Travel days

Sunday, July 13 and Monday, July 14, 2014  ---- Travel Days

Kauai, the island we didn’t get to explore, looked like a beautiful and interesting island. Many movies have been filmed here, including old Elvis movies, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc. You can take a tour to visit all of the movie sites. We did get to see some of the thousands of wild chickens that roam the island. They wander through the hotel grounds or alongside of the highway. I asked the shuttle driver if people eat them and he said NO because those wild chickens eat anything. Another fact about Kauai is that you are not allowed to build a building that is higher than the tallest palm tree. It also has a canyon called the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” and a mountain which is the wettest spot in the world. (Wouldn’t want to live there!)

 

Time to say ALOHA, which seems like an all-purpose word. It means hello, it means goodbye, and it also means love, kindness or goodwill. We learned a few Hawaiian words: keiki (child), lanai (patio), ono (delicious), pupu (appetizer) and of course, mahalo (thank you). Try to say the name of the Hawaiian state fish: humuhumunukunukuapua’a! 

You know it is time to go home when you find yourself rummaging through the suitcase looking for clean clothes. At this point you are not all that fussy about what colours go well together. The trip home actually took 2 days, with an overnight stopover in Los Angeles. With a delay in the flight and a delay in the luggage, it was pretty late when we got home on Monday night—I think it was 1:45 a.m. We felt thankful that we were safely home and kind of amazed that we had done all of that travel with no glitches, sickness or injuries.

The cat was certainly happy to see us! The lawn wasn’t dead, everything looked okay. (Thank you to the neighbours.) It was nice to be home in our own bed after sleeping in--let’s see--six different places. It has been fun to write the blog. It makes a nice souvenir for us. You know, now that we are over 60 we might not remember everything if we don’t write it down. And we hope that you have enjoyed the trip as we described it and tried to share it with you. We don’t have any pictures from these 2 travel days, but we will end with a few special photos from our anniversary trip.

Last day on the Big Island

Saturday, July 12, 2014

I had read a lot about this Saturday market in Hilo and had been looking forward to it all week. I was not disappointed—I loved it! I started out with the Spam breakfast. People in Hawaii love Spam. (I am talking about the cans of luncheon meat.) It is sold everywhere, even at McDonald’s and Burger King. It was introduced during World War II when it was shipped in to feed the soldiers and has been popular in Hawaii ever since. 

Half of the market is crafts and souvenirs, and the other half is food and flowers. I could not believe the beautiful flower arrangements for just $5.00. Of course I couldn’t buy any fruit or flowers because we were leaving today. But I did buy some crafts and souvenirs. I had such fun talking with the some of the vendors. I guess they know how to chat up the tourists. Prices did not seem to be terribly firm. (A and J, you would love this market.)

I sampled some home baked cookies and some macadamia nuts (they grow nearby), but when I got to the guy selling coconuts with a hole drilled in them and a straw to drink the water, I found that I had run out of money so I didn’t get to try that treat.

I got back to our place just in time to see the Gay Pride parade going by right on the street in front of us. These two pictures show some of the floats. You can also see some street names.

We found the Hawaiian street and place names hard to remember. They all seemed so similar. Then we found out that the Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters, so that’s why there is so much repetition.

We tried the outdoor shower in the afternoon--very refreshing, no geckos in sight. Our hosts, Megan and Jasper, were very laid back people. “Check out is at 11:00, but you could stay until 12:00. Actually, no one is booked for tonight, why don’t you just leave whenever you want.” So we left at 2:30. Our impression of Hilo was a very mellow, alternative, hippy kind of vibe. I haven’t seen so much tie dye since the 70’s.

Now it was time to say goodbye to the Big Island. Our week here was over. We returned the rental car—we had driven 427 miles in total. We had to do some quick island hopping because our flight back to the mainland left from another island. As the Hawaiian Airlines flight left Hilo we could see the mountain that we climbed the night before and so took a picture for our blog.

We touched down in Maui and then went on in the same plane to the island of Kauai. It is the oldest island, on the opposite end of the chain from the Big Island. Unfortunately we wouldn’t get to see anything much here since we were just staying overnight near the airport. That will have to wait for another trip someday.