Hawaii!

Hawaii! Dinarte's birthday bash in Maui, and a side trip to the Big Island

Our room at the Four Seasons		Kenny in the pool


Kenny drinking		Hula dancers


Dinarte does the hula too		Haleakala


Haleakala - base of crater		Middle of crater


Eric hiking		Base of Halemau trail


Windsurfers at Ho'okipa beach		Kenny gets slathered with sunblock


Kilauea crater at Volcanoes National Park		Ocean at Volcanoes National Park


Hale'maumau crater		Kenny gets a ride


Steam bluffs		Steam is hot


Pheasant mating dance		Kenny got his very own infant boarding pass on the flight to Honolulu


There's plenty of leg room in first class...		We forgot toys for the flight over, so I put some pennies and a flower into a water bottle for Kenny as a rattle.


Tom and Lisa		Chuck and Erik


Jonathan and Lucy		Sean and Joe


Sylvia, Kenny and Eric		Honolulu


The view from our room at the Four Seasons		A very nice welcoming cheese platter


They had a little gift package for Kenny, including swim diapers		They also spelled out his name in little sponges next to the tub!


The view on the beach - black volcanic rock, and white coral, that will at some point in the future become sand		Dinner at the Pacific Grill


We loved the hotel		Breakfast buffet - yummy!


Kenny gets to try some papaya		Kenny in his swim diapers


Kenny and mommy at the pool


Kenny plays waiter at poolside, with one of the little iced cloths they hand out.		Beautiful grounds


		You could exercise if you wanted to (we didn't)


View from the club level patio


Fresh arrangements in the lobby		The reading area at the club level lounge


Another view from our patio

At the birthday party. Not all of these photos are ours.

The setting		Everyone got "leied"


Erik, Steve and Maria, Dinarte's sister		Eric taking pictures of everyone's leis


The man himself - Dinarte with a very stylish lei		Every guest got a gorgeous lei. We took pictures of most of them.


Chuck		Lisa


Steve		Tom


Sean		Lucy


Erik		Joe


John		Jonathan


Eric		Maria


The group picture		John and Dinarte


Sylvia, Dinarte and Eric		Joe, Dinarte and Sean


Lisa and Tom		Steve and Maria


Sylvia and Eric		Lucy and Jonathan


The gays		The guys


The gals		We had no bow for Dinarte's present, so we substituted flowers.


Beautiful sculpted ice Happy Birthday sign.		The "over the hill" birthday cake


		The hula show was top-notch.





		Eric gettin' down


Dinarte surrounded by hula dancers


Dinarte and John with the hula dancers, after the show.		Lucy with a palm headdress


These were the most scrumptious little cakes. The one on the far left had its topping licked off by a stray cat.		The next day, we drove to Haleakala National Park, and did a hike down the Sliding Sands trail, and up the Halemau trail. Some views from the drive up.


		Science city, on the top of Haleakala, where all the observatories are


There was a group riding horse about to go down the mountain as well - luckily they took a long time to get going, so we never saw them in the crater. As a matter of fact, we saw nobody at all in the crater the whole day, except for 3 people that were walking out when we were about 15 minutes into the hike.		Views of the crater


Thank goodness the weather started to get a little warmer here. At the top it was freezing cold and windy


Our first view of the silversword plant


		Cool rocks everywhere...you could be on the moon!





		The silversword in bloom


Starting to see a little bit of green again		...then we're back to black lava again...








Starting to get close to the Holua cabin





At Holua cabin


Looking for the old Halemau trail		An old lava flow. The weather is starting to get foggy and drizzly


Reaching the base of the Halemau trail.		Starting to see some huge ferns here, since there's so much more moisture around


The trail out is a very easy walk - gentle steady slope all the way up.		Ohelo berries. I used to pick these all the time when I worked here.


Interesting "pyramid" visible from the trail		Views from the trail up


This very expensive fence surrounds the park. It's meant to keep non-native animals (cats, goats, pigs) out.		After finishing the hike, we had to hitchhike a ride back to our car, at the top of the mountain. It was COLD! Luckily we waited only 15 minutes - the 4th car picked us up. Maybe because I was jumping up and down, and waving. Eric was less enthusiastic.


I lived in both of these buildings when I worked at the park, in 1991/1992.


Beautiful clouds on the drive down		Stopped at a fruit stand to buy some guavas and loquats from a very friendly guy.


And then back to luxury at the Four Seasons! This was the evenings desert buffet		Hanging out in the club lounge


		Next mornings breakfast buffet


Dinarte and John spend a lot of time lounging at the pool		Kenny followed their example


Eric got a foot massage the day after the hike. It felt good at the time, but didn't alleviate the soreness for very long.		Afternoon tea - salmon sandwiches, roast duck sandwiches, and egg salad sandwiches


...plus wonderful little tea cakes		Hanging out at the beach with Kenny


		Hors d'oeuvres that evening were chicken wings, lumpia, crab legs elegantly cut, gazpacho, and sushi


And the desert buffet included poached pears, little crepe thingies, cookies, chocolate truffle deserts, etc.		We hung out in Paia on the way to the airport. It's a unique place, kind of a hippie town. Interesting signs at the local grocery.





The natural food grocery		A world famous windsurfing beach is nearby


On the flight to the island of Hawaii		Papaya tree


We took a very hot walk around noon near Kona - not a great idea.		Kona village


Resting in the shade		The Pu'ukohala Heiau - an old Hawaiian temple.


		Hanging out at a park.


The area around Kona was a moonscape of black lava		At Volcanoes National Park


Fern fiddleheads		Thurston Lava Cave


Inside the cave		Desolation Trail - one of the few stroller friendly trails around. It may have been desolated when the trail was first built years ago, but since then lots of vegetation has come up.


Ferns growing in the little cavities where I assume trees were.		The view down to the crater


Interesting volcanic formations





Kenny at an overlook		At the end of the road, there's often lava flows visible in the distance, at least at night. Unfortunately, we saw nothing but old lava flows, which were still interesting.


We postulated that some hot lava may have hit this sign.








		At the park museum, we saw this rock pick covered in lava


View of the steam vents		Kilauea Military Camp, where Eric spent some time with his family when he was a kid. There's lots of cottages where folks in the military can stay.


		The steam bluffs were nearby








Pretty hot!		Lehua tree





Kenny at the Volcano house, where we had dinner		He slid off the high chair pretty quickly, so we fed him in his stroller


Walking around Kona


Hibiscus in the rain		The saddle road over the island. It was fresh and cool up here...


		Mauna Loa. What a broad, flat mountain!


Mauna Kea		At a nearby park


The new tsunami warning system in Hilo		Macademia nuts


We were a little disappointed with this place - it was basically just a big tourist shop with a large macademia nut selection.		Hand-dipping macademia nut cookies. Looked very time-consuming.


A view of the factory. It was pretty much shut down.		At the county zoo


The Lady Amhearst pheasant. The male put on quite a show, chasing the female.		In downtown Hilo. Hilo is very laid back, looks like not much has changed there.


		Driving along the coastline


		We stopped at Laupahoehoe park, where in the tsunami of 1946, 20 some children were killed.


Around Waimea


You can see the observatories of Mauna Loa here