Hawaii in April

[fenchurch]

We finally remembered to actually book our tickets for the big vacation trip to Hawaii next month(!! where did the time go?) -- we kept talking about it and looking over options, but never quite getting anything purchased. Well, now we're committed, because we've paid our airfare and reserved our seats! Squee!!!

I haven't been to Hawaii since I was 10, when we stopped for a bit while we were moving back to the Mainland from Guam. I'm very excited about getting to do some of the tourist type things, because it's something I never really got to do. Whenever we were on Oahu, we spent most of our time visiting old friends of my parents -- my mom went to high school there and that's where my parents were living when they met and after they got married. It's also where I was born. rackham has never been... so, we figured it was the ideal place to celebrate our 20th anniversary (talk about wondering where the time has gone!)

Even more squee-worthy is the second leg of our vacation... on the Big Island. And you know that that means! Volcanoes!!!! SQUEEEEEE!! I've want to go to the Big Island all my life! And we're going!!! *does the Dance of Joy*

So, people! Friends of mine! For those of you who have gone more recently than I have, what's your favorite thing to do on Oahu and the Big Island?

Comments

[econopodder.livejournal.com]

I have never been but want to go, for family reasons like you: my grandfather grew up in Honolulu (attending Punahou, like Barack O.), where my great-grandfather managed a fertilizer company. (Yes, my family was literally batsh*t (aka guano).)

That leads to the suggestion I do have for you: I like reading novels set in a place I'm travelling to. If you do, too, I can recommend the novels of Alan Brennert: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Alan%20Brennert

I read his novel Moloka'i a few years ago and loved it; somehow I'd never known that that entire island had been an (involuntary) leper camp for decades, up until shockingly recently.

I discovered that book when Brennert contacted my aunt. He was researching his latest novel -- Honolulu, just published recently -- and somehow had learned about my great-grandfather's role at Hawaiian Fertilizer Company (later Pacific Guano and Fertilizer). I guess that firm, or a fictional simulacrum, figure in his new story, b/c he was looking for any photos or stories we could share. We had a few pics but nothing more.

Writing this reminds me to see if I can get his new book from my library. I'll read it with literary eagerness but a certain amount of familial trepidation, as I can't imagine that haoles (white settlers) come off too well from any Hawaiian perspective in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Oh very cool! Our roots don't go back that far and are fairly shallow to begin with, since the reason both my mom and I were born on Oahu is because our fathers were in the military (I'm an Air Force brat and my mom is a Navy brat). She spent quite a bit of time there on and off when she was growing up (they bounced between Hawaii, Guam, California and Washington), but we left Oahu when I was seven months old and really only went back when we were flying to and from Guam while we lived there.

I'll have to see about tracking down copies of those books!