February 2022 – Welcome to Our World

2022-02-21

The group began with a visit to Pu’ukohola Helau National Historic site. Debbie busily read signs and listened to the National Park blog . Debbie is pretty sure that she would flunk Hawaiian 7th grade state history as she can’t possibly spell the names and loses focus after the 4th letter. Debbie does feel confident that she would make a higher grade than the other 3 who were whale watching. She knows that King Kamehameha was not always nice to his party guests.

After standing in the hot sun for awhile, the group decided it was snack time. They drove to Hamakua Macadamia factory. As they drove up the drive, a whisper swept through the building. “She’s back..She’s here again”. The employees met Debbie at the door with news of SIX new flavors. No free samples but Debbie bought two of the new types with a promise to return. The employees were ecstatic that she had returned. Vanilla birthday cake macadamia nuts for everyone.

On the way back, the car made an unplanned stop at a Malasada food truck. They clearly did not know what they wanted to order. Malasadas are Portuguese doughnuts without a hole. They can be filled with a custard flavored filling since no hole. Debbie knows this because she turned hers upside down an dumped most of the filling out. There may have been some inappropriate words involved and flinging of custard with people jumping out of cars. Debbie will be happy to eat another but not with filling.

2022-02-21 A Good Day

Do you ever have one of those days? A day where you start to do one thing and end up doing another? A place where you were want to go to point A but end up at point Z. Well, that is the kind of day that the group had.

They started out going to Waimea to watch for whales. Larry kept having the urge to yell out “There’s one!”. The other three were starting to answer with “I see it!”. So they loaded up the van and off they went to Waimea. Only a few minutes after they left, the check engine light came on. Sooo, quick direction change to the car rental place to get a different car. (Only 400 miles)

The group went to a different beach Kaloko Honokohau national park. They didn’t see any whales which made Larry sad. So they took Larry to Ali Drive to the Artesian Market. (We don’t really understand what that means. ) They finished the day with a visit to Walmart and Costco.

To sum it up: The car almost broke down – we got a new one – Went to a beach – got hot – didn’t see a whale – saw boys throwing rocks – went to Walmart bought stuff – went to Costco – got pizza – came home.

2022-02-16 North Drive

Our weary travelers awakened at various during the day times as they acclimated to the time zone. Some were more successful than others. The group decided to take a drive north.

Almost as soon as the group saw water, Larry began shouting “There’s one and another one”. Jerry joined in that he saw a breach. All of this caused Joyce to whip the car off the road onto some awful lava rock road to look for whales. Debbie saw nothing. After a pause, the group bounced back to the road (Debbie would have taken a picture but she was too busy holding on tightly to the armrest with her eyes shut.)

They continued on the main road with people shouting more sightings (not Debbie). They stopped at windy Lapakahi state park to look for whales. Debbie finally saw a spout but feels that she is not really a good whale watcher. The other three and other watchers were shouting all around her.

After lunch, they continued down the road shouting “Whale! Whale – One O’clock, Two O’Clock!’. Debbie was somewhat annoyed. They pulled into another whale watching site, Kapa Beach. Larry had become a master. Every time, he opened his mouth the word “Whale ” rolled out. Debbie might have laid her head down for a minute with her eyes closed. She eventually saw a spout or either dreamed it.

Next stop Hawi and the King Kamehameha statue. This was the king’s birthplace. On the way to Hawaii, the boat that the statue was on sunk in the Falklands. The statue was insured so a second one was made. In the meantime, the statue was retrieved from the ocean with a broken arm. The statue was repaired and sent to Hawi since the replacement had been delivered to Honolulu. While in Hawi, they discovered that a 12 pack of soda costs $13.30. (Did not buy)

On to Pololu Valley overlook and the trail that they will hike one day. it is usually muddy. Stay tuned to see if this happens. Larry saw a whale here also. He seems to have some kind of whale bond.

The group began their way back traveling through the whale gauntlet with Larry shouting sightings from the back seat. They even stopped at Kapa Beach again. Yes, Debbie did see some of the sightings.

They continued on to the best stop of the day. Debbie has decided to specialize in shaved ice sightings. She has been practicing shouting “Shaved Ice”. These sightings are rarer than a whale sighting.

2022-02-15 Hawaii

This year in Hawaii, the travelers will not go into cultural moment details as you have been to the Parker Ranch and other historic sights.

After arriving at the airport, Debbie discovered that she was not dressed like other travelers. On the first flight, Debbie sat next to Jack Reacher or at least a man that size. (Jack Reacher is a book character that is 6’5” inches 250 plus lbs). Luckily, Reacher slept for the entire flight. Debbie wanted to take a picture of Reacher for the blog but Larry convinced her that would not be wise.

The two travelers were diligent about following the rules to get into Hawaii. They wanted to be travel ready. They had gotten late updates at home the night before which triggered a flurry of activity on being “travel ready” . They got off the first flight and rushed to the United “travel ready” desk and showed their boarding pass with the green “travel ready” They proudly strutted through the SFO airport with their Hawaii wrist bands although Debbie was afraid that she would wash her ’bracelet off so constantly checked hers.

Debbie and Larry arrived in Kona at 3:30 in the afternoon. A first to arrive in the daylight and the bracelets worked. They went straight to baggage which arrived quickly not 3.5 hours later (National Lampoon experience). Turns out that the daylight arrival was not particularly helpful as they fell asleep before dark.