Back in the USA

Back in the USA

We arrived back on US soil, actually it was cement, around 2:30 in the morning. It was nice to go to the “native” line as opposed to the much longer “foreigner” line. We got a warm, cozy feeling when the Customs agent thumbed through the many stamped pages of our passports, stamped it, handed them to us, smiled, and said, “Welcome Home!”

A few hours later we were picked up by my friend, Art, and his cousin, and whisked off to the U.S.S. Missouri “Big Mo” Snack Shop and Enlisted Mess for breakfast. Nothing says USA and “fine dining” more than hot dogs, chips, and coca-cola served on a plastic tray. Art is a retired salty dog in Honolulu for a few weeks working to get the radio communications system on the Missouri up and running.

He gives a mean tour and we got to go lots of places that said “off limits”. We stood at the spot where the signing of “Japan’s Formal Instrument of Surrender” occurred. Remember this? It occurred on September 2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay. We leaned against the railing on the starboard side of the fantail (near the back) where, on April 11th, 1945 a kamikaze crashed setting the ship on fire. I sat in the “driver’s seat”, or whatever they call it. Sal mumbled something about “this ought to be good for at least one speeding ticket”. It was a fun day that went by entirely too quickly, but we had a plane to Hilo to catch.

Sal’s childhood friend met us. She has a great house overlooking a State Park Reserve. Looking out the kitchen window you see wild orchids blooming in the tall grass, and a few acacia trees. Only the giraffes are missing. Otherwise it would feel like being in Africa.

Madame Pele, Hawaii’s fire goddess, continues to be a tease. There was lava flowing from Kailua, but it was underground. So, what we saw was a lot of steam at the ocean’s edge. Meanwhile, on the nightly news we saw video footage of Mt. Etna erupting. Next summer, if we go to Italy, want to bet that Kailua will start erupting. Our volcano Karma and timing is always off.

During the first part of December, my mom came to visit for about 2 weeks. She announced before arriving that she was up for snorkeling, but she didn’t want to scuba! We hung out in Kona, snorkeled, shopped, sat on the beach, and generally took in all the sights of the whole island. One day, Mom and I flew over the volcano area. It was interesting to see the area of the lava flows and hard to believe that until a few years ago (in some cases, a few weeks ago) had been lush rainforest. Now, any trees remaining have been killed by the acid rain of the fumes venting from the flows. We could occasionally look down and see a little patch of red lava. The time flew quickly and soon it was time Mom’s galoshes and umbrella and send her back home. As we put her on the plane, we included a bag stuffed with all the stuff we didn't want to throw away but wouldn't need until we got home. Even still, our suitcase never gets lighter.

Sal and I flew over to Maui for about a week. We had never been, and now think it may be our new favorite Hawaiian Island. All the time we were driving through sugar cane fields and past processing plants in Australia, we wanted to take a tour of a sugar cane factory. Never did because we could never find one that gave tours. Finally, we came close. The only sugar cane commercially raised in Hawaii is in Maui. The lone factory doesn’t give tours because of liability reasons, but it does have a museum that sort of takes you through the steps. The exhibit was well done and the nice lady gave us a packet of sugar as we left, so we now know more about making sugar than before, and were able to sweeten our cereal the next morning.

We had a great time hiking around on Haleakala volcano, the highest point on Maui. We definitely want to come back and hike into and stay at the wilderness cabins in the crater. We purposely didn’t drive around the entire island for two reasons. 1) we wanted to save something for the next time we come back, and 2) we couldn’t without “violating our rental car agreement” in a couple of places.

Christmas morning we flew to Honolulu. We had always wondered about flying on Christmas day, and now we know! To get into the Holiday spirit, we passed out candy canes to all the worker-bees. What we gave up in calories, we got back in smiles. We decided to be urban travelers and not rent a car. We had a great time figuring out the bus and trolley system. The bus you want doesn’t come very often, while the ones you don’t want, come by frequently. Walking along the ocean at sunset continues to be a beautiful sight.

One day we were going to take the bus out to Hanauma Bay for a little snorkeling. However, we found out that it is closed on Tuesdays, New Year’s Day, and currently all other days because of a stinging jellyfish invasion. The last time Sal was here, the bay was closed because of a sewage spill. Perhaps this place has the same karma for us as does the erupting volcanoes. We brought in the New Year by waving sparklers and watching fireworks. The best part was watching the giant Bologna (730 feet) in Lebanon, Pennsylvania do a Time Square ball imitation. No doubt this proves that we are indeed, wild and crazy!

The day before we left Hawaii, we walked to the top of Diamond Head with about 2,000 of our closest friends. To get there we hike just under one mile through 2 tunnels, up 3 staircases (277 steps) to gain 560 feet in elevation and stand on the summit which summit is 761 feet above sea level.

There is basically one entrance/exit into the crater of Diamond Head where many Civil Defense vehicles are kept. Didn’t they learn anything from Pearl Harbor about that being a bad idea? Green is used for camouflage. However, most vegetation in the crater is either brown or gray. From the top we had a great view of Waikiki. According to a sign on top, we were 3800 miles from Australia and 2400 miles from LA.

In keeping with the weird, not-direct flights we have had on this trip, we flew to LA via Vancouver, BC. In other words, we flew over our house on our way home! In Vancouver, it seemed strange to see people walking around in ski boots and down jackets.

Next stop – California and mainland USA!