Review of "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Summary
A father and son are forced to walk through a post apocalyptic landscape, living as scavengers and shunning most strangers for fear they may be killed, enslaved or cannibalized.  Several times they are face to face with their own mortality whether it is due to an bad person threatening their lives, to the hunger after running out of food, or to botulism for eating spoiled good.  Finally, the father and son must part ways before the journey has ended as man passes away and the son joins a family that travels off the road.

Impressions
McCarthy's writing style is very sparse and that lends itself well to conveying the starkness of a world after a nuclear war.  I was impressed with the lengths the father went to ensure his son was safe even if at the time it seemed he was being mean or obstinate.  In a world where most of the modern conveniences were for naught and even major parts of nature were torn asunder, they had to focus on what was most important to live and continue.

Recommendations
I think this will appeal to readers of SF as well as to fathers or anyone has had a father.  There is violence and strong language so I would not recommend it to someone who has not started high school yet.

Workout length: 30 minutes
Workout focus:  Lower Body Stength
Workout music:  iTunes / Podrunner
Workout location: Island Oasis
Maximum bpm:  145
Average bpm:  126

Exercise of the Day:  Plank 5
It is like the other planks except you hold your position for longer, about 25 seconds.

Yesterday, after work I had apple slices with peanut butter.  I still don't like peanut butter by itself, but with other things it is pretty good.  I watched more episodes of the Tomorrow People.

Today I have an appointment with a doctor to have a physical.

Thursday

Wake up early to catch flight at 7:00 am (PDT) and arrive in Corpus Christi, TX around 4:00 pm (CDT) where I meet my parents and rent a car to drive to to the Radisson on the beach.  After checking in and stopping by the shop to get some sunblock, we take a dip in the ocean (CC Bay really), then return to our rooms to get ready for dinner.  We get to the restaurant early and by the time we are eating our main courses, a number (20?) of relatives start filing their way to the larger tables in back.  We stop by and chat with people after finishing our food then Mom and I take a long walk around the neighborhood before we return to our rooms for a rest.

Friday

My room is facing the bay so I get the morning light and I am awake by 7:00 am.  I don some workout clothes and visit the 24/7 fitness room and try out the treadmill.  After a 20 minute jog walk, I cool down and visit the restaurant and find R & D (mother and daughter, 3rd cousin and 3rd cousin-once-removed) having breakfast.  I chat with them and join them for breakfast.  Afterwards, I take a shower then return to the lobby to chat with more relatives arriving and breakfasting.  Later my parents and I decide to drive to Walmart to get some necessities, like Lactaid milk and bananas. I also pick up a steel crochet hook and some crochet thread.  After we return, we decide to go out for dinner at a Japanese restaurant in downtown Corpus Christi, inviting R & D.  D is interested in Japanese anime and has never tried Japanese food before.  Overall, she gives it a try and finds she doesn't like it very much.  Oddly, it is the avocado and not the crab or seaweed that turns her off of it.  We drive around downtown and it seems dead, but perhaps no one is walking around during the heat.  We return to the hotel and spend time with more relatives.  We decide to go to the aquarium and nearly melt during the short walk there.  We get to see the final dolphin training show which is much more educational than the ones I remember in past.  We also see a great variety of jellyfish, finfish and sea turtles.  In the bottom floor, you can pet manta rays (their stingers have been removed and they are very docile) and sharks.  Yes, sharks.  We return to the hotel and rest until it is time for dinner.  I work on a filet crochet bookmark for Dad, using a granny square pattern I was using for a baby blanket at home.  We walk over to the restaurant and effectively take it over.  There are about 60 relatives.  Our table is lucky as we get to order and be served first.  In fact, we have already finished our meal before my cousin B gives the blessing.  We have a grand ole time and close out the place, meaning we stay until 9:00 pm.  We return to the hotel to loiter in the lobby until we are tired and go to bed.

Saturday

I wake up at 7:00 and get my exercise done by 7:30.  I return to my room to shower and dress.  I work on the bookmark some more as I wait for the main reunion event at 10:00, a brunch.  There are about 80 relatives for the brunch.  I try to reacquaint myself with a few more cousins, G and her husband and son.  After I finish my food, a different cousin, whose name I don't remember, says grace.  Please note this is not a common practice in our family.  When grace is said, if ever, it is usually at the beginning of the meal, but these were special circumstances.  Then the host of the reunion, F relates some of the family history to the people.  My mother's grandmother is one of 12 or 13 siblings that lived in west Texas.  Some of the siblings had offspring of various numbers and others did not.  As he names each progenitor, each "tribe" stands and is applauded.  When they name Granny (my great grandmother), only my mother and I stand.  Other groups are more numerous.  Then another cousin, K, relates some tale tales and other family history.  Finally, after some announcements about the dolphin viewing trip, we break to take photographs of everyone.  Then after more milling around and reconnecting with more people, we rest a bit and then go to the USS Lexington.  It is still hot outside but sections of the aircraft carrier are air conditioned.  We go up to the flight deck and view the planes and scenery. It is really hot on top of a huge slab of metal under the almost summer sun.  We go up to the bridge and talk with a volunteer who gives us some details about the ship.  A movie is included with our ticket but about 30 minutes before it is time to see it, my parents decide to go back to the hotel, but not before spending some time in the air conditioned gift shop.  I don't buy anything but Mom gets a couple of billfolds as they are exactly the type she has been searching for.  I stay on and go on some of the other guided tours of the ship, such as visiting the captain's quarters, the engine room and the doctor's office.  Around five, I head back as well.  I work on the crochet bookmark and complete it but realize I don't have a needle to weave the ends in.  Also it is very curly due to my extensive use of the single crochet stitch.  I put it away and rest until it is time to have dinner.  We walk along the beach past the Lexington and into the patio of a large restaurant on the water.  There is a live band and they have reserved seating for us in three separate areas.  We expect to be about 40 people tonight but it may turn into 50.  We are lucky and get to sit close to the water with a view of the Lexington.  I am sitting with G and her family, D & B whose grandson was watching over their house during a giant thunderstorm which may have flooded some of their land, and my parents.  The band is great so many in our party get up and dance to various covers of Presely and Cash songs.  The great food and entertainment almost makes up for the poor service of our overwhelmed waitress.  To give you an idea, we arrive at 7, order at 7:30 and do not receive our food until 9.  On top of that, two cups of gumbo which were to be appetizers are brought after the entrees and are cold.  Other tables in our party have received their food and eaten before we get ours.  However, the food is very good and perhaps if we aren't such a large group, the service would be more snappy.  At any rate, it gave us more time to reacquaint ourselves with our relatives.  After we finish, we discover there is another group of us that received their food even later than we did.  By this time we are tired and return to our rooms.

Sunday

I wake up at 7:00 am, get dressed and have breakfast with my mother at a restaurant outside of the restaurant, waffles and scrambled eggs.  We return and I  pack my things and get ready to check out.  We visit with relatives who are leaving as well.  We say our goodbyes two or three times to the same people because you never know.  Around 12:00 the place is almost devoid of any relatives so we decide to have lunch at Water Street Oyster Bar, a restaurant someone recommended to Mom.  It's busy, probably because of Father's Day but we are seated quickly and receive some of the finest service ever.  We drive to the airport to return the car.  Our flights are supposed to leave at 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm, but they are severely delayed due to bad weather in Houston and the Dallas Forth Worth area.  My parents leave around 5:00 pm and my flight leaves around 7:30 pm. When I arrive in Houston, I find my connecting flight to SF has been pushed back to 9:40 pm so I must rush to make the boarding time.  When I arrive, I find that the plane has not yet arrived and later am told it is at a different gate.  Eventually, we leave Houston at 10:40 pm.  My dinner is a cereal bar, some peanuts, pretzels and a glass of apple juice and I conk out for the rest of the flight.  We arrive in San Francisco at 12:30 am (PDT).  By 1:00 am, I am home.  By 2:00 am, I am asleep in bed.

Monday

I wake up at 8:00 am, make my breakfast: oatmeal, tea and juice.  I unpack and put most of the clothes into the laundry hamper.  I work on the crochet baby blanket while I watch an episode of The Tomorrow People.  Chuk wakes up and we decide to go to the 11:20 showing of Pirate of the Caribbean III.  We buy our tickets then have a quick lunch at a Mexican restaurant close to the theater.  After the movie we do a little grocery shopping and then I spend the rest of the day working on my crochet baby blanket, writing thank you cards for the people who hosted the reunion, and slowly get myself in gear for work the next day.  We have left overs for dinner:  meatball sandwiches, corn on the cob and salad.  We watch Bleach, The Daily Show and America's Test Kitchen.  I prep my lunch for the next day and hang up my clothes to wear for work.  By 10:00, I am in bed.

You can look at the photos I took here.

Tomorrow, I leave for Corpus Christi, TX to attend a family reunion.

I am looking forward to seeing my parents and members of my extended family.

A) Six Jobs I've had:

Technical Support Agent
Assistant Front Office Manager
Hotel Gift Shop Manager
English Teaching Assistant
Translator
Tutor

B) Six places I have lived: 

Oak Park, Illinois
Kyoto, Japan
Takeno, Hyogo-ken, Japan
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Hirakata, Osaka-fu, Japan
Carbondale, Illinois

C) Six TV shows I love to watch: 

Ugly Betty
My Name is Earl
The Tudors
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Battlestar Galactic
Doctor Who

D) Six places I've been on vacation:

Hawaii
Texas
Tennessee
China
Italy
Costa Rica

E) Six of my favorite books: 

My dictionaries and other reference books.  Oh, details...

Japanese - English dictionary
English - Japanese dictionary
Japanese Chinese Character (Kanji) dictionary
Japanese Chinese Character - English dictionary
Japanese dictionary
English dictionary

F) Six places where I would rather be right now:

Maui, Hawaii
Okinawa, Japan
Milan, Italy
London, England
Puerta Vallarta, Mexico
Vancouver, BC, Canada

G) Six friends I think will respond (no obligation):

Velexia
LetMeGoToo
hippocampus
Lucky_Lisp
lizard_SF
iansValkyrie

The main focus of our visit to Kauai was not bird watching but to visit Waimea Canyon and Kokee State Park.  These are not quite in chronological order since we skipped some scenic points on the way up and then visited them on the way down.  That helped break up the driving on the twisty turny road.

One of our first views of the canyon. 

Waimea means red river.  Due to the high iron content in Hawaiian soil, there are many red rivers so Waimea is a common place name among the islands.  However, there is only one Waimea Canyon, on Kauai.

This may be the same waterfall that we get closer to later.

A kind person took a picture of us obstructing your view of the scenery.

Further up the hill.  Not content to take a photo through a fence, I walked down the road a bit to get a better shot of this waterfall.

Same vantage point, but now zoomed in on the waterfall.

 

Facing out towards the shore, you can see Ni'ihau, a privately owned island where many native Hawaiians live.  Only those who are invited can visit this island, and no non-native males may stay overnight.

Looking the other direction, back into the canyon, we see a goaty woat.  We saw about 5 of them but the others were of a lighter shade and not very photogenic.

Interesting flower near the edge of the canyon.

Yes, a river runs through it.

 

At the top of Waimea Canyon Road is Kokee State Park which touches on the Napali coast.  This overlook gives us just a taste of what we will see tomorrow from the ship.

See those wisps of fog at the top of photo?  Less than a minute ago, this photo was completely obscured by mist, but it all rose really quickly.  How many waterfalls can you count in this scene?  3 perhaps?

We zoom in and see five.

It's a long way down from here to the ocean.

It was in the low 70's (20 C) while we were in the canyon.  We drove back down to the coast and it got warm again, up to the low 90's (32 C).  If you go, dress in layers.  No need for mittens or face masks, thankfully. 

Here is the ship docked at Kauai.

The one thing I will remember about this island is all the birds.  Not just in the parks, but there some walking around the car rental agency too.

Nene, the state bird of Hawaii.

I was surprised to see these here.

Someone feeding the birds.

Chickens!

Hens and chicks, and not the plant kind!

These were so cute!

The protective mother hen!

I walked outside of the restaurant and was greeted to this flock!

Closeup of another chicken

After snorkeling for 2 or 3 hours, we returned to the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park to have a look around.

This is view from the snorkelling spot towards the park.

This "Great Wall" was built in the 16th century without any mortar.  All the stones just fit together.  The wall is also about 15 feet thick.  It separates the royal grounds (this side) from the Pu'uhonua, a.k.a. Place of Refuge, (that side).

A canoe and some hand carved tikis.

This is me standing near the palm trees.

Chuk on the royal grounds.  Notice the shadow of the palm.

After that we drove north to return our equipment and had a drink and sandwich near the shore before returning to the ship.  And what do you think was waiting for us when we go there?

It's a cute little towel rabbit offering us our mints!

The chatty cabin steward demonstrated how to make one but I haven't tried doing it myself.  It requires two towels.

She tended our room twice a day for a week replacing the towels, making or turning down the bed and refilling the ice bucket.  The tour company from whom we bought the package actually paid for all the expected gratuities for the normally tipped staff of whom she was one.  But I thought she made a real effort to get to know us and make the place seem like home no matter how much of a cave it was so I gave her a tip at the end of our cruise.  Maybe it was too much or not enough, but I thought it was appropriate.  I folded it like a bowtie to make it more special letting her choose how best to enjoy it.

Workout length: 45 minutes
Workout focus:  Lower Body Stength
Workout music:  iTunes / Podrunner
Workout location: Urban Oasis
Maximum bpm:  160
Average bpm:  147

Exercise of the Day:  Directional Lunges with Weights
It starts off like a lunge.  You step forward with your right foot and dip down so your forward knee bends to 90 degrees.  Then you step back and then lunge forward to the right 45 degrees and back.  Then to the side and then backwards.  Repeat all that 7 more times.  Rest and then do with the left foot.

Today we bought some 5 lb hand weights.  I like them better than the cans of garbanzo beans but they really made we work up a sweat.  We also bought a large exercise ball.  However, none of the exercises I did today required it.

Yesterday we watched The Last Samurai.  It was entertaining but you had to suspend your disbelief several times.  We also watched some episodes of H3x, a never-before-seen episode and the "season premiere."  Again you have to suspend your disbelief several times, but it's fun to look at.

The ship arrived outside of Kona - Kalui on the big island.  No port was large enough for the ship, so they had tenders to take passsengers from the ship to the shore.  We walked over to the King Kamehameha Hotel to pickup our car rental.  We drove to Snorkel Bobs where we rented some equipment and drove south to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park where we parked.  Right next door to it was an escpecially great place to snorkel.  Some call it Two Step because there is a large rock you step down on and from which you step into the ocean.  I had thought Hanauma Bay was wonderful, but this was so much better in some ways because it was so teeming with life.

This is me with fins, camera and snorkel gear.

And this is Chuk.  He is wearing a hat to protect his head from the sun.

A couple of fish nibbling on coral.

Quite near the rocks as the wave crashes against the shore.

School of fish

An intereting specimin

It's a sea turtle!

A bunch more fishes!