Pat and Ron's Travel Adventures
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
December on Oahu and the Big Island of Hawaii
Even though most of us have been to Hawaii, have seen Elvis in “Blue Hawaii, “Magnum P.I” or “Hawaii 5-0” on TV, have heard “Tiny Bubbles” or the “Hawaiian Wedding Song”, we would like to share some of the outstanding aspects and observations of Hawaii. We were going to wait until we finished all the islands, but have decided to do 2 blogs instead (December on Hawaii and Oahu, and January on Maui and Kauai).
The state of Hawaii is comprised of eight islands represented by the eight stripes in the state flag. The islands were created by volcanic activity (and still are being created!) and are on the Pacific “rim of fire”. Hawaii has lush tropical jungles and stark lava-covered rock. The Pu’u O’o vent of the Kilauea Caldera (in the Hawaii Volcanoes National park) is the site of the most recent eruptions, with lava flows that wiped out an entire town and most of the homes there. Since 1983 when this volcano reawakened, the lava has created an additional 45 square miles, making it the newest land in the United States. It is possible to get close enough to the lava flow to get burned and especially breathtaking at night. What a primordial show!
The Big Island has 10 of the 15 types of climate zones in the word (not the coldest ones.) Elevations go from sea level to 13,000+ feet mountain tops. The Kona area receives only 10” annually, while Hilo is the wettest city in the United States, with an annual rainfall of 120” (but usually during the nighttime or in short bursts.) This results in a tropical jungle, prolific flowers, lush rainforests, numerous waterfalls, and breathtaking rainbows. Is it any wonder that they chose the rainbow for the license plates?
Crops here are plentiful and include pineapple, bananas, guavas, papayas, mangoes, avocados, taro, coffee, and coconuts. Apple Bananas were new to us and are much smaller than a regular banana and much sweeter. The sugar industry was once a major plantation crop but is now grown only on Kauai.
Flowers and blossoms are unique, exotic, and prolific here as you can see from a few sample photos. Poinsettias grow on bushes, some like hedgerows! And the Big Island is the Orchid Island.
Honolulu is a vibrant city with a blend of races and cultures that makes up Hawaii. There is the hustle-bustle of a city as well as a quiet relaxed setting of swaying coconut trees. Honolulu has 80% of Hawaii’s population, not counting the tourists. Shopping includes more high-end stores like Tiffany’s and Cartier’s than we remembered, but the local stores are still operating as well. We did not find prices to be extremely out of line for any commodity.
Since we were there the week of December 7th, a real highlight was our trip to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial and the Pearl Harbor survivors we met there. There are still ~3 quarts of oil leaking from the battleship each day, visible on the water surface. There are markers in the harbor where each battleship was located when blasted. We toured the privately owned “USS Missouri” battleship on nearby Ford Island. We saw the exact spot where Mac Arthur and the Japanese signed the treaty ending WWII (when the Missouri was in Tokyo Harbor) with a copy of that document on board.
We also visited the Punchbowl National Cemetery. It was in a crater with beautiful views and had a wall of murals depicting the Pacific battles in WWII. People left live flowers at the graves since they grow in everyone’s backyards. Ernie Pyle, the WWII news correspondent is buried there.
To complete Oahu, we stayed on the north shore at Turtle Bay, close to the Bonzai Pipeline where the Billabong surfing contest was in process. The entire area is dedicated to surfing and surfers. The road along the North Shore was beautiful and dead-ends at a nature preserve with ~20 albatross nests. On the drive to the North Shore were numerous gorgeous beaches including “From Here to Eternity” beach and many others that Hollywood filmed.
Our activities included snorkeling, hiking, watching waves, eating the local seafood (Ahi, Ono, Mahi Mahi, Monchong, and Opakapaka are some of them), watching sunsets from beachside cafes, looking at flowers, birds, & turtles, looking for monk seals, dolphins and whales, sampling the Mai Tai’s, poking around small villages, looking at scenery, and visiting museums and historical spots.
South Point on the Big Island is 500 miles south of Key West and is the southernmost point in the 50 United States. It sits on lava rock and has nothing going on there except that distinction. That and the swift current that will take you to Australia if you make the mistake of getting caught in it. Hawaiian fishermen tie their boats to the tie points in the cliffs to prevent this. The water is too deep for anchors.
While the Big Island isn’t known for its beaches, they do have black sand beaches (from the lava rock), green sand beaches (from olivine), salt and pepper beaches, and more normal sand-colored as well. The resort area (NW part of island called Kohala) has the best tourist beaches on this island. Kona has the best snorkeling opportunities with calm, clear water. While snorkeling, we saw hundreds of fish of many varieties along with sea turtles, eels, and colorful living coral.
We stayed in a bungalow on a banana plantation (Kona) and at a yurt in the flowering jungle (Hilo) surrounded by plants and flowers, with complete privacy on all sides. Funky, which fits us. As someone told us, we knew not to look for you at the Ritz.
Each island has its own uniqueness and we want to experience it all. We’re off to Maui next and hope to hear from you soon. Happy New Year!
The state of Hawaii is comprised of eight islands represented by the eight stripes in the state flag. The islands were created by volcanic activity (and still are being created!) and are on the Pacific “rim of fire”. Hawaii has lush tropical jungles and stark lava-covered rock. The Pu’u O’o vent of the Kilauea Caldera (in the Hawaii Volcanoes National park) is the site of the most recent eruptions, with lava flows that wiped out an entire town and most of the homes there. Since 1983 when this volcano reawakened, the lava has created an additional 45 square miles, making it the newest land in the United States. It is possible to get close enough to the lava flow to get burned and especially breathtaking at night. What a primordial show!
The Big Island has 10 of the 15 types of climate zones in the word (not the coldest ones.) Elevations go from sea level to 13,000+ feet mountain tops. The Kona area receives only 10” annually, while Hilo is the wettest city in the United States, with an annual rainfall of 120” (but usually during the nighttime or in short bursts.) This results in a tropical jungle, prolific flowers, lush rainforests, numerous waterfalls, and breathtaking rainbows. Is it any wonder that they chose the rainbow for the license plates?
Crops here are plentiful and include pineapple, bananas, guavas, papayas, mangoes, avocados, taro, coffee, and coconuts. Apple Bananas were new to us and are much smaller than a regular banana and much sweeter. The sugar industry was once a major plantation crop but is now grown only on Kauai.
Flowers and blossoms are unique, exotic, and prolific here as you can see from a few sample photos. Poinsettias grow on bushes, some like hedgerows! And the Big Island is the Orchid Island.
Honolulu is a vibrant city with a blend of races and cultures that makes up Hawaii. There is the hustle-bustle of a city as well as a quiet relaxed setting of swaying coconut trees. Honolulu has 80% of Hawaii’s population, not counting the tourists. Shopping includes more high-end stores like Tiffany’s and Cartier’s than we remembered, but the local stores are still operating as well. We did not find prices to be extremely out of line for any commodity.
Since we were there the week of December 7th, a real highlight was our trip to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial and the Pearl Harbor survivors we met there. There are still ~3 quarts of oil leaking from the battleship each day, visible on the water surface. There are markers in the harbor where each battleship was located when blasted. We toured the privately owned “USS Missouri” battleship on nearby Ford Island. We saw the exact spot where Mac Arthur and the Japanese signed the treaty ending WWII (when the Missouri was in Tokyo Harbor) with a copy of that document on board.
We also visited the Punchbowl National Cemetery. It was in a crater with beautiful views and had a wall of murals depicting the Pacific battles in WWII. People left live flowers at the graves since they grow in everyone’s backyards. Ernie Pyle, the WWII news correspondent is buried there.
To complete Oahu, we stayed on the north shore at Turtle Bay, close to the Bonzai Pipeline where the Billabong surfing contest was in process. The entire area is dedicated to surfing and surfers. The road along the North Shore was beautiful and dead-ends at a nature preserve with ~20 albatross nests. On the drive to the North Shore were numerous gorgeous beaches including “From Here to Eternity” beach and many others that Hollywood filmed.
Our activities included snorkeling, hiking, watching waves, eating the local seafood (Ahi, Ono, Mahi Mahi, Monchong, and Opakapaka are some of them), watching sunsets from beachside cafes, looking at flowers, birds, & turtles, looking for monk seals, dolphins and whales, sampling the Mai Tai’s, poking around small villages, looking at scenery, and visiting museums and historical spots.
South Point on the Big Island is 500 miles south of Key West and is the southernmost point in the 50 United States. It sits on lava rock and has nothing going on there except that distinction. That and the swift current that will take you to Australia if you make the mistake of getting caught in it. Hawaiian fishermen tie their boats to the tie points in the cliffs to prevent this. The water is too deep for anchors.
While the Big Island isn’t known for its beaches, they do have black sand beaches (from the lava rock), green sand beaches (from olivine), salt and pepper beaches, and more normal sand-colored as well. The resort area (NW part of island called Kohala) has the best tourist beaches on this island. Kona has the best snorkeling opportunities with calm, clear water. While snorkeling, we saw hundreds of fish of many varieties along with sea turtles, eels, and colorful living coral.
We stayed in a bungalow on a banana plantation (Kona) and at a yurt in the flowering jungle (Hilo) surrounded by plants and flowers, with complete privacy on all sides. Funky, which fits us. As someone told us, we knew not to look for you at the Ritz.
Each island has its own uniqueness and we want to experience it all. We’re off to Maui next and hope to hear from you soon. Happy New Year!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
October-November in the Southwest
Thanks for all of your comments over the last month. Many of you have said that you missed the words that go with the slideshow, so here is a little catch-up of some thoughts on New Mexico, as well as Arizona.
New Mexico, the 47th state, “The Land of Enchantment” is a special place and is indeed enchanting. We were blown away by New Mexico. New Mexico presents an adventure of discovery - from the old Indian Pueblos dating back to days before European colonization, to pine-covered mountains, to deserts of white sands, to the old town plazas of Santa Fe and Albuquerque. There are rich Native American and Spanish cultures steeped in history with houses and towns pre-dating Plymouth Rock!
The New Mexico State flag
The Zia Indians of New Mexico regard the Sun as a sacred symbol. Their symbol, a red circle with groups of rays pointing in four directions, is painted on ceremonial vases, and drawn on the ground around campfires. The number four is embodied in:
• the four points of the compass (north, south, east, and west)
• the four seasons of the year (spring, summer, autumn and winter)
• the four periods of each day (morning, noon, evening and night)
• the four seasons of life (childhood, youth, middle years and old age),
The Taos Pueblo is a multi-storied set of adobe buildings that have come to represent the SW culture. It appears much as it did more than 500 years ago when the Spanish explorers first reached this region. Some sections may be up to 1,000 years old.
Lincoln, NM was the “most dangerous street in America” according to President Hayes, and is where Billy the Kid (William Bonney) was held, sentenced, and escaped at the age of 21 before he was found and shot by Sheriff Pat Garrett in1881. The entire town of Lincoln is a museum containing the courthouse/jail and original buildings.
The town of historic Mesilla is where the Gadsden Purchase was signed in 1854, annexing disputed lands in southern NM and AZ for $10 million. Mesilla was considered to be the capital of the NM & AZ territories. We visited the historic plaza which was once on the route of the Butterfield Trail (predecessor to the Pony Express) and also had the courthouse where Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced in 1881.
We have seen so much cowboy and Indian history in the Southwest that it is difficult to look around on this desert terrain with its cacti and hills and rock outcroppings and not look out for an impending ambush of outlaws or Apaches. In the SE corner of Arizona is Chiricahua National Monument which is leftover volcanic rocks with quite unusual rock formations. We went on to explore many old mining ghost towns, the most famous being Tombstone. It’s called the “town that wouldn’t die” as the spirits of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday and the events of the shootout at the OK Corral continue to live on there. It is an old west, living museum town with wooden boardwalks, period costumes, saloons, historic bordellos, horses and stagecoaches, and the periodic shootout at the OK corral.
Another cowboy place is Old Tucson Studios which is a recreation of Tucson in 1836 and is the set where scads of western films were made, most notably with John Wayne.
Saguaros only grow naturally here in the Sonoran desert (part of AZ & CA & Mexico) which receives more rain than any other desert on earth. Saguaros are the largest cactus in the US and are perfectly adapted to the Arizona lack of rain and its heat. They are protected since they are so fragile and a permit is required before digging one up. After they first get established (from a seed the size of a poppy seed) they will grow only 1” per year. They live to 200-300 years old and don’t start growing their “arms” until they are 75 years old. Such majestic plants! Unlike the Chihuahua and Mojave deserts, the Sonoran has two rainy seasons (one from the Pacific and one from the Gulf.) This increased rainfall contributes to the bountiful plants and wildlife in this desert.
We will postpone exploring other parts of Arizona until February when we return from Hawaii. We will spend December and January Island-hopping to the four main islands of Hawaii. We spent time in the Phoenix area in November to get organized for our trip – things like packing, finding a storage area for the truck/camper while we’re away, and transportation to/from the airport. Therefore this blog only covers part of the southwest that we will be seeing and will be continued after blogs about Hawaii. To you all our best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving and much-too-soon Holidays that follow.
New Mexico, the 47th state, “The Land of Enchantment” is a special place and is indeed enchanting. We were blown away by New Mexico. New Mexico presents an adventure of discovery - from the old Indian Pueblos dating back to days before European colonization, to pine-covered mountains, to deserts of white sands, to the old town plazas of Santa Fe and Albuquerque. There are rich Native American and Spanish cultures steeped in history with houses and towns pre-dating Plymouth Rock!
The Zia Indians of New Mexico regard the Sun as a sacred symbol. Their symbol, a red circle with groups of rays pointing in four directions, is painted on ceremonial vases, and drawn on the ground around campfires. The number four is embodied in:
• the four points of the compass (north, south, east, and west)
• the four seasons of the year (spring, summer, autumn and winter)
• the four periods of each day (morning, noon, evening and night)
• the four seasons of life (childhood, youth, middle years and old age),
The Taos Pueblo is a multi-storied set of adobe buildings that have come to represent the SW culture. It appears much as it did more than 500 years ago when the Spanish explorers first reached this region. Some sections may be up to 1,000 years old.
Lincoln, NM was the “most dangerous street in America” according to President Hayes, and is where Billy the Kid (William Bonney) was held, sentenced, and escaped at the age of 21 before he was found and shot by Sheriff Pat Garrett in1881. The entire town of Lincoln is a museum containing the courthouse/jail and original buildings.
The town of historic Mesilla is where the Gadsden Purchase was signed in 1854, annexing disputed lands in southern NM and AZ for $10 million. Mesilla was considered to be the capital of the NM & AZ territories. We visited the historic plaza which was once on the route of the Butterfield Trail (predecessor to the Pony Express) and also had the courthouse where Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced in 1881.
We have seen so much cowboy and Indian history in the Southwest that it is difficult to look around on this desert terrain with its cacti and hills and rock outcroppings and not look out for an impending ambush of outlaws or Apaches. In the SE corner of Arizona is Chiricahua National Monument which is leftover volcanic rocks with quite unusual rock formations. We went on to explore many old mining ghost towns, the most famous being Tombstone. It’s called the “town that wouldn’t die” as the spirits of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday and the events of the shootout at the OK Corral continue to live on there. It is an old west, living museum town with wooden boardwalks, period costumes, saloons, historic bordellos, horses and stagecoaches, and the periodic shootout at the OK corral.
Another cowboy place is Old Tucson Studios which is a recreation of Tucson in 1836 and is the set where scads of western films were made, most notably with John Wayne.
Saguaros only grow naturally here in the Sonoran desert (part of AZ & CA & Mexico) which receives more rain than any other desert on earth. Saguaros are the largest cactus in the US and are perfectly adapted to the Arizona lack of rain and its heat. They are protected since they are so fragile and a permit is required before digging one up. After they first get established (from a seed the size of a poppy seed) they will grow only 1” per year. They live to 200-300 years old and don’t start growing their “arms” until they are 75 years old. Such majestic plants! Unlike the Chihuahua and Mojave deserts, the Sonoran has two rainy seasons (one from the Pacific and one from the Gulf.) This increased rainfall contributes to the bountiful plants and wildlife in this desert.
We will postpone exploring other parts of Arizona until February when we return from Hawaii. We will spend December and January Island-hopping to the four main islands of Hawaii. We spent time in the Phoenix area in November to get organized for our trip – things like packing, finding a storage area for the truck/camper while we’re away, and transportation to/from the airport. Therefore this blog only covers part of the southwest that we will be seeing and will be continued after blogs about Hawaii. To you all our best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving and much-too-soon Holidays that follow.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
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