SOUTH TOWARDS THE VOLCANO

Tuesday July 23, 2013
We ran a couple of errands this morning before heading out to the volcano. We headed down to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau-the place of refuge. There were huge stone walls surrounding this area of royal grounds. Numerous carved figures also guard this refuge.








South Point was our next visit. We needed to go off of the road a considerable distance to get to it. It is now a paved road, which was nice. In some spots it is still single but at least you are not on a dirt trail where your tires mind the ruts. The wind blows very, very hard in this area. Definitely a bad hair area of the country. We got some fantastic photos of some gigantic waves that just boiled their way into shore. Hopefully they look as strong as they actually were.












"Broken Road" was also at South Point. Needless to say, the road was in awful condition and no longer driveable or very walkable.




It was getting later in the afternoon and we hadn't had lunch yet, so the Punaluu Bakery in Naalehu was the perfect spot to take a break. The only problem was that some cute but annoying birds seemed to think they could also participate. We ate and headed to the black sand beach.








This stupid bird is eyeing up what tidbits it wants to steal from some visitor, mainly us at the moment.
The black sand beach of Punalu'u was a neat site to see where the waves crashed in against the pristine black lava sand. We did not see any turtles today. This area tends to have turtles in the area. The sand also was not hot. It can be quite hot when the sun is beating down. Today with the cool rain, the sand was tepid.




"Need to get some of that lava out of my shoes"




Just a little wind blown from South Point.




The trees at South Point are pretty bent due to the very strong winds.
We finally got to The Volcano House where we will spendthrift the night. Parts of the crater rim road are closed due to fumes from the eruptions. That could limit our access to various areas of this national park. We shall see what happens tomorrow. Hopefully some of this clears up a bit.






We did see the glow from the Jaggar Museum. It showed up very nicely in the dark. Pretty neat.

NORTH OF KIALUA-KONA

Monday July 22, 2013

I had written a complete blog for Monday and was ready to post and I am not sure what happened, BUT the whole thing disappeared. I was far from excited so this particular post is now going to be very abbreviated to say the least.

* First we ate a local breakfast of rice, Spam, Portuguese sausage, and scrambled egg. It wasn't a breakfast of champions, but it was pretty good for a change of pace.
* We got in the car and headed north.
* We stopped at Hamakua Macadamia Nut factory where we sampled all sorts of items with macadamia flavored or enhanced things. We even had the opportunity to crack some nuts. We had to wear safety glasses and I can see why. I had one that really skid across the floor.



* Next was the original statue of King Kamehameha in Kapa'au.
*. We then headed to Pololu Lookout and went on a very good hike through the rocks and such to a black sand and rocky beach. It was below the cliff so we had to climb down and ascend back up the steep trail. That was a neat and very scenic site.















* Next we drove to the Pu'ukoha Heiau (temple) which was built by King Kamehameha to overtake the other islands. Numerous sacrifices were made to appease the gods in order for this to be a success. You would think that human sacrifices would not have to be the norm, but maybe it made the gods more pleasant to deal with.
* We decided to try The Kona Brewery for supper but there was a waiting time of more than 35 min. It seemed like all of the tourists in the area were actually dining there. There were lots of other places that had slim crowds. In fact the shops were not busy at all or closed or in the process of closing for the evening. This was way before 8 PM. The economy issues have really hit this area as well. There were a number of shops and businesses that were completely defunct. Not so good.

This was a busy and warm day but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

A LONG DAY OF TRAVEL

Sunday July 21, 2013

We woke up awfully early to catch the shuttle to the Milwaukee airport. It came on time and we were ready to go, along with another family. The shuttle stopped at a couple more hotels enroute to the airport. We were there in only a few minutes and went through security without any groping. We flew on a small CR1700 Canadair Regional Jet to Houston, but it is comfortable enough, so not a problem. It looks like we have a couple of hours for our layover. Just enough time to check our e-mail and charge up electronics and just relax.


We had a fairly long layover on LAX and as you can see Walt is just overcome with excitement.



We will then have a 5 hr. and 43 min. trek to Kailua-Kona. Whew!!!!!

40th ANNIVERSARY PARTY DAY

Saturday July 19, 2013
We ate a nice relaxing breakfast at Alterra. This was the one with the view of Lake Michigan. We walked along the lake for awhile afterwards, and then onto take photos of various landmarks. We eventually got to the party about 1 or so. It was a nice relaxing event and once again gave us an opportunity to visit with family members. Michael and the crew eventually had. A custard craving and needed to make a "Custard Run" about 7:30 or 8:00 PM. I am not so sure that Culvers was ready for their big order to go. Remember they also had to transport custard for Tom & Sue as well as us. The staff probably cringed when the mob of six custard deprived individuals arrived at their counter. By the way it was really tasty, so Culvers once again proved they can still produce a good product.
We headed back toward the airport hotel and purchased gas enroute. We have an early start tomorrow and wanted to make sure that Anne would not have to put $50 worth of gas in the neat little RAV 4 before she returns it on Mon. We chatted a bit with Anne and then off to bed.

WI & HI

Friday July 19, 2013
We will use almost any excuse to get to Hawaii (at least I will). We left FL to head to WI for a 40th Wedding Anniversary for my brother and sister-in-law (Tom & Sue). We decided since the flights to WI were already expensive and we were already flying to a nice destination, that maybe we should make it a multi-city enjoyable trip. Therefore, after we leave WI on Sun. we head toward Kialua-Kona, HI. This is on the Big Island.
We met Anne (our daughter) in Chicago and flew from there to Milwaukee. We did a bit of shopping at REI and then headed over to Tom & Sue's for an afternoon visit since Heidi was also In town. Matthew and Casey and Madeleine drove in from St. Louis and were ready to relax and feed their little gremlin and get her in for the night. Madeleine, who is now 14 months old,
was the center of attention while we were there.
The party is tomorrow afternoon, so our morning is free to check out a few places in the area before we arrive.

A busy week in FL for Garrison Family

Anne, Garrison and Emily arrived late on Thursday evening (May 30). It was about 11 pm which is way late for a toddler of almost 18 months. She immediately fell asleep in the new car seat that Anne had sent down to Fl. It faces forward so that in itself was pretty neat for her. Needless to say, it was dark and not much to see, so sleep was more important.

The next morning we did not make it to rope drop at any of the Disney Parks but we did make it for the official first hair cut. There is a small little shop on Main Street in The Magic Kingdom that specializes in just that sort of thing. It was rather like a 3 ring circus to keep her entertained just to get her bangs cut. Emily didn't even want to wear the neat Mickey hat that celebrates that 1st haircut.



Bubbles are a lot more fun than a hair trim.



Emily has the hat on but it is off in a flash.


We do have a cute family by the castle, so we know they got past the hair cut place.




Anne and Garrison stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort which of course does have a very lovely beach. Just look at all of those little footprints to get down to the beach. You know it is hard walking on that soft sand.



The resort also had a very nice pool, but that requires getting on a swimsuit. That is quite an ordeal to get Emily ready for a swim. In fact it is a family affair. :-)



She did get into her suit and enjoyed not only swimming and dunking, but also drinking the pool water.



She had lots of fun just watching people scream, cheer and put their arms up as they went down the Expedition Everest roller coaster.


There was also a little down time in Celebration to walk around and check out the various plants and animals. She seemed to find DUCKS as long as they kept their distance. One of her favorite words.






Garrison had to head back to TX, so Anne and Emily stayed a few more days. We did get back to the Magic Kingdom once again. All of us had gone to EPCOT as well as Animal Kingdom, but The Magic Kingdom does have more for little children. Needless to say we were trying to fit in some things between naps and rain. Dumbo did make it and Small World had to be done
twice. She slept through it the first time, so therefore a rerun was necessary. She really liked all of the activity so it was well worth it.



The rain did strike and the Electrical Parade was cancelled. Maybe next time.



The new fashion trend for keeping mom and toddler sort of dry.

From FL to TX and Beyond

We flew down to Houston with Anne and Emily. Luckily we were bumped up to first class. At least Emily had a little more room to move. Unlucky for the other first class passengers to be blessed with a noisy toddler.

She colored I the small child room in The United Club. Then onto the plane where Anne was really stressed trying to keep Emily attentive for 3 hours. Even though you get food and beverages, a toddler just has more items to get their little hands into. Whew!






Despite the long trek, Emily did a pretty good job.


Swim lessons were on Emily's agenda so we did see her in action and she wanted to make sure we saw her from behind the glass enclosure.






Here she is incognito in her car seat seeing the sites of TX.


The park also kept her busy as well as all of us.


Just look at the bearded baby. Yogurt is just the perfect beard, much better than the milk mustache.


The following are all of Emily being busy. Could you guess that maybe Emily is sort of the main event of this blog.



Sorting theses shapes is. Piece of cake.


Water always tastes better after it hits the pavement. Mmmmm.


The Splash Pad is really neat.


Blowing bubbles with Daddy.


Mmmmmm.


Now I will wear my First Haircut Mickey Hat.