For Thanksgiving, my parents treated the family to two weeks of vacation on the Big Island, which I had never been to before. Unfortunately, my older brother and his family couldn't get away, and we could only stay for one of the two weeks, but we had a great time while were were there!
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Our trip began with a delay in airport security, where
we were the lucky recipients of a "secondary check,"
which meant a full search of all our carry-ons...
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...and a pass through the "Puffer," which blew puffs
of air at us trying to sniff out explosive residues.
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Once on the plane, we were treated to a non-alcoholic
drink of our choice during the 5 hour flight, and snack
boxes were $5. We made do instead with some cookies
I had baked the day before.
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The hotel my parents reserved for us was very nice in
the downstairs lobby, where we spent a fair amount of
time because they had free wireless there. The hotel
was called the "Outrigger," and had a couple of genuine
articles on display.
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Not my mess!
Once in our room, Tessala immediately scattered her
things about the floor, which I put a stop to by giving
her a drawer of her own to mess.
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No Photos!
Alina tried out the bed, but didn't want any photographic
record.
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Outrigger Hotel
The hotel was situated next to one of the best snorkeling
beaches on the island, with tropical fish and green
turtles galore.
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The viewing was much better of course with a snorkel
and mask, but even without you could count quite a few
species just by wading about.
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The turtles are an endangered species, though they've
made a remarkable comback thanks to a breeding program
on the island. They didn't seem shy of tourists, and
if you aren't watching you might be startled when one
brushes your leg.
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Tropical flowers were planted around the grounds.
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I couldn't tell you which ones were native and which
were not.
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Not long after we'd settled in, my parents and my brother
and his wife checked into their condominium across the
way.
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The condo was very roomy inside, and here's Tedd on
my old laptop, which he bought off me that summer.
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Folks spent a lot of time in the kitchen, preparing
food or cleaning up, and the open design invited pleasant
conversation throughout.
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Our first night together we had Costco roast chicken,
and my mom had even bought a fresh turkey to cook for
Thanksgiving, which went in the fridge.
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Kona Palace
The next day, we did a bit of snorkeling in the morning,
then headed into Kona to see some of the historic sights,
including the Hawaiian Palace, where the royal family
lived in the early 1800's.
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It wasn't a huge place, but the interior was quite nice.
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Here is one of the few bedrooms.
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Sandy, Mom, & Tedd in front of a very old and well-developed
banyan tree.
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And a well-developed spider, about the size of my palm.
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This is a reconstruction of the 'Ahu'ena Heiau, which
was the Hawaiian capitol from 1812-1819.
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Lava rocks were a popular medium for walls, oddly enough.
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This royal cloak was made of exotic feathers that took
5 years to gather, and 7 years to sew together.
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The sea wall in Kona.
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Someone had spread birdseed in the gravel near the walk,
and we got to see many colorful takers enjoying the
feast.
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Thsi red-headed sparrow is not an original native, as
is true of most of the common birds we saw near the
seaside.
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The following day, we took a car ride down the Kona
Coast to visit Pu`uhonua o Honaunau, or the "Place of
Refuge."
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This is one of my dad's shots, which I liked.
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Tedd and Palm. (Tedd is the one in the hat.)
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We were all checking out the huge moths in the little
shelter.
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Here we see a gecko, eying his Thanksgiving meal.
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I don't know what kind of tree this was, but it seemed
like a lot of the tropical trees developed their own
stilts to deal with occasional high water.
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The Place of Refuge was so-named because it was a place
to escape the god's vengance if you broke a sacred law,
or "kapu." The penalty for breaking a kapu was death,
and it was everyone's responsibility to carry out the
sentence. The only way out was to make it (as fast
as you could) to Pu`uhonua o Honaunau, where priests
would absolve you of your sin.
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A sunning turtle. (Or, perhaps, a sinning turtle?)
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No blood could be spilled in the Place of Refuge, so
the old and injured would also go here to escape death
in times of war, where the priests and the kapu against
bloodshed here would protect them. (Don't ask me what
happens when you break a kapu in Pu`uhonua o Honaunau
-- I didn't want to try it.)
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My dad also took this shot.
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The refuge wall, marking the boundary of Pu`uhonua o
Honaunau.
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These huts were used to protect artists and their handiwork
from the elements.
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Here we see some totems being carved, but we didn't
come on a day when they were carving them.
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After wandering the grounds for a bit, we all got back
in the water for some lovely snorkeling. My parents
left a bit before we did, and stopped by an old coffee
plantation on the drive back.
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Alina held still for me while I took the 5 exposures
needed for this HDR sunset shot.
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Another HDR shot.
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Not HDR, but very nice. My dad took this one.
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My dad took this one of Tessala and Alina just after
sunset.
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Big Island Grill
That night, we had dinner at a local favorite, the Big
Island Grill. The atmosphere was OK, but the food was
fantastic!
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The following day was lost to illness and poor planning,
and we spent the morning of Thanksgiving kayaking and
snorkeling down at Cook's Monument. I didn't take my
camera.
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This shot and the one before shows the high surf we
had to contend with while kayaking. A couple of locals
helped us dock our boats, claiming they had saved our
lives. Tedd tipped them $10 for the both of us.
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Thanksgiving
Here we are, all seated for a proper Hawaiian Thanksgiving,
complete with purple sweet potatoes. (Yum!)
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Friday morning, I made friends with a gecko I picked
up on my parent's front stairs.
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He was a cute little fellow, and sat a while on my shoulder
so everyone could admire him.
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This day, Tessala stayed at the hotel to finish her
math homework while the rest of us headed around the
south point of the island to see some forested and volcanic
regions. On the way, we stopped at a bakery in Na`alehu,
the southernmost city in the United States (or so they
claim).
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An exotic spider, mimicking a flower(?)
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This is the forest trail we found, which led to a volcanic
lake.
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Unfortunately, the mosquitoes also knew how to find
this trail, and we didn't last very long before we turned
back, seeing no birds and worried that we might not
get to the National Volcano park before dusk.
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A wild orchid along the trail.
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At the National Volcano park, we scaled back our ambitions
to an overlook of the caldera and a visit to the lava
tubes.
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The ferns in Hawaii are BIG.
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I loved the cracks at the edges of the caldera. I'm
not sure how far the molten rock is below the surface,
but I heard it isn't warm to the touch or anything.
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Mom and Dad headed back early to keep Tessa company,
leaving Tedd and Sandy and Alina and I to explore on
our own.
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Here is an HDR view out of the lava tube.
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Lava Tube
It was difficult to get a reasonable shot looking into
the tube, as the walls and especially the floor were
so dark and dimly illuminated.
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Another good-sized fern.
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Alina just outside the lava tube.
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Our last day, after a morning of snorkeling and body-surfing
near our hotel, we headed into Kona to return our rental
car and catch our red-eye flight back to San Francisco.
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After numerous delays due to a mechanical problem, United
finally admitted that the plane wasn't going anywhere
that night, and decided to put us all up in a hotel.
Unfortunately, they couldn't find a bus to get us there,
so we ended up waiting three hours for cabs to take
us in rotation.
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Once we got there, the night was nearly over. And guess
what? They had taken us back to our SAME hotel! We
had just lost a night's sleep getting nowhere at all.
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My parents and Tedd and Sandy, who were staying an additional
week, were a bit surprised to get a call from us in
the morning, but we made the best of it.
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We hung out at their condo for a bit.
(Tessa found a nice book on local birds.)
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Went for a swim in their pool.
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Visited with the birds in the pool's waterfall.
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And finally boarded our bus back to the airport. We
arrived "about a day" late, and more than a little exhausted.
It was like two red-eyes for the price of one!
Page created Dec 3 2005 8:50:14p