Sunday, August 26, 2007
Wet n' Wild
Just as most of our friends and family on the mainland are beginning to experience cooler temperatures, our weather is actually becoming slightly warmer. In the year that we have lived on Oahu, the winter/spring temperatures hovered around the upper-70s, lower-80s and the summer months have given us mid- to upper-80s; now that autumn is approaching, we typically experience upper-80s and lower-90s. NOT that we are complaining - we are, afterall, surrounded by water! Anyway, here is Abigail enjoying a favorite pastime for keeping cool...
Saturday, August 25, 2007
USS Missouri
Think back to your high school history lesson on WWII... On September 2, 1945, Japan officially surrendered to the Allies aboard this battleship.
If you click to enlarge, you will be able to read this sign:
Just beyond the USS Missouri is the Arizona Memorial, which is built atop the sunken ship USS Arizona. (The body of water is Pearl Harbor.)
If you click to enlarge, you will be able to read this sign:
Just beyond the USS Missouri is the Arizona Memorial, which is built atop the sunken ship USS Arizona. (The body of water is Pearl Harbor.)
Friday, August 24, 2007
Little Boo Boo
Like a typical 2-year old, Abigail occasionally insists on wearing her rainboots on sunny, 90 degree days. One day she wanted to wear them to the pediatrician's office - whatever - we choose our battles as parents, don't you know!? Besides, she sure is cute in her boots!
Preparing for the [base] beach on a weekday:
Cover-up for sun protection!
Check out the Crocs Abigail is wearing... They were free! One of our neighbors works at the Crocs wearhouse as a promotional manager or something and gets all kinds of Crocs to take home for dispersal as promo items. Abigail scored two pairs and since I seem to be the only woman in the neighborhood to wear a size 11, I received three pairs of "flip-flop" Crocs. How fun to get "something for nothing."
Preparing for the [base] beach on a weekday:
Cover-up for sun protection!
Check out the Crocs Abigail is wearing... They were free! One of our neighbors works at the Crocs wearhouse as a promotional manager or something and gets all kinds of Crocs to take home for dispersal as promo items. Abigail scored two pairs and since I seem to be the only woman in the neighborhood to wear a size 11, I received three pairs of "flip-flop" Crocs. How fun to get "something for nothing."
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Warning: Many, Many Photos!
On Monday (our final day of this amazing vacation to the Big Island) we actually slept kind of late before checking out of our KMC cottage. Though it was raining, that fit fine with the morning's events. First we visited the HVNP Jaggar Museum which stirred my memories of my geology class at University of Illinois.
Just outside Volcanoes Park, we enjoyed a complimentary wine tasting at Volcano Winery - "America's Southernmost Winery." One of the six signature wines is the unique Macadamia Nut Honey Wine which contains no grapes but rather fermented honey! Needless to say, this is a sweet, delicious dessert wine.
Our next stop found us gawking at gorgeous orchids at Akatsuka Orchid Garden.
This nursery contains more than 200,000 orchids ranging in price from $30-$10,000!!!
Didn't Justin capture these flowers beautifully? I am hoping to enlarge and frame some of his photographs which invoke "happy feelings" in me.
Mt. View Bakery proved to be a fabulous pit stop for the famous stone cookies, appropriately named for being rock- hard (perfect for dipping in our coffee!)
Two of my favorite nuts - Justin and the macadamia - at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Visitor Center:
Yes, the free samples were fabulous. Unfortunately, we did not have time for the farm and factory tour.
Panaewa Zoo contains a natural rainforest climate with colorful tropical gardens surrounding the various animal habitats. Another aspect of this zoo that appealed to us: free admission!
Why did the peacock cross the road?
Just to show off.
The main attraction which enticed us to visit Panaewa Zoo is Namaste, a white Bengal tiger. I was totally mesmerized by the coolest animal I have seen in my life!
Isn't he awesome!?
At this point in our "choose your own adventure" day, we headed into Hilo to drive along Banyan Drive, named for the canopy of these large, impressive trees planted by various celebrities throughout the 1900s. The culmination of this drive is Queen Liliuokalani Gardens, an ornamental Japanese park to honor the Japanese immigrants.
White Hibiscus:
Across from the Japanese gardens is Coconut Island, a tiny island connected by a narrow footbridge. Here are some children who were playing in the water and on the rocks there:
Historic downtown Hilo from the vantage point of Coconut Island:
The gardens, as seen from Coconut Island:
After touring Banyan Drive, we filled our stomachs at Blane's Drive In (which incidently has the longest menu imaginable of Hawaiian plate lunches), then we filled the tank of our rental car. Believe it or not, our only plan for the day consisted of driving "downhill" from Volcanoes Park to Hilo to catch our 3:30 flight, hitting as many tourist stops as we could along the way... We were surprised by how much we could fit into the day, surely attributed to not having a toddler in tow! Kinda cool, as well, is that we paid zilch for admission to these great sites.
Last but not least are some photos taken from the airplane (a flight lasting less than an hour).
West Maui Mountains:
Isthmus between the two dominant volcanoes of Maui:
East Maui Volcano:
The Au'au Channel between the shores of Maui and Lanai:
Perhaps the only thing lacking from our trip to the Big Island was viewing the lava flow, currently seen only from a bird's eye view (i.e., pricey helicopter ride). Maybe this will change before our departure from Oahu, and we'll skip over for a day-trip to see an active volcano erupting. We'll see!
Just outside Volcanoes Park, we enjoyed a complimentary wine tasting at Volcano Winery - "America's Southernmost Winery." One of the six signature wines is the unique Macadamia Nut Honey Wine which contains no grapes but rather fermented honey! Needless to say, this is a sweet, delicious dessert wine.
Our next stop found us gawking at gorgeous orchids at Akatsuka Orchid Garden.
This nursery contains more than 200,000 orchids ranging in price from $30-$10,000!!!
Didn't Justin capture these flowers beautifully? I am hoping to enlarge and frame some of his photographs which invoke "happy feelings" in me.
Mt. View Bakery proved to be a fabulous pit stop for the famous stone cookies, appropriately named for being rock- hard (perfect for dipping in our coffee!)
Two of my favorite nuts - Justin and the macadamia - at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Visitor Center:
Yes, the free samples were fabulous. Unfortunately, we did not have time for the farm and factory tour.
Panaewa Zoo contains a natural rainforest climate with colorful tropical gardens surrounding the various animal habitats. Another aspect of this zoo that appealed to us: free admission!
Why did the peacock cross the road?
Just to show off.
The main attraction which enticed us to visit Panaewa Zoo is Namaste, a white Bengal tiger. I was totally mesmerized by the coolest animal I have seen in my life!
Isn't he awesome!?
At this point in our "choose your own adventure" day, we headed into Hilo to drive along Banyan Drive, named for the canopy of these large, impressive trees planted by various celebrities throughout the 1900s. The culmination of this drive is Queen Liliuokalani Gardens, an ornamental Japanese park to honor the Japanese immigrants.
White Hibiscus:
Across from the Japanese gardens is Coconut Island, a tiny island connected by a narrow footbridge. Here are some children who were playing in the water and on the rocks there:
Historic downtown Hilo from the vantage point of Coconut Island:
The gardens, as seen from Coconut Island:
After touring Banyan Drive, we filled our stomachs at Blane's Drive In (which incidently has the longest menu imaginable of Hawaiian plate lunches), then we filled the tank of our rental car. Believe it or not, our only plan for the day consisted of driving "downhill" from Volcanoes Park to Hilo to catch our 3:30 flight, hitting as many tourist stops as we could along the way... We were surprised by how much we could fit into the day, surely attributed to not having a toddler in tow! Kinda cool, as well, is that we paid zilch for admission to these great sites.
Last but not least are some photos taken from the airplane (a flight lasting less than an hour).
West Maui Mountains:
Isthmus between the two dominant volcanoes of Maui:
East Maui Volcano:
The Au'au Channel between the shores of Maui and Lanai:
Perhaps the only thing lacking from our trip to the Big Island was viewing the lava flow, currently seen only from a bird's eye view (i.e., pricey helicopter ride). Maybe this will change before our departure from Oahu, and we'll skip over for a day-trip to see an active volcano erupting. We'll see!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
More Big Island
On Sunday, we drove north along the eastern coast of the Big Island. The following photo was taken at a scenic overlook.
Now we have a sighting of a very rare breed - the photographer himself!
We liked the burger we shared at "Tex Drive In" very much, but we very much LOVED the malasada lady there. (Malasadas are portuguese pastries that transform into pure pleasure in your mouth - mm mm!)
The next series of pictures were taken at Waipio Valley. We started at the overlook and then decided to drive down into the valley on the rather steep "4x4 ONLY trail." A number of others had either hiked or driven to this beautiful black sands beach nestled below steep, green mountains.
After savoring Waipio Valley, we drove west through Waimea (ranch country) where we encountered a ferocious dust storm and then desert. Once we reached the western coast, we headed straight to Hapuna beach - GORGEOUS white sands and turquoise waters!
After swimming at sea level, we decided to hightail it to the summit of Mauna Kea (a dormant volcano reaching almost 14,000 feet) for sunset and stargazing. We made it to the observatory at 9,000 feet, only to learn we were about an hour too late to make to the summit on the "4x4 ONLY trail" by sunset. Instead, we watched a spectacular sunset from the cold and windy 9,000 feet. In the following photo, the clouds are lower in altitude than our vantage point, and the ocean extends beyond the clouds to the horizon. May I recommend clicking on this one?
BRRRR!
Once the sky completely darkened, we were able to star-, moon-, and planet-gaze with the advantage of perhaps the cleanest air in the world, as well as complimentary usage of very large, expensive telescopes.
What a day - and night - to remember!
Now we have a sighting of a very rare breed - the photographer himself!
We liked the burger we shared at "Tex Drive In" very much, but we very much LOVED the malasada lady there. (Malasadas are portuguese pastries that transform into pure pleasure in your mouth - mm mm!)
The next series of pictures were taken at Waipio Valley. We started at the overlook and then decided to drive down into the valley on the rather steep "4x4 ONLY trail." A number of others had either hiked or driven to this beautiful black sands beach nestled below steep, green mountains.
After savoring Waipio Valley, we drove west through Waimea (ranch country) where we encountered a ferocious dust storm and then desert. Once we reached the western coast, we headed straight to Hapuna beach - GORGEOUS white sands and turquoise waters!
After swimming at sea level, we decided to hightail it to the summit of Mauna Kea (a dormant volcano reaching almost 14,000 feet) for sunset and stargazing. We made it to the observatory at 9,000 feet, only to learn we were about an hour too late to make to the summit on the "4x4 ONLY trail" by sunset. Instead, we watched a spectacular sunset from the cold and windy 9,000 feet. In the following photo, the clouds are lower in altitude than our vantage point, and the ocean extends beyond the clouds to the horizon. May I recommend clicking on this one?
BRRRR!
Once the sky completely darkened, we were able to star-, moon-, and planet-gaze with the advantage of perhaps the cleanest air in the world, as well as complimentary usage of very large, expensive telescopes.
What a day - and night - to remember!
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