*** NOTE: Yes, there are a WHOLE LOT of words on this page. We had most of our belongings, including our film, stolen while in Hawaii. By and large, Brenda and I feel that Hawaii is a wonderful place to vacation. It has scenic beaches, great cultural heritage and awesome sunsets. That said, we do not trust any Hawaiin more than we could throw them. ***

Saturday March 13, 2004

Brenda’s Uncle John and his family live in Ohio, just an hour away from the Cincinnati Airport where we were schedule to have a 3 hr. layover. Weeks in advance we had contacted them and planned for them to meet us at the airport so we could do lunch and spend time together. We arrived at Orlando International Airport at 6:00am to find that our 8:00am flight was delayed due to a BROKEN PART on the plane. By the time they fixed whatever was broken, and gave everyone on the flight time to seriously consider not boarding the plane, we took off at 10:35am. We arrived in Cincinnati at 12:05pm. Our connecting flight was, of course, clear across the other side of the airport so by the time everyone made their way off the plane and into the terminal they were already calling to board the next flight. We frantically searched for John, Cheryl & Jonathan and finally, realizing that they wouldn’t be able to get to the gates due to security, stopped at the service desk to page them to a courtesy phone. We got to talk to the three of them OVER THE PHONE, which we could have done just fine from the convenience of our own frickin’ living room, for five minutes. [This should have been the first indication as to how the trip would go, but read on for more fun and exciting adventures like this one!!] Excited, but very disappointed, we arrived in Honolulu at 5:09pm Hawaii time. We were greeted with fresh orchid leis and escorted to a motor coach. The coach was specifically for those who booked their trip through Pleasant Holidays, our hotel was of course the last stop on the route. At 7:15pm, after a beautiful scenic drive, we arrived at Aston Wikiki Circle. Upon check-in we were informed that we would not receive the partial ocean view room that was booked for us, but instead our travel agent Tammy Ozut had upgraded us to a full ocean view room in celebration of our 3 year anniversary & Brenda’s birthday! The remainder of the night was spent perusing the touristy <$8 Subway subs, this is a fantasy!> shops and walking along Waikiki Beach!

Sunday March 14, 2004

No sleeping in on this vacation, why should it be different than any other vacation we’ve been on! Woke up at 8:30am so we could go to the activities information desk in the lobby and find out how to get to things we wanted to do. The lady at the desk was no help, rather more insistent on selling us tour packages. She kept telling us that we would never make it to the Arizona Memorial in time and no more tickets would be available. We finally gave up on her and went to the concierge who gave us a map and a bus route schedule! The bus is $2.00 a person and if you transfer to another bus less than 2 hours after you got off then it’s free! First stop Arizona Memorial. The line was HUGE, but moved fast. We ended up getting into the first theater showing instead of having to wait 2 hours for the next show because they were looking for a party of 2 to fill up the seats! We watched a movie depicting the events of December 7, 1941 and then boarded a ferry to go out to the Memorial. It was very windy and all you could hear were flags flapping, everyone was silent. There wasn’t as much of the ship sticking out of the water as we expected. The parts that were visible were extremely rusted and those that weren’t visible made their presence known by the black bubbles of oil that were still leaking from them. After the Memorial we caught the bus to the Dole Pineapple Plantation! There we took a ride on the Pineapple Express train and learned all about the growing and packaging of pineapple. We walked through pineapple gardens with varieties like “Ruby Red Singapore”. The best part of the plantation was the maze! ! The goal was to find 6 stations and trace each station’s shape onto a card and then find your way out of the maze. Just before entering the maze was a sign with the day’s fastest exit time of 6 minutes. Our time......45 minutes! There’s no WAY anyone could have done that in 6 minutes unless they had already been there before! We had such an awesome time not only trying to find our way out but videotaping our way through the maze, documenting Andrew’s first dead-end find and Brenda’s cheating by cutting through the bushes! The plantation, by the way, has the absolute best pineapple ice-cream ever! From here we got back on the bus and continued on to Wiamea Falls. There was a 3/4 mile hike to get to the falls. During our hike we saw some fun Hawaiian birds and the falls were beautiful. Next we walked to the famous Sunset Beach to watch the sun set. The sand was grainy and had a red tint to it, much different from beach sand at home! The waves were gigantic and we watched surfers wipe-out over and over again! It looked as though it was going to be a perfect postcard sunset, but as the sun sunk lower it went behind a cloud. A little disappointing for our first Hawaiian sunset, but after all, a cloudy day in Hawaii is better than a sunny day at work! After a full day of events we went to Cheese Burger in Paradise for dinner and drank our very first ever Mai-Tai!

Monday March 15, 2004

Another 8:30am wake up call so we could eat breakfast and catch our motor coach to the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). Our day at PCC began at 10:30am with weather much like what we had left in Florida, cold, rainy and windy, but the sun eventually came out and it turned out to be a perfect day! PCC consists of 7 villages: Tonga, Fiji, Tahitti, Hawaii, Samoa, Aotero (New Zeland) and Marquesas. Each village puts on shows throughout the day and they teach you how to do something that was done by the ancient people of the village. Andrew participated in a spear chucking contest in Tonga and TRIED to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together in Samoa. Brenda tried swinging Poi Balls in Aotero and we both tried making beautiful music with sticks in Aotero. The day was not nearly long enough to take in all of the villages so we were unable to make it to the shows at Hawaii or Marquesas, but got a chance to see them in the canoe parade. Dinner was a luau complete with an Imu pit where they roasted a pig! There was a ceremonial presentation of the pig before it was added to the buffet of chicken, potatoes, Hawaiian rice, squid looking noodles, salad, chocolate macadamia cake, guava cake, coconut bars and pineapple bars! The people we were seated with were from Canada and Japan. Near the end of the luau they asked for all couples celebrating a honeymoon or anniversary to stand up and then they made us all come up on stage. They played the Hawaiian wedding song and we all danced! There were 5 other couples up with us and several hundred people watching. Yoko, who was sitting at our table, took our video camera while we were up dancing and videotaped us! After dinner everyone went to the Horizons Show, where each village danced their native dances and showed off native clothing. There was fire-knife spinning, Poi ball dancing, fire walking, it was most entertaining and educational and we highly recommend PCC to anyone who is even considering visiting Oahu. You can’t go to Hawaii without visiting PCC or you are absolutely missing out. So, after a long, fun, yet exhausting day we arrived back at our hotel at 10:30pm!

Tuesday March 16, 2004

Got up at 8:00am to do some last minute souvenir shopping along Waikiki Beach. The motor coach picked us up at 10:45am to go to the airport for our transfer. We both knew it would be a little plane, but we didn’t realize our “terminal” would be in a little building next to the airport! First we went to the ticket counter and got everything taken care of there. Then we walked 10 steps to the security check point where Andrew discovered that in the short distance between these two places he had lost his license [clue number 2!]. After 3 minutes of looking around, Brenda remembered that he had taken the old airline tags off the luggage and threw them in the garbage so the lady at the ticket counter could put the new Island Air tags on. Andrew went to the garbage can and sure enough in there was his license! The plane between islands was actually in the air for all of 10 minutes. Flying in over Molokai we noticed a nice sandy beach with no people on it, hardly any houses or buildings and green mountains! The airport was basically a shack, pretty scary looking. We rented a car and went to our condo, Marc Ke Nani Kai Resort. The room was big, one bedroom, one bath, living room, kitchen and dining room! Ran in, dropped all of our stuff in the middle of the living room floor, changed into our bathing suits and headed straight for the beach! The first access we found lead to rocks along the waters edge, not right for swimming but the perfect setting for pictures with waves crashing behind us! The next beach access area we found was paradise and just so happened to be the exact same sandy beach we saw from the plane on the flight in! The water was freezing, but we went in anyway! There was nobody else on the beach the entire time we were there, it was like we were the only two people on the island! After all day at the beach we drove into “town” and had pizza at Molokai Pizza Café. Town is basically two roads with a gas station, the Pizza Café, two general stores, a post office and some houses. The night ended early as we knew we had quite the adventure planned the next day!

Wednesday March 17, 2004

So, what did we do for our 3 year anniversary you ask? Why, ride a mule down a 1,700 foot cliff of course! When Brenda was planning our trip she happened upon a website for the Molokai Mule Ride and decided it was something she wanted to do. What she was thinking we will never know. It was definitely an experience we won’t soon forget, and neither will our rear ends! We arrived at the Mule Ride stables at 8:30am. It was cold and windy and we stood around with several other people just waiting. The mules were brought out and we were all assisted with climbing on. Brenda’s mule was named Makani which is Hawaiian for “wind” and we later found out how the little tooter got his name! Andrew's mule was named Lokilani. Makani didn’t like the fact that Brenda was trying to pull the reins to guide him and each time Brenda pulled up the mule yanked down. We began the trip with a trot down the road and onto a dirt trail. Everything was ok, we were getting use to riding and learning the difference between “steering” a mule and a horse. The mules have made the trip down the cliff and back so many times that they pretty much knew where to go and didn’t need help, but Brenda’s mule insisted on stopping every 5 seconds to bend over and eat. Soon we were to the cliff’s edge and the mules began to walk down these muddy rocks that were placed like steps on a path barley wide enough for the mule. We were bouncing all over and leaning forward from the slant of the path. All you could see when you looked to your side was the cliff dropping down towards the sea. It was one of the most petrifying experiences ever! There were 26 switchbacks to get down the cliff and eventually end up on a sandy beach where a bus picked us up. The tour guide was Richard Marks, who is the Sheriff of Kalaupapa and a former Hansen’s Disease patient. He took us to several churches built by Father Damien, the one who came to stay and help the lepers build their colony. Richard told us the story of how the original people were shipped over to the island and shoved off into the water to swim ashore to the valley and fend for themselves. Most didn’t die directly of leprosy, but of pneumonia and lack of shelter. The views of the valley and inlet were spectacular, we took several pictures, but it was sad to think of what the place meant for so many people, a prison, a place to be banished just for having a disease. We went to a museum and saw pictures of people with the disease, they had bumps all over and deformed lips, hands and feet. Along the way we stopped to eat a sack lunch in a pavilion located in the “old colony” section and then back on the bus to go to the mules. The mules went faster on the way back up the mountain, possibly because they knew they got fed as soon as they returned to the stables. It wasn’t as frightening on the ride up because we knew what to expect. I think we both can honestly say that we would never do that again! From the stables we drove a short ways to Palau’au State Park to see Kalapapa from the lookout and visit Phallic Rock. That night we were introduced to another awesome drink at the bar, a Lava Flow. It was a pina colada with a raspberry daiquiri in the middle and drizzled over the top. Yummy!

Thursday March 18, 2004

On this day we really didn’t have any plans so we slept in! At 9:30am we went to Purdy’s Natural Macadamia Nut Farm. This farm was in Mr. Purdy’s back yard and consisted of 50 trees. He explained about the trees and harvesting the nuts. We saw the nuts in various stages of development, from blossoms to mature nut, how they peel and dry them and we even got to peel and break open nuts with a hammer and eat them raw! After the tour we decided to take a drive around the island and try to find Halawa Valley to see the falls. The drive was absolutely beautiful, tree covered mountains, waves splashing on rocks and even whales spouting up water in the distance. The road was crazy and winding around the cliffs, parts were only wide enough for one car to fit through yet there were very few spots for one car to pull off and let another pass. Luckily, since not too many people live on the island, we didn’t encounter many cars. We found Halawa Valley and could see the falls, but it was private property and we couldn’t get to them. Instead we walked around Halawa Bay on the black lava rocks looking for shells and burning in the sun before returning to the condo to change into bathing suits and hit the beach! Went to a different beach than before and saw only three people the whole time we were there. Got to see our first almost perfect sun set and then headed back to the bar for more Lava Flows!

Friday March 19, 2004

We got up at 10:00am with nothing to do until we had to turn the rental car in at 3:00pm and prepare for our flight. Andrew decided to go exploring on some dirt roads. One dirt road led us to a very beautiful sea cliff where we went climbing and watched more whales play in the water. As we left the cliff back down the dirt road we heard a thud and got out to see what happened. Apparently Andrew hit a rock and dented in the bottom of the back passenger door [clue number 3!]. It figures that we didn’t take out the optional insurance on the car, so we decided we would turn in the car and not say anything hoping that they wouldn’t notice! It turned out that the rental car was brand new so they obviously figured out that we were responsible for the dent. Andrew still claimed he didn’t know how the dent got there, however, we have been contacted and are waiting for our insurance bill to arrive in the mail! Our flight left at 4:50pm and we arrived in Maui at 5:00pm and were met with fresh orchid leis and transferred to our hotel, Aston Kanapali Villas. We ate dinner, drank more Lava Flows, and went for a walk on the beach to watch the sun set.

Saturday March 20, 2004

Started off the day by attending an orientation that was given by Pleasant Holidays. They give you a free breakfast buffet and then try to sell you tour and activity packages. We signed up for Whale Watching and Molokini snorkeling and we had already booked a flight with Blue Hawaii Helicopter Tours months prior to our trip, so our days were all booked now. AAA had given us a $60.00 voucher as an anniversary gift so our activities package ended up being only $55.17! At the very end of the orientation they had a prize drawing for a full day snorkel trip from 6am-1pm to Molokini. We were so psyched about it and wanted to win so bad and believe it or not, Andrew’s name was drawn!!!!!!! Unfortunately when we jumped up to claim the prize we found that the only day the certificate could be used was the same day we had already booked the helicopter tour for. Sadly, they had to re-draw for the prize 5 times before they finally found someone who could fit it into their schedule. After orientation we went to rent a car, and darn our luck, all they had left were convertible Mustangs! Andrew was in heaven with his blue Mustang, top down, music blaring! (We DID opt for the extra insurance this time!) Our next stop at 12:30pm was the harbor where we boarded the boat for an hour whale watching! We saw several whales gliding through the water. Only once did we see a tail flip out of the water and Andrew took several pictures of it, unfortunately I wasn’t fast enough to catch it on video. Far off in the distance we saw whales breaching out of the water and we got that on video! From the harbor we drove to Iao Valley to see the Iao Needle and lots of rainbows! Typical tourists we asked people to take our pictures with all of the rainbows in the background, I bet those pictures would have been so beautiful! Just as the sun began to go down we raced up the winding switchback roads to the summit of Haleakala Crater, Andrew living out his Gran Turismo fantasies, just in time to see the sun set from 14,000 feet! Talk about cold, who would have thought you could find ice in Hawaii. It was so cold on the summit that ice was on the observatory deck windows.

Sunday March 21, 2004

The day began at 8:30am at Blue Hawaii Helicopter Tours. Our adventure was supposed to be West Maui Mountains and Molokai. The morning started out rainy and windy and when we arrived at Blue Hawaii they took us aside and said that the weather was not suitable for the tour and that we could wait around to see if it would clear and take the tour with the possibility of not being able to see much or we could reschedule. The tours were conducted with groups of six people, selected to fly together based on weight, and in order for our tour to continue that day we had to have at least 4 of the 6 decide to wait for the weather to clear. Unfortunately this was our last day on Maui so we couldn’t reschedule, but luckily one of the other couples going on our flight were in the same situation so the four of us waited out the rain. We eventually got to go on our tour of the mountains and Molokai and it was wonderful! The helicopter flight was smooth and we were able to see valley creases and waterfalls that we wouldn’t have been able to see from a car! Immediately after the flight we rushed back to the harbor to catch our Molokini snorkeling excursion. The wind had picked up so we were told by the tour company that the waves were too big around Molokini and all tours there had been canceled. Instead they took us to a spot called Coral Gardens where we saw several brightly colored fish, eels, rays and coral of course! We got to feed the fish and the tour company fed us all you can eat BBQ and mixed drinks! The water was cold and Brenda ended up renting a wet suit, but all in all the snorkeling was great! By the time we were done with all of this it was dinner time so we ate, drank more Lava Flows and Mai-Tais and went to — for more souvenir shopping!

Monday March 22, 2004

Happy Birthday Brenda! Although not the day she had wanted, as we spent it all in airports. For some reason they don’t have flights from Maui to The Big Island, so we had to fly from Maui back to Oahu then to Hawaii. We arrived in Hilo at 6:15pm, picked up our rental car with optional insurance and drove straight to our hotel, Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel. Now, after living in Kissimmee/St. Cloud area for awhile we have become accustom to the whole “yee-haw atmosphere” and spent many days prior to our trip making fun of “Uncle Billy” so we must explain that Uncle is a term used for close friends. Uncle Billy’s hotel was perfect and exactly what Brenda had in mind when she pictured Hawaii! This hotel had thatched overhangs and shell lamps hanging from the ceiling. Each day they sat a bowl of hibiscus flowers out for women to put behind their ear, it was perfect! Their restaurant had nightly hula shows with music and dancing! For Brenda’s birthday dinner they sang and danced to her new favorite “Pearly Shells” and “Hukilau”!

Tuesday March 23, 2004

The entire day was spent at Volcanoes National Park taking pictures of lava and exploring! Words could not begin to describe the things we saw, lava tubes, old flows, steaming craters, it was one of the most awesome experiences ever! We climbed on lava, watched sulfur billow out of holes in the ground, hiked to where the lava had once flowed over the cliffs into the sea and expanded the island. This is another place that everyone who is going to Hawaii MUST visit!

Thursday March 24, 2004

Brenda booked a trip to Hawaii to get one picture. A sunset. While we photographed a few, this sunset from the Hawaiin Place of Refuge on the big island was the best. Lucky for us, this roll of film was still in the camera when our other film was stolen.

Friday March 25, 2004

This day started off great. We had about three days of on again-off again drizzle, and on our last day in Hawaii Brenda and I set off to finish up the last of the big island's attractions: the southernmost point in the US (the place in the Keys only applies to the continental US), a black sand beach and then after sunset, a hike to see the glow of a live volcano. On this day, the weather broke and we finally saw the sun again! First on our list was something from the day before... Kaumana caves. Brenda and I had driven past the caves the day before and had even ventured down to the entrance before realizing that we were not properly equipped for spelunking. We remedied that with a trip to Wal-Mart (of course they have Wal-Mart in Hawaii, they're everywhere!) to get flashlights.

Returning to the caves this day, we decided to go into the caves with as little stuff as possible... some of the areas were difficult to get to, and water was flowing through the cave, which would be bad if anything were to get dropped if we lost our footing. Anyway, after exploring for some time, Brenda suggested that I go back to the car to get my camera and the video camera. When I went up, some other people had arrived and looked like they were getting ready to go down with us, they had flashlights and were walking with me back to the entrance of the caves. I shot the following photos partly on the roll of film from the Place of Refuge and partly on the spare roll that I always keep in my pocket. These were the only two rolls of film that weren't stolen.

Apparently, the couple that had pulled into the parking area for the caves waited for us to go down and get into the back area of the cave so that they could break into our car. After twenty minutes or so Brenda and I came up to find a blue convertible Mustang speeding away from our car in the parking area. We both commented on how the man driving resembled a fat woman and how we were very unimpressed by his peeling out! When we got to the rental however, it didn't take long to realize what had happened. The driver side lock had been 'punched' and everything was taken from the car, which included a camera backpack that had Brenda's purse and my wallet in it, all of our vacation film, and even a $20 ukelele! Of course we took off after the blue Mustang, but in a Dodge Neon thats nearly impossible. Realizing how fruitless the pursuit was, we stopped at a gas station to call 911 and to cancel credit cards. Ironically, at almost the same time the couple who broke into the car were using my debit card to get gas at the very same station. Of course, we were looking for a blue Mustang. Sneaky.

All that said, if you Hawaiins are looking us up and come across this page, please look inside the flap on the front of the backpack that says 'Lowepro', mail us the film and get back a little bit of good karma. We can replace most of the other items you took, but our photos are our memories, and we really want them back.