Hawai'i Route 11

Friday, 8/30/19

Yesterday we decided to take a trip around the south end of the island, stopping along the way with a final destination of Volcanoes National Park.

A handy tourist map of the Big Island

Route 11 runs around the south end of the island from Kailua-Kona (Kona, for short) on the west to Hilo on the east. The condo where we are staying is about halfway between Kona and Magic Sands Beach so we drove south on the low road (Ali'i Drive) to the junction with Route 11. That area is heavily developed with resorts, condos and private residences. There are frequent small signs on homes advertising "vacation rentals" and the occasional sign advertising property for sale.

From Captain Cook to the south end of the island there are many Kona coffee farms, ranging from a few bushes in front yards to larger fields alongside the road to large plantations stretching back into the hills. We also saw large macadamia plantations in an area running for ten miles or so that must be especially favorable for growing those trees.

Just before turning north up the east side of the island we stopped in Na'alahu for a pit stop and to visit the famous Punalu'u bakery.

Despite its small size, breads and sweets from this bakery are sold at stores throughout the island. We shared a sandwich made with their sweetbread (scrumptious) and a guava malasada, also very tasty, if a bit messy with the guava stuffing.

Fueled up with some tasty calories and restocked with water, we headed north.

North of Pahala we pulled off at a lookout and saw lava flows of various ages.

The dark lava in the foreground is from the 1907 eruption. the light colored lava with the sparse vegetation in the left foreground is from a flow estimated to be 750-1500 years old and the dark lava in the distance is from the 1837 flow. As you can see, it takes a long time for vegetation to reestablish itself on lava.

From the low point north of Punalu'u we slowly but steadily climbed to 4,024' at a point just south of the Kilauea Visitor Center. We stopped at the gate to the National park and told the ranger we were visiting the Kilauea Military Camp (KMC) so he logged us in and emphasized that we couldn't visit the tourist areas of the park. Since we have been here a couple times before, I was happy to agree to save the $25 entry fee. In any case, the road around the caldera is closed just beyond the entry to KMC and the lookout points are restricted due to the danger after the eruption and caldera collapse last year.

We visited the KMC General Store (PX), gassed up at the little gas station and had a look at the cottages where we stayed in 2004.

I don't remember in which of the 20 or so cottages we stayed. I do remember it was pretty rustic.

 At about 4,000' elevation, it was quite comfortable in KMC. The car thermometer read 68 degrees compared to the 88 degrees we faced back in Kona. After a nostalgic visit to the area, we headed back down the road toward home. 

Come, Walk With Me

Tuesday, 8/27

Today is a beautiful day here in Kona. A walk seemed appropriate. Come join me as we walk around the area.

Setting out from our condo, walking north along Ali'i Drive, I soon passed The Worldmark condos, where we spent a week in 2003.

There is spectacular scenery even here in beautiful downtown Kona. This photo is representative of what can be seen in many places, if you look. The flowers are bougainvillea and white plumeria.

St Michael The Archangel Catholic Church, est. 1840. We toured this
church during a previous visit.

Beyond the small point on the right is the main part of Kailua Bay. Among other attractions, the annual Kona Ironman swimming competition is held here. One year we were here just before the Ironman and there were several swimmers practicing on the 2.4 mile course. The course starts at the pier in front of the large building beyond the point, runs SW beyond the palm tree, around an anchored boat and back to the pier. This year the race was held May 30th.

Near the beginning of the tourist strip. 

Note the "Shoreline Public Access" sign above. In Hawai'i the public is granted access to all beaches below the "upper reaches of the wash of the waves." There are slightly different regulations for the various islands but such access is guaranteed everywhere. In this area it seems there is an access trail every quarter mile or so.

This is near the beginning of the tourist strip in Kona. Both sides of Ali'i Drive provide opportunities for tourists to part with their money.

Hulihe'e Palace

This old palace is now a museum. We toured it during a previous visit to Kona. If you like museums or things Hawai'ian, it's worth taking a guided tour. Beyond the old artifacts one thing that sticks in my memory is the wood for the floors. It is all old growth Douglas fir from Washington State. I admired many of the pieces in the 16-20 foot lengths that are not much available anymore. When they had to replace some of the flooring a few years back, it had to be custom milled from longer logs.

This pier is where the lighters from visiting cruise ships drop off and pick up passengers.

A closer view of the end of the bay. The fishers were catching what looked to me like small (5-6") Barracuda.

From here we continue around the bend (1.5 miles from our condo) where Ali'i Drive heads northeast up the hill toward Kuakini Hwy and the main Hawai'i Belt Road. Airport to the left and Keauhou and Captain Cook to the right. Back down to Kuakini, I turned south toward home. The temperature was 88 so when a Starbucks came into view I took a break to cool down and take on some liquid.

The Starbucks visit illustrates again why communication is so important. I ordered an iced coffee and asked the barista if I could have a glass of water, no ice. After adding 1/2 n 1/2 to my coffee, I turned back to the pick up counter to find a glass of water with ice plus another glass with just ice. I smiled, took the glass of water, slid the ice back to her, told her I had ordered water, no ice, and sat down at a nearby table. In less than a minute she called my attention to the glass of water, no ice, she had set out for me. I thanked her and enjoyed the coffee and water w/o ice and poured the icewater down the sink because I was worried about having to make, but not finding, a pit stop on the walk back to the condo. They were two friendly young women who were anxious to get me what I wanted but were confused by the unusual request. I need to make my request more clear next time.

Refreshed and with my liquids topped off, I continued on Kuakini, down Hualalai to Ali'i Drive and back to the condo. According to the Pacer app on my phone, total distance was 4.03 miles in one hour and seventeen minutes, not counting time-outs for pictures and coffee.

I hope you enjoyed the walk as much as I did. 

Rainy Day Musing

Yes, it also rains in Paradise. But that's good because rainy days encourage pondering and introspection, especially while on vacation with none of the usual mundane household tasks that compete for my attention during rainy days at home.

First an apology for the time delay between my posting an entry and when it is published by Blogger. After several years of using the app, I can say it is getting better all the time but I still don't understand why some entries take only an hour before the email notification is sent out to you subscribers when others take up to twenty-four hours. I thought it might be the number of photos, and that makes a difference but it's not the only factor. Oh well, another of the mysteries of life.

Following are some random, and some not so random, thoughts that surfaced this rainy day.

Old age. Having exceeded my allotted span of three score and ten, and rapidly approaching a full four score years, I feel privileged to be relatively healthy of body and mind and challenged to find ways to put those attributes to good use.

When I was young, my time horizon was far away. At this point in life it is much closer. Strangely enough, the pressure I feel to achieve goals seems less now than it was then. Maybe that's because I have fewer goals. Maybe it's because I'm more realistic about setting goals. Maybe it's because I've finally realized that setting goals and trying to reach them can be more rewarding that actually reaching them.

Family and friends. I've posted before about being fortunate to have siblings that actually get along together. https://hrodenbergersblog.blogspot.com/2018/12/siblings.html
Perhaps when we get older it's easier to overlook faults that would have seemed critical when we were younger. In any case, thank you, brothers and sisters, and spouses for being a good family. A special thanks to our sons and spouses for being kind to their parents.

Friends are to be treasured. 'Nuf said.

Helping others. I like to think the concept of helping others is common among people everywhere. Whether it's called the Golden Rule or Karma or some other term, it is designed to make life easier for any civilization. Those who break the Rule or the Karmic cycle do so at their own risk.

In my own case, I also like to look at it as "paying back" for those who helped me when I was younger and not so conscious of the power of helping others.

Exercising. This is a tough one for me. I know well that exercise is one of the keys to having a healthy life, old or young. The problem is motivation. People who have farms or kitchen gardens are quickly rewarded for the exercise they invest in those endeavors. The rest of us are rewarded mostly in the longer term so it takes effort to get started each time. I try to remember that "investment" in my own health whenever I try to duck out of exercise for the day.

Appreciating life. Some people are perpetually sour, others in the same situation find ways to appreciate what life deals them. Is it genes, cultural heritage, family upbringing or some other variable? Wish I knew. What I do know is that I feel better when I find things in life to enjoy instead of dwelling on things that don't go the way I want.

Politics. As I've matured I find that politics take up less of my time, even when it seems others devote more time and effort to political pursuits. I know the political outcomes I prefer and donate money and time to help achieve those outcomes, but I try not to get wrapped around the axle of daily political outrage.

Truth be known, there's not much I can do day to day that will change anything. Better for me to enjoy other parts of life and leave political involvement for those times when I might be able to make a difference.

Enough musing for this rainy day. Time to get back to enjoying this corner of Hawaii.

Sea View Condo

Had a hard time staying in bed until 0600 local time this morning since my body clock said it was 0900. Finally got up in the last of the night and watched the sun gradually smile upon our condo courtyard.

A peaceful morning with only a few vacationers up and about.

We got in after the office closed last night so had to go check in this morning after they opened at 0800. With that detail out of the way, we made a shopping list and headed out to Costco and Safeway for the week's supplies. After bringing up the groceries, I decided to refresh my spirit by wandering the grounds checking out the tropical flowers and other sights.

I think this is the largest Hibiscus flower I've seen.

These smell as sweet as the nearby Plumeria.

This young Plumeria is already starting to bloom.

Soldiers on guard along one property line.

Banyan roots looking to expand the mother tree's sphere of influence.

Our condo is the one on the top right in this photo.

Pool umbrellas with changing rooms to the rear.

This view is to the left of the one above with pool, hot tub and ocean. Kailua Bay is in the middle distance.

Father Sol preparing to retire after a hard day's work smiling on people in this fair land.

End of the day, at least for early risers like me.

Seattle to Kona

Saturday morning we caught our Lyft driver at 0500 for an easy ride to SeaTac airport to start our vacation in Hawai'i. I've found that if I'm going to be gone for less than a week it pays to park at the airport, but if it's longer than a week it's less expensive to take a ride share each way. This morning it cost $51.36 plus tip for the ride.

Our flight to Honolulu was rough from takeoff to a couple hours out when it smoothed out for the balance of the trip. It seems the seats are narrower and the legroom less each flight, but the seat configuration on this 737 was not bad. We checked our carry-on bags at the gate so we had only our personal items to worry about and I put them both in the overhead rack so we had the max legroom.

This vacation starts with a week on the Big Island so you might wonder why we flew to Honolulu. It turned out that the round trip SEA to HNL plus the inter-island trip from HNL to KOA and return was a couple hundred dollars less than the open jaw from SEA to KOA to HNL back to SEA. The downside was that we had to pick up our checked luggage, exit the international terminal where we arrived and go through security again at the Inter-island Terminal, about a ten minute walk around the drive.

Honolulu International is relatively old and is mostly an open air terminal.

Still in the secure area, this shot shows the apron and arrival gates.

Here we look to the right at a nice garden in the terminal. 

This shot is taken facing back to the breezeway where I took the shot above. 

Inside the inter-island terminal. We had lunch in the restaurant center background. Lots of  birds from
doves to small sparrows ended up coming into the terminal and not being able to find their way back out.

Despite the bird guards, the birds manage to find a place to perch and leave their marks.

When I booked our connecting flight from Honolulu to Kona I had to allow for possible late arrival of the flight from the mainland, time to make our way out of the secure area, go back through security and into the inter-island terminal. Our flight from Seattle was a little early and it only took an hour and a half to schlep our selves and our bags between terminals so we had a couple hour wait before the flight to Kona. But I like to have extra time rather than the opposite. We relaxed over lunch and enjoyed the short flight to Kona.

These three Hula girls have been dancing in the Kona airport courtyard since the new airport opened in 1970.

Picked up our rental car from the helpful people at Enterprise and made our way to our condo after a long travel day.

We were tired but not too tired to catch the sunset on our first day of vacation.

Olympic Discovery Trail

Last week Ikuko and I visited the Olympic Peninsula. One of the highlights was taking a hike on the Olympic Discovery Trail.

The trail covers about 140 miles from Port Townsend, on the east side of the Peninsula, to La Push, on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula facing the wide Pacific Ocean.

In some places, like near where we went hiking near Sequim, the trail builders took advantage of old railbeds which resulted in a nice easy hike.

We had beautiful weather with temperatures in the low 70's and a light breeze so it made for a relaxing four miles communing with nature. 

Edmonds Waterfront - A Local Trip

I thought maybe you would enjoy a vicarious trip through Edmonds and along the waterfront, so last Friday I set off on a walk around town.

To get an idea of the setting, we head up the hill to the east of our condo.

Intersection flower beds are an Edmonds specialty. People pay to sponsor each and have a plaque displaying their name.

Six long blocks up the hill to the east, this is the picture looking west from the ferry terminal on the
north (right) to the dog park on the south.  

 After the slog up the hill, I turned to the north and walked along 9th Ave N to Caspers Street and then down the hill to Sunset Ave N. By this time I had clocked just under two miles. 

Looking to my left I could see the ferry terminal and underwater park with its many buoys.

To my right I could see Possession Head on the south end of Whidbey Island. Lots of salmon are caught along
Possession Bar. Note all the buoys in the foreground marking various spots in the underwater park.

Foot passengers board to the left and vehicles board down the ramp. Motorcycles board first and enjoy being the first off.

 Walking south along the waterfront I came to the ferry terminal and Brackett's Landing Park.

 Brackett's Landing Park lies on both sides of the ferry terminal.

This is the view to the right (north) of the terminal. SCUBA divers and snorkelers use the park most every day.

This portion of the park is on the south of the terminal. Real life kids like to help the bronze kids sail the little boat.

A little farther south we come to the remains of the Edmonds Senior Center. It has been razed to make way for the new community center which will also have a walkway to pass around the private beach in front of the condominiums on the right in this photo. 

Demolition started in the middle of July with completion of the project scheduled for next year.

Looking back north from Olympic Park beach, you can get a better idea of  the private beach in front of the five-story condo.

The bridge to the fishing pier passes over the breakwater. To the right on the breakwater
are the metal salmon sculptures. The fishing pier sees lots of fishermen and
women, or is it fisherpersons? Or maybe just fishers? Some nice salmon are
landed here. Also lots of squid on cold winter evenings. 

Next come the restaurants and marinas. 

I'm not sure how many slips there are but they stretch for a couple thousand feet along the waterfront.

Here's the 50-ton sling to launch and recover the larger boats.

A special forklift handles smaller boats that are stacked in dry storage to the east. 

This bridge connects the south end of the marinas to the public park at this end of the waterfront.

At the tail end (sorry) of the waterfront is this large dog park. It's always busy with dogs and their people enjoying the off-leash area. 

Heading back to the north, I walked along Admiral Way and then up Dayton Street toward home. Along the way I passed the boat repair yard and the train station.

Boat repair yard situated between Admiral Way and the BNSF train tracks.

Edmonds Station is especially busy in the mornings and afternoons when the sounder and Amtrak trains are full of commuters.

Stationary whistles are the cone shaped objects on this pole. The sign on top tells the engineers
the horns are activated thereby negating the need to blow the  regular train horn.

After several years of coordination with BNSF and the governing agencies, the stationary whistles, called "wayside horns" were approved for the two crossings in downtown Edmonds. They are directional and not nearly as loud as the regular train horns, cutting down on noise pollution while still guarding the crossings. They were activated on June 5th. It took a couple weeks for the engineers to get used to them but now only the occasional engineer feels like he has to toot his own horn, making it much better for the people in the Edmonds Bowl.

From the station I headed east on Dayton Street and then turned south a couple blocks and was home. Total walk turned out to be about four and one-half miles, not counting the odd wandering around at the photo sites when I hit the "pause" button. I use an app called "Pacer" on my smartphone which tracks by GPS so I know precisely how far I travel and at what speed. Amazing what technology can do for little or no expense.