Follow Friday ~ Another Day with Donna

Donna Wendt showing us Mauanalua Bay

The last time I spent a day with genealogy blogger Donna Wendt, it was at the 2011 Southern California Genealogy Society’s Jamboree in Burbank, California.  We had known each other online, since we had a few common ancestors and I had written about genealogy in Hawaii, where Donna resides.  We continued to correspond online, and when I learned I was going to Hawaii I contacted Donna about a meet up.  I was hoping to attend one of the Honolulu County Genealogy Society’s meetings while I was on Oahu, and Donna is the webmaster of their blog.  She also has her own blog.  But, even better than a society meeting, we decided to get together for lunch and tour of her end of Oahu, known as Hawaii Kai.

Donna shows Mom the Koko Crater, and the steep hike up the slope
on a former cog railroad track.  Donna is an avid hiker in Hawaii.

Donna was a great tour guide.  We saw fantastic scenery at Koko Head and Mauanalua Bay, near her home, and drove as far as the lighthouse as Makapu’u Head to see the other side of the island.  She showed us an ancient heiau (sacred site) and a place where kids jumped off the cliffs into the waves .  We saw funky  sites such as the home of Dog the Bounty Hunter, Duane Chapman,  and beautiful scenes such as the canals and waterways of the marina at Hawaii Kai.  She is not only a terrific genealogist, but a very accomplished tour director, too!

Donna and I, and the kids were jumping off the rocks behind us! 

My Mom, Hubby and I had a terrific time.  It was fun spending “Another Day with Donna”.  She shared a lot of her genealogy research with us all, including her New Hampshire and New England lines, and showed me her thick notebook of research for her DAR application (her application had been accepted, and she received her notification only the day before we arrived!)   I hope she will be returning to New England soon, so we can reciprocate with a tour of our own backyard for Donna.

Donna's blog is full of genealogy and stories of her adventures around the world as an operating room nurse with "Operation Smile".  This terrific volunteer organization repairs children's cleft palates, and Donna has traveled to China, the Middle East and South America.  She is a retired Army nurse who has chosen to live in Hawaii, and who could blame her for such a wonderful place to retire!

Another Day in Paradise with Donna
Off Portlock Road on Mauanalua Bay

Note:  Donna beat me to the publication of a blog post about our meet up on 14 October 2012.  You can read it at her blog at this link: http://anotherdaywithdonna.blogspot.com/2012/10/heather-wilkinson-rojo-in-hawaii-kai.html

The URL for “Another Day with Donna” www.anotherdaywithdonna.blogspot.com

Honolulu County Genealogical Society blog  http://honolulucountygenealogicalsociety.blogspot.com/

Honolulu County Genealogical Society website www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hihcgs

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo