Pat Hoppel

Hawaii Chronicles

I began writing this a couple of days ago but had not posted it. I'm trying to catch up now. It seems that I am writing more than Facebook will accept (or that people care to read?) so I will let TypePad tell Facebook when new posts are made. Two days later I think I now have the plumbing worked out for the Facebook link. Go to Hoppel.TypePad.com to see it all. --Mahalo

Three Days Behind

It has been a pretty busy vacation and I haven't had time to keep up. It's 6:20AM—let's see what I can crank out... Friday Our first morning was spectacular: breakfast at a local java shop (delicious Kona coffee and incredible cinnamon roll) and shopping at the Big K. We missed WallyMart since we couldn't see it heading outbound. Steep slopes and haphazard roads with funny names makes getting through Kuilani a challenge. No matter how many times I repeat the name of the main road uphill from our hotel, I can't remember it. The lower road along the ocean is Alii. That's what the signs say and I was pronouncing it Ali. Talking to Mom on the phone, she pronounced it ah-lee-ee. Since then I have seen it written Ali'i and my tour book says that the apostrophe forces a new syllable. In hindsight, it's just like the end of Hawaii. Point is, I can't pronounce and remember any street names. Oh, there is Henry Street. I like to use that one. WalMart and Safeway are on it. With our cheap cooler, beach mats and umbrella, and after the Costco fiasco, which shall not be discussed more, it was on to the secret gem of a beach at Kua Bay. It is a great swimming beach and the waves were perfect for my fledgling body surfing boys. With each wave that I rode onto the beach, I would be thankful for corrected-vision googles, my rash guard shirt, and ear plugs to keep the water and noise out. How peaceful and what a difference from my childhood days in the Pacific surf. I guess I've learned a thing or two about body surfing over the years as I found the waves pretty wimpy. Meanwhile, the boys were getting pounded. And getting toasted through the overcast sky. Good thing that I finally crawled under the umbrella when the sun popped out to remind me. After leaving, I felt a pain in my un-blocked legs. The boys were in the surf so long that their sun block washed away, leaving them red-faced. With everything packed up, we finally coerced Dylan from the surf several hours after arriving.

Kona, Baby!

We are finally in Kona, just before sunrise. The second flight yesterday was right on schedule and Grant even got to use the open window seat next to me. We had a good view of Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii on our side, while the other two probably saw a whole bunch of ocean and clouds. We appeared to be landing on a vast flow of hard lava. We were talked into upgrading our economy car to whatever included a Ford Focus for an extra $110. Then we stepped out to find none and got bumped unto the mid-sized Ford Fusion. We will be doing a lot of driving so should help keep the boys out of each others' hair. It didn't work on the brief ride to the hotel, though. It had been a long day... Made longer by Bernice insisting that we go to dinner, though our bodies thought it was already 1AM. We dined at Rosa's Cantina for some authentic Mexican American, Hawaiian style. I swear my Dos Equiis smelled like cinnamon but didn't taste like it. The Hawaiian Elvis was playing his ukelele, serenading the newly 21 year old Jillian. I never did get a look at her, but she must have been enjoying the attention for it to go on so long. The food took forever to arrive and Dylan was falling asleep on the table. The hotel seems as I pictured it (maybe the pictures on the web and the satellite images helped). We were able to change from the assigned queen/twin bed room to a queen/sleeper sofa room. We have the tiniest of kitchens with a mini fridge, mini microwave, and mini sink. I found the Geico gecko on the lanai but he moved along as the light gathers. Hey, we have wifi! Grant say they pronounce it weefee here. I think he is making a joke.6AM and the boys are now ready to go on an adventure. Dylan wanted to swim in the pool but he decided that it's not open yet. I'm thinking a dip in the ocean.

Layover

Our time in Honolulu is nearly complete as our Hawaiian Airlines 717 just pulled into the gate. I forgot to mention that we had already learned that our layover was too short to leave the airport. We were hoping to catch an earlier flight and it turns out that we could have—for $200. We chose patience. And there is little to do here. Dylan had a Pizza Hut personal pizza; how's that for getting into the spirit of the islands? I ate his Quizno's ham sub that we bought at O'Hare this morning and he refused to touch. It's gotta be a Subway or no way, apparently. Dylan has been having a great time. He moved around the plane a lot since I suggested that he could stretch his legs occasionally. We will let him have the window seat on this short flight since he's smaller and Grant can easily see over him. Grant got a good view of Oahu when they landed our flight from the west and we did a low flyby from the east right over the airport before doing a 180.

Flying High

The longest journey begins with the first step. Back in the day, at least. This journey started with a tap of the trackpad on the United Airlines Vacations website. After missing vacation last year due to unemployment, Bernice wanted something special this year. She had been pushing the idea of Glacier National Park, but every time I looked at the map, I cringed at the thought of driving that far with our bickering boys. Grant and I had already traveled to South Dakota with the Boy Scouts, a long trip but only half the distance. And with another week at Boy Scout summer camp in the beginning of August, more camping wasn't very alluring. I toyed with the idea of flying to Montana and renting an RV, which was pretty expensive. Doing that in Florida would have been much cheaper, but we were already sweltering in Wisconsin and Florida would be worse. Bernice suggested Hawaii but the airfare alone was expensive. Before leaving the United website, I noticed that they had a vacations option and gave it a shot. Turns out that for little more than the cost of airfare, we could get a room and car for ten days. The standard hotel was three hundred more but $3500 put us in a condo at a small, nondescript hotel near the center of Kailua Kona. Bernice had her doubts but this was the Dick Hoppel way of doing Hawaii and after Skyping Bernice in Japan, I clicked on "Purchase". From an eBook on the Big Island, I have since learned that we will want to keep our doors locked due to the derelicts, I think was the word, wandering off the streets. Let's hope for the best. Oh, and yesterday I learned that there is a queen bed and a twin bed for the four of us. Grant says he will take the couch. If there is one. I have a feeling that Bernice won't be letting me forget this decision for years to come. The journey itself began yesterday as we made the first steps to the garage, and then returned to the house fetching forgotten items. The first leg was to Streamwood, where four other of my Hawaii journeys began many years ago. Shadow was happy to be joining us on the drive, although he didn't look very happy as we backed down the driveway this morning with Dick's Speedy O'hare delivery service. UAL flight 1 has been zipping us through the Friendly Skies (does United still use that?) for an hour and a half now. The boys had no interest in doing some basic math for the Guess the Halfway Time game, so I stuffed the ballot box with Dylan's seat 46F. A nice scattering of calculated times should put him in the running. I'm in the middle of the row (2-5-2) so I hope I won't need the facilities much. Not a big deal as the seat to the left is empty, and I have Dylan and Bernice to the right. Grant volunteered to take the seat across the aisle from Bernice, figuring he would get a view out the windows. Since an attractive young woman squeezed past him to the window seat, I'm sure he's been a bit self-conscious. Ah, it's only 9 hours of nervousness. After spending many hours loading this iPad, my phone, and iPod with movies, podcasts, and, well I went with the music I already had loaded, I now find myself listening to the songs from my childhood on XM satellite radio. Oh, Doobie Brothers' China Grove! It's the first song I remember from my childhood Hawaii trips. Yep, there are certain songs that still take me back to at least one of those flights in the '70s. Always have, always will. You see, back in the day—sorry, I see I already used my favorite phrase; I'll try not to use it again—the song tracks on the airplanes were pretty short and I had to listen to the same songs over and over and over again. Etched into the brain. I wasn't about to check out the country or big band tracks. Rock and Roll, baby. Now that I pay for my tickets, my flights are rare, and I didn't realize that there was this audio bonanza waiting for me on my very own quality earphones. Ah, now the Dead. Casey Jones. This is better than back in, I mean, years ago. I don't expect the track will be looping, either. Something that I never anticipated when planning this trip was that it will be a cherished memory for the boys, just as my childhood Hawaii trips were to me. Grant has been saying for a week that he can't believe he's going to Hawaii, and now he's on his way. I was pleased to have a four hour layover in Honolulu, thinking that we might have some time to see something. When I told Grant the plans he was disappointed that we wouldn't be staying on Oahu. The Pearl Harbor thing. Been there done that for me, so I was only headed to the island that I haven't been to. I want the off-the-beaten-track experience and apparently Hawai'i still delivers. I used the native spelling for the island, just like my tour book. I see the entry form spells it that way for the whole state. I'll go with the automatic typing completion version from now on. In the terminal before departure, Dylan was looking troubled. I asked him if the crowded area was giving him the willies (a common issue with him), but he said he was nervous about the long flight. He flew just a couple of years ago, but that was only to Florida. Much shorter. He says he is fine, now. Dang, I need to go and Bernice and Dylan are going to wonder why I didn't do so when they did 20 minutes ago. I hadn't thought about it until they returned and thought I could hold out much longer. Times up. Well that wasn't so bad. No complaints from the others. I thought I might try to stay regular while in there but no, my body has switched into travel mode. It never asks, it just does. I tried to overrule but their wasn't enough time to convince it. I think it's a remnant from my childhood travels, when dark, spidery outhouses weren't uncommon. I might be backed up for days now. And worse, the audio track is looping already. How did I fall for that XM Satellite bit? Movie time on this iPad.