The island of Hawai'l in Hawaii is also called "Ths Big Island". It is also the furthest south and east of all islands of Hawaii. Its major city is Hilo.
I wanted to visit here because it has several national parks. And, it has the Keck Observatory, one of the major astronomical telescopes in the world (and I have loved astronomy since I was a small kid).
My hotel here was supposed to be a "room with an ocean view". It was after dark before I could get to the hotel (more on the reason why is below), it was a while before I looked out the window. When I did, I saw a bunch of trees inmediately in front of my window and that was all that was visible. I spoke to the front desk but they said they were 100% for the night and to chcek back in the morning after checkouts occur and they will move me. Meanwhile, my "view of nearby trees" room had, immediately on the other side, the elevators where people tend to congretate and loudly talk at all hours of the night. I did get a new room, one "with a view". However, someone somewhere put into the hotel computer that I went to three floors above where I actually went. So a bit after 11:00 pm, while I am asleep, the hotel staff somehow busts my door down, despite the extra door locking mechanism. I got some feeble explanation that the room was somehow double-booked and on they went.
Sometimes I wonder if this hotel has the goal of making sure all of their guests stay awake all night. They are creative at it. For one, since the hotel is built around a center point, they have live music going in it until late at night. Sounds so easily travel through glass, this, we were all able to easily hear this music. Two, a bit before midnight, someone keeps knocking on my door. Thinking I better answer it else they may come busting through again, I answered. The guy had a coffee maker he said I had requested. I my half-asleep and three-fourths perturbed-with-this-hotel voice, I said something like "You woke me up for that! I don't even drink coffee" then closed the door in his face. Makes me wonder of the staff is competent given that they get so many little things wrong, such as room numbers!!!
At some point during my two quick flights from Kauai to Honolulu to Hilo my ears popped, enough so that my usual tricks to clear them did not work. It was hard to hear others through plugged ears. So before going to my hotel I thought I had better have a doctor take a look at them (and sought out an Urgent Care facility to get into their waiting queue). That two-hour-and-four-prescriptions adventure let me know that I had an ear infection in both ears (which might have stemmed from the cold I have had most of the week). I believe this is the first time I have ever had an ear infection, even as a litle kid. So they irrigated both then sent me to the pharmacy.
It seems that so many things have gone other than expected on this trip. Sooooo many. Some small, some medium, some BIG. Fortunately, none major. Weather/clouds/rain. Traffic, Hotels. TSA Inconsistencies between airports. Airlines, Rental cars. Roads closed or unpaved or deadend. GPS gets confused where I am and want to go. Lanes closed. Confusing traffic patterns. Food. Performers being no-shows. Shopping. Places visited. Untrained staff or staff who let things slip. My own forgetting to double-check things. Things lost.
One thing that worked, and was FANTASTIC, was the Blue Helicopters Ring of Fire tour (about an hour long with a pre-flight safety video and some specific instructions before getting on the helicopter and getting off it). We first went over the bay to see if we could spot any whales (none seen today). Then we went over the rain forest and saw several waterfalls, some of which are seen only from the air. Last, we went over the areas where volcanoes have flowed lava and made sink holes. All of this was amazing scenery and my first helicopter ride was great. Only thing is that when I had this ride in mind, it is very different from from what we actually did. In my mind -- fly up and circle around inside the volcano and circle around it a couple of times. A helicopter ride has been on my Bucket List for almost twenty years.
I think I figured out Hawaii -- things go smoothly as expected only on sunny days. I have only had two of those since getting to Hawaii.
First thing I Noticed about the island of Hawai'i was, when flying in, there are huge swaths of forests. First time to see that. And later, I also noticed there are many huge grass-covered areas for grazing cattle and horses.
I drove the highway 200 that the crosses north central portion of the Big Island. Fascinating. DUring a five mile stretch, I went from cloudy sky (which is what most of the island had) to ominous-looking dark clouds that dropped rain, to fog, to totally blue sky. The clear sky only lasted a few miles but it was wonderful. And, also during this stretch was the only highway in the state that I encountered where the speed limit was up to 60 MPH! As I eventually left this highway to drive north into Wameai, the road became very narrow and often had one-land bridges over streams.
I was hoping for a chance to attend one of the hula shows but for the three islands, none were nearby at the same time I was on the islands (except for the performers-no-show at my Kauai hotel). There was one on this island but it was on the other side of the island from my hotel and I would have had to drive for a couple of hours on unfamiliar windy mountain roads during the darkness of night. Bad idea.