Jim O, Island Style

Our first visitor...and who else but JIM O!  I must admit that my expectations for Dad on this island were quite high...continuous tennis matches, bike rides, hiking....and he truly hit the ground running!  JO arrived on the midnight flight from Tokyo, which he randomly shared with our very good friend Elizabeth Elgers' parents from Georgia, so they became fast friends even before Colleen and I met them in Saipan.

Part of the reason JO hit the ground running was that he was given no other option.  Day 1 began with a brisk morning hike to the top of Mt. Topachao to survey the geography of the island.  Dad got to meet Heidi, my little Filipina friend who runs a gift stand at the top of the mountain...she gave us each a fresh coconut to drink and then eat the young coconut from the inside.  Dad was instantly amazed by Saipan being so big and mountainous.  He quickly learned he couldn't get everywhere on a bike, especially on the unpaved roads.

And speaking of unpaved roads....there were two things that quickly became the theme of Dad's trip - the nearly undriveable roads and the Russian tourists.  Both quirks of Saipan, they will forever be more memorable for Dad than any beach or tourist attraction we had to offer.  It's the little things for the O'Laughlins....

Back to Day 1.  Without pausing to let jetlag sink in, we immediately introduced JO to everyone we know on the island (and forced him to dig out his best duds real early in the trip) by taking him to a wine tasting fundraiser at the Hyatt.  This was followed by an epic trip to Godfather's bar, our go-to island ex-pat bar.  If you don't know my dad, he is obsessed with the movie The Godfather, as well as Italian people in general, so it was a no-brainer to immediately take him to the only bar (perhaps in the world) with a massive Vito Corleone portraint painted on the front of it.
  

We set the bar very high on Day 1, but managed to give JO the complete Saipan experience (note to future visitors:  a 10 day trip is just about perfect for visiting the island).  Among other noteworthy parts of the trip, JO learned the art of chewing betel nut...

....he met some local fire dancers....

....he celebrated his 65th birthday among family and new friends with the comforts of home (lasagna and homemade apple pie!  Colleen is a pretty awesome daughter-in-law)....

....he met a filmmaker who recently made a documentary about killing sharks and who came to Saipan to support shark legislation (the guy on the left....there was so much buzz surrounding this guy's trip out here he may as well have been Brad Pitt....of course Dad had no idea who he was when he met him - ha!)....

....he was more impressed by meeting the Rotary President than the filmmaker.....

.....he played (somewhat against his will) in my Trivia Tuesday night, along with Elizabeth Elgers' folks, Allan and Sara Smith....

....he golfed quite possibly the best game of his life at Lau Lau Bay....

....he reflected on life at Bird Island....

....he retraced  the steps of the Japanese soldiers in their WWII Last Command Post cave....

....he found out what a Saipan-da is.....

.....he hit up Thursday Street Market....

.....and found the squid.....

....he braved a really windy day when we headed south to Tinian in this puddle-jumper, which nearly landed sideways from the wind....

....he cruised down the runway that was once the busiest in the world and made way for the takeoff of the "Fat Man" and the "Little Boy"...

....he became one of the two founding members of the notorious Oloff scooter gang.....

....he hiked and repelled and broke in his new hiking boots with comfortably large toe-boxes....

.....he met the other Old Man by the Sea.....

......he drank Kava with some good friends and locals.....

....he learned the art of a spa day (that's him and Colleen way in the background).....

....he also learned that all places in Saipan, including our tiny fruit and veggie stand, accept Food Stamp....

....he cruised on the Jade Lady catamaran and befriended more Koreans than he thought possible.  He also met Jerry, the bi-lingual Chamorro entertainer who has sung Korean and Japanese and Chinese and American songs to tourists seven nights a week for the past 20 years, and Fred Ryman, also known as Uncle John Doyle's doppelganger...

....but most of all, he relaxed, slowed down his pace, and fell in love with this quirky little island.  I think the picture below says it all!  Good times and many memories.....so glad you made the trip Dad!