Hawaii Vacation

	In April, 1996, Karen and I, shown left at Pearl Harbor, flew from Allentown, PA, at 6:46 a.m. and arrived in Honolulu at 3:30 p.m., all local times. Hawaiian time is six hours behind eastern during daylight savings. The Arizona Memorial, white structure, is in the background. Here is some of what we saw and did:
	Karen checks out beautiful pineapples growing on the Dole Plantation on Oahu. Pineapple grows on stalks about two feet off the ground. A plant bears fruit in the second year after planting and will continue to bear one pineapple a year thereafter, but in decreasing size. They are plowed under after three yields. Due to high labor costs, pineapple and sugar cane growers are closing down operations in Hawaii.
	Young people tell a story with their dance atop a platform mounted on a twin hull canoe at the Polynesian Cultural Center.
	Older than dirt, Don Ho is still singing "Tiny Bubbles" in Waikiki. You just can't visit Hawaii without seeing Don Ho. We had front row seats about 5 feet from him. He delivers his whole act seated in that white wicker chair. Ho signed autographs for fans after the show. Ho took a special liking to Karen and kept coming over to touch her and call attention to her during the the act. I wasn't worried.
	Tropical plants including ferns and bamboo grow wild on the big island of Hawaii. The "wet side" gets as much as 500 inches of rain annually.
	Water thunders to the river below at a water falls near Hilo on the big island of Hawaii.
	Karen sifts some black sand at Kona Punaluu Blacksand Beach. It was erie just laying on the pitch black sand on the big island of Hawaii.
	See the splendor while peering over the cliff into the Waimea Canyon on the island of Kauai. The natives call it "the grand canyon of Hawaii."
	All dressed up Hawaiian style, Karen and I take a walk on the beach outside our motel room on the Kauai island. We were going to a luau later that evening.
	Hawaiian men lift a whole baked pig out of the cooking pit as the luau is ready to begin. The meat was so well done it just fell off the bones.
	Karen takes a quick hula lesson from a dancer during our Captain Bean's dinner cruise just off the big island of Hawaii. No, you are not going to see a picture of me trying the hula.
	The sun sets on a perfect evening at the end of our Captain Bean's dinner cruise just off the big island of Hawaii.
	That's me walking out over the expansive lava fields on the big island of Hawaii. The volcano is still active and plenty of heat can be felt coming out of the cracks in the lava stone.
	Karen pauses while exploring a lava tube on the big island of Hawaii. When lava flows, the outer walls of the stream cool and solidify. When the volcano stops pumping, these tubes are left behind.
	I am dwarfed by a huge cavern formed at the ocean end of a lava tube. Foolish explorers have gone into the lava tube maze and have never returned.
	Parts of the movie "From Here to Eternity" were filmed on this tiny beach on the island of Oahu.
	We really liked the outdoor airport at the big island of Hawaii. We were getting ready to board the plane for the hop from the big island of Hawaii to the island of Kauai.
	A big truck carries a load of sugar cane to the crusher mill on the island of Kauai. The sugar growers are pulling out of Hawaii because of lower sugar demand and high labor costs.
	Flowering shrubs grow wild along Hawaiian highways.
	Multicolored bark is seen on the trunk of this eucalyptus tree on the island of Maui.
	Karen frolics in the waves only a few yards off the hotel beach in Kauai. The water was always warm and very, very clear. We never went out on the beach until late afternoon when the sun was less dangerous.
	The vacation is just about over and Karen and I toast each other during lunch at an oceanside restaurant at Lahaina town on the island of Maui. There are hundreds of shops at Lahaina, a favorite tourist stop.
	Light rays filter down through the clouds over the mountains on Maui just after a short, warm rain.
	Here's Richard, our guide from Your Man Tours, singing for us at karaoke at our hotel on Maui. Richard took very good care of us while arranging for lodging, transportation, entertainment and the movement of luggage.

Make your dream trips while still young enough to enjoy them. Many people on this tour were much older than Karen and I and some had trouble keeping pace with the group and had problems coping with the travel details and required the tour guide's help. Many did not have much travel experience.

Go with a tour the first time you visit Hawaii. You will get flights and accomodations better organized at better rates than going on your own. Karen and I might go on our own the next time we visit, but we both agree we would not have seen as much without the tour package. We were well satisfied with the performance of the Your Man Tours company (1-800-231-1234) and will contact them again when we go to Alaska in a couple of years.

The trip between the east coast and Hawaii is a killer. Don't do it in a single day, expecially on the way back. Instead, stay over in San Francisco or Los Angeles a couple days. Karen and I made the mistake of traveling straight through. In each direction, counting the trip to and from the home airport, waiting times, layovers, etc, we were awake more than 24 hours in real time. With babies crying, the rush of the air just outside our window, people going up and down the isles, we were unable to sleep on the plane. The jet lag was awful.

One part of the trip home was kind of neat. The first leg of the trip home was between Honalulu and Minneapolis. The sun was just setting as we took off from Honalulu and just rising as we landed in Minneapolis, all on a single flight.

The End.

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