Hawai’i
10:09pm, Wednesday, June 6, 2007. This is our fifth night on the island. The sound of frogs or some other tropical creature that makes chirping sounds is emanating from outside of our room. The fan is on, which is good because it seems to put at least a small dent in the runaway mosquito population. Suffering with slightly-slower-than-back-home Internet access and a non-HD TV in alternating freezing and sweltering constant 75 degree weather has been our life for the last few days. Then there are the Others. In line ahead of us at the store, clogging the roadways during rushhour and swimming around us at the beach. It’s been terrible. Absolutely awful.
Okay, so maybe not quite so bad. But it’s definitely been different. We’re staying in Kona, a lush part of the island. The terrain is definitely tropical. Banana trees, all sorts of weird flowers and fruits and palm trees all around us.
Here’s sunset from where we’re staying, overlooking the town.
Some parts of the island are just old lava flows. In fact quite a bit of the south-eastern part of the island is either recent or current lava flows. Here’s an idea of the contrast.
Other parts (like Hilo on the eastern side) look similar.
The trees are beautiful.
As are all the colorful flowers…
Yesterday, we spent much of the day exploring the island. One of the most spectacular sights was crossing the island on Saddle Road. It’s one of the few [only?] roads that cuts across the central part of the island between two of the massive mountains. It was built in the 1940’s by the military for strategic purposes (i.e. hastily and carelessly). Although they’re currently trying to fix it and have significantly upgraded part of it, much of the road is essentially a 55 mph single lane road. All the bridges have yield signs and car rental agencies have a specific clause denying insurance coverage on that stretch. The views are amazing. It alternates between stark…
and terrain that looks very unlike Hawaii…
Horse farms and the largest cattle ranch in the U.S. seem very out of place.
It’s been a lot of fun so far, but we’re missing our little guys back home. We’ve heard conflicting reports of their behavior and we’re now unsure what to believe. We’re thinking about adding another member to the family. Patrick and Sammy, want a sibling pet? They’re cute AND they can help you save up to 15% on car insurance!
We miss everyone at home and although it’s fun to be away we’re already kind of wanting to get back. Until then,
Can we just replace Sammy with the gecko?
June 7th, 2007 | #
hey.. wanna switch.. me go to hawaii and you come take care of the boys you miss so much? dony worry your boys are doing well.. aka they are still breathing.. well i think at least.. is that good enough for you?
June 7th, 2007 | #
Hah, what an entertaining post. Yeah the chriping was most likely the geckos. Joanna showed me this blog post, thanks for sharing pictures, I am of course intrigued! Never been to the big island yet but want to. Bill
June 8th, 2007 | #
Never been to Hawaii, but the tropical climate sounds a bit like Austin … although the temp here is more like 90 degrees and 85% humidity, and … in the beautiful outdoors, the mosquitoes are always ready and willing to bite! However, we do love those cute little geckos. But, to compare all this with the Northwest …. there’s no place like home!!
June 9th, 2007 | #