Hawaii 2007

Our long trek to paradise starts *VERY* early in the morning (Austin time).

We’re flying east (not west) to hook up with Kathy’s family, who are all converging on Atlanta.

We’re flying together from there to Honolulu, so while it was a little inconvenient on us, it cuts down the possibilities of flights getting dorked up to Hawai’i.

So, with an 0400 start, we load up the car and head to the Austin airport. No worries on our flight, and we meet Kathy’s family in ATL without an issue.


We board our 767 for the 9.5 hour (!!!) flight and we’re off!!!!

Once off the plane in Honolulu, the several open air passages in the airport give us our first floral-scented ocean breeze. We grab the luggage, get the rental vans, and we’re off to Waikiki!

It’s an “unstructured” first evening, so we check in, walk the beach for a bit, and grab dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise.

WOW.

Hawai’i is expensive!

The next day, Andrew and I join Paul (Kathy’s dad) and Steve (Kathy’s brother), Patti (Steve’s wife), Matt, and Nick (Steve and Patti’s boys) for a short flight to the Big Island of Hawai’i.

We’re going to spend the morning in a helicopter flying over the southern rift volcanoes!

Andrew gets the “prime seat” up front… I’m stuck in the back, but really, all the seats offer fantastic views out the large windows!

Our pilot is a real pro, and the flight is really smooth and even the entire time.


We start off flying out of the Hilo airport over the Mauna Loa macadamia nut farms.

It’s an interesting view, as there are rows of very straight and very tall Norfolk Pines transplanted here.

Our pilot tells us that they’re used as a wind-block for the strong trade winds that would otherwise knock over the shallow-rooted macadamia nut trees.

Interesting.


It was raining a bit that morning, but breaking up as we started our tour, so we couldn’t see a *long* way in the distance (i.e., couldn’t see the almost 14,000 foot peaks of Mauna Loa or Mauna Kea in the distance).

It was very apparent as we started flying over some older lava flow plains, though, as the trees just *disappeared* and the black/grey flows of the aa and pahoehoe lava fields came into view.


We were in for a spectactular treat.

As we flew over the Pu’u O’o volcanic vent, a “side eruption” of the massive Kilauea volcano, the view down the hole gave us bubbling, churning, and splashing lava!!!

Our pilot flew us over the vent several times.

The power and beauty of that orange/red lava mixing below us was really impressive. It’s hard to describe how exciting that was.

The pictures I got really don’t do it justice, as they’re still shots… but the cool thing is that the helicopter was equipped with a video camera pod on the bottom, so we also got a video of our entire flight!

He was able to get some good video clips of the splashing lava.

I’ll capture some of that and post it later…

Next up, we fly down the southern flank towards the coastline, where lava tubes continue to expand the Big Island by dumping lava continuously into the sea.

As the 2000 degree (F) lava hits the water, the steam clouds it creates as the lava hardens can be seen for quite a distance.

At night, you can actually see the orange/red lava dripping into the ocean.


Since we were flying during the day, we didn’t see it through the steam. But still… cool!

Some years ago, the lava flow from this rift actually destroyed several coastal villages and cut off access via the main coastal road – you can see the “end of the road” in this picture:


Once we get back to the airport, we have a rental SUV to drive up (quite a ways up!) to the Volcanoes National Park to get “up close and personal” with Kilauea!

We drive completely around the massive caldera, mindful of the fact that there are still venting steam/sulfur gasses about!


Getting to the “less traveled side” of the caldera allows an even closer inspection and photo session.

An offering to Pele, the Hawai’ian volcano goddess, makes for a neat shot:

Two days later, a change in the lava flow on Oahu caused several other eruptions on other vents, significantly reducing Pu’u O’o’s lava volume to the point where we wouldn’t have been able to see it!

We were very lucky to have seen the great shots that we did! 🙂

… and we’re back to the Hilo airport, back to the hotel, and resting up for the next day’s adventures!

While Andrew and I were risking life and limb hovering over active volcanoes… Kathy and Melanie decided on a much more… “relaxed” afternoon on Waikiki Beach.

Since LeAnn (Kathy’s sister) and her husband were off golfing, Kathy, Mel, Geri (Kathy’s mom), and Kiersten (LeAnn’s daughter) stayed back and played in the sand all day.

Of course… when you have *this* sort of beach to play on… it’s not like they were suffering!

First Kiersten buried Melanie:

Then Melanie and Geri buried Kiersten (at least up to her waist… that’s all she was interested in!):

… she was happy with the results:

Then… off to a post-beach lunch… Kathy and her Mom:

Kiersten and Melanie:

Later… dinner along Waikiki beach led to some more photo ops:

Geri tries out for the lead role in the upcoming movie… “The Parrot Whisperer”:


Melanie and a street performer:


Mel and her cousins decide that *they* can be the “act-like-a-statue” street performers just as easily:

It’s an early night for all, because we have a *VERY* early morning and a long day ahead of us tomorrow…