Our Hawaii group (except for Mike)
at the National Tropical Botanical Garden
| Twentieth Wedding Anniversary Trip to Hawaii |
To celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary, we went to Hawaii with our parents. The six of us visited Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii.
Kauai is known as the Garden Isle, and we started our trip with a visit to the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. The tour took us around the Allerton estate, located on the south shore of the island on land previously owned by Hawaii's Queen Emma. While the area was pretty, it felt more like an estate than a botanical garden. The man-made elements overshadowed the flora, and the range of tropical plants was disappointingly limited. Mike liked the undulating water fountain in the "mermaid room" because he was intrigued by its simple construction.
We stopped at the nearby Spouting Horn before lunch. In the afternoon, we took a boat trip up the Wailua River to the Fern Grotto. Exhausted from our time spent in tourist land, we rested for a couple of hours at our condos before heading up to the North Shore for dinner. We drove out to the end of the road, stopping at a few notable sights, such as the Nurse's Beach from South Pacific and a roadside "wet cave". We ate dinner not far from the spectacular Hanalei Valley Lookout, one of the two most beautiful spots we saw on the island.
The next day we drove into Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. We stopped at most of the scenic overlooks on our way out to the end of the road, savoring the second of the two most beautiful views.
From the final overlook, we could see the cliffs and valleys of the Na Pali coast peeking out from the thickening clouds. From here we started our planned hike into the Alakai Swamp. The hike turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated. First, the final three-quarter miles of road was closed to cars, so we had to walk just to reach the trailhead. The first mile of the trail turned out to be a steep up-and-down affair through ankle-deep mud. When the trail started a particularly steep and slippery climb toward another clouded-over lookout point, half of the group decided to turn back. We continued, with John, to see what was around the next corner. Around that corner we found the beginning of a narrow wooden boardwalk that kept us above the mud and marshes as we descended into the rain forest.
It was far easier to walk along the boardwalk, giving us an opportunity to appreciate the unusual flora. The boardwalk occasionally ended so that the path could cross a stream or climb a narrow ridge, and slogging through these sections made us pine for the return of the boardwalk and praise the wisdom of the other half of our party. As befits a rain forest, it began raining on us intermittently, quite hard at times.
Eventually we reached the plateau of the Alakai Swamp. The boardwalk stretched across the marshy ground, reminding us of the floating walkway in Ray Bradbury's story The Sound of Thunder. In one marsh, we saw a Converse sneaker stuck in the mud, reminding us (if we needed reminding) to stay on the path. We decided to turn back at that point: the final half-mile of the trail led to another overlook that would not reveal its glories to us. After the interminable walk back up the road, we found the rest of our group clean, dry, and happy relaxing in the van. We drove directly back to our condos for a shower and a lesson in the staining properties of Hawaiian "red dirt."
On our final morning on Kauai, we visited the Kilauea Lighthouse, situated on the northernmost point in the Hawaiian Islands. The lighthouse grounds are a bird sanctuary, and we were able to see several species of birds, including a baby Albatross.
We had lunch and did some shopping at the Coconut Marketplace, then dropped off Joan and Jack at the airport for their flight to Hilo. Since the rest of us were on a later flight, we visited a couple of local waterfalls before returning the rental van. When we arrived in Hilo, Joan and Jack were there to pick us up and drive us to our hotel overlooking Hilo Bay.
We started our Big Island adventure just like we finished in Kauai, by visiting the local waterfalls. In downtown Hilo, we went to the Pacific Tsunami Museum and learned not to call them "tidal waves." Hilo is subject to frequent tsunamis, including large, devastating ones within living memory (1946 and 1960). The museum displays many fascinating photographs and stories, and the docents have personal stories to relate.
Before we left Hilo, we thought it appropriate to shop at the hometown branch of Hilo Hatties. After stocking up on souvenirs, we cut across the volcanic southeastern flank of the island to our secluded condos on the black sand beach at Punalu'u. Over a home-cooked meal, we planned our trip to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
We spent a long, full day in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. After a sobering safety presentation at the vistor's center, we drove down Chain of Craters Road to what used to be the coastal highway. It's a dead end now, because several miles of it are covered in lava. Kilauea, the world's most active volcano, is still pouring lava across the road and into the sea. We hiked out to see for ourselves.
The National Park Service has marked a trail across the lava with the kind of yellow road markers used to separate lanes. We stepped carefully over the cracked surface of the black lava, which looked like a batch of fudge brownies. Occassionally we'd see sections of the original road or blackened and twisted road signs. In the distance we could see plumes of steam rising from the spot where molten lava flowed into the ocean. As we got closer, we could feel the heat radiating from the ground, and the lava turned from black to almost golden. From the rope boundary at the end of the path, we caught glimpses of glowing red molten lava through gaps in the hardened black shell.
The clouds came in as we drove back up Chain of Craters Road. It started raining right on cue as we entered the Jurrasic Park-sized ferns of the rain forest. We walked through the Thurston Lava Tube; Mike and Jack even went down into the dark, undeveloped section. We warmed our hands over the steam vents and laughed about the dramatic descriptions of the mundane-looking tree molds. We waited out the rain looking at the exhibits in the Volcanic Research Center. As we walked along the steaming rim of the main caldera, a rainbow appeared.
We had dinner overlooking the crater at the venerable Volcano House. After dessert, we drove to a spot overlooking our earlier hike and saw the expanse of hot lava glowing red in the distance. Back at our condo, we walked quietly onto the dark beach and found green sea turtles sleeping in the sand.
Since we visited Hawaii's northernmost point on Kauai, it made sense that we should visit the southernmost point on Hawaii. Ka Lae is, in fact, the southernmost point in the United States. We drove through the cattle farms and past the wind turbines to a windy plateau. Mike and Jack climbed down onto the rocks that were clearly farther south, then had to rush back ahead of the incoming tide.
From Ka Lae, we drove north (of course) up the Kona coast. We made pilgrimages to two religious sites: St Benedict's Painted Church and Pu'uhonua o Honaunau ("place of refuge at Honaunau"). We had lunch in the town of Captain Cook, above the bay where Cook was killed. We checked into our condos in Kailua-Kona, then checked out the sights and shops downtown.
The next morning we drove across the high grassy plains of cattle country to the northern coast of the island. We had planned to take a 4WD tour down into the Waipio Valley, but the tour was full and we decided not to wait for the afternoon one. However, we did not pass up the chance to sample the famous malasadas (Portuguese-style donuts) at Tex's Drive In. We polished off a dozen of them. On our way back, we toured the historic homes at Parker Ranch, the largest independent cattle ranch in the United States. We had a sunset dinner at a beautiful restaurant that was unfortunately beset by gnats.
The next day we swapped the van for a 4WD SUV and headed up Mauna Kea, the state highpoint of Hawaii at 13,796 feet above sea level. Our route took us back up into the hilly grasslands of the Parker Ranch, which looked more like northern California than Hawaii, then along the saddle road between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. After passing through a military training area, we turned onto the summit road. The landscape became more volcanic and barren as our SUV climbed toward the Onizuka Visitor Center at 9300 feet. We stopped at the Visitor Center for a while to acclimate — we were at sea level a couple of hours ago! When we were breathing easily, we drove slowly up the winding dirt road to the observatories near the summit. We parked next to the University of Hawaii telescope, piled on our warm clothes, and climbed over the guardrail for a short hike to the true summit. From the top, we could see the patches of snow still clinging to the ground. We took pictures to commemorate the achievement and watched the clouds creeping up the slopes toward us.
On our final day in Hawaii, we visited a small Kona coffee plantation. Because it was a Sunday, we had a private tour — no one on the plantation except for us and the wild turkeys. We had lunch at the Kona Brewing Company, where Mike got tipsy from the brew sampler. Jack took the wheel and we drove up the coast to check out the luxury resorts in Waikoloa. We visited the extensive grounds of a couple of the hotels, even taking a boat ride around the Hilton. As the afternoon drew to a close, we dropped Joan and Jack off at the airport for their red-eye flight to Phoenix. In the evening, the remnants of our group attended the obligatory Hawaiian luau. It was held outside on the grounds of the King Kamehameha Hotel. Before dinner, Evelyn learned how to weave a fish from a coconut frond. We sampled the traditional Hawaiian dishes, but didn't discover any hidden treasures. The dancing and singing was enjoyable if not particularly authentic.
We flew back home the next morning. Conveniently, we had a direct flight from Kona to Oakland, so we didn't have to change planes.