Waimea

On Sunday morning we headed up to the north part of the Big Island to attend church in Waimea at the Imiolo Congregational Church. Bo and Shirley Roddenberry from HSV attended church here when they lived on Hawaii; they highly recommended it. We arrived in time for the 10:00 am service following our 1 hour and 30 minute drive from Kona.

We watched and listed to the Praise Team practicing before the service. Two women did a sort of sign language-hula presentation of the song How Great is Our God. It was very interesting. Here they are practicing before the service. Here's the outside of the church.The inside of the church is dominated by Koa wood, a rare and beautiful wood native to Hawaii. You'd better be sure to be on time when you attend this church since the entrance to the building is behind the main altar!
After church we joined the weekly lunch held in fellowship hall. Our table mate is a lady who moved to Waimea a year and a half ago from Arkadelphia, AR. Small world!

Later we headed over to see the Pololu Valley and the original statue of King Kamehameha I which is near his birthplace in Kapa'au. Here we are in front of the statue.We next drove up to the Pololu valley. The view from the top was nice.

After the Pololu Valley we headed back towards Kona. On the way we stopped at the Hilton complex to see the beaches. People were relaxing, getting some sun and having fun in the water.
From here we headed back to our hotel in Kona. We had an interesting day and experienced multiple climates - which the Big Island is known for.

Mauna Kea - Hawaii Cold!

The only organized tour we went on was a trip up to the top of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano that is the tallest mountain in Hawaii. Manua Kea is 14,000 feet high and the home to 13 different observatories from various countries. Our tour started at the Hawaii Forest & Trail office at about 2:15 pm. We headed off in their van for the 1.5 hour trip to our first stop - a sheep station that was part of the Parker Ranch. You can tell it's a bit neglected.Rosie is leaning against a hitching post where they cowboys tied their horses.We had 5-star accommodations complete with restrooms. We were told they were much warmer than the toilets at the top of the mountain.Our dinner was stew, muffins and hot tea - tasty. Our guide, Greg, handed out the Arctic parkas after dinner. The parkas felt good at this level and even better as we went higher.Mauna Kea is the only area in Hawaii that has snow removal equipment. They get significant snow in the winter.
As we traveled up the volcano, we could see many cinder cones. We particularly liked the red color on some of the cinder cones.It was getting colder and more windy as we headed up the volcano.As I mentioned the top of the volcano is home to 13 observatories. Here are some of the observatories. One is opening up to get ready for night viewing.Off to the side of the observatories is a mountain that is the most holy spot to the native Hawaiians. We were asked to not go there. Note the snow still on the mountain.As the sun starts to set, the temperature gets colder. The temperature was about 32F and the wind was 40-50 mph - so the wind chill was COLD. Take my word for it - that's us all bundled up.The sunset from the top of Mauna Kea was beautiful. Actually the sun set into the clouds instead of the ocean.
The reflection off one of the observatories was outstanding.
From the top of Mauna Kea you can see the top of Haieakala on Maui.After sunset we headed back down to the visitors' station at about 7,000 feet. At the visitors' station Greg broke out the cookies and hot chocolate - wonderful! He then gave us a lesson in constellations and how early sailors navigated by the stars. He also had an excellent telescope that we used to view several planets and the moon. We even saw the rings of Saturn!

After the night sky lesson, we packed up for the drive back to Hawaii Forest & Trail. We arrived back at their office at 10:45 pm. A long day but we had a great tour and can highly recommend the Hawaii Forest & Trail Mauna Kea tour.

We hope you enjoyed our trip around part of The Big Island. We had a great time and saw some really unique sites. Aloha!

Oahu - Dole Pineapples and Shaved Ice!

On Saturday we took a ride out to the Dole Pineapple farm. Before we left, Rosie got a picture of Adam and Lottie against a beautiful copper clad door near the florist shop. Don't they look like movie stars?The first thing we did at Dole was ride the train. Adam and Lottie are ready to go!The train drove us by some pineapple fields. We saw some small pineapples. Can you see them? Look close!I got a chance to get my picture taken looking like Mr. Pineapple. Flattering eh?We also took the time to get some Dole Whip. It was tasty. Lottie enjoyed her Dole Whip.After we finished our Dole Whip, we hopped into the car and headed over to an old sugar mill that's been converted into several local craft shops and stores plus a farmers' market. Lottie and Adam enjoyed sitting on this large gear (or at least that's what we're calling it).Next, we had lunch at Haleiwa Joe's. Amy's Dad, Jack, took us all there before Chris and Amy's wedding. The food was still very good. Amy and the kids posed next to the historic bridge near the restaurant.
We couldn't leave this area without stopping at Aoki's for some shaved ice. Wow, was it good and refreshing! The line to get shaved ice was out the door. I know it's a small place but that tells you just how good the place really is. I wonder if they ship to the mainland?We had another fun-filled day. I think we all slept well that night.

Honolulu Festival, March 13, 2011

On Sunday afternoon we lined up with locals and visitors alike to view the 17th annual Honolulu Festival. According to their website, "The Honolulu Festival is Hawaii's premier cultural event, promoting understanding, economic cooperation and ethnic harmony between the people of Hawaii and the Pacific Rim region." The parade did have groups representing most of the Pacific Rim countries; it was very colorful and entertaining. However, we didn't know the parade would be two and one-half hours long; there was a lot to see. Event planners thought about canceling the parade out of respect for the Japanese tsunami visitors. Instead the parade was dedicated to them.

Adam brought his "Daddy Doll" to the parade.Here's the entire family - including the "Daddy Doll."This is the FIRST beauty queen in the parade; the first of many. I don't know where the parade organizers found that many convertibles. Lottie really liked the "princesses."Next came the first Japanese shrine. This again was the first of several portable shrines being carried by a large group of people.We enjoyed the Chinese dragon dances. As expected, the parade had several long dragons and a plethora of small lions.Hold onto your hats folks (or your shirts), here's the Big Aloha shirt sponsored by Hilo Hatties.Next came the first of many marching bands. Most of the bands were local. However, this band came from Montana. Where had you rather be in March: Montana or Hawaii? I'm sure these gals and guys were enjoying the sun. The trip back would be hard.Here's a band from Korea. I loved their hats. Don't know what they're supposed to represent, but they sure are colorful.The King and Queen of the Samoans followed by the Samoan warriors. The warriors tattoos were impressive.
Next came a group of men and women from Mindanao in the Philippines. The women were dressed OK; the men needed more clothes - especially in the butt covering department.It wouldn't be Hawaii if we didn't have some hula dancers. However, I didn't know hula was a geriatric event. Most of hula dancers were rather old - like me.Can you guess where this group is from? If you guessed Vietnam, you guessed correctly.When we heard the sound of the didgeridoo, we knew something from Australia was coming. That sound is very distinctive. Here are two aboriginal men.Make way for the Japanese Samurai warriors.There were multiple dance groups in the parade that danced along while some also played instruments. Here's one of the dance groups:Yes - they were all high energy.

A group of Japanese (I assume they were) walked along and converted a flat bamboo placement looking item into a long rod that could be shaped into various items; a fish in this case.Here's a guy who waved a REALLY BIG flag--representing JTB.I bet he was tired by the end of the parade.

Make way for the Sumo dude. This was a great float sponsored by the Hilton.Here's a lantern float. As you can tell, it's getting dark.Finally, we have the fire breathing dragon. Well actually a dragon covered with men holding flares, but fire breathing sounds a lot neater.After the parade, Cpt. Joyce Liu, an Army friend from Japanese days who is now stationed in Hawaii, joined us for dinner at a local Japanese restaurant. The food was good and we were all hungry - a great combination.

For Rosie and me, this was our last event on Oahu. We're off to the "Big Island" on Monday.