all 7 Continents was both easy and hard, easy because there are only 7 data points, but hard because one of them is hard to visit and other very hard.  5 of the 7 continents have direct flights from Kennedy, Australia is a long two-leg flight, but Antarctica is another story.  You need to take two flights to Ushuaia and then a cruise ship to the continent and a Zodiac ashore, if you have luck with the weather.  I was lucky again, and I was able to set foot on the continent.  In Australia, last Christmas, I finished that Goal.

All NA Countries was also a challenge, the island nations in the Caribbean being no easy task, especially figuring out how to get to Cuba.  That was a slow grind, but it was one of the more enjoyable grinds.  This summer, in Iceland, I completed that Goal.  Olympic  Stadiums were one of the two hardest.  Some of them offer tours to the public.  Others have been demolished and the site of the Stadium is easily accessible.  Others are just simply open to walk in any time.  The rest, not so much.  For some, you can see a sports match at the Stadium, which is easy if you plan it right.  Others are not open to the public at all, and you have to sneak or find an accommodating security guard.  It was not easy, but I had a string of good luck.  I set foot inside all 27, completing that Goal in Sydney at the end of last year.

US Territories was by no means easy, getting here or to the Marianas was no easy task, but it was only 5 data points, and I marked America Samoa as my 5^th Territory a few days ago.  CAN Territories was only 3 data points, but all three were hard.  For Northwest Territories, I had to fly to Edmonton then drive all day (16 hours) to Fort Smith.  That was the easiest one.  Nunavut required three flights to get to the capital of Iqaluit and some intense questioning from a CBSA officer about why I was going to Iqaluit.  Yukon was another long drive from Juneau by way of Haines, but, three years ago, that was where I completed that Goal.  US NP was a challenge, another lifelong quest, and the hardest ones were the ones in Alaska, which were only accessible by charter flight or long drives, but we did it and visited all 8 in Alaska.  Tomorrow, HVNP will mark my last one of the 59.  US Winter Stadiums might have been the easiest, as it only required 4 data points, none of them particularly hard.  Squaw Valley and the two in Lake Placid were easy enough, the hardest challenge being finding the right spot as the stadiums themselves had been demolished.  Salt Lake City was just a matter of finding when a football game was going on and buying a ticket, which was where I completed that goal three years ago.

Wonders of the Ancient World was very hard.  Everyone says, “The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,” and I was prepared to go to Iraq in search of the mystical Hanging Gardens of Babylon before I learned that they probably never actually existed.  Only the Pyramids are still standing, and the other five have been well-documented and the archaeological evidence well-preserved.  Trips to Greece, Turkey, and Egypt allowed for a relatively easy completion of that Goal, which I did in Rhodes last year.  The Natural Wonders of the World were harder.  I had already been to the Grand Canyon and most of the others were easy enough to visit, the Northern Lights requiring some luck and Everest being, by far, the most challenging, involving multiple flights and a helicopter.  At the end of last year, I marked this Goal complete at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.  The New7 Wonders were also challenging, but I had already visited Petra before I added that Goal to the list.  Delhi, Beijing, Cancun, Rio, and Rome all have direct flights from Kennedy, but Machu Picchu was not easy by any stretch.  I managed it, though, and I marked this Goal complete at the Colosseum a year ago.

NA WHS was, by far, the hardest, with 109 data points, many of them in remote places.  I needed tour guides for Central America, a private tour package for Kujataa, which I preemptively visited, and private boats for Revillagigedo and Surtsey, in addition to the charter flights I previously mentioned.  This was the biggest drain on resources, both time and money, of all 17.  This summer, at Gros Morne NP in Newfoundland and Labrador, I marked that Goal complete, the two in Hawaii being Oceania, rather than North America.  CAN Winter Stadiums was easy enough, only two data points.  I got a ticket for a soccer game in Vancouver so that I could take my ceremonial picture, then, two years ago, I went to Calgary during my trip to the Canadian Prairie.  I lucked out in that they were having some kind of football camp, so I was able to mark that Goal complete.  The lowest priority was US National Memorials, and a fair number of them were in DC, which I had already visited in large part.  The biggest challenge was Port Chicago Naval Magazine, as that could only be done at one time on a Saturday and had to be arranged in advance.  A week ago I marked that Goal as Complete at American Memorial Park in Saipan.  That’s all 17 of them.  Tomorrow, I will visit HVNP and end this mission with my final entry.  Who knows what my 30s will hold?

After I closed last night, I published my photos and passed out.  I woke up around 7 AM and got ready for my morning at the National Park.  I wasn’t that hungry, so a fiber bar was more than enough.  I packed everything I needed for the next few hours and left my laundry out.  I went to McDonald’s for some coffee but couldn’t resist getting a hash brown.  I continued to the VC for the NP and took care of my business there.  The best idea for a ceremonial picture was to drive to the northern tip of the park and take the trail to the ocean there, where I could see Pola Island

I did exactly that and lit up a Punch once I entered the NP.  I was rewarded with a stunning vista once I finished the short trail and took my ceremonial picture.  My sunburn had quickly become tolerable with proper management, and I was able to enjoy myself.  It was a pristine vista with not a single sign of human interference anywhere.  That was 58 out of 59 National Parks, “American Samoa Complete,” and “All US Territories Complete.”  I went to another trail, which was described as a hike up a switchback path and then a climb down a rope ladder, sounded fun.

The hike up was grueling, and when I got to the rope ladder, it was a hard no.  I looked down and thought of all the things that could risk the mission if I went down.  I could twist an ankle or lose something mission-critical out of my pocket.  I ditched my cigar and walked back to my car.  I then lit up a Graycliff and went to a third trail, which was a nice walk in the woods.  I had done three trails, and I was spent.  I went back to my car, and my idea was to go to a restaurant called Tisa’s Barefoot Bar.  When I got there, it looked closed, which was just as well, as I wasn’t really hungry.  I drove back to the hotel, ditching my cigar outside, and went to my room.

My laundry was in a pile in the room, and I heated up my Chinese food leftovers from last night.  The five sweet and sour prawns was the perfect amount of food, in addition to replenishing my salt and sugar levels.  I then went out to the balcony and sat down in my usual spot, where I lit up an OpusX and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can publish early and make some final preparations before I head to the airport tonight.  Only one entry remains.  One Day more.

American Oceania - Day 9 - A Day with Nothing To Do

9/10/17, “A Day with Nothing To Do”

Fagatogo, American Samoa

I could probably write this entire entry in one sentence.  I had breakfast at the local McDonald’s, spent the day at the beach, having lunch at the same place I had breakfast yesterday morning, got thwarted in trying to visit the southernmost point in the US, and then came back to my hotel, where I proceeded to write this entry.  That’s it.  Literally.  Oh, and I got sunburnt.  Badly.  Really badly.  Now, my readers know that an entry this short just wouldn’t be my style.

This has been a trip full of tactical errors, and today was chock full of them.  Strategically, the trip was brilliantly planned.  I had been planning it for four years, so of course it was.  However, it was the little things that have led to adversity, and the tactical errors are starting to add up.  I made at least four of them since I closed last night.  I had been still considering the Samoa option, flying to Apia, having a cigar, having an Official meal, and taking a ceremonial picture at parliament before flying back here, but I was on the fence.  It would have eaten the entire day.

If I could have done it all over again, I would have.  The entire purpose of spending the day on the beach today was to avoid looking like a cappuccino.  Well, getting sunburnt entirely defeated that purpose.  The sunburn will look far worse than the paleness did, and, I would much rather have been at 72 countries and pale than at 71 countries and sunburnt.

After I closed last night, around 5 PM, I was planning on going across the street for Japanese food.  I had a fiber bar and took a nap.  When I woke up, it was 1:15 AM.  Fuck.  That meant everything, other than the McDonald’s, would be closed, and that it was too late to write another entry, being past midnight and having slept for a very significant amount of time.  That said, I wasn’t hungry.  I was very full, a pattern that would continue all day, my battle with Montezuma’s Revenge edging towards victory as I replenished my body’s levels of salt and sugar.  I grabbed my laptop, posted the entry, and published my photos.

I went back to bed, waking up at 6 AM.  I was now once more seriously considering the Samoa option.  I could make the 8:30 AM flight and be back at my hotel by 4 PM or so.  That would eat the whole day, but I went to look at the fares.  It did not show an option to buy a ticket for the 8:30 AM flight.  Whether it was too close or sold out or not offered today, I knew not, but I was not driving to the airport unless I knew I had a ticket.

Around 7:30 AM, I got out of bed and went to the McDonald’s.  I opted for the Portuguese sausage with rice and eggs.  No, you cannot get that on the mainland.  I paired with coffee and a hashbrown.  It was quite good.  After breakfast, I went in search of sunscreen and a refill for my lighter.  I found both, and I was glad, especially since it was a Sunday, but an Asian market was open.  I then lit up an Oliva and went back to get my car and drove to Sadie’s by the Sea, bringing my car with me so that I could continue from there to the southernmost point in the US.  This was another tactical error.  I should have just walked, and I never should have went to the southernmost point.

Instead of the 15-minute walk, the drive was 2 minutes flat.  It would have been 1 minute if I hadn’t overshot the entrance.  I got my towels and put on sunscreen.  I sat out in the sun until I was done with my cigar, and I was at complete peace in total bliss.  I then sunbathed for a couple of hours, changing postion frequently.  After that, I did a few laps in the pool.

I then got lunch, which consisted of chicken katsu and a fruity island drink, along with an Aroma de Cuba.  I reapplied sunscreen and sunbathed in a seated position until I finished my cigar.  I then tried to lie down.  Some of my readers may be familiar with my medical issue that prevents me from lying down to sleep before a few hours after a meal.  Today I learned the hard way that that also applies to sunbathing.  I started suffering almost as soon as I lied down.  I then lit up a Graycliff and continued to sunbathe in a seated position, again frequently altering my position.  Once I was able to lie down, I sunbathed that way, ditching the cigar.

That was probably how I got burnt, as I kept altering my position so that a different quarter of my body would be facing the sun directly, and I was schvitzing profusely, which probably ruined my protection.  That was another tactical error.  After a while, I had enough, and I hadn’t realized how burnt I had gotten.  Instead, I was disappointed that I still looked pale.  I went for another swim and changed.  That was when I started to realize that I was burnt.  Fuck.  It was bad.  Very bad.

I then went back to my car, lit up a PDR, and started driving to the trailhead that I hoped would lead to the southernmost point in the country.  This was a bad idea.  A very bad idea.  It was not mission-critical, and I soon realized that I was risking ruining the rest of my time here by getting a flat or worse.  I took a wrong turn and found myself in a construction pit.  That was bad.  I was seriously afraid of getting a flat as I attempted to turn around, or of getting stuck in loose earth.

I then found the right spot, but it seemed very sketchy, and someone told me it was closed at 4 PM.  It was now 5 PM.  I gave up and drove back to my hotel, glad that the only thing I lost out of this was an hour of time.  I then looked up sunburn online and did what I could to treat it, but I will really need to get some aloe vera.  I am hoping that that market from this morning will have it.  I then went to the balcony, where I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can head out to dinner.  No nap this time.

In retrospect, I should not have had that fiber bar or taken that nap last night.  I should have flown to Apia for the day.  If I stayed here, I should have walked to the beach and not taken the car.  I should have been more careful in tanning and spent less time out in the sun.  I should not have tried to drive to the southernmost point.

That was the difference between a perfectly relaxed day (or a highly fulfilling day) and the oddly stressful day this day became, especially given that I am now worried about not being able to sleep on my flight back to Honolulu and not being able to enjoy saying, “Mission Accomplished,” due to the pain from this sunburn.  However, none of that matters.  All that matters is the mission, visiting the last two National Parks I need to visit to complete the mission.  The mission always comes first, even in the face of third-degree sunburn.

I somehow made two more tactical errors after I closed.  I should have just published early, gotten the aloe vera, and gone to bed.  I don’t know why I keep making these tactical errors.  Maybe I’m so focused on the mission that I am losing sight of properly pulling off the things that are not mission-critical.  That would explain why I didn’t make the reservation for sunrise at Haleakala or think to rent the car in Guam.  It would explain why I didn’t do better research on the food opportunities in Saipan.  It would explain why I didn’t rent a car on Kaua’i.  It would explain why I’ve made so many tactical errors here.

Everything that is mission-critical, I have done perfectly so far.  As I got closer to those two words that will end this quest, I am becoming more and more averse to taking risks that will jeopardize the mission, but, yet, somehow, I keep fucking up.  If I am in excruciating pain on Tuesday, it will be a disaster.  I have been doing everything in my power to prevent that, yet, why did I allow it to happen in the first place?  It’s simple.  I didn’t do my research.  I didn’t think that spending six hours under the midday equatorial sun, exposing skin that hadn’t seen direct sunlight in over three years, would cause sunburn, no matter what sunscreen I used.  I didn’t think to constantly check for early signs of a burn.  None of this occurred to me since my day at the beach was not mission-critical.

I have about 40 hours left in my mission, and I can take some solace in the fact that the pain from a sunburn starts to subside after the first 24 hours, which will be when I am flying overnight to HNL.  I should have gone to Apia today, then none of this would have happened.  After I closed earlier, I headed out, stopping at the same store from this morning to get aloe vera and bottled water.

Around this time, I realized that I didn’t have an appetite.  No, surely that wasn’t possible.  I had a decent breakfast and a little bit of chicken for lunch, nothing else.  I needed dinner.  If I didn’t eat now, I would be hungry later.  Besides, it was Sunday night.  I wanted Chinese food.  I continued to the restaurant, still thinking I should turn back.  When I got there, I had no appetite and should have just walked out.  I wound up ordering sweet and sour prawns, no egg roll, no rice.  It was nine prawns.  I only managed to eat four.  I struggled to eat the fourth one.

I should have just forgotten it.  Now, I had to wait to go to sleep.  I could have published earlier and then went straight to bed after getting the aloe vera.  That’s what I should have done.  I got the rest to go and went back to the hotel.  I then realized that I hadn’t had any coffee since breakfast.  That could be a problem, and it was too late to have coffee now, as I wanted to go to bed as soon as I was done with my usual end-of-day activities.

I applied the aloe, which seemed to help, and then I went out to the balcony and lit up my trusty Ardor.  I looked up more about sunburn, and I learned that taking a NSAID, such as ibuprofen, helps with both the pain and the swelling.  I had some in my bag, so that was a boon.  Satisfied that I had done all that I could do to treat my sunburn, I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close, after a few notes, so that I can publish and post my photos.

The first note is about the title of yesterday’s entry.  The Girl Scout cookies that are called Samoas are not made here, nor are they made in Apia.  They’re made in Kentucky.  The name may not even have anything to do with these islands.  Instead, it may have a similar origin to S’mores, the words “some more of” in the phrase, “Let me get some more of these,” being pronounced “suh-MOE-uh,” which gets spelled out “Samoa.”  The only thing that connects the cookie to these islands is coconut, but there are other islands that are far better known for coconut than Samoa.

The other note is in an “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” type of way, other than getting sunburnt, it was a great day.  I just wish I had gone to Apia, but it’s not mission-critical, and there will be plenty of opportunities in the future to spend a day in Apia.  Now, I close.

American Oceania - Day 8 - But Where Do They Make the Cookies? (Goal 15/17 Complete)

9/9/17, “But Where Do They Make the Cookies?” (Goal 15/17 Complete)

Fagatogo, American Samoa

At the end of the movie “Roman Holiday,” the princess played by Audrey Hepburn is asked which was her favorite place that she visited on her tour of Europe.  She begins to recite the answer that was carefully crafted by her aides and advisors before throwing it out and answering with one word: “Rome.”

I do not have to worry about being politically correct or avoiding picking favorites.  I have only been on this island for 12 hours, but is already, by far, my favorite.  I will be on the next flight back to Honolulu, and last night I was lamenting that that was not for another three days.  Now that I have spent some time here, I am thrilled that I will have three full days here.  Time to relax, time to explore, time to enjoy.

I have no schedule for the next few days until my flight.  I only have one thing that I need to do, and that’s visit the National Park before I leave on Monday.  Other than that, I can spend the rest of the three days doing whatever I want here, and for that I am glad.  Drive to the southernmost inhabited point in the United States?  Sure.  Laze on the beach?  Why not!  Take a boat ride to nowhere?  Might as well.  This is the main course of my trip, the entree.  I am in the home stretch now.

After I closed last night, lit up an Ardor, published my entry, and posted my photos, which was a bit of a process due to the slow internet, before going to bed.  I woke up early enough and got ready for the day.  The National Park VC is closed on weekends, so I would have to wait until Monday for that.  I then did pretty much exactly the same thing I did my first morning in Guam.  I lit up an Oliva and walked to my hotel’s other location, which was on the beach and open for breakfast.  I took my first Official ceremonial pictures in American Samoa and kept walking to the hotel.

It was less than a mile, so it was a nice walk with my cigar.  I am staying in town at the famous, historic Sadie Thompson Inn, but they also have a more resort-like property called Sadie’s by the Sea.  That was where I got breakfast.  They had outdoor seating where I could smoke.  I got some coffee to start, and I was in pure heaven looking out at the beach and mountains with my coffee and cigar.  For food, I ordered the most local thing I could find, though it seemed more like dinner.  It was freshly grilled salmon with rice and fried eggs.  It would do well for my first Official meal in American Samoa.  The meal was perfect, and I enjoyed it very much.  That was it.  All 5 US Territories.  Goal 15/17 Complete.

After breakfast, I slowly walked back to my hotel in search of souvenirs, most particularly a flag pin.  As I walked, I realized how much I loved this little island.  Then I saw a parade of floats for some kind of beauty pageant.  It was marvelous.  I almost cried tears of joy realizing that I had three full days here, and this was just the first morning.  No longer did I lament have to spend three full days of my trip here.  I kept walking.

The first souvenir shop (from before breakfast) had recommended another shop, and when I got there, she said that she used to have them but didn’t have any more.  She said she couldn’t think of anywhere else to get them.  Devastated, I got a keychain and a different pin.  I had flag (or seal) pins from the other four territories.  It would ruin my display to only have four.  I continued to the Fono (pronounced FAHN-goe, I assume), their legislature and took my ceremonial picture.  That was all five of them.

I then went to the market with various vendor stalls in hope of lucking out there.  I saw a place that specialized in custom magnets and mugs and the like, and I had the germ of an idea.  This seemed like the oddball place that might just have the flag pin if no one else did, and, if they didn’t, maybe they could make one before I left.  I asked if they had the flag pins, and he went in the back to ask someone else.  They were back there far too long for the answer to be no, and I had a glimmer of hope.  He soon brought out a small basket full of dual flag pins (US and AS).  It wasn’t the same as a regular flag pin, but, like the seal pin I got in Saipan, it was far better than nothing.  I was thrilled.  I continued back to my hotel.  I then went out and sat down on the balcony, where I lit up a Graycliff and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can finish my cigar and relax until I am ready to head back out for lunch.

If you don’t like the weather in Oceania, wait five minutes.  That saying is originally applied to New England, but it just as accurately applies to Oceania, where rain seems to be a frequent, but short-lived, phenomenon.  It has been raining on and off for the past few hours, and it has been quite an adventure.  I will have plenty of time to relax these few days in American Samoa, in a way that I have never had on a trip in recent memory.

After I closed earlier, I headed out for lunch, opting for a random place I found on the way.  I passed the McDonald’s, knowing that I would get a meal or two there at some point this trip, but not this meal.  I asked her what the local specialty was, something she had trouble understanding.  The menu was mostly Chinese food and standard American fare.  Samoan food seems not to really be a thing here.  She recommended the hamburger steak.  It was literally just a piece of grilled hamburger meat with sauce and onion and fries.  I might as well have gotten the #1 at McDonald’s.

After lunch, I went in search of a refill for my lighter, but that seems to not be a thing here, either.  I did find a barber shop, where I will be able to get a shave on Monday, I think.  I lit up an Aroma de Cuba and continued back to Sadie’s by the Sea so that I could use the beach there.  I sat on a chair with the rest of my cigar as I enjoyed the view of the sea.  It started to rain, so I headed to an overhang.

I was then hungry again.  I was now beginning to think that this was not an issue with my choice in food and perhaps something more serious.  I looked up my symptoms, and it seemed to be a case of Montezuma’s Revenge.  Well, fortunately, that goes away within a few days, there is a very simple way to alleviate the symptoms until then.  You need to replenish your body’s salts and sugars.  I suppose it didn’t help that I had been trying very hard of late to avoid salt and sugar.  However, I figured that having some salt and sugar would be better idea than ruining my trip by being constantly hungry and drained like this.  I got a beach towel and then went to the hotel shop and bought a small bag of chips and a candy bar.  That did the trick, and I was back to top form.

The rain soon stopped, and I then did something that I hadn’t done in three years.  I sunbathed.  On the beach.  It was very peaceful and relaxing, and I thought to myself that this must be what normal people do when they take a vacation to a tropical island and aren’t trying to complete and insane list of travel Goals.  I also wanted to even out my tan before I got back to Hawaii.  After spending the summer wearing the exact same outfit for most of my outdoor time, I was very tan on half of my feet, my lower legs, my lower arms, and my head and neck.  The rest of my body was pale white.

After about an hour, it started to rain again, so I waited it out under the same overhang from earlier.  It soon stopped, and I lit up a Brick House and walked back to my hotel, stopping every time it rained and then continuing when it stopped.  It should have been a 15-minute walk, but it took at least 30.  When I got back to my hotel, I asked about getting my shirts washed, and they said I could leave them Monday morning and have them back within a few hours.  Perfect.  I then went out to the balcony with the rest of my cigar and sat down in my usual spot, where I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can finish my cigar before I head out to dinner.

[Publication note: I took a nap after the above entry, intending to go out to dinner after my nap and then write my evening entry.  When I woke up from my nap, it was 1:15 AM, too late to get dinner and too late to write another entry.]