HO'OMANA'O

When I was...oh, I don't remember now how old...maybe six or seven, my Gram went with my Aunt Peggy and Uncle George to Hawaii. All I was told was that she was going to see the Volcano. I'm guessing now that it was the Big Island. I remember my Aunt Debby volunteered to watch me and our animals while Gram was away. I remember the morning Gram left very clearly.  I remember feeling very excited and happy for her. That was one of two times Gram ever went on a serious vacation, to my memory. Even as a young boy I knew that she deserved a break from taking care of her grandchild...however wonderful I was.

She pulled away in what I remember was a limousine.  Maybe it was some sort of town car. I stood at the screen door, I can still remember that old metallic rust smell of the frayed screen close to my nose. I watched her car disappear down the block. And then I burst into tears. The realization washed over me...I didn't want Gram to die in the Volcano. Images of exploding rivers of hot lava coursed through my brain. I remember my Aunt Debby was caught off guard by my own sudden explosive river of tears. Just a few moments before I was joyously saying goodbye. Now I was bawling. I remember she resolved to make me scrambled eggs to make me feel better. And they did.

I think that I've mentioned before the fact that I didn't ever travel as a kid. But one point that I might not have mentioned was that Hawaii seemed to be the place many of my relatives -- and now Gram -- went without me. What made it magnified was that the house I grew up in was originally decorated in a heavy hawaiian theme. We had pictures of waterfalls and flora and fauna and sunsets with palm trees all over the house. The back yard still had remnants of Tiki decorations throughout the neglected yard. Hawaiian music populated our old stack of records and eight tracks. Hawaii was a presence in my childhood. Like a third hand story told over and over again. Yet I'd never gone, myself. Until a handful of years ago when we went to Oahu. And now I'm on the Big Island. And two days ago we took a day trip down the Island to Hilo to see...The Volcano.

For part of this trip we were originally supposed to stay in Hilo...but a really bad storm reduced our luxurious house to a structure without electricity. The owner offered us a heavy discount if we were interested in the "camping" environment...but we passed and elected to stay in Kona for the entire time we are here. And it seemed for a brief moment that we weren't going to venture that far from Kona, either. But after thinking it through...we strong-armed Joyce into agreeing that we should go. Full disclosure, even I wasn't sure if it was worth the trip. The Volcano only had steam coming out right now... Is that worth driving for an entire day?

But it wasn't just the Volcano we were going to see. We decided to pack a lot of sights in along the way. And we resolved that in order to break up the long drive we would have as much of an adventurous spirit as possible.

The first stop hit me like a ton of bricks. The Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Park. See, all during my childhood I grew up with this picture on the wall of the living room, right above one of the old chairs...and it was of the Fierce Kii -- these wooden carvings of the gods. But back then I had no idea what they were or where they were located in Hawaii. But they've been rattling around somewhere in my memory, lying in wait. Then Tiffany showed me the brochure for the national park and it was like that scene in Ratatouille where the food critic tastes a dish from his childhood: and we zoom through his eye into his memory where he finds himself a child again. And that's what it felt like for me.

And now, here I was, standing before the actual structures that I had scene on the wall of my childhood home for so many years. It was thrilling and oddly satisfying. I was standing there, showing my kids something, in person, that I only knew in a limited dimension as a child.

The other noteworthy thing is that whenever I imagined Hawaii in my head...I always imagined this very spot. I thought the entire place looked like this, so it was very strange to finally be standing on a spot that essentially existed in my imagination for so long. Hawaiian Royalty had it pretty sweet, by the way...

But it was hot, and right after we left, our caravan stopped off for some fresh fruit smoothies and treats. I myself had an amazing chocolate covered apple banana that was ALSO covered in macadamia nuts. We also tried fruit I'd never had before called Abiu. The promise was that the scooped-out meat tastes just like vanilla pudding. I say our camp was 50/50 in agreement to this promise. I personally think the consistency was wonderful. I'd eat it again.

Our next stop was another place that I didn't realize was on the Big Island -- the black sand beach. Again. As a child I'd seen photo after photo of the place. So being able to dig my own toes into the beach was deeply satisfying. All in all the day we went was a tad too touristy for my taste. I think the beach would be much more enjoyable as I remember them in the photos...completely empty!

But we did see some turtles sunning themselves. They were so over all the people staring at them.

Further along we found this fantastic place to lunch...it was this great local bakery/diner. I had Lau Lau pork for the first time and all of my tastebuds were dirty dancing in my mouth. We also snacked on fresh pies, so the kids were heavy with food for the final leg of our drive to the Volcano...and this happened.

Now, Joyce is suspicious that Piper is pretending to sleep in this photo, but if she was indeed faking it she's scary good at it because she was motionless for an hour...just like this.

So finally we get to Kilauea. Before we left on our trip, Chase and I had a conversation about the safety of visiting a live Volcano...and I found myself now on the other side of that moment in my childhood.  Unfortunately, lava was not flowing by any stretch of the definition, however there was steam rising out of the crater, which I found incredibly unnerving. Thinking about that...matched with the steam vents we saw on the way in...just made me feel like we were nothing but little bugs on a sleeping giant. By the time we were done with getting the kids their SECOND Junior Park Ranger badge of the day (They complete tasks and a Park Ranger swears them in and they get badges! For free.) everyone was tired and ready to beat it back up to Kona. But I pushed everyone for one last adventure not far off...

LAVA TUBE!!!!!

It was again spooky and impressive. And is the case with any of our "Cave" explorations, Chase was weirded out and Charlie was thrilled to the bone.

After we said goodbye to the Volcano National Park we scrammed over to Hilo where we hit KEN'S HOUSE OF PANCAKES and oh my sweet lord the food was ample and good. I had corned beef hash Loco Moco. Take that, health! After we all were happy and full of wonderful dinner, we drove through intermittent yet fiercely present rain bursts, back up to our wonderful pad in Kona. We nearly drove around the entire island. Now THAT is a wonderfully productive day.

Today, we lounged at the beach and the pool, and as I was baking in the sun I thought a lot about yesterday. I'm really glad we all went on that jaunt. Many of our travelers may not necessarily remember all the finer details of yesterday later on in life...but who knows?  Maybe, one day, some random image of something on this island will generate a burst of memory to bring them back to this very moment of their childhood. And it won't be a memory of staring up at a picture on a wall, but rather one of seeing, smelling, and feeling the experience on their own.

It was the best Hawaiian day.