Hawaii Day 4 - On Our Own Part 1

Friday we were on our own. That didn't mean we were resting. We got up early and had to go to the Suns & Buns, a local bakery. I had left my shoe in the tour van and our guide said she would leave it at the bakery for me. We had breakfast and headed south on the Kona Coast. We saw so many coffee farms and then it hit me, oh yeah... Kona Coffee, doi... so we stopped at a coffee farm and bought some for our friends back home.

Our next stop was Pu'uhonua o Honaunau or the "Place of Refuge." It seems the Hawaiians had many kapus or "no-nos" and if you broke one you could hightail it for the Place of Refuge and if you actually made it there (with the other folks chasing you and wanting to kill you) the Kahuna could reprieve you. As we drove down to the "PoR" I saw why. It is down steep cliffs with lots of open areas, so getting to the PoR wasn't really all that easy.

Once there it is a beautiful place, just like any magazine would portray Hawaii, lots of open sand, lots of black rocks, blue green waters, palm trees and shady spots. It looked like a post card. This here is the equivalent of Hawaiian Checkers except people would play it to make decisions, i.e., win you live, lose you die.

The PoR was also a resting place for the Ali'i. I could see why, it was restful and peaceful even with all the people all over it. There were little huts and a map that told you what things were.

It was pretty sandy and quite a walk. Laura and I are neither good at walking long distances and Extremo found these dune buggys for invalids at the front of the park. We took turns getting whirled around the grounds!

Extremo was going all native on the rocks.

There were even tikis!

The displays all said that turtles were plentiful but I didn't see any.

After a while there was some native dude doing some kind of native thing in here. By then we were tired and hot.

I asked Extremo to walk out to the point and take pictures for us. Of course, he took self-portraits, for general interest purposes. Back in the rental car we were off to explore on the next leg of our journey.

Hawaii Day 3 - A Lesson in Lava

This is the opening to the Kaumana Caves, turns out it is a relatively small lava tube. These are natural formations created when lava is flowing and the top layer cools down over the flowing inner layer. Some are very large, others are small. Old Hawaiians hid and even lived in these. Lots of the Hawaiian royalty were buried in these lava tubes.

I loved these roots. There is nowhere for them to grow into the rock so they just grow along the top.

This is the first caldera we saw right on the opposite side from the Thurston Lava Tube. Everyone saw little people walking around down in the crater, but I didn't. I think they were making it up. The guide said there are tours that take you down there. No way! That is when in the movie you yell, "Dummy, why did you go down there?"

I never quite saw the majesty in lava before. When it flows it can flow two ways. The first is flowing and lazy and languid, like really thick cream. That kind of lava flow is called "lapahoehoe." I love that word. It sounds like lap-a-hoy-hoy. The second way lava flows is really explosive with flying lava and explosions of molten rock. It cools pretty quickly and creates these wonderful statues. This kind of flow is called Ahah. I don't really know how this one is spelled but sounds just like it looks.

The nearer we got to the shore the clearer it got. Here we are about 5 miles from the point the lava flows into the sea. It creates this great plume of steam.

I am now forever fascinated by lava. I loved all the intricacies of it and the shapes and formations. Knowing this is all natural and created by nature is a wonderous thought.

Here we are about a mile from the entry point. The ocean here is deep and blue and just a little bit scary. It is rocky and powerful.

I loved this spot. This is the old highway and you can see how the lava just rolled over it. No respect for man's needs.

These are steam vents. We were near the Jagger Museum next to the Caldera of Kilauea. It was a little bit scary to think that we were standing over cracks in the earth where hot steam was being forced out... again I think "Run you fools!"

The Caldera of Kilauea. Pretty awe-inspiring.

Hawaii Day 3 - The Volcano Tour

We started this 12 hour tour with a long drive across the island. We learned that we would be traveling over Saddle Road once voted the most dangerous road in the United States. Great. It turns out that the roads department had been busy improving the roads so it was actually about 10 miles of bumpy potholes and narrow winding roads and then it opened up into a nice improved road. It used to be like that all across the island since it was the most direct route between Hilo and Kona. Saddle Road crosses the island between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, tht is Mauna Loa in the background. We are actually at a rest stop.

We stopped at a lava tube right before going into Hilo. We had to cross this tiny road which seemed safe enough but our guide said to be very careful because cars coming wizzing down the road and it was pretty dangerous. Once we looked at it carefully, sure enough, it was a blind road coming in both directions!

There was a light breakfast all set up for us, orange juice, coffee, milk and donuts. There was also the 1st lava tube to look at. It was down some steep steps and looked pretty creepy.

Which means Scot had to go down there. Here he is with Reggie and Kiana, part of our tour group.

The lava tube was called the Kaumana Caves and was pretty interesting.

We climbed back into the van and headed off to the Volcano Park. We watched a DVD about the recent activity and traversed through Hilo. I slept most of the way. When I woke up it was really "voggy." Vog is what the locals call volcanic smog. Our next stop was the Thurston Lava Tube. We hopped out of the van and almost choked to death. We were right on a caldera and it was really acrid smelling, like someone lit 100,000 matches.

Once again, here is Scot heading into a lava tube.

Me and Laura didn't go in, it was really too far to walk. Here is Judy and Scot inside the tube.

I was outside taking pictures of this tree. It was all curly and crusty and really beautiful.

I had to get a shot of Scot's outfit. What a man!

After the Lava Tube we drove out to the ocean, we could see the point where the lava was entering the sea but we were still about 3/4 of a mile away. It was really hot here, probably in the 90's. It was rocky and the breeze was hot and the rocks reflected the sun and the heat. Incredibly majestic.

This is a natural formation in the rocks from the pounding of the surf.

We even got to see some Nene birds, the endangered state bird of Hawaii. Our guide told us that if you were to run over a bird you were obligated to tell the authorities. Then they would put your name in the paper... "Lynn ran over a Nene bird!" That would certainly deter me!

I love this sign. I saw it quite a few times. Makes sense.

I took this picture of Laura about 2:00, we were still pretty fresh. We still had about 6 hours to go on the tour.

Hawaii Day 2 - Orientation

Wednesday we went to an "island orientation" supplied by the local "island experts." Of course they were also trying to sell us a ton of tours, which we did buy. We met some of the representatives of the tours and also Captain Kris. He was the owner of one of the smaller tour rafts that did snorkeling at Kealakakua Bay. He was so very pleasant and personable, he smiled alot and had that easy island lilt in his very soft voice. He was kinda grungy but made his tour sound really personal and fun, and he touched people I lot. I really wanted to do his tour but Judi and Scot convinced me that we should do the big boat because Laura would not do well in the "life raft" kind of tour. I did acquiese and later on you will see that I was sooooooo glad I did.

After orientation we went to get familiar with the surroundings. We went looking for places to shop and ended up in Keahou. The roads just don't make sense and it took a lot of time to find our way, plus the usual speed limit is 25 mph, 35 mph if you're lucky. We found this little outdoor mall back in Kona where there were lots of vendors. Here Judy and Scot shop with the local owner of a shop that sold lots of stuff from korea.

She insisted Scot try on this shark teeth necklace. She said he could use it as a weapon. She was pretty aggresive about making a sale, it was a slow shopping day. One thing we did notice pretty quickly was how quiet it was tourist-wise. The bad economy has certainly hit the Big Island. About 50% or the shops in the tourist areas were closed and it was really easy to get into restaurants and get great service. Good for us but bad for the locals.

Next we went to lunch at Jackie Rey's. I grew up on Oahu and was expecting a similar culture but the culture on the big island was completely different. Whereas Oahu is primarily asian- based the big island is not. There is a really nice even blend of all the races which made it really hard to find some good teriyaki. We found an L&L, which I am not fond of, and most restaurants served high-end dinners, mostly fusion and seafood. It is really tasty but not what I expected.

Everyone ordered something fun and Laura had fish, it was pretty good.

It was a nice little restaurant with open windows and a good breeze. Since Laura didn't make it to orientation I had to fill her in on all the things we were going to do in the upcoming days. It was too late to turn back though, I had paid for her with her credit card.

There was an old style woody outside with a vent for a roof where you store surfboards. It was pretty cool, had no windows or doors you just slide in.

We finally headed back to the timeshare for the night. We had gotten the lay of the land, spent some time at the local Walmart and floated off to sleep.

Hawaii - The Arrival

The last time I was in Hawaii was 1983. We moved there for a year and then moved back to Nevada. It was a really nice time of life, the offspring were in kindergarten and 2nd grades. It was quiet and we lived out in Haaula, on the windward side, on Oahu, right on the beach. Very quiet and every other day or so we found crabs in our shower.

So last year when my cousin suggested we spend some time "bonding" we came up with the idea of going to the Big Island. Now I have never been to the Big Island and had visions of green rolling Parker Ranch pastures, clear blue waters, white sandy beaches and beautiful azul blue skies.

Imagine my surprise when I looked out the airplane window and saw this...

It was rocky, black, brown and desolate looking, worse than any desert I have ever seen and I have seen my share. I was little bit relieved when I looked back out the window and saw this...

A little bit of emerald ocean and a peek of greenery can do wonders for the spirit. I also noticed a definate haze in the horizon. I wondered if smog had finally come to the islands. No mind, I really felt that I was "coming home." I was filled with a nice warm feeling, how I had missed the islands without even knowing it.

Never having been to Kona I was surprised at how rustic it was. It tickled my senses. As I descended the airplane steps I was bombarded with wet humid heat and the intoxicating scent of the flowers. It was pretty overcast and grey and the airport was all outdoors. No buildings just covered areas. Did you know it rains 296" per year on the Big Island. 295" on the Hilo side and 1" on the Kona side?

We finally found our way to the lodging, got a little settled and went out for dinner. This is how life should be, dinner on the sand under an umbrella.

Extremo was extremely happy.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the women of my wonderful family!

As I grow older and have the perspective of age I so much more appreciate my very own mother. As I progress through the stages of my life I will never catch up with her, she is always those few stages ahead of me and as such will always be a little wiser, a little smarter and a little more experienced. It is only as I pass through a stage that I realize the gifts she has sprinkled in my wake.

I remember when I was 9 sitting with my mom on her bed and talking about what was going on in our life at the time, we talked about family, friends, other parents and silly things. I remember always talking with my mom and brother and cousins in these family conversations throughout my life. These talks have always continued. When I visit home we still sit at the table and talk about family, friends, other parents and all the things going on in our life. Just conversation. Today I talk with my kids in the same way. Just family conversations.

As a teenager I was chomping at the bit to move away from home. And as all teenagers, I knew best. I was smarter than my parents and knew more than them and just wanted to get away. Which I did. I moved to Los Angeles from Hawaii, fell in love and got married. Had a baby and moved to Fallon. During these formative years of my life I never heard a bad thought or judgement come from my mother (or my father for that matter.) It wasn't until I was in my mid-30's did I realize that the greatest gift my mother gave me was this very quiet support. She never had a bad thing to say about my decisions or actions. She may have thought it but never voiced it to me. This left me free to grow and experience my life believing that I had her 100% support! She was always there to answer questions and help me out and do what needed to be done but never a negative word passed her lips!

This continued as my family grew, as I created and sold businesses, moved to Hawaii and back and finally moved to Oregon. I have tried so hard to follow her lead with my own kids. Only time will tell if I made it. I try to support their decisions and let them experience and do life they way they need to. I don't know if this trait was intrinsic to my Mom or not but for me it is really hard not to tell my kids what to do! I have to work very hard at it. Not that I don't trust they will make the right decisions for them but I just want to save them all the problems and hassles that my experience would save them. But I just support them as best I can without judgement.

So, this Mother's Day I want to tell my mother that I love her and appreciate her presence in my life and she has been one of the people that has influenced my life more than I thought she ever did. It is only from this perspective of age that I can see that and am so grateful that she is still in my life so I can say this to her.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love and appreciate you! I could not find a recent picture of you and me so I offer this, the next best thing: Offspring #1.

My mom and sister. Of course this is her mom too, duh. But Happy Mother's Day to my sister who may not have kids of her own but is a Mother just the same. For every child she has helped, nurtured, listened to, bought a present for, cared about and loved. These all the things Mother's do and you are a Mother in every sense of the word.

Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful daughter (with her son.)

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful daughter-in-law. I am so lucky you are in my life and with a new grandson on the way for me!

Happy Mother's Day to my lovely cousin and her #1 Grandbaby. Without Grandma's there can be no mamas! I like to call this photo "Dueling Grandbabies." See you next week in Hawaii!

Happy Mother's Day to my sister for all the times you were my sister! That means all the time!

Happy Mother's Day to my gracious cousin, here with her handsome son.

Happy Mother's Day to my family in Los Angeles. Beautiful, gracious women, each and every one. And mothers? Yes, to a brood of 6 total between them.

Happy 1st Mother's Day to my cousin with the cutest little boy in San Diego!

Happy Mother's Day to Koa's Mom. I have to say that Koa is the funniest, handsomest, happiest baby I know but he is not excited about taking pictures! I couldn't find one with him smiling! Oh, well, you can still tell he is amazing!

Happy Mother's Day to my niece with her beautiful little girl!

Happy Mother's Day to my sister-in-law! I can't believe I don't have a recent picture of you with both girls!

Happy Mother's Day to Tina and to all Mothers that are reading this. It's going to be a good day.