August (7 days)
Our first trip to Hawai'i... it was the year of our 25th
Anniversary, the year our son married, and it was both our
folks' 50th Anniversary. Ken's parents were not interested in
travel... at least his mom was not... and one can only imagine
how she would have fared on a five-and-one-half hour flight...
OVER WATER! She was
definitely not a willing traveler. But Rosalee's parents were
game travelers and so they accompanied us to
Hawai'i.
Three weeks before we left for the islands Rosalee slipped while
we were camping and busted up her ankle royally. She had eight
huge screws placed into her ankle to hold the multiple pieces in
place and had a cast that went to above her knee. She was ready to
bail on the planned Hawai'i trip but everyone convinced her that
her leg heals just as well in Paradise as it does at home. So we
went... and more often than not her cast laid across Ken's lap
at restaurants and on the plane so she could be comfortable.
We had a condominium rented in Keihei, on the Western coast of
Maui, where we spent a week of sheer laziness. The airport is on
the North end of the island, the old whaling town of Lahina is
at the North-West corner, and Haleakala (Haw - Lay - Ah - Kah -
Lah), the larger volcano (extinct) on the island is in the South-East
corner... sort of toward the center of the larger part of the
island. The island is made from at least two dominant and
extinct volcanoes, making the island a bit like the figure 8,
with one loop a lot larger than the other.
The Eastern coast (and Southern coast as well) is very sparsely
populated, with the town of Hana at the end of a sixty mile road
that has nearly two hundred full switchbacks (one for each fold in
the coastline), almost as many very narrow bridges, and a barely-maintained surface. Pot-holes dominated the surface of the road.
It takes hours to drive that sixty miles, and they sell
Tee-shirts with a locally famous logo: "I Survived The 'Road To
Hana' ". Many call it the road to Hell, but it is the road that
is Hellish, and not the destination.
The Hana area is a beautiful location. There is some
daily/weekly rental property there but it is very limited, and
most requires reservations months ahead. In this area there is a
ranch owned by Carol Burnett, and another owned by her friend
Gomer Pyle... I mean Jim Nabors. We drove half way to Hana but
felt it was a bit too much for Rosalee's mom, so we had seen
enough by then and turned to go back. Rosalee's dad enjoyed the
area, and Ken indicated that it was what they had 'expected'
Hawai'i to look like (the Western coast... Keihei area... is
pretty dry and barren). Fully grown trees everywhere, wild
bananas and wild fruits of several varieties growing along the
road. And also, Split-leaf Philodendrons, a popular plant that
we usually grow inside our homes, was climbing up the sides of
tree trunks and reaching over thirty feet in height.
One morning we got up early and drove up to the top of
Haleakala, the volcano. The observation building was at 10,000
feet elevation. Harold and Bessie were doing fine but Rosalee
with her leg cast and Ken being short of breath were the ones
that were holding back.
The view from there down into the caldera of the volcano was
beautiful. It looked like a painted desert. with streaks of many
colors, and it was not so steep that there were trails walking
down into the caldera, which was at least five or more miles
across to the other side. We were told that watching daybreak
from that location was breath-taking, but that would require a
trip that started at about 0300 hours... that's three A. M. in
people talk. And we were also told that it is a very rare event
indeed, because the clouds will usually block the full effect of
the sunrise.
On the drive up to the top of the mountain we got the chance to
see some of the Ne'ne (Nea - Nea), which are a type of a goose,
and are the nearly extinct State Bird. We also were able to spot
some Silversword, a yucca-like plant that grew wild, and would
send up a huge array of white blooms on a single stalk that was
about the size of a bushel basket. It is also extremely guarded
due to its rarity and threatened status. It seems that part of
the problem is the wild goats that have been brought to the
islands over the past years, and the wild hogs that have roamed
the islands since the early settlers.
One recreational adventure in which we did not partake was
riding in a van up the paved road to the top of the mountain,
mounting a bike that was brought with the van, and coasting all
the way down from 10,000 feet to town. The bike consists of a
normal 'mountain' bike with balloon tires and 'monster' disk
brakes on the front wheel. There is usually a guide riding point
at the front to control the speed of the pack and another guide
at the rear to be sure they do not lose any stragglers.
Being this our first ever visit to Hawai'i Ken could not help
but wonder if you could actually see other islands when you were
on one. Well Kawoolawae (Kah - Woo - Oo - Lah - Wah - Ay), which
is counted as one of the 8 major Hawaiian Islands, is just a few
miles off the Western coast of Maui, easily seen from the Kihei
area. There are actually 132 islands spread over a distance of
1,523 miles in this archipelago. The 8 "youngest" islands are
considered to be the State of Hawai'i, and Kawoolawae is only
home to a family or two that ranch the island. It is that small.
During WWII the island was used as a target for Naval gunnery
practice.
Looking to the South-East you can see the largest mountains of
the Big Island, Hawai'i, and looking to the North you can easily
see the small island of Molokai (Mow - Low - Kaw - Ee), which is
about thirty miles long and less than ten miles wide.
Ken also could not help but wonder what a REAL Hawaiian was
like. After all, EVERY human came to Hawai'i at one time or
other, or was born there of parents who came from somewhere
else. So when he entered a book store he noticed an elderly lady
running the store that was wearing a muu-muu (Moo - Oo - Moo -
Oo), a sack-like dress, made from a large-flower print. She
asked if she could help and he commented that he was looking for
a large-picture, coffee table-type book of images of Hawai'i but
all that were there were books of pictures about San Francisco,
Paris, New York, etc. "I fly 2,100 miles to buy books about
Hawai'i and I see piles of books of my own home town." LOL. She
asked where he was from and when he said "...the San Francisco
Area" she said "Oh! I'm from Fresno. My husband and I retired
and moved here two years ago." It appears it takes more than a
muu-muu and a sweet smile to make someone a real Hawaiian
native. LOL
We went to dinner, and Harold, being somewhat frugal, suggested
we hit a restaurant that looked like a Tiki hut, and it offered
"Early Bird Specials - $5.95." They went in and after finding a
table that worked for Rosalee to place her casted leg across
Ken's lap, they were served by a young waitress. Now, if you
have seen the original movie "South Pacific", you no doubt
recall the infamous character Bloody Mary. Well this waitress
could have been her daughter... or sister. But after considering
that most people have come to the islands from somewhere else...
likely the Continental United States... Ken carefully chose his
words and asked: "How long have you lived in the islands?"
She responded with a bit of a shy smile... then said: "Six
Months". LOL. There are NO 'REAL' Hawaiians! The rest of the
conversation went as follows:
He: "Where did you live before?"
She: "Oh, a little town in Northern California."
He: "Which little town in Northern California?"
She: "It's up above Sacramento" sounding somewhat dismissive.
He: "Which little town above Sacramento?"
She: "Have you ever heard of Oroville?"
He: "Have you ever heard of Gridley?" (Gridley and Oroville are
neighbors... about 17 miles apart)
NOW she got very excited. "You are from GRIDLEY?"
He: "Were you a waitress in Oroville?
She: "Yes, I worked in a restaurant where a lot of truckers used
to stop."
He: "Was that Prospector's Village on Oro-Dam Boulevard?"
That put her into a state of total excitement. "You
know where Prospector's Village is?"
He: "Did you get truckers that drove for Shifflet Brothers
Trucking?"
She: "Oh Yes! I knew ALL the guys from Shifflet Brothers."
He, introducing Harold to her: "Then I'd like for you to meet
Harold Shifflet!" Well, that sent her ballistic at that point.
We stopped there several more times (their food was actually
good) and that waitress took very good care of us. It goes to
show that you can certainly not spot a true Hawaiian by their
appearance.
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