New Bedford barbershop closed amid signs of animal sacrifice
Wow. I love bizarre headlines…and this one appeared online in today’s Boston Globe. I must admit, this is probably one of the last reasons I would expect for closing a barber shop in New England. Ah, it never ceases to amaze me what people will do in the name of religion.
Anyway, life has been good since I last posted on here in 1923.
We went on our honeymoon to Hawaii from July 28 to August 8 and had a spectacular time. We were lucky enough to fly first class (believe it or not, it required fewer frequent flyer miles than flying coach). On the downside, we had two connections: one in Chicago and one in Los Angeles. By dinner time on our final flight from LAS to the Big Island, I was so stuffed that I coudln’t even eat the dinner they served. In fact, just thinking about eating made me feel sick so I just slept.
We arrived in Kailua-Kona and stayed in a nice 4-room guesthouse. There were no windows…just screens and shudders completely surrounding the suite. It was night time when we arrived, but we woke up to pleasant views of the ocean in the distance. After breakfast and a quick stroll around downtown Kailua-Kona, we started our counter-clockwise trip encircling the island.
We visited the Painted Church and (I love this name) Pu’uhonua Honaunau National Historic Park, South Point (the southernmost point in the entire United States…even further south than Key West, the southernmost point in the continental United States), Punaluu Beach (a black sand beach), and then arrived in our next destination: Volcanoes National Park.
We stayed in a town called Volcano and visited Kilauea the first afternoon (and went back at night to see the eruption that’s been going on since March (no lava was visible, but the water vapor spewing from the ground was glowing red from the lava below). The next day we returned and did a 2 mile hike over lava fields onto a high hill that provided 360 degree views of the volcanic destruction. Amazing.
After some lunch we drove the Chain of Craters Road (which goes through lava fields from the 1900’s to the present) down the cliff to the ocean where the most recent eruptions (in the 2000’s) closed the road. Wicked cool.
Our lodging for the two nights at the Volcano was in the rain forest and was surrounded by the most enormous ferns I’d ever seen. Beautiful.
The next day we drove to Hilo (the largest town on the island, destroyed twice by tsunami and now rather run-down), Rainbow Falls, Akaka Falls (with a 442 foot drop), and then the Waipi’o Rim.
Ah, the Waipi’o Rim. We stayed at the most spectacular guesthouse. Actually, it’s not even a guest house. It’s a single unit standing atop a 900+ foot cliff that drops into a plush green valley and a black sand beach. It was postcard perfect. I wish we could have stayed longer (and would definitely go back).
The next day we drove through Waimea (where things transtiioned from rainforest to desert) and climbed the Kohala Mountain Road to hit the north coast of the island.
Finally we settled at the Hilton Waikoloa Village for our last few days on the Big Island. The resort was decent enough…and we had a lovely room with a view of the ocean (though nothing quite as spectacular as the Waipi’o Rim). The resort was built on laval flow on the desert side of the island so it’s odd to drive there over desert, then over lava, and end up in a plush resort.
We did go snorkeling at Hapuna Beach one afternoon, but the last few days on the Big Island were lazy. And I loved it.
I’ll write about Oahu next time. That way, I’ll be sure to post to my blog again.
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WOW! I really was figuring I was going to be dead before you wrote here again. You know I’m older than you and since you last wrote in 1923 I didn’t have great expectations that I would make it to your next post. 🙂 I am SO glad you and Randy had a great time in Hawaii. I loved it when I went and I definitely have to go back, just did not have enough time to do what I wanted to do and see what I wanted to see.