1995 Hawaii

Saturday 06/10

We didn’t get first class again. We had dressed up a bit and begged nicely for the upgrade. It just never works for us. Then of course we had to travel 11 hours in uncomfortable clothes.

When we finally arrived on the Big Island, we decided to get a four-wheel drive vehicle so that we could see some of the sights that were off the beaten path. You can pay other people to take you to those places, but that becomes costly and is less adventuresome. We wound up with a Nissan Pathfinder.

From the airport to our Royal Waikaoloan Hotel is a very ugly stretch of black lava. After arriving, we had an extravagant dinner at Subway.

Sunday 06/11

Took the day to drive up to and around the Kohala Mountains. The scenery got noticeably greener, and more lush as we went further north. The first stop was Hapuna Beach, which was quite nice.

We then went on to visit some ancient Hawaiian temples, called Heiau. They are mostly roundish, black lava rocks, stacked up in some kind of order. The largest, oldest and most awesome was down our first 4wd road -- a steep, muddy (very muddy) mess -- that had Debbie very worried (and screaming to go back) the whole way. We also got our clean, white shoes very muddy by walking to and around the Heiau. Debbie scrubbed them when we returned to our hotel.

The Pololu valley lookout at the end of the road on the north side was beautiful. Sea cliffs usually are in Hawaii. Hawi and Waimea (a cowboy town, home of the famous Parker ranch) were beautiful towns. Wouldn’t mind living there. Incidentally, the cows around the Parker ranch appeared to be exceedingly happy and content. We figured that if you were a cow, you would be a happy cow if you lived in Hawaii.

Lunch in Waimea and then back to our hotel. Ate dinner at Huggos in Kona, with the setting sun. Kona sure is lively in the evenings.

Monday 06/12

What a day of exploration! This time it was to the Hamakua coast on the north/northeast side of the Big Island. Started (early) by going through Waimea, over to the Waipio valley lookout. This is once again the end of the road, this time on the other side of the same sea cliffs we saw yesterday. After taking the usual several pictures, we decided to plunge down into the valley. Another 4wd road. This time it was paved, but very very very very steep. Kind of like the Magnum at Cedar Point. We made it again, along with some more protest from Debbie. People live in the valley (they drive 4wd’s, too). We saw a huge waterfall which wasn’t visible from the lookout. Then we got to a point where a river was going over the road and decided to turn back. Supposedly there is a tiny village further on into the valley.

Traveled back along the Hamakua coast towards Hilo and made a few stops along the way. We decided that THIS is where we really want to live! One of the stops was to Laupahoehoe (that’s right; I looked it up) park to see big waves splashing over black rocks. Closer to Hilo, we stopped at Akaka Falls. Nice again. Once in Hilo, we stopped at a little oriental park, but not much else going on in the town that interested us.

To return to the western (Kona/Kohala) coast from Hilo, it was recommended that we go back the way we came, but we noticed that there was a way with less mileage: the Saddle Road. It's called the Saddle Road because it travels between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, the two tall, volcanic mountains along some saddle type topography. This part of the trip was interesting, but not as scenic as the coast. It really was faster, though.

That is, of course, until we decided to take the side road up to the top of Mauna Kea. At nearly 14,000 feet above sea level, the Hawaiians like to tell you that Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world. That’s because if you start measuring from the base at the bottom of the Pacific, it is well over 30,000 feet, much taller that Everest. Mauna Kea is also the home of the largest and most sophisticated telescopes because of the nearly perfect viewing there. For us it was another steep, dirt and gravel, 4wd road accompanied by screams and protests from Debbie. As predicted, it was cold and windy at the top, for which we weren’t dressed at all. We could look down at the clouds and moonlike terrain and over to Mauna Loa, which is still active and almost as tall. Incidentally, Mauna Kea is extinct, so that volcanism was not one of our concerns up there. Mauna Loa is also the most massive mountain in the world. And just one more superlative, then I’ll let it go: Kilauea, next to Mauna Loa in Volcanoes National Park is the most active volcano in the world.

That Mauna Kea trip had been pretty much of a lark, because we had planned to do it on a separate day. Anyway, like I said, what a day!

Tuesday 06/13

Now we finally took a day to relax. Staying around the resort all day, we took some walks and otherwise hung out at the beach and some at the pool. The beach is one of the nicest on the Big Island, with freshwater lakes and small pools between it and the hotel. The brackish freshwater has small fish and shrimp and was used by the Hawaiians for aquaculture.

One of our walks was to the Hilton Waikoloan Village. We went in via the beach and could not find our way back out -- at least not for a long time. What a maze. Who designed that place? I think it has over 1,000 rooms spread out over God knows how many hundred acres. There’s water everywhere and of course you can swim with the dolphins.

Dinner at Straw Hat Pizza. Strong winds caused it to feel cold, requiring long sleeves for the sunset on the beach.

Wednesday 06/14

Vegged out around the resort for yet another lousy day in paradise. Like everyone else who’s ever been to the Big Island, we wrote our names (Debbie & Dan) with white coral on the black lava, along the roadside.

Having run through the Swanky Mauna Lani resort that morning, we ate dinner there at the Gateway Restaurant. Very good seafood; but then almost all of the seafood has been great. Mauna Lani is where the Mauna Lani Rock Resort and the Ritz Carlton are.

We watched our hotel’s luau when we got back. Really hokey. (“A-LO---HA!”) Glad we didn’t go for it.

Thursday 06/15

We chose this day to drive around the southern side of the island. I had forgotten just how beautiful the southern part of Kona is, because as I’ve noted above, the northern part is especially ugly with the lava flows everywhere. But the south has hills flowing down to the sea with gobs of flowers everywhere.

Stopped at the Mauna Loa Coffee Mill & Museum to buy coffee for Debbie’s dad. This wasn’t too exciting in itself, but the general area is very nice. There are other coffee mills around, too. Still nearby, we stopped at Ho’okena beach. There was gray sand there and it was fun to watch the native Hawaiians there with the little naked kids.

One of the main goals was the Green Sand Beach, near the southern tip. This is also the southernmost part of the U.S. Debbie claims that we were in the town of South Point on our last trip to the Big Island, but I wasn’t so sure. I thought I‘d have remembered the long, narrow road going by the rows of windmills leading down there. The windmills are there because the place is unbelievably windy. Trees don’t grow there and even the grass doesn’t look happy (unlike the cows); it was brown, straggly and bent over from the wind. Debbie and I never did settle our disagreement about South Point because our turnoff to the Green Sand Beach came just before we reached town.

Yet another 4wd road. Yet more screams from Debbie. This time I agreed with her; the road had ruts and rocks that were too huge for our vehical. I did see a 4wd making it through, but that one had those big wheels with a lot of clearance. Anyway, Debbie and I set out to walk to the beach. It was supposed to be 2 and 1/2 to 3 miles and we had driven part of the way already, before having to stop. It took us about 50 minutes of fighting the wind and flying dust to find the beach. From the top of a cliff, we could look down to see a greenish, brownish, grayish beach with a few people swimming there. The green is from olivine, a mineral that results from volcanic activity. The beach has some of the olivine, specs of lava and white coral. Actually, our beach at the hotel seemed to have the same elements, but in different proportions, so that it looked white. Anyway, Debbie said she was too tired to climb down, so she waited while I made my way there alone. Turned out that the people frolicking around were all naked. I was a bit self conscious walking by them with my camera and touristy clothes. Still up at the top, Debbie would have noticed if I were to join in the fun too much, so I took a few pictures and climbed back up, passing some pot smokers on their way down. The really weird thing was that we saw a 2wd car at the top. It must have come from the other direction, but I think that that was even a longer drive. Maybe the ruts weren’t so bad. Anyway, the walk back was with the wind, but we sure were tired when we reached our Pathfinder. Dirty shoes again -- this time from the red dust. Actually, we were covered with dust, so we washed up at another beach and went on.

Heading back up the southeastern side, we stopped at Punaluu Black Sand Beach, where we agreed that we had been to before. At that point, we decided not to go on to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, since we had been there before, too. We had also heard that the flowing lava couldn’t be viewed from land. Finally, we were extremely tired and dirty. (No, not from seeing the naked people; literally dirty.) It turns out that the only way to see the flowing lava right now is by helicopter. We were tempted, but since the price was pretty high, we decided not to fly this time.

For the sunset back at our beach, we brought subs and wine and relaxed after another big day.

Friday 06/16

It was clothes washing day. Since we took only carry-ons, we didn’t have many clothes, and the ones we had were very dirty. Later on we checked out, drove to Kona and walked around for a few hours, killing the time until our flight to Maui came up.

Those inter-island flights seem to kill the whole day, because of packing, unpacking, driving to the airport, checking in the rental car, getting a new car, checking out and into hotels, etc., etc. By the time we got to our Maui Marriott, we were crabby and tired. Too many people and too much traffic on Maui. Had to pay $7.00 a day to park at our hotel and then had trouble finding a space.

But Maui is still as beautiful as ever. And I forgot how much fun it is, driving around and being able to determine exactly where you are on the map just by looking at the mountains and sea around you. (There are mountains in the West, or “head part”, a valley across the “neck” and more mountains - Haleakala - to the east, or “body”.)

Ate dinner at the Rusty Harpoon in Kaanapali Whaler’s Village. Nice sunset.

Saturday 06/17

I always had wanted to drive to Hana to the eastern tip of Maui via the Southern route. The drive via the Northern route is famous for being really beautiful and it is; we’ve done it twice. The rental agencies tell you that you can’t go the Southern way because of a bad road, so we decided to go for it. (Other people do, too.)

There was some stunning scenery this way, too, although it was a dryer area. The “Upcountry” Kula area was very nice. The dirt road wasn’t so bad, and we got almost to the 7 Sacred Pools before turning back. We were getting tired, and decided that we didn’t need to see it again.

Besides, we had to save time for other things. Like the Tedesci Winery. Interesting tour. Not that much different from other wineries, except that they make pineapple wine here besides their other ones. Quite tasty, too. We bought a couple bottles and some champagne for our room.

After the winery, we did what everyone should do after tasting wine: we shopped at Kmart. Oodles of fun. We then did some grocery shopping for food for our breakfasts and lunches. $4.00 per gallon for milk on sale. $3.50 for a loaf of bread. $6.00 for a box of cereal. We’re spoiled.

When we got back, there was a decree: NO MORE SHOPPING! And WE’RE GOING TO CURTAIL OUR TOURING, TOO!

That evening we walked along Kaanapali beach towards Black Rock. Had pizza and wine near the beach in front of our hotel, while watching the sunset.

Sunday 06/18

I did my long (20 mile) run today. Ran northwest towards the top of the Head, past Kahana, Napili, Kapalua. Then the scenery really got nice as I left civilization and development as the road round through a tropical rain forest. Nice sunrise and rainbow, as well as views of Molokai and Lanai on the way back.

Took a long walk and then went down to swim. Lazy day, otherwise.

For dinner, we walked to the Kaanapali Beach Hotel. The fish wasn’t the greatest, but the experience brought back fond memories, from our stay there 10 years ago. There was a Hawaiian family singing and dancing the hula, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Infinitely better than the Luau entertainment we’d been noticing (“A-LO---HA!”) Yet another great sunset for our walk back.

Monday 06/19

This was it. The big bike ride down the volcano. Woke up at 2:00 am for the 2:45 pickup. Upon getting us and two non-speaking deaf guys into the van, our driver noted that it would be an interesting day. Besides us, there were two other couples, plus two Japanese girls who spoke very little English. On top of the unusual crew, we were to have an “intense” guide who was being re-trained, after a hiatus.

When the van pulled up to base camp, a guy in army fatigues and a black beret opened the side van door and yelled, “GOOD MORNING!” at us. We didn’t respond and he re-closed the door. A few seconds later, he repeated the salutation and this time we mumbled a response, so he came into the van to chat: “My name is Tex. I’m from Waco. I’m your guide today. Anybody have a problem with that?” Yes, it was going to be an interesting day.

The ride up to the top of Haleakala was really fun. Although everyone was still very much half a sleep, Tex told us several stories, military-style. “Folks, one of your goals today should be to not get part of this mountain named after you. This is ‘Fred’s Corner’. There was this guide named Fred who took this turn a little too fast and...”

We arrived at the Haleakala summit (10,000 feet) in time to stand in the cold and watch for the sunrise above the crater and clouds below. Seemed colder than Mauna Kea, but it was very early and we weren’t awake yet anyway. The sunrise itself was neat again (we’d done this part 12 years ago) but once again nothing compared to the great sunsets on the beach.

After sunrise we got our last instructions and then got onto our bikes and started down the mountain. This beginning part, psychologically, was the scariest part. After all, we’re about to ride bikes almost straight down a 10,000 foot volcano. After we got going though, it wasn’t too bad. Debbie rode a few people ahead of me. We got going to 15 to 20 mph at times, but had to slow down at the switchbacks, curves and turns.

After a few stops, we had breakfast in Kula. It was good -- Bacon, eggs and pancakes, but somehow we had expected something fancier after paying over $100.00 each for this trip. Oh well.

The 2nd half -- from Kula down to the sea - was more fun. We had started stripping off our layers of clothing, including our yellow parkas, leggings and gloves so eventually we were dressed for the tropics again. The scenery here was much more beautiful, since there is sparse vegetation back near the summit. We also went through a few little towns where people don’t like bikers going through single file. Tex said, “Since I work for this company, I’m not allowed to give anyone the finger, but you can.”

We wound up at Paia, a little hippie town on the sea. Had a bit of time to walk around before heading back. Tex was happy that nobody fell; he wouldn’t have any paperwork to do. We gave him a nice tip.

After crashing for a few hours at our hotel (better here than on the bikes), we went to Lahaina, the old whaling town, and walked around for a few hours. It was hot though, and after this long day we didn’t feel like shopping or seeing the other sights.

Ate at Hecocks, then went back to Kaanapali for the best sunset yet. Too bad I can’t describe these things. I did take a few pictures this time.

Tuesday 06/20

The day started out with a long walk around the Kaanapali area -- all the way to the Royal Lahaina Resort. This was after another of my 20-mile runs.

After the walk, I was finally able to do some snorkeling. After getting the gear from our hotel, I walked all the way to Black Rock with it (about a mile) and got in the water. Pretty good snorkeling there -- especially when people were feeding the fish. After the walk back, but before turning in the equipment, I jumped in right by our resort and I saw a lot right there. There was lots of coral not too far out, making it not the best part of Kaanapali for swimming, but the snorkeling appeared to be as good as anywhere. Too bad we didn’t have more time for it.

In the afternoon we began our drive around the head of Maui. This used to be another no-no from the car rental places. In fact, the booklet they gave us said it was still taboo. But we had heard that the road was recently paved. It was, but it was narrow. Very narrow. Narrow enough for one car, as long as it wasn’t a Chevy Caprice or similar behemoth. Anyway, it was a fun trip; we stopped several times to take in the gorgeous views.

As we got back to the neck, we took the road into the Iao Needle area, passing Ua Street. (Remember to pronounce each vowel independently.) The needle itself -- a 2,000 foot spire is neat, but the whole valley is really spectacular. I hadn’t wanted to go because we’d seen it before, but now I was glad that we did.

We had dinner at the Westin -- another swanky hotel near ours. Another really good meal at a halfway decent price, thanks to the Entertainment Card. Glad we didn’t leave home without it. One last sunset to enjoy, here on Maui.


Wednesday 06/21

Our 20th anniversary. We had a champagne and cereal breakfast in our room before the long trip home.