Last Thoughts

It's time to start thinking about other things, so this entry will be the last regarding our trip to Hawaii. There are many tidbits floating around in my head that I will give short mention to. For instance, we drove past the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu where today the Pro Bowl will be played . . . The state bird of Hawaii is the nene goose,which, except for its color markings looks like a Canadian Honker. It's gone through some evolution, however, since it only flies a bit and swims a bit. The webs on its feet are less fully developed to enable it to more easily walk across rough lava beds . . . A van driver took us to the lava fields and said when a kid he threw rocks on flowing lava expecting it to splash, but it clunked and bounced instead . . . In the Denver airport I visited with an interesting artist and his wife. Check him out at frankhagel.com . . . A few of us rode a trolley around Waikiki which was driven by one wild woman. If she wasn't high on life, she was on something else. Fun! . . . The Hawaiian Islands consist of 132 islands. Locals refer to the island named Hawaii as The Big Island . . .

Much property in the islands is owned by Japanese. When they came buying, prices rose and forced retirees out. Where have we heard that story before? . . . In the Pali Valley the constant whine of the wind is said to be the cries of the enemy that King Kamehameha's army pushed over the cliff. We saw it, a tall, vertical cliff. . . . We drove past the golden statue of Kamehameha that shows up prominently in the television program Hawaii 50. . . . It was humorous to hear our Samoan guides try to say this phrase in a Norwegian accent, "Yah, sure, you betcha" . . . The island of Kauai, one of the wettest spots in the world, runs thick with chickens released from their coops by some past hurricane . . . From one of the islands a guide pointed in the distance to the island of Kalaupapa where Father Damien gained fame in ministering to the leprosy colony established there in 1866 . . . At one location electric fence wires ran low to the ground to hold pigs in. They ran and grazed on the macadamia nuts fallen on the ground. It reminded me of the fifteen sows I bought once that had been feeding on fallen acorns . . .

The southern most point of Hawaii is 150 miles further south than Key West . . . pine trees were introduced in the days of sailing ships to provide masts for ships, but by the time they had grown tall enough, steam power replaced wind power . . . In places cactus grew profusely. It was explained to have been brought in from Texas to provide cattle feed in times of drought . . . geckos are fast, wary little creatures and look just like the one on tv . . . We saw a school of dolphins arc through the air and the tail of a whale as he dove . . . In Honolulu and Waikiki many high rise residences poke the air . . . The apostrophe in Hawaii is written backward, actually upside down from what we recognize . . .

The trip, though costly, was very enjoyable. It can now be crossed off the bucket list. I couldn't help think, though, that their culture and physical attributes have become oriented to tourism, not much different than what they have done in our own state of Medora. We have cowboys, they have grass skirts. It goes something like this: If you've got it, flaunt it ... Good-bye.

Polynesian Maps

While the diagram looks like a bunch of hen scratching, it really meant something to Polynesian navigators. It is similar to the piece hanging on the wall of the church I spoke about in an earlier blog. The Polynesians had no written language; therefore they could not publish maps or books of seafaring routes. A written language was not produced until Christian missionaries came deciding the natives were not living the good life. The particular church we spotted this in was Congregational whose first missionaries, in 1820, sailed from New England, then around the tip of South America, and then came to Hawaii to Christianise the islands and build this building.

I wanted to know a bit more about the old ways of navigating the ocean among the tiny dots of islands that rose in the Pacific. It seems to me they could easily be missed. Here is what I found in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia: "Polynesian navigation is a system of navigation used by Polynesians to make long voyages across thousands of miles of open ocean. Navigators travel to small inhabited islands using only their own senses and knowledge passed by oral tradition from navigator to apprentice, often in the form of song in order to locate directions at various times of the day and year. Polynesian navigators memorize important facts: the motion of specific stars and where they would rise and set on the horizon of the ocean; weather and seasons of travel; wildlife species which gather at particular positions; the direction, size and speed of ocean waves; colors of the sea and sky, especially how clouds would cluster at the locations of some islands; and angles for approaching harbors."

Skyward

That's Pilli climbing a coconut tree into the sky on the last morning we spent on the big island of Hawaii. The towel wrapped around his feet to use as an anchor is visible in this picture. Both times we saw him do this he came down exhausted. Pilli was strong, but he was heavy, too, and it took lots of energy to climb like this. This is how he harvested coconuts as a kid when he was much lighter. A falling coconut presented a danger if it landed on your head. He likened it to having a bowling ball dropped on it.

Speaking of the sky, I counted our taking off and landing eleven times on this trip. I used to be very afraid of flying but became an old pro at it. Never did we have a bumpy flight. The only problem presented itself on the last night in Honolulu International. We looked on the flight board and discovered our flight had been postponed from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am. Did that mean we might have to spend the night sprawled out in a chair. Luckily, Jeff Willer, the transportation director of the Farmers Union was traveling with our group (there were four groups) and promptly got on the phone to the travel agent in Jamestown who started looking into it. She found an alternate flight for us to board that worked out better. Originally we were routed through Chicago but now flew to Denver, then straight up to Fargo, actually getting us in an hour or so earlier. Besides, we received a $15 food voucher to use in Honolulu.

My wife's sister and her husband rode with us to Fargo, and in Honolulu, he spotted a book he thought I should have about the islands and bought it for me. In it I found this fact: in 1959 the first jet airplane landed in Hawaii and took about five hours from San Francisco and opened up the islands for the huge tourist traffic that now travels there.

Regarding the flying, I couldn't help but notice the large numbers of TSA workers that check everyone and everything before boarding the planes. Because of my leg, I had to go through a body searching pat-down each time which I didn't enjoy.

A tree called a monkey pod grows commonly in the islands and spreads a large canopy of shade. One other use was found during the war; they parked airplanes underneath to shield them from enemy eyes should they have returned after Pearl Harbor.

In an old church in the last town we stayed, Kona, some beautiful bench pews stood. They were constructed from koa wood and would be very expensive to use today. It was on a wall of that church, though, that I spotted something very interesting. It looked like a maze of long popsicle sticks arranged in random order. The lady greeter explained what it was: a map. The early day from the whole region could not read, nor did they have maps, except, that is, for the knowledge of winds and currents that could carry them from place to place. The wooden maze on the wall represented those routes that the voyagers knew and used. Comparing the culture of the Polynesian islands and our own native Americans, they matched well considering they could wrest their livelihood with their folklore and knowledge of the natural world.

I think I've got one more blog entry regarding my trip to the Hawaiian Islands and will get it up within the next couple of days.

Our Dinner Cruise Ship

On Saturday night, Jan. 21, we boarded an open-air catamaran for a cruise to eat, dance, spot whales and dolphins, and drink freely. The boat bobbed around quite a bit, and I couldn't tell if the folks were lurching around on deck from the roughness or the imbibing. I suspect it was a bit of the two in combination, and, I, the non-drinker, enjoyed watching their antics. Whales co-operated by doing their dance in the water, and a school of dolphins made their appearance, too. A party followed the eats and drinks, and the following blogs show the fun we had.

In talking with our son, Brandon, who's celebrating his 36th birthday today, he told me he would crank up his snowblower today since it turned wintry there in Fargo. We've enjoyed temps averaging about 80 degrees for the last two weeks. We leave here tomorrow, and this will probably be the last blogging I do until I reach home. We have one more luau this evening and then will pack up to return. Aloha meaning good-bye.

Dancer

For a half hour or so this gal sat by the stage as the combo played. I thought maybe she would participate later on in the evening and, man, did she ever. She had more moves than I could imagine, and she wasn't shy about it either. It was fun to watch her with her self-confidence in performing for us. She was no shrinking violet as she changed outfits several times during the cruise.

Music Makers

1

These two men made great music on our catamaran cruise by playing several instruments and singing. They had the boat a-rockin' and dancin'.

In the Conga Line

Here sister-in-law Angie dances in front of my camera imitating the moves of the hula dancer on the program. She's got moves!

A Picture's Worth...

This is my darling wife in the arms of our Samoan guide. Actually, this is all my fault since he stood there dancing with a pole. I told Mary, "Look at Pilli over there dancing with himself and that pole. Dance with him." She did and this was the result. It was a hoot to say the least.!

Dancing at the Luau

A trip like this can't be all work! One of our tour guides got up and started shuffling around to the music by himself. It did not take long for women in our group to answer his call and here is Elaine Cudmore sliding across the floor with Pilli. The food has mostly been good, except for one of the dishes, poi. It looks blue-gray, has a gritty texture, and tastes terrible. The natives like it, though, since it supplied them with a starch product similar to potatoes or rice. When mixed properly, I guess, it didn't taste too badly.

Bird of Paradise

It takes little imagination to see why this flower is named the Bird of Paradise. Beautiful!

Hawaii was known for its pineapple growing but those crops have left the islands for lands with cheaper labor, Mexico and the Phillippines. Pineapples are still grown here but on small scale for local consumption only, and do they taste good!

Sugar cane fields grow thick but the sugar processing industry shut down depriving many locals of jobs. The raw sugar gets shipped for processing to California, thus C-H brand sugar.

Haleakala Volcano

Sometimes I exaggerate; sometimes I don't. With this entry I am not. Yesterday we drove to the top of the Haleakala Volcano which rises 10,000 feet above sea level. The drive took us on a very winding road up through nice country. On the valley floor were sugar cane fields, then we passed through expensive developments, then open cattle range, then barren ground, then volcanic ash fields. At the top no clouds blocked the spectacular view. Far below, almost two miles, the green sugar cane fields lay in checkerboard patterns, the Pacific Ocean lapped on the shore, the mouth of the volcano opened wide in multi-colors, and the sun shone clear. Far off the island of Hawaii stood tall with its volcanoes that we will visit tomorrow.

We've flown between all the islands on sweet flying little B-717's and will do that once more to get to Honolulu to board a big one to get back to the mainland. Gas here is around $4.20 and seems to be no barrier to driving like crazy on the streets.

Mary & Her Flowers

Yesterday on our way to the top of the Haleakala volcano, our van driver stopped at the 3000 feet level for a rest stop and to purchase things. (I think drivers and vendors are in cahoots) Anyway, these Bougainvillea were in full bloom, and we just had to snap a few photos. Plants grow here the year round so this is not an uncommon sight.

Hilo, Hawaii

We just \rrived on the big island of Hawaii where we were told all the rest of the Hawaiian islands would fit here land area-wise two times. We stay one night here in Hilo and then tomorrow move across the island to Kona for three nights. Internet connection in the last connection cost something like $10 an hour; therefore, I did not write any entries. Here the wi-fi is free in the lobby, so I will catch up on reading and writing. More later today.

Inside Iz's Shirt

A famous singer/uke player in the islands with the shortened name of Iz wore this shirt. His full name was Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole (I had to look up the spelling). Before his death at an early age he weighed approximately 800 pounds, therefore he wore shirts this size. He made famous a song that I know everyone has heard, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Check him out on YouTube.com and search for Iz, Uke player or something to that effect. He is easy to find. Our tour bus driver stopped today at this location where they hang the shirt. I told her I knew who he was so she insisted I get inside to try it on. We have a big luau tonight, and tomorrow we fly off to Maui.

Back on the Internet

I've encountered difficulty getting my laptop to work in our new motel in Kauai but finally got it going with a little help. This morning, Sunday, we toured a farm here that raises chocolate, vanilla, bamboo, etc. The picture shows chocolate pods. This farm consists of 8 1/2 acres of ground, and not all of it can be used because of hills and dips. Land prices must be terribly high. Land uses have varied through the years: pineapples to sugar cane to things like this. We passed some huge fields that lay idle and thought that strange. It seems that moneyed interests own it to show losses in their total business operation and are holding it for future use of condominiums, time-shares, etc. when they can then reap huge profits from their investments.

More Chickens

I thought there were lots of chickens on Oahu, but when we got here to Kauai, even more of them showed themselves. These are right outside the open air restaurant where we ate a noon lunch. They could fly like a pheasant. Some of them had to because they flew over a lagoon to get t0 the other side. I don't think they could swim. You can hear roosters crowing all over the place.

Polynesian Cultural Center

We spent the better part of Friday at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The show opened with barges like this one floating in performing groups that showed their culture. This one happens to be from Tahiti. After this show we walked through different pavillions and watched short performances by the groups. A large show in a large theater that evening capped off the day.

Mary rushes to catch a breaker

I snapped Mary rushing to catch a breaker on a sugar sand beach. She became excited and caught herself just before diving in. :) Those beaches are a mighty popular spot; cars fill the parking lots and line the side of the roads for sunbathers and surfers to enjoy themselves.

At Fern Grotto

On the island of Kauai we boated on a river to a place called Fern Grotto and were met by these folks singing and dancing. We arrived in Kauai about Saturday noon after a short flight from the island of Oahu. This island is much smaller and less touristy, but these folks found a way to get some tourist money. We stay at the Courtyard Marriott here for three nights. There are no doors on the entryways to the building because the weather is so nice. As we neared this motel our bus driver told us the story of how Frank Sinatra almost died here in the surf where he got in serious trouble. Consequently, he donated some money to make improvements for swimmers because he was so grateful to motel employees for saving him.

Fierce Samoan

This is Pilli LaFaele. He looks mean, but he is just posing. He is one of our two tour guides and really is a nice personality and very helpful. He hails from Samoa as does his partner. Many students enrolling in college made their way to the island of Oahu to the Brigham Young University branch located there. He majored in math and accounting.

Chickens

In some places there are chickens running around wild. An interesting story relates to this. In the "old days" of the plantation workers on the island there was little to do in the area of entertainment, so they took to raising fighting cocks. That went on for awhile until the later day animal rights people complained enough to succeed in putting a stop to it. Some of them were turned loose and have begun to multiply. The Samoan chief in the preceding entry was surrounded by hens and little chicks that ate the scraps of cocoanut he produced in his show.

As we stood at the overlook of the place where Frank Sinatra and Deborah Kerr acted their steamy love scene in From Here to Eternity I saw something quickly slink through the grass. I believe it was a mongoose. The story about them goes like this. There are a lot of large rats on the island that can do a lot of damage to certain trees because they like to nest in their upper branches. The powers that be decided to combat the problem by importing mongooses (mongeese? I doubt it!). They thrived and multiplied, too. One problem that arose, rats are nocturnal and mongooses are diurnal; therefore, never the twain shall meet. Now they have two problems - an over-population of both mongooses and rats.

Island Circle Tour

This is the Samoan chief and is one of the funniest characters I've seen in quite a long time. He explained how the native peoples lived off the land without the aid of modern inventions, but he kept the crowd laughing the whole time. This outdoor show took place at a macadamia nut store where we sampled as much flavored coffee and nuts as we comfortably felt not being foolish from doing so. Oh, yes, we bought plenty, too.

I've been interested in the Hawaiian language as explained by different people who have talked to us. The language consists of five vowels but only seven consonants which explains a lot of things to me. Pronunciation is quite another matter, though, when a person tries to twist his tongue around the proper sounds.

As the tour bus drove us on the island circle tour, we passed many interesting sites: ranch land, crop land, lagoons, surfing beaches, mountain scenery, etc. Many cultures have blended to comprise the population of the island now, but they seem to blend well. I learned once about something called synergy meaning the sum of the parts can total to more than the whole. That's about what happens here.

Last night we went to another stage show featuring a magician and a dance troupe of Samoan style dancers. Great stuff! Not much to complain about yet and maybe won't have, except we get tired.

More tomorrow.

Pearl Harbor

We remain on the island of Oahu and the city of Honolulu-Waikiki that sprouts tall, skinny skyscraper hotels and apartment buildings like a thick forest. Like a weed, a junk-shop, touristy place called ABC stores proliferate. I asked one of the guides how many there were and he thought about sixty of them. Last evening we ate a large feast and then attended a Las Vegas type, high-energy stage show that kept us entertained for about two hours.

This morning we boarded two tour buses that took us to Pearl Harbor's visitor center which includes the memorial to the USS Arizona. A featured movie includes video of the attack made by the Japanese planes, which, some years ago, the Japanese government made available to this memorial. I've often wondered why the memorial, constructed over the sunken battleship has a sway back. The reason given by its architect is to show we were at a peaceful high point prior to the attack, sunk to a low point during the war, and then rose again with victory. With the flowered leis we received at the airport we participated in a bit of ritual where we could spread the orchid petals on the water at the memorial's site.

Our guide told of an infant going down with the USS Utah. It seems a set of twins was born to an officer of the ship, and one of them died after a couple of days. The officer carried her cremated remains with him on the ship to spread on the water. On December 7 while he waited for a clergyman to board the ship and perform a burial ceremony, the attack occurred. Therefore, a baby girl rests with 50 or 60 sailors that went down with the ship.

A bus tour of sites around Honolulu followed the memorial visit, and now we are resting up for another big night of a feasting luau and Polynesian entertainment. More tomorrow.

Waikiki

The beach at Waikiki is just a short walk from our hotel. No doubt a popular spot as evidenced by great numbers of strollers, sunbathers, and nubile young things slathering up with sunscreen. An early morning meeting sponsored by the tour company filled us in as to what we will do the next two weeks, and, of course, the extras are extra. Since this may be the only time we come, we will scratch it off our "bucket list" and go for all the frills. (The preacher always said he never saw a u-haul backed up to a grave dumping any money in.) This afternoon we flashed our hotel key and got on a free shuttle ride around the city which took about an hour. For extra flavor, we enjoyed the wit of the driver who maintained a steady stream of verbal entertainment. Tomorrow the tour includes Pearl Harbor. More then.

Honolulu

We arrived in Honolulu at 8:25 pm Central which translates to 4:25 Hawaiian time. Some real live orchid leis were hung around our necks. Three airplanes got us here, a small commuter jet picked us up in Fargo and took us to Denver, a 757-200 carried us to LAX, and a 767-300 brought us into Honolulu. All three flights were very smooth, a magic carpet ride, and, to top it off, our luggage arrived with us. A wise-cracking bus driver shuttled us to our hotel from the airport. I noticed he wore an interesting necklace made from two curved teeth from some critter that were formed into an amulet. I commented, and he said they were teeth from his first wife. More tomorrow.

Famous Horses

In Five Syllables

Technicolor dreams

of winter sunsets

played in my slumber.

Horses stood hilltop

watching and steaming

in the cold after

their wild run. Regal,

they’d carried famous

men in their saddles.

First, Bucephalus -

black coat with white star -

stepped forward to talk

of Alexander,

the great conqueror

whom Aristotle

taught. “I let him ride

when I could not see

my shadow, the man

was smart in those ways.”

Comanche, battle-

scarred from Little Big

Horn, walked stiffly up.

“Arrows and bullets

flew thick, buzzing bees

that stung my hide but

killed all the other

horses and men who

dared invade that site.”

Cincinnati strode

to the herds forefront,

“U. S. Grant rode me

in the Civil War.

The death and carnage

he wrought made my hide

shiver as I bore

him through the battles.”

Others stood wanting

my ear, Marengo

galloped Bonaparte

fast from Waterloo,

Wanting me to know,

“Wounded eight times

carrying him from

battle to battle.”

Robert E. Lee rode

Traveller, father

of our country Old

George Washington rode

his favored Nelson.

Dream turned to nightmare

as they spoke as one,

“Your poetry makes

no mark as worthwhile

literature. Save

your efforts for some-

thing else!” Mister Ed –

where did he come from –

snickered a horse laugh,

“Your poems are horseshit,”

and then I awoke,

in panic, sweating.

Uh-oh

A few of us in our past lives have looked up to see the scene of a bull headed straight for us with murder in his eyes. At first, when he spots us, he begins with the warning ritual of throwing dirt with his hooves. In his eyes a picture of the most hateful thing in the world forms, something to be eliminated from his space. He begins his deep-throated bellowing and starts his tail-high trot towards us, then lowers his head to come in a full gallop. It sticks in your memory and you write a poem:

Ma always warned me that bull,
ornery and mean,
would charge me if he had half a chance.

A young boy needs to test new theories
as they come along,
so I proceeded to play

in the barnyard like before
since there were badmen
who needed to be brought to justice.

They always hung out in the pasture.
I was the sheriff
who stood for law and order

and locked up crooks in my jail
(the barn's lean-to shed).
One evening while the folks milked the cows

I set out to correct more unchecked
wrongs and discovered
theorem proof: that bull was mean!

On crook-lookout I spotted
the desperado
scratching clouds of dust into the air,

signaling utter contempt for me,
the agent of good.
His trot in my direction

quickened to high-tailed gallop.
Matt Dillon would make
sound decisions in situations

such as this where I now found myself,
I became entrapped
on the roof of my own jail.