We arrived in Honolulu on Satruday, January 6, 2007. We spent our first night showing Jane Waikiki beach in Oahu.
The surfers of Waikiki beach. Pretty bush league stuff compared to what we would see later.
Here's a Waikiki beach panorama shot
Question: what do you think is the purpose of this sculpture found in many places along Waikiki sidewalks?
Answer: it's a bike rack
The next day we visited Punchbowl cemetary where fallen soldiers of the Pacific WWII campaigns lie. We'll put lots of pictures of this up soon. The flags are at half-mast for Michigan boy (and Wolverine) Jerry Ford who was a naval officer in the Pacific during WWII.
That night we moved to the Condiminium shared with Nan and Stan Roe for a week on the Southeastern shore of Oahu, part of a large upscale development at Ko Olina. About where we are standing to take this picture run the tracks of an old sugar cane railway -- now restored by train buffs who run a 90-minute ride every Sunday for 13 miles. The track runs all the way around the Northwest corner of Oahu where we hiked (see later pictures).
Here's some sunset pictures taken from our condo porch. January is part of the "wet" season in Hawaii so we got a few clouds here.
Stan and Nan...
...Dick and Jane
As part of the upscale development at Ka Olina, perfectly shaped lagoons were added to the leeward shore of Oahu.
Here's one of those lagoons. Beaches belong to the public in Hawaii, so the developers had to provide access and parking to the hoi polloi
Here's a Ko Olina sunset. Ka Olina is about at the southwest corner of Oahu
While we stayed at an upscale place, the beaches are open to all. Here's a beachbum's lair (look closely to see the surfboard). Where better to be homeless than on a surf beach in Hawaii? The cataram in the background is bringing snorklers since this area has many fish enticed by the warm waters discharged by the electric plant just to the right of the picture.
On Monday we ventured with Stan and Nan Roe to see the Pearl Harbor sites (Arizona Memorial, the Submarine Museum, and the U.S.S. Missouri). We'll show those pictures later. Dick has known Nan and Stan for over forty years, having gone to U of D High with Stan. The Roes had a condo in Oahu for a week and shared it with us. It was nice catching up with them. (They spent a week with Pietrina and Dick in France in 2000 as well).
The Arizona memorial is in the background. Do you like our “going steady” shirts?
On Tuesday, January 9, 2007, we took a serious hike to the Great Northwest (of Oahu) among the albatross of Ka'ena Point. Check out the pictures at: http://www. dickschmitt.com/travels/Hawaii/Kaena-Point/index.html
On Wednesday, we traveled to the North Shore, the best surfing spot in the world. (Mike Onufrow lived here while suffering through his time in the service). January is the month of high waves (but they weren't too high on the day we were there). The next day, one of these surfers disappeared. This is the Banzai Pipeline --where more surfers have died than any other spot on the planet. (This does not include internet cafes, however).
Here's the elimination sheet for the surfing competition at Banzai Pipeline for the Monster Energy Pro men's surfing contest. They hold the start until the wave conditions are good. Top prize is $75,000. We resisted the temptation to add Mike's name here. (We we're going to write Mitch's name but didn't want him to lose his amateur status.)
After watching a bit of surfing, we followed Oahu's north shore around to the winward side and stopped at the Polynesian Cultural Center, a place run by Mormons to feature various customs of the Pacific Islands. Here a Tongoian is making fire by rubbing sticks together.
On Thursday (January 11, 2007), we took another Oahu hike to the scenic Manoa Falls. Pictures to follow.
Here's the Manoa Falls from a distance...
...and up close
Dick really ought to change that shirt!
Of course we did the Chinatown tour in Oahu
Waikiki beach was created by draining the swamp into canals such as this one. We couldn't resist photographing the Bougainvillea along the banks
A bit of beauty even in a busy city
Among Friday’s activities was a visit to the only King's palace in America -- the Iolani Palace in Honolulu built for the Hawaiian Royal Family just before the Dole Pineapple family engineered the overthrow of Queen Lili’uokalani (who became a prisoner in her own bedroom.)
On Saturday, we dropped Nan and Stan at the airport and then stopped to see the Foster Botanical Gardens in Honolulu. We've published those pictures at: http://www. dickschmitt.com/travels/Hawaii/Oahu-Foster-Botanical-Gardens/index.html
Next we flew to the Big Island (Hawaii). On Sunday and Monday, we visited the live volcano (see the lava glowing in the background). More pictures are coming.
On the Big Island (Hawaii) we stayed near the Volcano for three nights in our own little cottage in the rain forest. It had a crazy shower with spray coming from fake lava rocks. Here's the view out the shower window. For some reason, Jane wouldn't let me take her picture here.
Here's the shower wall! This gets the cake for crazy bathrooms although we had another doozy on our last Italian trip to the lakes area.
Another view of our backyard on the big island. We were about 100 yards from the nearest house (which was the bed & breakfast where we stayed and had our "candlelit" breakfast.)
On Tuesday, we pulled out of Volcano territory to begin our circle of the Big Island, stopping at this black sand beach. Pictures at http://www.dickschmitt.com/travels/Hawaii/punaluuBlackSandBeach/index.html
This trip we got more into Hawaiian history. This is a religious place of refuge. The royalty would land their canoes in the foreground (we found it full of turtles). The building across the water is a temple. More pictures coming.
We spent one night on the Big Island on the “dry” side near Kona. Here's the view out the balcony of our hotel room.
The next day (Wednesday, January 17, 2007), we completed our circle of the Big Island, stopping here at an important historic site. That's another temple area at the top of the picture. More pictures and explanation to follow.
One of our last stops was at the Akaka Falls on the wet side of the Big Island. Pictures at: http://www. dickschmitt.com/travels/Hawaii/akaka-falls-big-Island/index.html
Just before getting on the plane to return to Honolulu and then Houston, we stopped at the Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens, the best garden we've ever been to. More pictures at: http://www.dickschmitt.com/travels/Hawaii/TropicalGardens2007/index.htm
