The majority of responses that I received, voted for Thanksgiving. Christmas came in second.  Since most of my readers have my posts sent directly to their E-mail, most have responded to me personally.  I was going to post some of the wonderful comments that I received, but I don’t feel quite right about doing that.  If you sent me a response and want it to be included, just copy it and add it to the comment section at the end of the previous post on my website.

Most of you know that while I was growing up, I lived in foster homes and a Children’s Home.  I never had the opportunity to experience what it is like to gather every Thanksgiving with family and friends and to share this time together.  Many of my Christmas holidays were not good experiences, either.  As a result, I couldn’t justify picking either one of these holidays as my favorite. From the responses that I got, I know that I missed two very special traditions.

Continue reading And the winner is…THANKSGIVING!

I decided to wait until the Christmas Season was over to ask this question.  I’m fairly certain that during one of the most stressful times of the year, not many would pick Christmas.  So, what is your favorite holiday and why?  It doesn’t have to be a long answer.  In my next post I will tell you my favorite holiday and why it’s my favorite.

On another subject, I’d like to thank all of you who made purchases on Amazon through my site.  I don’t know who ordered what, but I managed to make enough money to cover my hosting fees for a month.  A whopping $10.00.  More importantly, I know that it is possible to make money with websites, so I am moving forward with the two new ones that I am currently working on.

From all of the messages that I received, it sounds like everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  I am thankful for that.  If most of you are like myself, you’ve got a few more days to eat anything that you want before the New Years resolutions kick in.  Enjoy…

May you always have Love to share,

Health to spare,

and Friends that care.

We wish you all A Very Merry Christmas!

Tom & Billie Walter

Since we arrived on the island, Tom has mentioned more than a few times that he thinks we should get a scooter.  I realize that we are not talking about a Harley Davidson here, but a spill on a little scooter could do just as much damage, since my back is not fully healed.  Aside from that, it is rainy season for about half of the year and is not really that practical.  Well, it was my idea to rent a scooter for the day to explore Tinian.  Since 25 mph is about what everyone drives on the island, I felt fairly safe and comfortable.

We headed to the atomic bomb loading pits.  They are located on Tinian’s North Field.

Atomic bomb loading pit

This is where Little Boy was loaded aboard the Enola Gay.   It was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

Little Boy

Fat Man

Fat Man was loaded aboard the Bockscar and dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

Below is an example of what most of the roads look like.  There is one that is measurably better but many are much worse.  To say the least, it was a bumpy ride.  Fun but bumpy.

Next we headed off to the Tinian Shrine.  It is the only intact Shinto Shrine on the Northern Mariana Islands.

Shinto Shrine

Then on to the House of Taga.

House of Taga

These ancient latte stones formed the base of Chamorro Chief Taga’s House around 1500 BC. The Taga House in Tinian’s San Jose Village is the largest group of latte stones that were actually used by the ancient Chamorros. Legend says that when the last stone falls Chief Taga will return to Tinian.

Sunset on Tinian

We rounded out our afternoon watching the sunset at Taga Beach.  It was a day filled with adventure and history.  (We saw lots of other things but I thought I would just give you some of the highlights)

In the morning, we hit the beach, before heading back to Saipan.  We both agreed that it had been our best weekend since we got to the island.  Sometime after the first of the year, I will hit some of the highlights of Saipan, take pictures and do another such post.

First a little history about Tinian.  Tinian  is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.  It is best known for being the base from which the United States launched their atomic bomb attacks on Japan during World War II.  It is located about five miles southwest of Saipan.  You can either take a ten minute flight or an hour ferry ride to get there.  There are approximately 3,000 people living on Tinian.  There are no traffic lights, two gas stations and several restaurants and shops.  Oh yeah, there is also The Tinian Dynasty, a large luxurious hotel/casino on the island.  Most of the people living on the island are either working for the casino or the government.

During the previous week, we had heard that there was going to be a poker tournament at the casino.  Since we haven’t had the opportunity to play poker since we left Las Vegas, we were looking forward to our weekend trip.  The casino has not offered poker for more than a year so we were a little curious as to how this would compare to poker in Las Vegas.

A few details for our poker playing friends…  Here was the deal…  Come to Tinian on the ferry ($20), buy into the $50+5 tournament and you will get reimbursed for your ferry ride and get a room at half price ($55) for the night.  Stay on Saturday night and they will pay your ferry ride back.  Well, we decided to wait and see what the rooms were like before we made a commitment for the second night.  First of all, the tournament was a very pleasant surprise.  They limited it to 50 players (I guess that is how many poker tables the casino has) and it was sold out.  They returned all the money to the players with the exception of the $5 entry fee.  We had expected a Luxor style tourney with 500 in starting chip and 15 minute rounds.  We started with 2,500 in chips, 25/50 blinds to start with 25 minute rounds.  The tournament was well run and the dealers were extremely competent.  Everyone was friendly and having a great time.  We’re not used to everyone at the poker table having a good time during a tournament.  Maybe it the free drinks that most of the players were having.  Not many bottles of water on the table.   I was sitting by a nice guy who worked for the police department.  He said that he had never played poker in a casino before and that the only reason that he was there was because there were no cock fights being held that night.  Of course, he went on to win the tournament.  Neither Tom nor I cashed but we had a nice time and got to play some live games after.

As for the hotel/casino, it is beautiful.  It looks like a small version of Caesars Palace.  Marble floors, murals, statues, chandeliers, the works.  The rooms were just as nice with all marble bathrooms and tasteful decor.

We decided to stay on Saturday night so we could take some time to explore the  island.  In my next post I will tell you more about the island and other interesting things that we encountered.

Until tomorrow……..

I know, I know… I haven’t written in more than a week.  It’s always something, isn’t it.  Christmas is always a good excuse but unfortunately I can’t use that excuse.  My excuse is that we are on the move again.

We spent a week looking around the island to find a place that we think that we will like better.  There’s nothing wrong with where we are right now,  it just isn’t what we really want.  Tom wants to be on the beach and I want to look out my window and see the ocean.  We both agreed that one of these would work.

Well, we found a two bedroom place on Navy Hill that has a view of the ocean.  It’s on the third floor.  I haven’t really exercised since we got here, so at least my legs will be getting a daily workout.  We are planning on moving in on Christmas Eve.  We think that we will be happier there, so we are looking forward to the move.  If we don’t like it, we will move again.

As we head into the holiday season, I hope that you are not too stressed and “enjoying the process.”  Until next time…….