Category Archives: Hawaii

Hawaiian’s Love their Spam

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Crispy Spam is a breakfast Meat

I admit I like Spam. When I let that out to my friends and co workers I get disgusted looks and groans. (The same one I use for Liver and Onions.) Massachusetts folks can be such food snobs! In Hawaii my love of Spam is welcomed. I’m surrounded by other Spam lovers. MacDonald’s even has a “Delicious  Breakfast”. It’s rice, scrambled eggs and Spam! I doubt you’ll see that on a menu in Massachusetts anytime soon. They also have a Spam Wrap you can find in the deli section of your food market. It’s a Spam & Rice roll. Looks like sushi. I skipped the Spam on my breakfast plate. I settled for a boring old Big Breakfast. I’m heading out to drive around the Island and I wasn’t sure if I’d find anyplace for lunch or how long it would take so I wanted to fill up before I left.

Heading North along the Kona Coast

After a satisfying breakfast at MacDonald’s I headed north on the main road along the Kona Coast. All along this road it looks like they are preparing to do construction. The ground appears to be all churned up. There is a lot of construction but don’t be fooled by appearances. Almost all of the churned up appearing land is natural. These fields are all covered in Aa (pronounced ah ah) lava. Aa lava is thick and it  breaks into chunks as it moved down slope form the volcano. When it cools and hardens it looks like churned up dirt. Much of this is from an eruption in 1984. There’s a lava tube on the right side of the road as you travel north.

Lava flow to the sea

 

donkey crossing signDonkey Crossing

Along the way you’ll see Donkey Crossing signs. Donkey Crossings? What’s that about. I had to check it out. Apparently the Big Island had a feral donkey problem. I didn’t remember that but it was bad enough that they installed signs hoping drivers would slow down. The donkeys liked to come out on the roads at night because the pavement was warmer than the fields. It retained the heat from the daytime. Along came an unsuspecting motorist and splat. A Donkey pancake and a busted car. When the signs didn’t help they rounded up the donkeys and shipped them to auction on the mainland. But the signs remain.

lava tube

Touristy Kona

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Kona Hawaii

Royal Kona from the ocean

Royal Kona from the ocean

Kona Hawaii is often referred to as the dry side of the Big Island. Then you hear that the tourists like it because it’s sunny. What I noticed first was that there are resorts, shops and restaurants everywhere along Alii Dr. Parking, if present at all, is at a premium.  Walking or taking a trolley is the preferred method of getting around here. (With my bad back the walking was a problem) It reminded me of South Beach. Florida. If you recall I didn’t care much for South Beach and I was feeling the same way about Kona. My first day in Kona and I was already missing Sea Mountain. The loyal locals told me it was School Break which was why there were so many kids, families and young adults. I hadn’t even noticed that!

The Royal Kona Resort

When I booked this trip I was told I would be in a hotel room, not a condo. I agreed. I was also told that there were two restaurants. They made it sound like I wouldn’t miss a kitchen at all. Maybe if my name were Trump or Rockefeller. I wasn’t about to spend $22.00 for a breakfast buffet. It wasn’t even that special, just the usual eggs, meat (bacon & sausage,) maybe pancakes or waffles depending on the day. I had spotted a MacDonald’s on my drive in from the airport. Their breakfast was just fine with me and a lot less expensive. On the map above my room  was overlooking the Lagoon Terrace.

Lagoon Terrace

 

The Smoky Aroma of the Imu

As I headed out to retrieve my car I recognized the unmistakable smell of a charcoal fire. The Imu for the luau is right near my room. The staff gets the fire stoked up bright and early so the fire can burn down to coals and the Imu pig be readied for roasting for the luau that night. Good thing I like the smell of charcoal!

Firing up the Imu

 

Back to the Big Island

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The Big Island of Hawaii

After 11 years I’m returning to the Big Island of Hawaii. In many ways the Big Island is Hawaii to me. It’s more rural and it has active volcanoes. It was the first Island of the chain that I ever visited. It was time to see what had changed. And if I tell the truth I wanted to see the lava from Kilauea pouring into the sea. When we made the visit 11 years ago we stayed at Sea Mountain Resort on the wet side of the Island. This time I was staying at the Royal Kona resort in Kona, the dry side of the Island. We had a beautiful condo with a lanai at Sea Mountain. At the Royal Kona Resort I was in a standard hotel room. It had a big bed and the slider to the lanai were covered with sliding wooden panels rather than tacky drapes. 

 

my basic hotel room

Basic Hotel Room

View from the Lanai

I didn’t get to see the view the first night since it was pretty dark by the time I located the resort. They also didn’t quite meet Diamond Resorts standards for service either. But after some pushing and prodding I managed to get a bell hop to assist with my bags. Parking was tough. Although they had a huge lot it was all up hill. The best I could do was to park on the grass next to the tennis courts. I had plenty of company parking there. My room was an ocean view  on the second floor. I could hear the waves crashing on the shore. First thing the next morning I threw open the sliders to the lanai to a gorgeous water view. This was one room that was truly an ocean view.  It was going to be hard to leave the deck to go exploring!

Lagoon surf

Technical Difficulties

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Technical  Computer issues delay posts

I’m having some pretty serious technical problems. My computer is slowly giving up the ghost. I’ve known I had a sick desktop for quite awhile. I’ve been limping along using my ancient lap top but that’s also failed. So I’m stealing a minute in my company computer to bring you this update.

My Plan of Action

It looks like the first chance I’ll have to go computer shopping is Saturday. If I can find something in stock that I like I might be able to start posting as soon as Sunday. I’ll have to try to transfer my apps to the new computer. I’m not sure how long that will take to how many have been corrupted. I don’t want to share any viruses that might have found a home in my  old computer. My company also offers discounts on Dell computers but I think that I have to wait for it to ship if I go that route. I’ll look into it tomorrow.

What have we missed?

This was probably a blessing in disguise as I was starting to struggle to come up with topics. The weather has been horrible so I haven’t felt like going out on the weekends.  I did get a short break (1 week) where I took off to the Big Island of Hawaii. Of course I have lots of stories, tips and comments about this adventure but I can’t upload the photos at the moment.

I did see Kilauea

Kilauea was putting on quite a show when I was there. This is the glow from the lava lake. The lava is probably 60-80 feet below the rim. It was “fountaining” between 60 to 120 ft so we’d see glimpses of the tops of the fountains on the big ones. This is one of the pictures I took but it’s small because the computer can’t handle the full size file.

Hopefully I’ll get this all resolved and be back in business next week. Thanks for your patience.

 

I have a Volcano On My Mind

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Old Faithful Erupts

Old Faithful

I want to see a Volcano

After all, I just visited a super volcano! Yellowstone is an amazing place to visit. Surround yourself with geysers, steam vents, boiling mud and steaming rivers. What you won’t see is lava or magma. In Yellowstone that’s still deep underground. We hope it stays there for a long time. An explosion of a super volcano would be devastating!

But I still want to see a volcano

stock photo

Back in 2007 I visited the Big Island of Hawaii. As part of my trip I spent a day in Volcano National Park. We drove through lava fields. We even saw the “VOG” in the distance. Vog is volcanic fog and its loaded with sulfuric acid. Needless to say we didn’t get close. We considered hiking over the lava field to see the glowing lava but the solid lava is like glass. Any little fall causes lots of cuts and bleeding. Right at the start one of our party tripped and fell. Lots of band aids later we all helped her limp off the lava and back to the car.

stock photo

Let’s Look from the air

After our mishap on the ground we thought we might be able to see the lava from the air. Our group didn’t want to try a helicopter but they were willing to take a small plane ride. We signed up for the tour of the island. As part of the tour the plane circled the vent with the boiling lava. It didn’t look like much from the air. We only had glimpses of the bright red. A cooler skin of black floated over the glowing lava.

Maybe another chance

stock photo

During the intervening years I heard about a boat trip along the shore. They go out at dawn and dusk when the lava flow glowed as it poured into the sea. That was way on top of my to do list. Then last week I checked the eruptions for Kilauea. It’s not flowing into the sea anymore! “Lava flow is still active on the pali and coastal plain, however the ocean entry is currently halted”. I may find my plans “foiled” again. Can’t wait to get there and find out!