Day 6 and 7

The big day was here. Sue was ready to present on her topic of her dissertation on team leadership. We went to the breakfast in the morning and a couple of interesting sessions. (I could have been on the beach but it was cloudy so I decided to attend some technology sessions.)

Her time was here and as we set up her PowerPoint on the supplied computer we couldn't get the sync to the projector. We did bring her computer (how else do you think we posted the blog?) and I got that to sync and the show was on. My technology part was finished and Sue did a great job in her presentation.

We had a burger at the hotel bar trying to avoid the rain under the umbrellas. Even in rain it is better than snow. The Seagren's joined us for lunch. It was such a yucky day we decided to go back to the room and watch the national football championship game. (Over here it started at 3:30.)

After Sunday's dinner at Domino's we decided to try another seafood restaurant. The Sansei was in our hotel and had a great selection. Seagrens had friends from Australia that met them so we all went out to eat. The food was great again and I had my first sushi. It was so rainy we didn't venture out very far after the meal and ended up at the motel.

Can you believe it, we even went to meetings on Tuesday! We had our normal lunch at the hotel and all of a sudden the sun came out. So this afternoon we crossed the street and spent some time on Waikiki beach. No burn yet; but we'll see if anything turns red later. We used quite a bit of sunscreen. The water was cool when you got in but okay after a while. The worst part is the coral was so close to the shore you couldn't go out very far or your feet would hurt.

Tonight we are off for a Chinese dinner at the Hilton. We are meeting the Seagrens and their friends too. Tomorrow we have a snorkeling trip planned for the late morning (the conference is over so we don't feel bad about doing something early). The hotel has a hospitality room so we can check out early, come back from the beach and shower in the hospitality room. Then we'll spend some time before we head out on the plane at 11:30 PM. We'll travel all night and should be back in Lincoln by Thursday afternoon. Let's hope Denver stays open.

This will be the last post. We hope you've enjoyed reading about our adventure as much as we've done the activities. (Well, I know it's not the same, but you get a little taste of the islands.

Day 4 & 5 - Vocanos & meetings

The fourth day started REALLY early. We got up at 2:50 to be in the lobby by 4:00. We picked up some additional people and headed to the airport to fly over to the island of Hawaii. We traveled with two ladies from New Orleans and an instructor from Switzerland.

The airport in Kona was really different. We walked out on the tarmac and everything was open. The only things that had doors and walls were the bar and gift shop. After meeting up with our driver, we stopped at a coffee place to have some rolls. We ended up picking up 28 or so other people on our trip around Hawaii. This driver was totally different. He didn't discuss politics or put down any religion. He did talk from start to finish; but he was pretty good. He knew every Latin name of most plants that we saw that became a little too much information but much better than the day before.

We did a lot of driving in the morning seeing many lava flows that seemed unreal. You would travel along and see fields of coffee plants, macadamia nut trees and other plants and then there would be a strip of 30-100 feet wide that would be black lava that had cooled. It started high and flowed into the sea. Everything we saw was cooled. The hot flowing lava would have taken another 4 hours to get to (you have to walk) so we would have had to stay on the island overnight. The driver said you don't see the red lava unless you go at night. During the day, it looks the same; black.

The first stop was at a Kona Coffee farm and mill. They raised most of the coffee and then milled their crop and other farmers too. We found out they are not coffee beans, they are coffee berries. (Probably because they cost so much over regular coffee.)

We drove to one of the craters and had lunch. There was a ton of rain but we managed to get some clear pictures. Then we traveled around the crater and got out a couple of times and explored the ridge of crater and Sue found out that the steam rising from a crack in the ground was really hot. We also explored an old lava tube that was developed from an earlier eruption. It was about 6 feet high but since there was so much rain the floor of the tube it wasn't much fun walking through it. I was really surprised we got to explore a crater that long. I thought from the description of the trip it wouldn't last as long as it did.

We stopped at a black sand beach and were lucky enough to see three sea turtles. They like the black sand because it keeps their eggs warmer. We also stopped at an orchid farm. They were really delicate and I included a picture of one of them.

As we made way to the East side of the island (the windward side) the waves on the ocean got higher and the weather got worse. We found out why Hilo had the highest amount of rain of any US city. The rain barely stopped as we got out to see a waterfall so the timing was pretty good. We made our way towards the north end and saw the Parker Ranch and heard it's history. We saw where Barbara Streisand and Charles Swab had houses of 7 and 28 million respectively. They are built over old lava holes and use them for wine cellars or guest bedrooms. The only thing that would worry me about where they built is that they are in a direct line from a volcano that has erupted every 200 years (1401, 1601, and 1801) The volcano is overdue.

We got back to the airport around 6:30; just enough time for a snack at the airport and we got back to our motel by 8:00. I did make an error on where we ate supper the night before. On Friday, we ate at a great seafood restaurant downtown. It was Saturday when we ate at the hotel's bar/restaurant.

Sue wanted to go to the general session meeting on Sunday. So we knew we had to get to bed because it was a long day.

Sunday, Sue did make it to the general session and then we both to a session after that. We then met up with our cousin's Al and Sharon Seagren who are also at the conference. We tried to go snorkeling at one of the bays. We changed our clothes, bought an underwater camera, and headed out. The beach was closed because of high seas! This is the second time we have tried to go snorkeling and have weather cancel our plans. So the weather wasn't very cooperative so we made plans to eat at a great seafood restaurant. After a great meal and conversation we called it an evening. Sue had to fine-tune her presentation for Monday and I stayed out of her way. Tomorrow is the big day for her presentation and she is a little nervous presenting at an international convention.

Day Three - Pearl Harbor and Island Tour

This was the first of our early morning tours. It started in the lobby at 6:00 AM with the usual pick up from various hotels. The first stop was Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. Our tour guide was a long-time Hawaii resident and made sure we knew how great it was that the Japanese didn't attack the Hawaii people; only the naval bases. (He failed to mention that Japan attacked without a declaration of war.) Besides the Bush bashing, complaining about the US taking over when Hawaii had great treaties with other nations and the fact they had to call the main highways an Interstate even though it of course isn't just to satisfy the US government, he was knowledgeable about the island, culture and history. (I just decreased his tip every time he went on his rampage.)

After about 2 hours at the memorial, we went around the island visiting various spots. We saw the Dole Plantation (and heard about how third-world countries are causing the shut down of all the pineapple and sugar cane plantation. We went to the North Shore where all the big waves are this time of year (although they were down quite a bit the day we visited). We had a nice lunch at the Crouching Lion Inn.

We stopped at the Halona Blowhole and watched the surf and right up the road was Hanauma Bay that has some great snorkeling. (We planned to come back another day; but more on that later.) We then ended back at the hotel around 4:30; tired and hungry. The driver talked from 6:30 until 4:30; non-stop. The only break we had was when we got off the bus on each tour.

We were lucky enough to stumble on the hotel bar where they had a group of four young men singing great harmony. We bought a CD and enjoyed a great burger and Mai Tai. We knew the next day was going to start early so we headed up to bed and got tucked in by 8:30. We knew that 2:50 AM when the alarm was going off would come around quickly.

Day Two-Whale Watching

We decided on going on a whale watching tour today. We went on a nice ship but the sea was really choppy and the wind was really blowing hard. We couldn't tell it from the shore, but you can see in the pictures the waves were high and there were a lot of white caps. It made it really hard to see any whales but as we were heading back we saw one whale. It wasn't above water very long but we had a good vantage point to get some pictures as it surfaced. We paid the price of being in the wind for a couple of hours because our faces are really wind-burned.

When we got back we decided to walk the street in front of the hotels and by the beach. Did a lot of window shopping but didn't buy anything. We did find a great place to eat some fresh fish and walked back. About 2 miles of walking so we were tired and got back to the room about 8:00.

Tomorrow (Friday) we have a tour of Pearl Harbor and the rest of the island. The tour leaves at 6 AM so we have to get to bed pretty soon. The next day we fly to another island to see the volcano. That leaves at 4:30 AM. (Don't these people sleep over here?)

Because we won't be around the room very much, we probably won't hook up to the Internet until Sunday. We should have a lot of pictures by then.

The first picture is of the light house on Diamond Head. The other two pictures are of the whale. Some of the people on the boat never did see the whale. We were on the water for about 2 1/2 hours and I still feel like I'm moving as I'm writing this post.

Day One-Arrival

After a restful 3 hours of sleep, Sue and I showered and drove to Lincoln. To check us through security, we met a retired Wahoo teacher, Don Wright. All the planes were on time and we didn't have any problems getting to Hawaii. We were able to catch about 2 hours of sleep each. If it hadn't been for the high pitch scream of a child about 2 rows back we might have gotten a little more. Gabriel himself couldn't have created a more piercing noise when he brought the walls of Jericho down.

We made the choice to take a bus that dropped people off at Waikiki hotels. After over an hour of starts and stops we made it to the Marriott. It is a beautiful hotel and the room is really nice with a view of Diamond Head and the ocean.

We went downstairs and talked to the concierge and started to organize our excursions. I was really disappointed when they said the helicopter trip over the volcano was $400 a person plus flight over to the island and a hotel room. Instead we booked an island tour that will take us to the volcano flow and explore the rest of the island. We have to leave at 4:30 AM and won't return until 8 PM but the tour package was more in our price line. We scheduled that for Sat., Jan. 6. The hotel said it was supposed to rain here on Sat. & Sun so go to another island on those days because if it is raining here it won't rain there.

We then went to one of the hotel's restaurants. The entrees were okay but the desserts were terrific. We managed to walk over to the water and a little up and down the street in front of the hotel. After crawling up to our room we collapsed about 10:30 our time which would have been 2:30 Nebraska time. So a pretty good 23 1/2 hour day!

Today we slept in (till 6:30 Hawaii time) and started picking out other things we wanted to do. We also answered some e-mails and had breakfast on our balcony. (Burger King was across the street.) This afternoon we are going whale watching and will be gone from 12 until 2:30. We haven't planned the final part of the day but it might be just going to the beach across the street.

Sleeping on the plane

You'd think that having a Christmas break to get ready for a trip to Hawaii that you'd not have to stay up late and get things ready. But that was before the problems with a Windows computer and getting it to talk to my cameras. I'm sure it will be worth the time (and heck, I can sleep on the plane) and help my back to not have to take both Sue's and my computer. I've got enough camera equipment to severely bend my back now. I don't need another computer.

So hopefully during this trip I'll be able to upload some pictures and blog what it's like here without too many glitches.

Since our plane leaves at 6 AM and I'll have to get up in 3 hours, I'll call it a night. I'm attaching a picture of our packing process.