Hawaii - Post 4 - Volcanoes National Park

While on the big island we went over the top of the center of the island across the extinct volcano until we got to the live volcano at Volcanoes National Park.

Here's my family on the rim near where the steam vents are.  We didn't bring rain jackets or umbrellas so my wife bought a few at the ranger station.  I think my daughter's and mine are still in the luggage unopened.


The way into the Thurston Lava Tube.  On the way out, Pooteewheet ended up stuck with a tour group for a few moments looking at trees.  I think some of those people ahead of us, although I remember them all wearing the same outfits and looking sort of like a cult.  She fit right in.



In the Thurston Lava Tube.  Near the hotel there was another lava tube, unmonitored, and lots of people stopped to wander around in it.  Seemed dubious.  I wouldn't have been afraid of lava, but the idea of being under all that rock with an expert giving it a once over would make me nervous.


Up by the Jaggar Museum, overlooking the lava.


Here you can see where the lava is bubbling.  If you stare really really hard, you might be able to see the glow.


This is even closer - you can see the lava in this picture.  If you can't, here's a link to the Original so you see it without increasing your screen resolution.

And in Panorama - the link goes to a much larger panoramic view.

We headed down Chain of Craters road and stopped at the lava pits (sans lava).


My wife and daughter were excited that there were live Nene, or Hawaiian geese.  Eryn came back with a stuffed one.  Not real slash dead slash taxidermied.  But a toy stuffed nene.


The Nene stop was near a big area with a crevasse and lots of big rocks.  It was a neat place to hang out as there wasn't anyone around almost the whole time we were out there.  We had it all to ourselves.  Eryn and I originally thought that far rock looked like the Gorn rock from the original Star Trek, so we were trying to get a picture of us fighting for Mean Mr. Mustard.  But the closer we got, the less it looked like the Kirk-Gorn rock.


A random rock.  These things were sharp despite looking lumpy.  We saw a guy nearby from our car that had obviously fallen and cut up his knee.  I'm surprised he was still moving around.


And down to the sea caves by the Pacific Ocean.  Off in the distance you can see where the lava meets the sea.  You can't get there easily unless you bike from the back or hike in over hours.  We didn't do that.  But my brother, nephews, and dad came back later to hike to the lava.  They didn't bring enough water or dedicated flashflights so from the hotel we were getting posts about batteries wearing out, getting lost on the lava field, and leaving phones in undesignated places.  We thought it might all lead to tragedy.


The video version so you can enjoy the crashing waves.


Hōlei Sea Arch


A better view of the lava steam plume with the warning in the foreground that you're in all sorts of known risks for dying, none of which are eruption or lava related.

Hawaii - Post 3

I'm in training, so I should be coding about Angular 2, but I'll get to that.  Day one wasn't particularly exciting (I learned more from the first part of the Pluralsight class).  So these are still pictures from the Big Island.

We spent one day snorkeling - I mentioned my family all cut up our feet looking at turtles and fish and brain coral in the shallows.  My siblings took lots of pictures of their children, and fish, and turtles, and brain coral.  I figure I can find those on line.  I took a picture of the fact that you have to get a permit to drink on the beach, so you need to think about it in advance.  We were at Kahaluu Beach Park. Here are a million pictures, including turtles, yellow fish, girls in bikinis, and surfers.  We didn't see any sea lions.



My wife and I spent a few minutes touring the petroglyphs near where we stayed.  The idea of living in this hole in the ground, even if it was more of a roof at the time, is sort of frightening.  At least the temperature is pleasant so it wasn't like you were freezing in there.  Minnesotans tend to think about those things.


This whole area including far to the right and left and behind me is covered with carvings.  It was weird that you could just walk around, but it was also difficult to tell what was old, what was graffiti, what meant something, what didn't.  Except for one...


I think I know what this one means, and I suspect, although I can't be sure, that it isn't an ancient Hawaiian petroglyph.  But I didn't try to date it scientifically.

Hawaii - Post 2

This was my morning walk on the big island most mornings.  Along that shoreline and way past the Hilton over there  There's an Ingress portal on this point.  I can't recharge it from Minnesota, but it was a nice spot to link to that no one else wanted to walk to while I was in Hawaii and it gave me a reason to take the more difficult walk than along the side walk with the joggers.  I walked down to that little flat area of rocks when the tide wasn't in.  There were generally golf balls all over that area.  Reminded me off the Seinfeld episode where Kramer nearly kills a whale and George saves it.


When the tide was in you didn't want to be down there.


I walked past this most mornings too.  Apparently this path goes a LONG way between towns.  I was tempted to walk it, but I finally decided if it looked like this in this spot, it looked like this in every spot.


Some of the stranger morning photos.  This is the Zen garden.  KEEP OUT!  No trespassing in the Zen garden.


This is a plant that sexually harassed me once a day.  It sort of looks like it has a priapism issue.


A nice picture closer to one of the beaches.  This was not untypical of the beaches near where we were staying.  They were not great for swimming unless you wanted to get cut up.  As a matter of fact, when we went snorkeling in the shallows at one of the local beaches known for snorkeling, my wife, daughter, and I all cut our feet up pretty good.  I still have a bit of a scab about five inches long that's finally going away after over a month.  Brain coral.  Sharp.  Wear flip flops or surf shoes.  You will note a decided lack of pictures of sea life in my posts although we saw a lot: turtles, whales, dolphins.  No rays - if you're going to see the rays book WAY in advance.  It was the one thing we really missed by not planning ahead extensively.


That said, here's a sea turtle.  Bad picture, but it was pretty early in the morning and s/he was headed into the hotel area to visit some friends.


These are the turtle's friends.  There are two dolphins in there for the hotel dolphin encounter (we weren't at this hotel, but the walking path looped back and forth through the hotel grounds).  I felt kind of bad for them, but in the mornings they were zipping all over the place playing with each other.


There was a tendency to carry white rocks to where there were black rocks and make all sorts of initials in hearts graffiti.  So we made one for Klund.

In panorama...

Sadly, it didn't even last a day.  Love is fleeting.


Unless you take a video of it, then you have it forever.  Along with the soothing sounds of the waves in the background.


I ate this on the big island.  It's a loco moco.  I had a few of them to compare and contrast.  Rice, fried egg, hamburger, gravy.  The gravy was generally the biggest difference.  But it was seriously Minnesota food.  No spice, pretty straight forward meat and starch.  I'm surprised I can't find them on every corner here.

Hawaii - post number one of like a bunch

We went to Hawaii for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary over the holidays (Christmas 2016 and New Years 2017).  I've been to 48 states by my count, and this was the 49th, literally 25 years since the last one I think I added.  I might never get to number 50.  If faced with the choice of Alaska or Iceland or Scandinavian, I think Alaska ranks third.  Maybe for my parents' 75th anniversary.  It was my folks, my sister and her family, my brother and his family, and us.  13 total.  We spent the first 2/3 of the trip on the big island (Hawaii) just north of the Hilton Waikoloa Village.  And the last few days in Honolulu on Oahu.

Right about there...  That pool on the western edge by the three buildings is where we swam.  The beaches weren't so good for swimming.  Pretty darn rocky - even at the curated beach down the road.

The Big Island is pretty relaxing.  This is what the Christmas holidays look like.  I walked the beach or the road from the house we stayed in with my sister's family to the coffee shop almost every morning, taking a slightly different route when I could.  They are really into jogging in Hawaii.  I did not jog.  I've never stayed quite so far from a coffee shop while on vacation before.  Made me appreciate how much I enjoy a place to sit and read where I don't have to brew my own cup.

Mele Kalikimaka Makahiki Hou!  I think that's what the entertainment reporter on KQ used to yell at the end of the Aloha Friday song every Friday.


So just to give you an idea of how homey and unrushed it was, here's Allison scrubbing shoes in the rental.



And here's what folks expect when you say you're going to post about Hawaii.  This was the pool near the beach at the complex (pretty professional looking picture on my part, but it was hard to take a bad picture).  The girls spent a lot of time swimming right into the evening (it got dark!).  I was chaperone, trying to decide if $9.00 for a beer made any sense whatsoever, even on vacation.