Aloha from Hispaniola!

As an outsider and a visitor to any given area at any given time, I am often on the lookout for areas of particular interest. As an avid outdoors enthusiast with a keen interest in local, regional wildlife, I tend to look for areas of natural beauty and those, in particular, offering ample opportunities for kayaking, hiking, biking, trails, and camping. One such place is Sam Houston Jones State Park, a little slice of bayou paradise, a mere 12 miles from downtown Lake Charles. We frequently enjoy the quick getaway afforded by Sam Houston State Park where an easy, leisurely stroll, bike ride, kayak outing, or camping trip awaits. The trails are numerous, well-groomed, lush, scenic, and adventurous. In addition to the Calcasieu River which winds prominently throughout the park, there are postcard-picturesquely beautiful bayous, replete with characteristically moss-strewn Cyprus and shore-lining reeds. The river, as well as lagoons, are filled with a variety of native fish, turtle...

Well, friends, it's been an eventful last few years. Staggering out of a 25-year-stretch spent in Norway like some punch-drunk tropical Viking, I careened crashing first - as all genuinely heroic shipwrecks of humanity have done since the dawn of the New World - into Key West. Set in the sleepy "little drinking town with a fishing problem" Mexican Gulf Coast haven Punta Gorda became my temporary base camp of sorts. Though I hadn't intended it to be such a brief residence, I plied the many, and various tiki bars of the area 'til the winds left my sails a mere year or so later. That sure didn't take long. As I mentioned earlier, many of my best friends from the area died off, and I somehow became masterful at the art of thoroughly pissing people off for no good reason -- all without effort or intention.  Great old friends and newly acquired ones died too quickly, unceremoniously, and from wholly avoidable causes. Beloved family members followed soon after. S...