Again to the Islands

Three and a half years ago, Stachelbeere got married in Hawaii and, for the first time, we went to Hawaii.  The wedding was an excellent reason to go.  And so we went.  It was a real fun time.  In addition to the wedding, we also did all the tourist stuff and spent a week playing on the island.  It was a good time.  Since then, Stachelbeere and his new wife have continued to live on the island.  They've come to the mainland a couple of times so, even though they live so far away, we've still been able to see them now and then. However, they kept inviting us to come see them so finally we decided to make the trip.  We planned a time that would work well for them and put it all in motion.  The first time we were there we did not get to see everything the islands have to offer so it wasn't hard at all to find new stuff to see.  In fact, we didn't get to any where near all the stuff we would have like to see the first time we were there, especially since the islands were just opening up at the end of the pandemic, a lot of stuff was still closed, or very limited as far as visiting.  This time that wasn't a consideration - we could go anywhere we wanted.  It was actually last November that we decided to go so we spent the time since then making reservations and plans.  

Then, at last, the day arrived that it was time to actually go. We've been fortunate in our air travel so far, all our trips in the past have gone off without a hitch.  This time it was different.  We had planned two layovers, both going and coming back.  But on our way out, at our first layover (in Chicago) we hit a snag.  After moving our departure gate a couple of times, requiring us to move each time, they announced that our next flight would be delayed three hours; mechanical problems.  Some quick figuring revealed the problem; our next flight wouldn't arrive in Chicago until five minutes after our flight from Chicago left.  But some quick work in the airline's app got us rebooked on a flight that left in half an hour and arrived two hours earlier than originally booked. It was a direct flight from Chicago to Honolulu so we lost the second layover.  So, in the end, all was well.  One more gate change and we were on our way again.  

It's a long trip.  We left home in the mid-west at 4:30 am local time, you know how you're supposed to arrive at the airport a couple of hours before your flight leaves, and we had to travel a bit to get to the airport.  So, yeah, we left home pretty early in the day.  And we arrived in Honolulu at 5:15 pm local time. There's several time zones involved there but it's still a long trip, most of the day.  It was good to finally arrive.  Especially since they both met us at the airport, leis and all. That was extra fun.  

Our first day we wanted to go back to the big swap meet they have at the Aloha Stadium.  That was something we had gone to the first time we'd gone to Hawaii, but I had wanted to go back because I was able to get around better and see what was there this time.  I had brought my wheelchair (an interesting experience getting through all the airports and airplanes with that) and didn't have to worry about walking all over the place.  

It was a hot day so one of the best parts of the visit was the slushies we got a little before we left.  Brombeere also really liked the booth with the quilts.  

After the swap meet we went to lunch.  Because this was also our anniversary, we also got more leis, which was fun.

They looked pretty good on us, as well.

Lunch was real good, too.  I've about decided I like what Stachlebeere calls "local Hawaiian" food.

Doesn't always look real appealing, but it's usually pretty yummy.

The evening was spent watching hula dancing.  On a section of Waikiki Beach, near where we were staying, was a raised platform on which hula dancing was regularly held.  Since it was on that evening, we stopped by to watch.  Hula dancing usually tells a story, this one was about how four ancient rocks were endowed with healing power long, long ago.  A very graceful way to pass on traditions.

At the hula show was also a little "show stealer", a little pooch that belonged to an outfit that gave surfing lessons. 

The people that gave the lessons had put their little pup up on top of their van for safe keeping.  It was too high for the little dog to jump off so it dutifully stayed on top of the van and waited.  It was up there the whole time we were at the beach.  Now and then someone would come by and check on it, give it water, take down for a potty break or short walk.  It was fun to watch the little pup up there, patiently waiting.

Anyway, after the show we stuck around the beach long enough to watch the sun set.

That involved just turning around and looking out over the ocean.  Then we took the kids back to their place and headed back to our condo.

It was a very nice way to end a very nice day.  This is the view out our apartment balcony, looking east, toward the mountains. Yeah, couldn't see them at night. Our balcony was tiny.  We didn't go out there much.

The next day dawned bright and early, though we didn't get up all that early.  Still on Midwest time, I guess. 

This was the view from our building to the west, our ocean view, right?  Not out our balcony, but a common balcony shared by our whole floor.  Anyway, that's our "ocean view" this time. Our building was about three blocks from the beach.

The plan for the next day was to fly to the "Big Island", the more common name for the biggest of the Hawaiian Islands, properly known as "Hawaii", and see if we could catch the Kilauea volcano erupting. The volcano began erupting December 23, 2024 but only going off intermittently.  It would begin erupting for a while, hours or days, and then it would stop for days at a time. So it was kind of "iffy" whether or not we'd be able to see it going off.

As we approached the island, just before getting ready to land, the pilot pointed out a big plume of smoke, rising above the clouds, and said that was the smoke from the volcano, which was currently in its 15th eruption since December.  That was a good omen.

We landed, picked up the car we were renting for the day, and drove to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which takes in the Kilauea volcano and the highest point on the island, 13,680 feet above sea level.  That's only 825 feet less than the highest peak in the contiguous United States (Mount Whitney, in California).

We got to the park and stopped at the Welcome Center, the main visitors center was closed for extensive renovations.  There we learned that the volcano had begun erupting the evening before and was going great guns that morning.  They told us a couple of good places to go to be able to get a good view.  So we did just that.

The viewing area we picked was a long ways away from where the actual eruptions were happening.  The caldera was huge, with the eruptions taking place off to the side of the caldera, almost out of sight from where we first were looking.

Lots of steam vents out in the "bowl" but volcanic lava spewing out of only one area, off to the side.

But it was throwing lava up out of the caldera, well above the edge

So we moved up a little farther around the edge of the caldera for a better view.

We stayed a while, it was fascinating.

An amazing, and for us, a once in a lifetime sight. We found out the next day the eruptions quit about two hours after we had stopped. We were blessed to have been able to see it going while we were there.

In the parking area we had been hard pressed to find a parking space.  When the volcano was erupting, lots of people drove up to see.  A popular attraction, for sure.

We spent quite a while at the volcano but eventually it was time to leave.  All the islands have a variety of beaches, some sandy and famous, like Waikiki, others not so sandy, not so famous.  So while we were on the Big Island, we wanted to see one that was basically volcanic rock, but still safe for playing in the water.  So, back closer to the airport we found one.  One of the things Brombeere wanted to do while we were in Hawaii was to play at the beach so we stopped at this little beach, unfortunately, I missed getting the name of if, but it was not far from the airport. There were people surfing at this beach, though they had to move out a little ways from shore, to past the break water.  But there was still plenty of space to dip a toe in the ocean.  

That was about the extent of that day and our trip to the Big Island.  We headed back to the airport so we could go back to Oahu.  It was getting late in the day by then so we dropped the Stachelbeere's off at their place and headed back to our place.

The next day, Friday, was a slow start.  We hadn't gotten up very early because the Stachelbeeres needed to do some laundry and were doing that most of the morning.  So, while they did laundry, we went back to Waikiki Beach to look around some more.  

Lots of birds, lots of crabs crawling around the rocks.  Funny looking Banyan trees, lots of ocean.  Even at that time of day, lots of people playing in the water.  Tourist, I guess.

On our way back to the apartment, we stopped at a food truck for lunch.  This is where I learned to pay attention to the shrimp dishes offered.  They don't always completely peel the shrimp, which makes them lots more work to eat. I like shrimp, but not all the work that sometimes goes with it.  

This is the building we were staying in, the east side of the building.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but they were working on the sidewalk out front.  That made the dynamics of getting in the building interesting, it changed every day as the work progressed.  But we made do, it wasn't so bad.

When Stachelbeere let us know they were done with their laundry we picked them up and headed to the Dole Plantation, close to the middle of the island.

I had to send my brother a picture since he worked on one of the pineapple plantations when he was in high school. He called it a "tourist trap".  And I suppose it was.  This was not where he worked, he worked on one of the smaller islands, that was almost entirely planted in pineapple.  

So we all headed inside to see if he was right. 

We found only the second place I've ever seen where you could legally park next to a fire hydrant.  Interesting. So we did. Inside we watched a demonstration on how to properly cut a pineapple.  We also bought some souvenirs,  Then we decided to skip all the rest of the stuff they had and moved on to the east side of the island.

Our next stop was the Laie Temple.  From the plantation we went on north through what's commonly called "The North Shore" and then around the far side of the island to the temple. The North Shore is famous for the big waves and is home to some major surfing competitions.  But we didn't stop.  At the temple grounds, we went in the Visitors Center and looked around a while, we didn't really do much of that when we were here last time for the wedding.  It was nice, a quiet place to visit. I have liked that about every one of the church's visitors centers I have ever visited. We took some pictures and enjoyed the peace of the temple grounds.  We also drove next door to the BYU-Hawaii campus.  Then we headed for dinner.  We found a collection of food trucks all camped out together so everybody could have whatever appealed to them.  That was fun.  Then it was back to drop off the Stachlebeeres and then our apartment for the night.  Another nice day.

Saturday was another slow start, Stachlebeere had an interview he needed to be at in the morning.  So we ran errands in the morning before picking them up after he was done. Then we went to an outdoor art festival being held at Waikiki Beach Park.  

We spent a while there, looking over the displays from the various vendors.  Brombeere got a bunch more souvenirs to take home to kids and grandkids. Interesting stuff.  I got to see how my wheelchair did on the lawn (not bad at all). Lots to see.  

After the festival, we had to go to a shopping center for some ice cream. My little sister, who has been to Hawaii a number of times, had told us how wonderful Lappert's Ice Cream was so, of course, we had to try some.  

Turned out to be as good as she said!  Of course, ice cream has to be pretty bad to not be real good.

And there was a quilting store in the shopping center so Brombeere had to look around.  She was really fascinated by the Hawaiian quit designs.

The next day was Sunday so it was a pretty quiet day.  We got up in time to go to church with Stachelbeere, at their ward.  Having moved a while ago, they were in a different ward now.  Still not too far from where they lived.  It was a good service, it was their ward's celebration of the founding of the Relief Society so the whole program was put on by the ladies of the ward.  They even went so far as to give a little introduction to each hymn before it was sung.  It was a good service.  The rest of the day we just spent chillin' and chattin' at Stachlebeere's apartment, including a real yummy lunch they fixed.  More Hispanic than Hawaiian, but really good.

The next day was Monday, our last full day in Hawaii. We decided to start this day at the Bishop Museum, a big museum dedicated to Island history and culture. A very interesting  place.

The museum was more a campus, with multiple buildings, each with different exhibits and things to see. We wandered through the main building first, then looked around the grounds to pick which building to go in to.  There were too many to see them all in the time we had.

We ended up in the building with the island culture and history.  Not just the Hawaiian Islands but all the Polynesian islands. It was more luck than good management, but I'm glad it turned out that way.  It was very interesting.

Got to learn about not just Hawaii, but all the islands and how they seem to fit together. All the differences and similarities.

Among other cool things, the islands have learned to make a kind of "cloth" from plant material.  They even had some that visitors could try on. So, of course, we all talked Brombeere into trying on an outfit.  She didn't look too bad in it.

They also had a small planetarium as part of the museum.  They first showed us various things about the night sky there in Hawaii.  Then they had a little show on island navigation, as developed by the islanders.  That was very interesting.

After the museum, we went out for lunch.  Local Hawaiian again, really good stuff. Followed by some ice cream from a Stachelbeere recommended establishment.  Also good stuff.  Then the plan was to head for the beach.  Again.  After all, this was Hawaii.

Hawaii has "feral chickens" all over the place. Brombeere had been trying to get some good pictures of these chickens most of the time we'd been there.  As we got to the beach, she got her opportunity.  A bunch of chickens were wandering around the park where we left the car. That was fun. 

A little south of Waikiki Beach is a big park called Kapiolani Park.  That's where we went this time, to Kaimana Beach.  This was a beach we had visited last time we were in Hawaii. A nice place to play in the sand and water, and watch the sun set.  

When we got there they had a section of the beach cordoned off, apparently the beach had a special visitor.  Occasionally, seals will come and lay on the beach and stay, sometimes for up to a day.  That's what this was, a big, brown seal, laying off to the side of the beach, by a wall.  Just laying there.  When this happens, they mark off the area and ask people to stay away, so the seal can be undisturbed.  Or at least as undisturbed as possible on a beach crowded with tourists.  Most people were staying out.  But lots of people were there, taking pictures.

It was a fun way to end the afternoon and evening.  An ocean beach is always an interesting place, lots to see. And, even though there were plenty of tourists running around, it was actually a quiet beach.  A relaxing way to end the day.  We probably stayed too late, considering we were about to go back home, five time zones away.  Life was about to go back to five hours earlier than we'd been living the last week. 

Tuesday was our travel day, the day to go home.  But our flight didn't leave until the evening.  So we had all morning and afternoon to play still.  

One of the things we had wanted to do this trip was go back to the Halona Blow Hole, on the south side of the island.  It had been a real fun stop last time so we wanted to go back.  Unfortunately, the sea wasn't as wild this time as it had been last time so the blow hole wasn't as impressive this time.  But it was still an interesting stop.

After watching the blow hole a little while we went on a little farther along the coast to a place called Sandy Beach.  Despite the name, it wasn't all that sandy.  Still lots of volcanic rock.  But a beautiful beach, nonetheless.  And more crabs.  They're interesting to watch.  

After that, we came back into town to a little Thai place we stumbled onto.  Turned out to be real good food.  Then we went to the store to pick up a few things for the trip and grab a few more souvenirs. It was while we were at the store that we stumbled on to Stachelbeere - that was unplanned.  The plan had been to go get some shave ice before heading to the airport so we just went there from the store.  Alas, we didn't get any photos of the goodies, even though this place was famous because a former president grew up nearby and used to go there all the time as a kid.  So now, we have too!

We hadn't planned on it, but Stachlebeere had been planning on seeing us off at the airport.  How could we object! So we all went and that started the long journey home.

This time we actually made the two stops, two layovers, along the way.  So we started for home in the evening, flew all night, and (five time zones later) landed around noon the next day (local time).  Yes, we were tired but we made it.  I had a hard time at the airport parking lots, looking for the car.  That was my fault, Maybe I was just tired. Anyway, Brombeere remembered better than I did and we eventually found the car.

All too fast, the whole vacation was a over and only the memories were left, along with the usual scraps and tags left over from travel. 

And, of course, a couple of new magnets for the fridge.

Up Nort

We have a friend who is also a casual biking enthusiast who has been telling me for a number of years about how good the biking is in Vilas County, Wisconsin. He even went so far as to pick up a brochure, when he was in the area recently for business, and brought it to us. So, since we were looking for a short, relaxing trip, that also included a fun bike ride, we decided to go check it out.  I did a little research, we picked a date, and we made a reservation.  

Then, on the appointed day, we loaded the bikes and everything else into the car and took off!

This was only going to be an overnight trip but even at that, a bike ride was not going to fill all the time. So our research included things to see in the area.  The first stop we made was in Woodruff, to see what was billed as the "World's Largest Penny".  It has an interesting story behind it. Back in 1952 a local doctor had a dream of having a hospital so a teacher at the local school organized a fund raiser, collecting pennies, to help build the hospital. In just 107 days. over 1,700,000  pennies were collected from all over the world. The hospital was built, and because the pennies continued to flow in for a while, a scholarship fund was also established.  To commemorate the accomplishment, a concrete penny was put up as a monument to the event.  Since it was there, we had to stop and see it.

And since it was about lunch time, we also stopped at a local restaurant and had lunch.  It was yummy.

Then it was on to where we were staying for the trip.  Despite the fact that the main industry in northern Wisconsin is tourism, our favorite motel chain didn't have a motel in the city we decided to stay in so we rented an Airbnb in St Germain to stay at.  You're always taking a bit of a chance to do that, but this place turned out to be very nice.  We would stay there again if we were visiting the area again.

After checking in, we went right away to the point on the trail we had decided to do our ride.  The trail's name is The Heart of Vilas County Trail.  It is a 50 mile trail that runs from Mercer, through Manitowish Waters, Boulder Junction, St Germain (where we were staying), and on to Sayner.  It runs along one road or another for that whole distance, sometimes right next to the road, sometimes off through the trees a little ways away from the road. And it's paved the whole way. Sweet!

Along that way there are way stations, parking lots with restrooms, benches, picnic tables, maps, and what they called "fixation stations", where adjustments and minor repairs could be done, and air pumps were available if needed.  This trail caters to bike riders.  Pretty nice. Our ride was planned to be from one way station to the next, about six miles, at which point we would turn around and come back, a total of about 12 miles. The spot we were beginning at was called the North Creek Loop trail.

So we got to the way station, unloaded the bikes, and took off!

During our ride we crossed a number of bridges.  There are a lot of lakes and rivers in this county. It was a very nice ride.

An added bonus was the fall colors were a little more advanced in this area than they were at home.  Not yet as far along as peak, but still very nice.  

The one thing I have always found difficult is telling what the terrain is along any given trail before actually going there. And so it was with this trail also.  We started a little west of Boulder Junction and planned to go west toward Manitowish Waters. The best description I had been able to find was that it was "mostly flat". But in actually getting there and riding on it, we found that the further west we went, the more significant the hills got.  It finally reached the  point where the hills were too much, they were wearing us out.  So we turned around a couple of miles earlier than originally planned, at about four miles.  As we were on the way back we found that once again, even though it had looked like it was level or even downhill one the way out, it had actually been a little uphill the first part of the ride.  That made the return trip easier than we had been expecting.  That was nice. All in all, it was a very nice ride.  A little shorter than planned but still very nice, a very nice ride.  I'd be willing to go back another time and try a different stretch.

The way back to St Germain included going by "Marty the Musky", a giant fish located by the Boulder Junction Chamber of Commerce.  Of course we had to stop for a picture.  Then it was back to St Germain, where we got some supper and took it back to the Airbnb to enjoy a quiet evening, resting up from the ride (read: hills) we had just finished.  We had the TV on to an old movie, Heaven Can Wait, released in 1943.  It was entertaining, although not quite what we were expecting when we chose to turn it on.  We had thought it would be an earlier version of the 1978 movie staring Warren Beatty.  But it was still good. And an interesting way to end a very nice day.

Check out time was 10:00am so the next morning we were up, breakfasted, and out in time to make the deadline.  The plan today was to find Rustic Road 60 and drive from one end to the other.  

To be designated as a rustic road in Wisconsin, a road needs to be lightly traveled, have outstanding natural features, and be available to the public for travel by auto, bike, or walking, for recreational enjoyment.  We have found them to be quite enjoyable. There are currently 126 rustic roads scattered around the state but only one in Vilas County, Rustic Road number 60.

We found the beginning at the intersection of County Road K and County Road N, northeast of Sayner, WI.  We hadn't gone far when we came across an old mill site on Star Lake.

There's nothing was left of the mill except the sign at the turn-off. But was a small, nice little park, Centennial Park.  It was a very tranquil place to view the lake and enjoy the woods. 

We spent a while enjoying the lake and woods, a very clear lake.  We had the place pretty much to ourselves.

After leaving the park, we continued along the road, enjoying the forest and colors. The arrival of fall colors is a variable thing from year to year.  This year we were just seeing the beginnings of it this far north.  This would have been a glorious drive in a couple more weeks.  But even now, with the colors just off to a good start, it was beautiful.

All too soon, we came to the end of the road and it was time to be on our way.

On our way out we stopped at the Vilas County Historical Museum in Sayner to get a photo of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe.  We had driven past it several times on this trip so we had to stop and get a picture.

Then it was back to St Germain to a little shop called Cathy's Ice Cream N Candy Shoppe.  They had some interesting rocks outside.

And, of course, we had to have some ice cream.  Some yummy flavors.  We also got some fudge and taffy.  Nice stuff.  

This was a short trip but it was very relaxing, which is what we were looking for.  Got in a bike ride on a trail that was every bit as good as we were told. Saw some sights, enjoyed each others company, and had a good time.  Nothing could be finer.