Postcard from Hawaii - IV

The beautiful Ihilani Resort &
Spa Hotel

Day 4 in Paradise was spent mostly just relaxing around the hotel. Who could blame us? The hotel was beautiful, the private beach was beautiful, the hotel's grounds were beautiful, and our room was excellent. It was really hard to not just sit on our patio all day with a cold drink in hand looking at the beautiful view of the ocean and palm trees, listening to the waves gently breaking on the beach and just doze off with not a care in the world. Happy, happy, happy indeed!

Day 5 in Paradise began with us sadly checking out of the Ihilani, but excitedly looking forward to the short trip by Hawaiian Airlines to the island of Hawaii, the "Big Island." Time for relaxing was over and time for exploring and sightseeing had begun.

Thankfully, the return of the Hertz rental car was a much quicker proposition than picking it up and we didn't have to wait long at all for one of their shuttle buses to get us to our terminal. We were a few minutes early so we grabbed a bite to eat and walked around the really nice terminal. I even took a few pictures of Lil Dude Troll which, as usual, started some friendly and interesting conversations. Our plane pulled up right on time, we loaded up and off we went to another part of Paradise.

The metal bird that took us to Hilo

The Hilo airport is interesting as it is nearly completely open-air. The Hertz car rental office here was so much better than on Oahu. Fast and very friendly. We were soon headed to our next home-away-from-home, The Bamboo Orchid Cottage Bed & Breakfast in Volcano, a little town located in the rain forest right on the border of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Where the Ihilani Hotel had been paradise in a luxurious way, the Bamboo Orchid was paradise in a natural way. The dark green forest enclosed all sides making it very private. Without specific directions and a sharp eye, you could pass right by the almost hidden entrance and never know it was there. Our host Kathy was gracious and friendly and our little private cottage was totally charming with everything needed for a wonderful stay. There was even a fat tabby cat which had the run of the property. Of course this delighted animal-loving Youngest-daughter. Cat and daughter took a shine to each other as every day when we returned, the cat would run to greet us and follow us into our cottage where she could be petted and play with Youngest-daughter. I was a little concerned about the lack of air conditioning, but found the first night that none was needed. We left the door to our patio open on our 2nd floor bedroom and were lulled to sleep with a cool breeze of air and the gentle drops of rain on the tree leaves. I woke up in the middle of the night cold enough to pull the fluffy comforter up over us!  The next morning it was hard to get out of that warm, comfortable bed. We had to turn on the heat before taking showers. After that first night, we set the heat to come on in the morning and left the patio door open, but not as much. It rained every night we were there which was a wonderful assistance for quickly falling into a deep sleep after a full day of island activities.

The entrance to the Bamboo Orchid Cottage

After getting settled that first day, we went into town that night for pizza and just happened to be seated next to a very nice couple from Australia who were there on their honeymoon. We had a most enjoyable evening swapping information about the American mainland, which they had never been to but wanted, and Australia, which we have never been to and wanted. Good food, good company, and a most relaxing evening back at our cottage sitting on the patio just being happy.

The next morning after a great breakfast prepared for us by Kathy, we went to the Volcanoes National Park. All I can say about that place is if you've never been, if you've never seen an active volcano with your own eyes, you need to. Can't afford it you think? Start saving. It is one place that should be on everyone's Bucket List. Over the next 4 days, we kept returning to it - in the daytime and at night. You really should see it for yourself!


The rain forest from our bedroom patio

Pu'u O'o on Kilauea in the evening. Erupting since
January 3, 1986, this is the world's longest active
rift zone eruption. 

Kilauea Volcano in the rain during daylight hours

In the rain one day, we were fortunate to see a
beautiful rainbow with ends on either side of
a huge volcano caldera

Long cold field of lava with plants beginning
to grow through

An ocean of cooled lava

"Pele's Tears" - in the Hawaiian religion, Pele is
the goddess of volcanoes. These "tears" are
solidified drops of lava that form during an
eruption.

"Pele's Hair" - these are thin, very fragile strands
of volcanic glass formed when molten lava is
ejected into the air during an eruption 

Walking through Nahuku, (the
Thurston Lava Tube) is an
interesting experience! 

Sacred to Hawaiians, the Pu'u Loa Petroglyphs
is on the southern side of Kilauea Volcano. Over
23,000 pecked images were made in hardened lava
before the first written recording of it in 1823.
For hundreds of years, the local custom dictated
that when a baby was born, a piece of the hardened
lava be chiseled out, the umbilical cord placed in
the hole and the rock placed back over it. The next
day, the cord would be gone, ensuring the child a
long, productive life.

Lava is molten rock which erupts in Hawaii at
1,800 F - 2,200 F and before the eruption is over,
is often many feet deep. A few years later though,
life finds a way to spring forth once again.

 

Postcard from Hawaii - III

By day 3 in Paradise, we were sleeping in a little later - and by later I mean the sun was rising rather than us waking up while it was still dark. That was perfect for this day as we had a lot of sightseeing planned. North Shore here we come!

After a quick breakfast, we drove Hwy 93 south and then east to connect to the H1 freeway until we connected to H2 and started north. Fortunately, we were early enough to have beaten most of the morning rush hour traffic. When you think of Hawaii, the last thing on your mind is stop-and-go rush hour traffic, but it is definitely there around Honolulu. Honolulu has gorgeous Waikiki Beach and for the most part is a beautiful and clean place, but otherwise, sadly, it is just another big city with too many people, too much traffic, and too many people and businesses trying to move money from your pocket to theirs. Fortunately, we were headed north; Honolulu was south.

H2 ends its life as an interstate at the Schofield Barracks military base. At that point, we picked up 2-lane Hwy 99, Kamehameha Highway, and drove through numerous little towns and farms growing pineapples and other fruit in the rust-red dirt. There's no big, fancy hotels through here and few tourists. The rows upon rows of pineapples grow within a couple of feet of the roadway. 

Rainbow Bridge over the Anahulu River

Soon we crossed over the historic Rainbow Bridge which spans the Anahulu River and marks the north entrance to Hale'iwa Town.   And what's in Hale'iwa? Matsumoto Shave Ice is what's in Hale'iwa! Matsumoto started out as a humble, locally-owned grocery store in 1951. Still owned and operated by the same family, it is now Oahu's oldest continuously run place of business. In 1956 they began selling shave ice in a small corner of the store. When the original owner retired, his son took it over in 1976 (a grandson now operates it), moved some of the groceries to the side and began selling shave ice treats and a plethora of Matsumoto t-shirts from one side of the establishment. A legend was born! In the summer, over 1,000 of the treats are served each day and in the off-season, over 500 are sold each and every day even though the store is only open from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The line of customers for a shave ice often extends out the door and down the block and you never know who you might stand next to while you wait - people like Tom Hanks, Sean Penn and Tom Selleck have all patiently waited their turn.

Shave ice, called kakigori in Japan where it was invented, is very different from the snow cone found on the United States mainland. A snow cone is basically a ball of crushed ice doused in various flavors of syrup. The shave ice machine, on the other hand, whittles down a 3-lb block of ice and in the process, creates shavings like delicate snowflake crystals. A large, plastic cup then has a good dose of vanilla ice cream plopped into it, the frozen snow crystals are added in and the mixture molded into a ball. From there, you pick the flavor of syrup extract(s) you want. Instead of dousing a ball of ice, the flavored extract floats down through the various layers. Finally, the whole concoction is covered with condensed milk. A 15-minute wait in the line gave me time to decide which flavor I wanted - pineapple, banana & coconut. 

Youngest-daughter adding a Matsumoto coin to her large
"squished penny" collection.

The first bite was really good. The 2nd bite was even better. By the time I got to the bottom and tossed back my head to drain the dregs, I was hooked! I was very full; full enough that for comfort, I loosened my belt a notch, but I gave serious thought to getting in line for another one. Common sense finally won, but I for sure would not be leaving Hawaii without another shave ice!

A cool church in Hale'iwa we passed on our way to the shore.

As we headed east on the coast highway, we came to
Haleiwa Ali'i Beach or "King's Beach" on the north shore.
The Wai'anae Mountains are in the background. 

Puu O Mahuka Heiau, an ancient sacred temple site
from the early 1600's where wives of the chiefs gave birth
and human sacrifices were conducted. Located high
up on the side of a mountain, I am standing where the
sacrifices took place. It was a bit eerie to think about.

Native Hawaiians come at night carrying hand-made tiki
 torches to leave offerings of fruit, flower leis, shells, and
beads to the gods and spirits that still live in this place. 

Waimea Bay beach, world famous for "Big Wave" surfing.
 Was made famous in the 1964 movie "Ride The Wild Surf"
and one of the settings of the TV show "Lost"

Kahuku Land Farms roadside market where we ate our
fill and then some of fresh picked fruit. Good lunch!

Going south along the east coast of Oahu and stopping at all the
interesting places. Laie Point State Wayside was very cool, but
I was shocked at the number of tour buses, mostly Japanese,
which stopped here. We had seen very few before here. Perhaps
they just come this far north from Honolulu & then go back.

Die-hard fans of the TV show "Lost" will recognize this as
the area where Hurley built a golf course. 

Entrance to the National Memorial Cemetery of the
Pacific. Over 13,000 soldiers and sailors who died during
WWII are buried here.

Overlooking Honolulu from the Punchbowl Crater. In spite
of my dislike for large, crowded cities, we did drive around
in Honolulu for a while checking out buildings, statues,
and other sites we had heard about.

Arriving back at our hotel, we stopped at a combination
sandwich shop/grocery store in the resort complex and bought
hoagies, chips, soda's and some snacks which we took back
to our room. We ate on the lanai watching an amazing sunset.
All was good with the world.