We left the Cascades last Saturday (October 29) and our host (long time friend, Lee) went way out of his way to drive us to Bellingham, WA, where we had lunch with Susan's cousin, David. Susan was so glad to connect with David as it had been years since we had seen him. Then to a hotel near the Bellingham airport, and a 3:45 a.m. wakeup call (ugh!) for our flight to The Big Island, Hawaii. Hawaii was a bucket list item but we really did not have a feel for what to expect.
We landed at 1:00 p.m. (Hawaii time), and got blasted by 85 degree heat after hiking for a week mostly in the low 50-degree temps. We wandered around the parking lot looking for our TURO (person to person) car rental -- only took 10 minutes, and then could not get out of the parking lot. The owner of our TURO car had not left a parking ticket in the car. We called him: "Oh, I must have left it in my pocket". So $30 (parking fee plus penalty for no ticket) later we escaped the parking lot, a bit irritable. Not the best start.
But we loved our 4 days on The Big Island. We stayed in our timeshare in Kona and we snorkeled at three of the best places on the island. We saw gorgeous sunsets over the ocean every night. For one of the snorkel spots, we could only get there by kayak. So we paddled about 25 minutes to Captain Cook's Monument (where Cook died brutally at the hands of native Hawaiians he had mistreated) and jumped in the water to see the fish. Now, Susan's (not unreasonable) concern was how we were going to get back into the kayak after jumping out into deep water. A very nice young man, Sea Justice (real name - saw his driver's license) gave us detailed instructions on how to get back into the kayak. Two 70-year-olds getting back into a kayak in deep water must be equivalent to some Olympic sport. It is not pretty or graceful -- but we did it --give us a 10!
Sea recommended Black Rock Pizza for a late lunch. So good. He also recommended Ho 'Okena Beach to swim and watch the sunset. It was a little further away than some but it was perfect.
Photos courtesy of Susan Blum. Another beautiful sunset on Ho 'Okena Beach. Never gets boring.
We also had dinner one night at Huggo's, again on the recommendation of a lifeguard after snorkeling at Kahalu'u Beach. We thought we were just having a drink but they let us sit on the dinner deck and the location was so perfect, we stayed for dinner and the sunset. The food was wonderful, too. Plus it was Halloween and the servers were in some great costumes. The gentleman serving was the famous musician, Prince. Susan did not mind.
We did get to Volcano National Park, a 2 hour drive from Kona. We walked the Visitor Center exhibits and did a Ranger Walk where we understood better how the isolation of Hawaii produced a number of species of plants and animals that exist only on the islands. The stories of how one seed or a couple of birds made it to Hawaii in the distant past and evolved to become new species gave us a little different sense of evolution. The ranger talked about a number of plants which had no natural predators on the islands and evolved with fewer defenses, which are even now evolving to reactivate these defenses (needles, sharp points, scents) in reaction to invasive species introduced by humans. We also did the the Lava Tube walk and drove part of the Chain of Craters Road -- amazing lava fields.
Lava Buildup - Mauna Loa Crater
Kilauea Crater - steam and sulfur vents
Then it was time to head to Honolulu for three days. We had read and been told that a visit to Hawaii should include more than one island and that Pearl Harbor is a "must do". The flight to Oahu was only 30 minutes, but what a culture shock from the low key and sparsely populated Big Island!
We were in a 6th floor apartment in Waikiki just a few minutes walk from the beach. At night the streets were jammed with tourists looking for dinners and drinks and entertainment. The first day in Honolulu we negotiated the public buses and made it to Pearl Harbor without the expense of a tour. Got our USS Arizona tickets on line the night before. The whole Pearl Harbor experience is somber. It felt like a sincere effort to honor the men and women who died at Pearl Harbor. Nearly all the photos showed such young folks.... sad. And interesting information about the attack with some videos taken by an officer who just got a new camera and was playing with it on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. Susan and I both came away with the feeling that war is horrendous and the people who start them are psychopaths and criminals. And the people who fight these wars have so little power. Thoughts of Ukraine.
Dinner was at Maragame Udon. An amazing place with long lines to get in. Homemade noodles, great for slurping, in a bowl of delicious broth with your choice of meats. The interesting thing is that despite the long lines outside and incredible efficiency of the preparers, there was always a table available for the next person off the tray line. Not sure how that math works but it was fun to be there -- and tasty!
Our next day we hiked up Diamond Head, about a two hour exercise rewarded by incredible views. Again, we navigated the buses successfully; always exciting.
Views from peak of Diamond Head
(Sorry about the photo alignment. Cannot figure out how to fit them better. I will work on it.)
Then we spent the afternoon on Waikiki Beach, which is beautiful and not as crowded as the reviews indicated. Narrower, too. The water temperature was perfect. Watched the sunset - another good one. Dinner at Gyu-Kaku, a chain of Japanese barbecue restaurants that we hope comes to DC because the food was good and fun (grilled at the table). And then up at 4:30 a.m. for the taxi to the airport to head for Australia, an 11 hour flight ahead of us to bring us to Melbourne.
NOTE: This post is late - we are in Melbourne and today is Election Day in the States. We have had several conversations with folks here who do not understand what is happening in our country.
Neither do we. But we are learning that there is a wider world out here and not everything is about politics, or power, or apocolypse. Maybe we have buried our heads in the (beach) sands a bit, or have our attention on gorgeous sunsets more than we ever have. Somehow, it feels good. And a little guilty. But, again, this is our journey and it comes at a strange time for our country. We wish you, of all and any poltiical persuasion, some peace and perspective. As trite as it sounds, be kind to each other and hope that we get through this. Much love, Dick & Susan
. At the time Mauna Loa is on an eruption watch because of a number of small earthquakes detected in the crater area. That made the visit just a bit more exciting. But we did not see any activity except a number of steam and sulfer vents at Kilauea. The isolation of Hawaii has resulted in
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