Hawaiian Vacation in a Nutshell

Here is a brief tour of Eric and my recent trip to Hawaii. It is impossible to really convey all the excitement and grandeur of the place and the time, but this will have to suffice.

Dad and Anne's lovely abode. It is quite large, as you can see. And at 2500' above sea level, it commands wide views of the island, the ocean, and even Maui across the water.

It is equally as nice indoors. I love the open kitchen/living space with high, wood-beam ceilings:

Our first night we had a lovely dinner at a resort hotel by the ocean.

For the first of our many excursions, Dad and Eric loaded up the car with three kayaks, and a crapload of other ocean-ware. It was impressive.

Meanwhile I examined the catch in some of the glue traps in the garage. Yikes!! Those centipedes were as big as my hand!

Here we are, arriving at the Captain Cook Monument. It is a beautiful place for snorkeling that you can only get to by kayak. It was hard work, but well worth the trip.

Eric looked very heroic I thought, perhaps like Captain Cook himself, the British explorer who "discovered" this island in the 1770's only to meet his untimely demise at this very spot; speared to death by a bunch of angry Hawaiians. At first they thought he was a god. When they found out he wasn't, they got pissed. And who could blame them really?

Dad arriving by kayak, for the second time. He is still as intensely active as ever. He sped by us and made it to the monument, then headed back to meet us, and accompany us back to the monument again.

"NEAR THIS SPOT CAPT JAMES COOK MET HIS DEATH FEBRUARY 14, 1779"

Classic dad in Hawaii- Hang Loose Bro!

One of my favorite parts of the trip were the many mai-tai's we enjoyed on the beach:

Day one: Eric's sunburned. This is a classic T-Bear move. You can see where he haphazardly sprayed his back with sun-block.

Eric in a lava tube. Sorry this does not really show what the experience was like. But it was a big tube, made of lava, underground, formed by escaping gas or some such geologic process millions of years ago. Very cool.

The end of the road. At the Volcanos National Park. This was our epic day. As you can see, the laws of man cease to apply here, where the world ends and/or begins. Men just tear their clothes off and continue like savages.

A truly eerie and unreal landscape. This lava is less than 10 years old. It is crazy how active this volcano is. It has been erupting continuously since 1983- my WHOLE LIFE. We didn't actually see a lava flow, but where told that if we hiked across this lava for a few miles, we would find it. Unfortunately it was too late in the day, and we were far too unprepared for that trek.

We did have a good, long hike though.

And the best part was that at the very end of the day, when we were leaving the park, we just happened along this spot where you could see the main crater glowing with the lava inside. So cool! This photo just does not do it any justice. It was magnificent.

Day two- Eric's lava injury. Hardly a day went by without Eric getting himself all cut up or injured in some crazy way.

Beach day, surfing:

Like a real Hawaiian- Eric trying out the paddle board. I did it too, and it was very fun. It's like a canoe and a surf board mixed together.

Golf trip to Big Island Country Club:

There were lots of birds there, including many wild turkeys.

Eric taunting a little Erkel bird with a chip bag.

The state bird of Hawaii, the endangered Nene (pronounced "nay-nay"). It is actually descended from a Canada goose that was stranded here a million years ago. It still looks quite Canada-goose-like if you ask me.

Erkel up close. It's a type of quail.

The Hawaiian Shaved Ice is famous and very popular. Eric and I had to try it. The girl at the counter told us there is really nothing "Scandinavian" about it. That's just a marketing ploy.

Last day. Time to head to Monterey!!