Hunter and Giles Come for a Visit

My two sons Hunter 28, and Giles, 25 recently flew to Hawai'i for a visit with Dad. They flew into Kona Airport and earlier that morning I had set up a campsite in Ho'okena State Park about 35 miles south in Captain Cook.

As they had flown in from LAX at nighttime, they had no idea of the technicolor vortex that they had descended into. As we made the 2.5 mile switchback descent from Highway 19 from ~4000 feet to the beach, I hinted that as it grew lighter, Hawaii was going to slowly reveal itself to you guys and BLOW YOUR MINDS. And Pele did not disappoint.

As dawn broke, the boys, er men, took their first swim, replete with snorkeling masks and fins, and a school of dolphins surrounded them, just curious as to what they were up to. What an opening salvo in your first waking hours on Hawai'i!

We then spent several days on the white sand beaches around Kona. We hiked across a ~ 1 mile a'a lava flow that in ~1805 buried everything around here covering old beaches but creating new land including the parking lot. That lava however just missed Makalawena Beach, which we had almost to ourselves.

Snorkeling and Historical activity at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, just like in the old days at Williamsburg, looking at Indians, slaves and aristocratic planters.

Hunter prepares to jump off South Point.

Couldn't let his sister Caroline be the only family member to jump off the most Southern Point in the USA, pictured here a year ago. All three reported that coming up this rickety latter was the hardest part.

Namakani Paio, VNP, at 4000 feet. Our campsite was nestled in the Eucalyptus trees.

Continued along Highway 19 to spend a few days camping and nosing around at Volcano National Park with Halema'uma'u crater bubbling away in the Kilauea caldera.

Giles enjoys a little lie down, cleanest air in the world and sunshine before we get started in morning.

Through lush vegetation on the way to Kilauea Iki crater hike.

Little Kilauea had been asleep for almost a century when in 1959 in erupted in gargantuan fountains of lava. Cairns mark the trail across the crater floor, which is quiet and peaceful now, although sounds bounce around the crater in an unpredictable way and you may hear the crunching of footsteps when no one is near by.

Although the lava lake has cooled to a depth of ~400 feet since 1959, magma is still molten under that crust, just biding its time until the next event. Here Giles checks out a mineral infused steam vent.

After a 36 day eruption, this crater floor was a dead zone with a lava bathtub ring to show how high the lava had reached. The lava lake settled, cooled and cracked as sheets of lava buckled and warped, giving the crater the look of dried, crusted over gravy.

One of the original vents that filled the crater, creating the lava lake in Kilauea Iki. The 1900 (higher than the Empire State building) feet lava fountains created the splatter cone Pu'u Pua'i above this vent. During the episode the vent spewed enough lava to bury a football field 15 feet deep- every minute. Each time the the showers ended, the lava would drain back into the vent opening in a giant counterclockwise whirlpool, dragging sheets of partially cooled crust along with it, only to be re-melted and shot out again, leaving a bathtub like lava ring on the side of the crater.

Giles at the "bathtub" lava ring.

One exits the crater hike through ancient fern and 'ohi'a forests as the trail skirts the edge of the crater.

We continued on to 'Akaka Falls

Where I learned there was such a thing nowadays as a "selfie" stick. Thanks to 'Akaka Falls being a major pit stop for tourists from all over the world, I was allowed to witness ad nauseum such a thing.

A view of Onomea Bay from the worth the visit Hawai'i Tropical Botanical Garden outside of Hilo.

Where we arrived at Kalani Retreat Center for the remainder of the trip.

A day at Kehena Beach near the buried town of Kaimu.

Hunter's Tropical Home Sweet Home for a while.

Near or maybe the same A-frame that Caroline stayed in a year ago.

 Did some snorkeling at the Kapoho Tidal Pools, specifically Wai'opae pond.

Celebrated Chef Joanna's 24th birthday at Uncle Robert's Awa Club one night.

and Poof! They were gone. Over many Longboards and Jim Beam we pondered the nature of Hawai'i. I think Giles crystallized the idea of Hawai'i the best when he said that "everyone has always heard how awesome Hawai'i is, but until you come here you just don't know HOW awesome".

In other comings and goings

Speaking of goodbyes, a couple of months ago, Tony on right and I took Jamie and Brenden to the Kona airport on their way to their new adventures of being chefs catering to the on horseback camping crowd at a dude ranch in Wyoming. Jamie made many appearances on this blog and we spent a few days in these Kona condos reflecting on all the adventures. Aloha and a hui hou lady!

 Meet Tylar, 24 and from Cincinnati as she plants the coconut seedling (nutling?) that she has promised to come back to in 25 years, when this whole area will be a mature coconut beach, and take a nap beneath it. Not too long ago, Tylar was leading the cubicle life, selling high end opera tickets over the phone and Internet.

She was very unhappy in this line of work and daydreamed of a way out. In an anonymous cubicle in Cincinnati she goofed off and surfed the Internet. Lo and behold, what blog does she stumble upon but none other than, yup, Chef Ted's a wanderin' and a ponderin'! Hawai'i it was going to be. Specifically Kalani. This little story was mentioned at our Monday morning meeting and when I heard about it, I  volunteered to be her "buddy". A buddy shows new arrivals here the ropes for a few days, but it seemed that Tylar was so acclimated that she did not need much of my help......maybe because she studied the blog when she should have been selling opera tickets?
With Tylar is Laurie.

 Laurie is a new volunteer that is on a year long....and I could never get it out of her...so I will call it a journey.

Laurie is massage therapist from Boulder. Her journey included, amongst other places, stays in a monastery in Italy and trekking in Nepal. She is currently at Omega, a retreat center in upstate New York

I had promised Laurie, who worked in the kitchen with me, an adventure sometime. I usually just drive around, pretty much like I used to do in Virginia, and do some snooping somewhere, hoping something will just happen. She wanted a little more destination to the trip than that, so I suggested the always stunning Waipi'o Valley, several hours away.


But instead, in Hilo, the brakes on my "new car", a 1988 Camry, went right to the floor, spewing brake fluid, as luck would have it, right in front of this repair shop.

So we spent the daylight hours walking around the seedier parts of Hilo, having a snack and visit on a wall between the garage and this uh, ahem, "gentleman's" club.

Taking a selfie of us trying on camouflage gear for some reason.

Probably not what she had in mind, but such are the risks of rambling around with Chef Ted. We did make it to Waipi'o Valley, not in time for the hike to the beach, but just enough time for the last of this sunset from the overlook.

and finally Greta, 32, a massage therapist from the East End of London, who also worked in the kitchen with me. I had gone on an adventure with her, a hike to an empty hippie village, several miles from here. It is an isolated hike, on jungle trails that are maintained by wild pigs, so I can kinda understand her misunderstanding between the words "lost" and "just briefly off the beaten path".

But we found it, complete with acres of papaya trees nearby. Several weeks later, she rewarded my directional skills with a equally as isolated jungle lomi lomi massage. Mahalo Greta for thinking up such an original gift and lugging that bed and sheets and stuff all the way out there without my knowledge.

I guess this is a better late than never time to give Andrew Doughty a shout out for his fantastic guide book Hawaii: The Big Island Revealed. Much volcanic and historical information presented herewithin and all through the blog comes from/is plagiarized from his book as well as Roadside Geology of Hawai'i by Richard W. Hazlett. Buy them if you ever come here.

One last funny below that has been making the rounds on campus. Thanks for stopping by.