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The Kilauea Caldera And Other Volcanoes

4/30/2017

...Continued from yesterday:
     On Thursday morning we drove a few minutes from Kilauea Military Camp, which is located on the rim of the volcano, to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is in the volcano.
     At first I had some trouble visualizing that we were inside an active volcano.
     In my mind's eye a volcano looked like a defined mountain with a hole in its top.
     Like the Nicaraguan volcanoes

Momotombo,

...or Masaya,

    ...both of which I'd seen while visiting my daughter who was at that time working in Nicaragua in the jungle outside the city of Leon.
     Through a clearing in the jungle one could see Momotombo off in the distance. One could also drive or hike up to the top of the volcano and look into its vast smoking crater.
       In fact on weekends my daughter used to lead groups of adventurous foreign tourists on volcano hikes to the top of the local volcano craters to raise funds for Las Tias, an organization of women in Leon who cared for street orphans.
      Once during my visit my daughter and I traveled to the city of Granada from which my daughter hired a taxi driver to take us to the top of the nearby active volcano Masaya.
     The driver took us right up to the crater.
     It was hot up there, and the smoke that wafted up from the crater smelled of sulphur, and the crater itself was the size of a lake.

Here's a picture I found on the 'net of the visitors' section of the Masaya crater.

On a ridge overlooking the crater was a cross erected in the 16th Century by Spaniards who believed that the smoking crater was the entrance to Hell.

     In truth, to me the crater did look and feel like the entrance to Hell; it was hot and smokey and sulfuric and creepy, and the day was over-cast and I couldn't lose the paranoia that somebody - possibly me - could stumble over the not-high-enough guard rail into the white-hot crater.
     In truth, having seen one volcano, I didn't feel any burning desire to ever again see another. But Tom, who'd never seen a volcano, did.
     And hence we were in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park standing inside the crater of an active volcano.
     But the whole point of my story is this: to me, where we were didn't look or feel like the inside of a volcano crater. It just seemed as if were in some hilly countryside.

...despite what the signs said.

...and despite the billows of steam that rose up from cracks in the ground called steam vents.

...and despite a smoking hole in a plateau that we could see off in the distance.

It wasn't until we arrived at the prime look-out point for that crater, called Halema'um'au Crater,

....located outside of the the Jagger volcano museum,

...that I finally got this volcano, here as its smoking crater-within-a-crater-within- a- crater appeared from the lookout point,

...after having the read the explanation on the sign post near the lookout that Kilauea is actually a massive collapsed volcano, or a caldera,

....with a not-too-deep outer crater a few square miles in diameter surrounding the smoking and sometimes lava-spouting inner-inner crater.

In other words, Kilauea is flat, squatty volcano, or a caldera,

...as opposed to Mauna Loa, in the background, which is just kind of short for a volcano,

...but which apparently can still pack a wallop when it erupts,

...as can Kilauea.*

*At a moment when I caught it spouting some lava.
To be continued...

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Kilauea Military Camp

4/29/2017

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...Continued from 4/27/2017:

On Wednesday evening, April 19, we arrived on Hawaii, The Big Island, at the Hilo Airport ,

...from whence we two oldsters drove off in this snazzy Mustang (apparently they were all out of the economy subcompact style that we'd ordered),

...to our lodgings about 40 minutes away at Kilauea Military Camp,

...an American Army post used for training purposes and also offering, like the Hale Koa in Honolulu, recreational lodging to active duty and retired military personnel and their families.

The camp, known locally as KMC, is named after Kilauea, the giant active volcano on the rim of which the camp is located and the natural wonder we’d come to The Big Island to see.

Upon arriving at KMC we headed for the Welcome Center, which indeed felt very welcoming,

…and was hung with photos of the camp from times gone by,

…including this shot of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a cigarette dangling from his hand.

After we'd registered and received the keys to our quarters we hurried to catch dinner at the Crater Rim Café,

…the camp dining facility,

…connected to the Lava Lounge.

As with the rest of this area of Hawaii, at Kilauea Military Camp it’s all about volcanoes.

The dinner fare at the Crater Rim Café,

…with its friendly staff and eclectic décor,

…consisted of a couple of prix fixe menu choices, either the salad bar or the expanded salad/baked potato-and-or rice/ice-cream bar,

…to which could be added an entree item from the short-order grill.

I had salad and a baked potato smothered in mushrooms (forgoing the butter, cheese, sour cream, bacon and other potato possibilities), while Tom had the same to which he added a piece of fire-grilled salmon, which he pronounced delicious.
After dinner we headed to our quarters, a small but more-than-adequate apartment consisting of:

…a living room,

...a bedroom,

...and a bathroom.

Our apartment was one of a row of apartments in an updated pre-World War II building, likely a barracks at one time.

The view from our door:

The morning after we arrived we took a little walk around the camp.

The PX,

...the post office,

...the theater,

...the recreation center,

..the one-pump gas station,

...and the cottages -probably officers' quarters in the past - that were also available for lodging,

...each one of which had pretty stained glass windows in the back with an Island motif.

Then we headed back over to the Crater Rim Cafe for some breakfast,

...where we learned from the local newspaper that we had the good fortune to be on The Big Island for the week of the Merrie Monarch Festival, a celebration of Hawaiian culture throughout the Islands, but especially on The Big Island and in Hilo,

...where hula competitions are held nightly.

    I was thinking that it would be neat to drive back to Hilo some night during our stay to watch the hula competition but I was told by one of the local residents that people come from all over the world to watch the competitions, that tickets must be purchased well in advance, and that everybody watches the evening competitions on TV, which is what we ended up doing, too.
     Then after breakfast we climbed back into our Mustang and set out to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to see us some volcanoes.
     To be continued...

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Aloha, Honolulu

4/27/2017

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Wednesday morning we checked out of the Hale Koa,

…but not before one last fond farewell breakfast at the Koko Café.

This time I tried the spinach and crab Benedict, vegetable fritters and hash browns,

...macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup and strawberry compote,

...the halo halo, a mix of shredded honeydew, coconut, and cantaloupe, purple sweet potato cubes, jello cubes and milk. The taste was different, but quite interesting and good.

Tom tried, among other things, the the breakfast Portuguese sausage quesadillas.

I also tried the strawberry haupia, which was good as well, though it couldn't hold a candle to the haupia pie I had at that Honolulu McDonald's (see post from 4/24/2017).

But then, nothing could hold a candle to that haupia pie. I'd give a hundred bucks for one of those bad boys right now.

Though we had to check out by 11 am our plane didn't leave until 4 pm so after we checked out of the Hale Koa,

..we left our luggage at the front desk, walked around the grounds for a bit,

...then along Waikiki Beach for a while,

...then we walked around downtown Waikiki.

We came across the Royal Hawaiian Center, a mall with a pretty courtyard,

...in which is located a Hawaiian cultural center called Helumoa Hale that offers public performances in the courtyard as well as educational programs on Hawaiian culture, including classes in music, hula, and lei-making.

This day there was a group of women in the courtyard playing ukulele and singing Hawaiian songs.

As I've fallen in love with the Hawaiian language, music, and the ukulele, we stopped to listen for a while. They sounded lovely.
When they took a break I went over to talk to them and told them that how much I was enjoying their singing and playing. It turned out that three of them were music students studying with Wainani Yim,

...who, I learned from the students and some subsequent research, is a well-known and beloved Hawaiian recording artist and master of the ukulele. Apparently People come from all over the world to hear and take lessons from Wainani Yim.

I told Ms. Yim that I was a piano teacher but that I was planning on taking up the ukulele when I returned home from our vacation. She told me that she, too is a pianist and that I should look her up next time I'm in Honolulu and that she'd give me some free lessons.
I hope to be able to take her up on her offer and that I'll be able to play a little bit of ukulele by that point. Ah, vacation dreams!

After the ukulele concert we sought out some lunch and found something good at a nearby ABC store.

In Honolulu one cannot travel far without coming to an ABC store,

...a sort of Hawaiian-style Dollar General where one can find inexpensive souvenirs.

We were told by a local that ABC stands for All Blocks Covered.

Anyway, we found an ABC store with a deli,

...that sold Poke Bowls, a Hawaiian dish that consists of one's choice of raw fish and vegetables over rice.

We chose the garlic shrimp with seaweed - très yummy! -

...which we ate at a picnic bench in a nearby park.

Then we headed back to the Hale Koa,

...stopping to smell - and snap - the flowers along the way.

We were picked up at the Hale Koa in an airport shuttle driven by a friendly lady who was happy to answer any questions we had about Hawaii. I asked her about where Obama lived and went to school and she offered to drive us by his school and the apartment building where he lived with his mother.

The campus of Punahou School where Obama went.

This is across the street from where Obama lived. I misunderstood the shuttle driver and thought she meant that he lived in this green apartment building. She actually meant that he lived in the brown brick apartment building on the other the street. Anyway, Obama lived on this street.

Then we arrived at the airport and it was time to say "Aloha" to Honolulu.

But in truth we weren't too sad because we knew we'd soon be saying "Aloha"

to Hilo Airport,

...on the Big Island of Hawaii.

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Busing Around Honolulu, Day 3

4/25/2017

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...Continued from yesterday:
On Tuesday morning we had breakfast again at the Hale Koa Koko Cafe,

I tried the vegetarian quinoa, scrambled eggs, hash browns,

...French toast and banana bread pudding,

...while Tom tried, among other things, the classic eggs benedict with breakfast potatoes and a danish.

After breakfast we walked,

...to the beautifully landscaped stop for the number 13 bus,

...which we took across town then switched to the number 1 bus,

...which took us to our destination, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii.

We were most interested in an exhibit on the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent in Hawaii during World War II,

...in a dreadful camp on the island of Oahu called Honouliuli.

After our tour of the museum we took the number 1 bus back downtown.

...to see the Iolani Palace,

...which was home to the royal rulers of Hawaii until 1893 when Queen Liluokalani was overthrown and the Hawaiian monarchy ended.

We didn't have time that day to tour the museum inside the palace so we just looked around the palace grounds,

...including the hale koa, or palace garrison,

...the courtyard of which now serves as a rest area for visitors.

After we'd had a look at the Iolani Palace we crossed the street to see the famous statue of King Kamehameha I, who in 1795 conquered and unified all the Hawaiian islands and instituted the Hawaiian monarchy.

Then we walked a couple of blocks to see the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site, location of the oldest frame houses in Hawaii, built by American missionaries in the 1820's and 1830's.

Then we took the bus back to Waikiki and, since the day was hot and it seemed not right to stay on Waikiki Beach without once going into the water, we took a dip in the ocean.

Not being a swimmer, I generally don't go into the ocean beyond ankle-deep, if at all.

But the water at Waikiki was placid and calm enough even for an aquaphobe like me to wade out far enough for a decent dip.

We returned to the Koko Cafe for the fabulous dinner buffet. Among the offerings:

The friendly stir-fry chef.

The salad bar:

The dessert bar:

The ice cream toppings bar - the big bowl in the middle is whipped cream:

I had:

All divinely yummy!

After dinner we walked along the beach checking out the beach bars of the hotels in search of some Hawaiian music.

We heard some wonderful music coming from the terrace of the Halekulani Hotel,

...so we entered through the hotel lobby,

...to the terrace bar where I had a sparkling water and Tom ordered a frozen beer, which was an ice-cold beer with frozen foam,

...good and cold but, he concluded, the frozen foam was probably an acquired taste.

We sat in the bar for a while and listened to the beautiful music,

Then we walked through downtown Waikiki,

...and along the beach,

...back to the Hale Koa,

...where we did our laundry.

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Busing Around Honolulu, Day 2

4/24/2017

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…Continued from yesterday:
We started out Monday morning with breakfast at the Koko Café, one of the Hale Koa restaurants,

…that serves up the absolutely best breakfast buffet on the planet,

…not to mention one of the best views.

The food was so good,

...and there was such a variety of dishes,

...including this old Army classic,

...and the friendly omelette chef.

...that one felt a bit overwhelmed by all the choices.

...but in a good way.

After breakfast it was back to the bus stop,

...where I took advantage of the wait.

     The Honolulu bus costs only one dollar for seniors, as Tom and myself are.
    But in order to snag the senior price one is required to show one’s Medicare card to the bus driver. I found this kind of embarrassing, akin to a feeling of being forced to show to a stranger something indiscreet that should be disclosed only in the privacy of a doctor's office.
     But what the heck, saved us a buck-fifty each per pop.
     Our plan for the day was to visit the Bishop Museum, Hawaii's largest museum of the culture and natural history of Hawaii and the Pacific Islands.
      To get to the museum we took the number 42 bus downtown then transferred to the number 2, which took us to the museum.
      At our transfer point we took a rest stop at a McDonald's,

...where it came to my attention that they sold Haupia Pies.

     Now, I'd had a McDonald's Haupia Pie - like a hot apple pie but with a sort of sweet coconut cream filling instead the standard apple filling - once before on my first trip to Kauai back in 2013. At that time I thought this pie was about the best thing I'd ever put into my mouth. So, by lucky happenstance coming across a Haupia Pie once again, I of course had to carpe diem. Or carpe piem.
     And once again, it was a mouthful of heaven on earth.
      I dared not look at the calorie count posted on the menu board.

After our Haupia Pie break we caught the bus to the Bishop Museum,

...which was, surprisingly, tucked back in an unassuming residential neighborhood,

...that suddenly opened up to the beautiful museum grounds.

The Bishop Museum.

View from the museum grounds.

We spent the day visiting the many fascinating exhibits on Hawaiian and Pacific Island culture.

After we finished visiting the Bishop Museum we took our buses back to Waikiki then walked back to The Seaside (see yesterday's post) for the dinner special,

...which we topped off with a slice each of cheesecake.

After dinner we strolled through a couple of Waikiki's outdoor markets,

...then we cut through the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel,

...to the beach, from where we caught a nice view of Diamond Head in the sunset.

We walked back to our hotel along the beach,

...until we arrived at the Hale Koa, where we decided to sit for a while in the bar on the beach.

While walking along the beach we'd passed some hotel beach-side bars in which there were musicians singing and playing traditional Hawaiian music. Tom and I were hoping there might be some live Hawaiian music at the Hale Koa bar and there was in fact a singer/guitarist there, but alas, his style was more of the Eagles/Country Western genre, which reminded us of the singers who used to perform in the Officers' and NCO/Enlisted clubs in Germany back in our day.
But then the Hale Koa is, after all an American Army post.

Though not like any Army post either of us had ever worked at.

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Busing Around Honolulu, Day 1

4/23/2017

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...Continued from yesterday:

Our first day in Honolulu, Easter Sunday, we left the Hale Koa,

View from the front entrance of the Hale Koa.

…and walked towards the commercial district of Waikiki,

…to a little family restaurant called The Seaside that we’d discovered on our last trip,

...where the food was good, the staff friendly and the breakfast price was right.

We both had the special.

After breakfast we walked,

…to the bus stop,

…from where we took the bus to downtown Honolulu.

We walked to the Aloha Tower,

...a ten-story building on the Honolulu Harbor built in the 1926 that was for decades the tallest building in Honolulu,

...and the first sight of that city seen by ships approaching the harbor.

Today the Aloha Tower is on the campus of Hawai’i Pacific University

The campus:

Which begs the question: Can you imagine if you went to school here trying to get any studying done?

Anyway, visitors can go up to the observation tower - it's free - on the 10th floor of the Aloha Tower,

…and take in the views of Honolulu Harbor and the city.

After our visit to the Aloha Tower we walked to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace

...for the noon Easter mass.

After Mass we walked to our next destination,

…Honolulu’s China Town,

We had lunch at the Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine,

...bowls of the most delicious duck pho,

...mine with wide noodles,

...Tom's with the traditional thin noodles.

After lunch we strolled around China Town a while longer,

…then made out way to the bus stop that would take us back to Waikiki and the Hale Koa.

That evening we walked around the hotel grounds for a bit,

...then for dinner we grabbed a couple of wraps from the PX,

..to eat in our room.

However I discovered at the PX some Peeps Oreos which, Of course, I could not resist buying.

In truth they were a weence disappointing in taste, neither Peeps nor Oreo,

…but I guess that was actually a good thing as it kept me from scarfing down the whole package.
To be continued…

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Aloha, Hale Koa

4/21/2017

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      ...Continued from yesterday:
     We arrived in Honolulu at 8:30 pm Hawaii time, which was 11:30 pm California time.
     We took a Speedi Shuttle - the cheapest mode of transportation from the airport to Waikiki - FYI, reserve a seat in advance - to Fort Derussy, an American military facility on Waikiki Beach on which is located the Hale Koa (which means "House of the Warrior" in Hawaiian), a hotel available for use by active duty and retired members of the military and their families.
     We'd stayed at the Hale Koa on our first visit to Hawaii two years ago (see post from 4/2/2015),

...but when we arrived at the open air lobby,

...we were as dazzled as on our first time.

View from the lobby to the outdoor courtyard below.

Our room.

Views from our balcony by night,

...and by day.

The beautiful lobby,

...opens out to the city on one side,

...and onto to the hotel grounds below on the other.

...where there are shops,

...restaurants,

...a post exchange, or PX,

...two snack bars,

...one of them on the beach,

...two pools,

...one of them on the beach,

...a playground and picnic area,

...a gym, all kinds of family entertainment in the evening,

...and a botanical garden,

...that opens to a lovely spot on Waikiki Beach,

...with a splendid view of Diamond Head.

In truth, one could probably have a pretty nice vacation without leaving the Hale Koa.

I myself would not have minded staking out a comfy spot in the lobby,

...and spending a little more time just listening to the lovely Hawaiian music,

...that's piped into the lobby 24/7.

     However Tom and I ended up spending little of our time in Honolulu at the hotel or on the beach.
     We had other places to go and things to see.
     To be continued...

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The Purple Grapes

4/21/2017

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...Continued from yesterday:

On Friday, as Old Navy was having a 50% off sale,

...Tom, the girls and I did a little shopping.

Then we went for lunch at Johnny Rockets.

After lunch we came home and the girls played in the back yard,

...while I snapped photos of the backyard.

That evening we drove down the road to Hermosa Beach,

...where we had dinner at a restaurant called Scotty's,

...where we really liked the food:

...Eggplant Parmesan,

...veggie burger,

.salmon with rice and vegetables,

...the fish tacos were especially yummy,

...as was the basghetti.

The next day, Saturday, we left Los Angeles, but as our flight didn't depart until early evening we had time to watch the afternoon soccer game between

my grand-daughter's team,

...The Purple Grapes, here warming up with Coach Justin,

...and The Blue Light Sabers.

I thought they played pretty well for a group of kinder-garteners,

...though of course what they lacked in technique they made up for in cuteness.

After the game it was time to say good-bye, for now, to our dear ones.

...and leave for the LA Airport.

However we weren't flying home to Columbus, Ohio,

But off to Honolulu, Hawaii.

To be continued...

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Malibu In Bloom

4/20/2017

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…Continued from yesterday:
     The 7-year drought that California has been under finally broke this winter with torrents of rain that have replenished the water table and, among other benefits, covered the normally brown arid hills of Malibu with a carpet of desert flowers.
     My daughter suggested that we go for a hike through the blooming hills of Malibu, and so on Thursday morning Tom, myself, our daughter and granddaughters,

… headed up the Pacific Coast Highway,

…to Malibu where the hills were, indeed, in bloom.

…until we reached our hiking trail.

We hiked,

…taking in the scenery along the way,

…along the wide paths,

...and the narrow,

…and among the flowers,

…until the path became too rocky and treacherous,

...at which point we headed back to the trail head,

...where we stopped for a little snack,

...then we headed back home.

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The Heck With 65!

4/19/2017

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…Continued from yesterday:
On Tuesday morning, the third day of our visit, I woke up with a bee in my bonnet,

…and stripped and re-made the beds,

…while Tom washed, dried, and re-folded the bed linens, with some help,

... Next I pretended that I had a pet duck and a pet kitty who needed to be played with and walked,

....until they got tired of being the pets and decided they wanted a doggie they could take for a walk.

I entertained and was entertained by the troops all morning,

...until the afternoon when it was time to transport them to their swim lessons at Lucky Duck Swim School.

After swim lessons I did the grocery shopping at Ralph’s,

...with some help.

Then I made dinner, also with lots of help.

Helping Grandpa clean the corn.

My daughter and son-in-law arrived home from work, and while the others ate dinner my daughter and I drove out to Sand Dune Park in Manhattan Beach,

…a super-steep dune that intrepid people strong of leg hike up and down,

...or they can take the stairs to the top of the dune.

My daughter, …whom I've always sworn was part mountain deer, was able to run up the dune once, walk back down, then, fast-walk back up and walk down five more times.

I, on the other hand, did sort of a slow schlepp up and down the dune three times.

But when I reached the top for the third time,

...I looked out across the landscape far below me,

...then raised my fist to the sky, and shouted (to myself), Take that Medicare, take that, AARP membership, take that that Golden Buckeye card, I'ma boogie 'til I die!
Or until all the parts are shot. Whichever comes first.

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