As they say, Another One Bites the Dust
Grammy came out to see us again this summer and from all we could tell, she had a great time. (I gather she bragged a lot and showed off her tan when she got back to work.) She and L went to Maui to rub elbows with all the celebrities (but I think the only elbow rubbing that went on was with the lotion at the end of the day). They stayed at a nice hotel right on the beach and got some good sun.
They did some shopping and general hanging out and Grammy went parasailing (she wanted to do that the last time ... another story). She paid for the 1200 ft. ride and some pics. The guy forgot to take the pics so she got to go up again. You have to ride double, so the girl that went with her (free) got go 3 times, and her first was only to 600 ft. Grammy said it was a blast.
After they got back it was our turn, we went the the Big Island - Hawai'i. For those that don't know Hawai'i has 8 islands, we live on O'ahu. Only the Big Island is actually called Hawai'i. Anyway, we got busy right off the bat with a helicopter tour. I should mention that Grammy came right when the hurricane was supposed to be running straight at the Big Island right on the day we were to arrive there ... so we thought our whole trip would be just wind and rain. Not so. :) We got off the plane and got rigt on a Helicopter for a tour of the South East end of the island.
We had a great pilot who really knew how to handle it. She took us up over Hilo and then south to the Lava Fields over the Kilauea (kil-oo-a-ah) flow. This is the longest running lava flow on record. It is not as magnificent as the flows from 1984 when we all saw the scientists standing next to great rivers of lava, but it was way cool anyway.
This is where the lava is running into the ocean. Think, this is how land is made, whoa!!!! The pilot doubled-back so we could all get a good look and the we went on. We then went around the top of Mauna Loa volcano (around 13,000 ft ... yes, they get snow up there in the winter) and then back over Hilo to see a good shot of a waterfall (you'll see that in a minute).
Back on land, we went to our hotel ... cabin actually. We stayed at the Military Recreation Facility which is located IN Volcano National Park. The place has a dining facility, a rec room, an exercise room, and a small store. The package included 2 meals a day and use of all facilities. It's not the Ritz but it was clean and the price is just right. If you have access and are out this way, I highly recommend it.
We took some tours of the island and the Park. We went to the Black Sand Beach on the southernmost end of the island. It really is black sand.
The guide said it is a good place for the turtles to come and lay eggs. We went on to this place that was a religious sanctuary in the days of King Kamehameha. There were more than one, but the main guy united all the Island into one Island nation. Anyway, this sanctuary was cool in that if you got punished for something really bad, you had to run for your life from the posse (literally) and if you got to this sanctuary you would be blessed and your life would be spared. The problem was that to get to in in those days, you had to enter open ocean and then swim around and back in from the sea. The place was beautiful and still kept quite intact. The beaches are unspoiled and talk about some clear water.
They are really strict on the actual grounds. Grammy went to wade into the water to take a picture of a turtle and got in trouble by a Park Range for getting too close. I knew she was touble when she got here. I just pretended I didn't know her and we made a run for the bus when he turned around. On that trip, we also went to Kailua (Kih-loo-ah) on the SouthWest side, where they hold the Iron Man Triathlon. The town is pretty small and the guide said that if you go, plan on being stuck in the town for the entire day (the race goes from 0600 until midnight). He said everything is totally locked up, literally. You just can't get anywhere. I would still like to go though.
Anyway, another tour took us to Hilo. On the way, we stopped at an Orchid farm. It was run by a Japanese guy who came over in the 70's with nothing and turned it into a mint. He has a single plant worth $20,000 (really). We took some pictures of about a 100 varieties. This one was too cool. The orchid flower has 6 leaves, 3-up and 2-down with the odd one down and in the middle, and is symmetrical (don't ask me anything else) and the more perfectly symmetrical it is, the more valuable.
We went on to tour the town. They have had 2 major sunami's, the second one nearly wiped out the entire downtown area. You can see where they decided not to rebuild because of the devasation. The guide's dad had been in it and actually ran to safety when he saw the wave moving out to see and got into a tree before it came back in. The wall of water was over 30ft high. Crazy! We went to see some other things and stopped to see a couple of waterfalls. This one is called Rainbow Falls because on most days (of course not our day because of the overcast skies due to the hurricane) the falls make a perpetual rainbow. Nice place. It's about an 80 ft. drop.
Another tour took us to the Lava Fields in the National Park. We took in a lot of the lava formations from the different flows over the years This is where the lava flows around a tree before the tree goes up in flames (which doesn't always happen).
We also went out to some craters. This one is huge. The big hump in the background between us is where the lava was erupting over 1900 ft in the air (the mound there is about 500 ft tall). Our guide was a kid and his dad photographed it from the edges off to the right. He said he remembers his arms being sunburned from the heat when he got home.
Part of the park is still dense tropical forest. We took a tour through a lava tube (where lava flows and then cools on top but continues to flow under the ground and in the end it makes a tube, usually big enough to walk through, sometimes many miles long). This was the actual tube with no special preparations, just some lights.
The forest around the tube was not as dense as a jungle but dense enough to know you were in a tropical forest. The ferns were tall and thick. It was definitely more humid within the forest than in the area outside.
One of the stops took us to a steam vent. This is where molten lava, miles below, is heating up water from rain that is leaking down, and generates steam that then rises and is compressed in small channels and exits through vents like this one.
The sulfur smell was pretty strong and that guy taking the picture in the background probably only got a picture of a bunch of water droplets on his lens. The steam was extremely hot and very dense. It was interesting that the tour buses would park with the end of the bus right next to the vent and the rev their engines which would make the steam more pronounced. They don't really know why it works but they take advantage of it for the tourists.
The rest of the summer has been pretty tame. Lots of Saturdays taking kids to weekly activities (horse riding lessons and gymnastics). G and B are both in gymnastics now and really enjoying it. G just got started and is, as usual, the most distracted one in the class. The coaches are constantly having to call her back to the group. The really don't get paid enough. B is improving and is starting to show real improvement. H is still riding and volunteering for the whole day. She really works hard and is the staff loves her.
They are all back in school again, G is really learning to read well. Marching band takes up all of our spare time (almost) and H is now FREE in middle school. She is frustrated that they only get 4 minutes between classes (they have to change rooms now) but is elated that at lunch you can sit with whomever you wish and you don't even have to eat if you don't want to.
L is the PTO president at the elementary school and is working hard (actually I work hard and she takes all the credit ... if you believe that, we'll talk about a good real estate deal I've been cookin' up). We had the Fall Festival and we both worked from about 0900 until 1815 (that's 6:15pm for you non-24 hour clock people) ... then home and off to a ball game to watch the marching band, had to leave by 1845 (that's 2 showers and a 10 minute ride to the school). Fun, Fun.
I just got back from my annual meeting in Boston. Didn't do too much besides the meeting but of course got a Harvard sweatshirt ... not for me!! Saw my Army friends and had a pretty good time ... The Ft Gordon Residents ROCKED!!!!!!! VERY nice people in Boston, I mean REALLY friendly and great hospitality. Always willing to help out, etc. We got to take in a game at Fenway Park, the crowd participation was too cool ... I can see how you could get hooked on it. Fun stuff.
Back to the usual grind now, waiting for the next holiday. I'm sure I have missed some good stories to tell, so I will try to get back on little sooner next time and bring you up to speed on those.
As a final note, I (just me) wanted to wish well to a friend from dental school who lost his wife to cancer this summer. They had a long battle and they never really got to take in the whole 'Now I'm a Doctor celebration thing' before this one began to take up all their time. ... I think of you often, I wish you the very best. I hope that you and your children can find peace somehow. You were always a gentle soul and I know that you can keep your family safe and well. May God bless you with all that you need.
Until next time (when L has beaten me up about all that I forgot ... )
Aloha!!
