Aloha Albuquerque.
Susan and I returned late last Friday from a much needed vaction on the big island of Hawaii. Susan's daughter Heather lives near Hilo, and we stayed with Heather and her boyfriend Matt. I have been to Honolulu four times and Maui once, but this was a new experience, and for my money, my first exposure to the "real" Hawaii. Hilo is on the wetter east side of the island, while the west side is drier and much more touristy. We joked to Heather that Hilo seemed like another planet or some kind of alternate universe, where things seem mostly the same as "normal reality" but some aspects are just slightly "off."

Before we arrived, Heather warned us we might not get much sleep, thanks to evening noise created by hundreds of Coqui frogs. When I first heard them, I was Matt's car on the way from the airport. I thought the sound was his fan belt squeaking. They are tiny little critters, but make a very loud croaking sound. After about an hour of hearing them, we were pretty amused, not annoyed, and actually they ended up lulling us to sleep. Most people find them very annoying, however Matt has to sleep with ear plugs to drown out the sound. We never actually saw a Coqui frog, because they mostly live up in the trees, but you can't help hearing them!

It rained most of the day on Monday, our first full day, but we did not let that stop us from having a great time. We started the day at a warm pond near the ocean. This is much like a hot spring, but it mixed water from the ocean with spring water heated by volcanic activity in a lava rock pond. Very relaxing. From there, it was off to Volcano National Park, and wonderful, steep walk down to the caldera of the Kilauea volcano. It began raining heavily during the walk, but that didn't stop us, and thankfuly we were partially shielded by the rain forest. I walked out onto the black hardened surface of the caldera and over to a number of large steam vents. This was almost like walking on the surface of Mars.

On the second day, we wanted to go to an nice beach, so Heather took us to Hapuna on the west side of the island. It is beautiful, but it is also the biggest tourist beach. Lots of white folk and no locals. The water was beautiful, and I actually waded out into it and stayed in for about a half-hour. However, I also stayed in the sun too long, and despite slathering myself with sunblock, I managed to get a pretty bad sunburn on my legs, feet and stomach. Ouch! From there we drove to Kailua-Kona. The drive is very unusual. The lanscape becomes mostly black lava rock and brush, with an interesting human touch: people have "graffittied" the landscape by spelling out their names with white shell or rock against the black lava. Very bizarre, but not as ugly as the spray-painted tagging in Albuquerque. We ended up in Kona, and walked around the many tourist shops before heading to dinner. Frankly, I was feeling like I was back in Old Town, because tourist areas are the same no matter where you go; what crap is for sale is the only difference. We stopped at at place called Huggo's on the Rocks for dinner. It is next door to the regular Huggo's and is more of a bar with much cheaper food. I saw this place featured on a recent Rachael Ray Food Network show, and remebered her raving about the food. I had a seafood platter consisting of two kinds of sashimi, shrimp and an island favorite called Poke. It was yummy. We also stayed to see some Hawaiian dances performed by some very talented kids. There were a number of people acting like vultures, ciricling our table waiting for us to leave, so we stayed longer just to piss them off. The drive back to Hilo was over two hours, and we collapsed on arrival.

Day three was a bit more sedate, as we stuck closer to the Hilo area. First, we started with a visit to the Hilo Farmer's Market, which was unbelievable. It was basically broken up into three sections; food and flowers, clothing, and gifts. The food part was amazing, featuring many exotic fruits and vegitables, and just about anything you'd need to make a great stir-fry. Some of the stuff we picked up included Lychee nuts, coconut bread and fresh orchids. I purchased my first authentic Hawaiian bento lunch and was chastized by Heather for devouring it before noon. We visited three different waterfalls, including the amazing Akaka Falls. We also stopped by a fascinating volcanic cave and a double falls know as "Boiling Pots." The highlight of the day was a visit to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, which truly lived up to its claim of being one of the most beautiful areas in all Hawaii. Susan kept mentioning the succession of signs proclaiming "Warning: Trail is steep and slippery when wet" but we forged onward. Every form of tropical plant imaginable is on display here in a gorgeous setting that leads out onto Onomea Bay. If you are ever in the area, this is a must-see! We capped the day off with a visit to a near-by bar and grill where our hosts and ourselves imbibed liberally in Hawaiian spirits. We had hoped to hear Matt play his guitar and sing during open-mic night, but it was the wrong night, but we didconvince him to play a short concert at home for us. Great job, even though he didn't think so.

Day four started with a trip to a nearby black sand beach known for the many sea turtles in the area. It was windy and overcast, but that didn't stop Heather from donning her snorkiling gear ans swimming with the turtles. We must have stayed a couple hours, enjoying the turtle spotting. From there, ot was back to the volcano, so Susan could pick up a video for her classroom. This time we went to an observation point where we could see the caldera and the main crater. After that it was off to Border's so I could pick up some of the great Hawaiian reggae or Jawaiian music I heard on a cool local radio station. I picked up two interesting CDs from Ryan, which is typical of the more bubblegum side ofthe genre, while Mixjah is more hardcore reggae. Great stuff, and it is very uplifting, positive, relaxing music.

Friday was a long travel day. Our plane from Honolulu to Phoenix was delayed two hours and we didn't get into Albuquerque until after 11 pm. The less said about US Airways and their sardine can, bare bones flights, the better. We were exhausted when we got home, but we will remember this terrific vacation forever.