Hawaii Day One: Friday, June 13th, 2008

Can you believe that Hawai’i is a state? I can’t! Every time I come here I feel like I should be in a foreign country, but I’m not. It is the greatest thing! It has all the benefits of a tropical paradise, except you don’t need a passport, you don’t have to convert money, and everybody speaks English. Of course, folks here also speak Hawaiian, which is a beautiful language – the source of words like Aloha (hello/goodbye – and a lot more that you’ll have to look up on your own) and Mahalo (thank you, basically). I found out yesterday that there is even a Hawaiian immersion school here on the Big Island! They teach almost exclusively in Hawaiian. So, Aloha from the 50th state everybody!

Upon arriving at the airport in Kona, on Friday, June 13th, I was greeted by hula dancers. They weren’t there for me personally, but to greet everyone. Knowing that luggage always takes awhile to come out of the plane, I sat and watched a few dances – this also helped me gear down into the island pace of life. The airport is completely open air – I guess it pretty much never rains on the Kona side of the island.

Then I got my bag, picked up my rental car, and immediately set out to violate the rental agreement by driving across what is known as the Saddle Road. It’s a relatively sketchy, partly dirt, sometimes one lane road that goes between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, two of the big volcanoes on the island. The scenery was stunning, and I really wished I had a driver with me so I could just look out the window at the verdant green vistas below me. Luckily, there weren’t many other cars on the road, so I could look around a lot on the straight stretches.

After about 3 hours I reached my rental home outside of Pahoa, 30 minutes south of Hilo. It is such a lovely place! I was completely delighted upon exploring it. I will post photos as soon as I can get a working card reader for my compact flash cards. There is a wrap-around lanai (patio), a beautiful living room/kitchen, and two adorable bedrooms. The house is on 2 acres of lush jungle. There are lots of tropical flowers, and the woman who takes care of the property left two beautiful bouquets to greet me. I spent the rest of the day settling in, and went to sleep early.