The Highways Traveled

This trip was to complete several of my travel goals. They are: 1. Visit all 50 U.S. states 2. Spend a night in two different cities in all 50 U.S. states -- still need a night in a second city in Alaska, probably Anchorage 3. Photograph all 50 U.S. state capitol buildings 4. Photograph the campus signs of all NCAA Division I schools (and then some for a total of 462 schools) -- still need three in California, two near Seattle and two in Anchorage 5. Visit at least 200 national park facilities -- the five visted on this trip gets me to 195. This spring I will pick up two more near Casper WY and Scottsbluff NE, leaving three.

Finally getting to Hawaii, the last of the 50 U.S. states for me to visit.

Oahu Island: Four nights spend in Honolulu, tour most of the island including the Pearl Harbor / USS Arizona / etc. site, and, photograph signs at the University of Hawaii
Kauai Island: Two nights in Koloa, tour most of the island, nothing on this island is on any of my goals lists
Hawaii Island: Three nights in Hilo, tour most of the island, four national parks (only two visited), Keck Observatory (can only visit the headquarters unless have a four-whell drive vehicle), and, do my bucket list item of riding a helicopter.


MISSED VISITING:
--actually visiting (vs. seeing from across the bay) the memorials for the USS Arizona and USS Missouri. The naval base itself is closed to non-personnel. They direct us to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial which is on the other side of the bay from the USS Arizona.
--a hula dance performance -- they are only certain evenings and none were when I was on the island, or, as in the case of the island of Hawaii, I would have to drive a couple of hours through windy mountainous roads in the night time darkness whcih is a bad idea in an unfamiliar place
--the west coasts of Oahu and Kauai -- rainy days prevented it
--Kaloko-Honokohau NHS -- bailed on the last afternoon after reading more about the park
--Pu'uhonua O H?naunau NHP -- bailed on the last afternoon after reading more about the park

OBSERVATIONS: Some observations made while traveling in this area:

The Bests:

  1. Turtle Bay Resort on the northeast shore -- THIS is how I pictured hotels in Hawaii. Incredible setting. The north shore seems to have the best waves for surfing.
  2. Sunset a Koloa -- mostly because it was one of the few times while I was in Hawaii that the clouds did not totally dominate the sky
  3. Keck Observatory Headquarters -- since I have loved astronomy almost my entire life, certainly since age six
  4. Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site -- I look forward to sharing the story of this place with some back home
  5. Learning that there are hula contests -- AND, they are BIG deal!
  6. Helicopter tour around Hilo area -- it was my first ever helicopter ride, I can now scratch it from the Bucket List


The Worsts:

  1. Honolulu traffic
  2. Rainy days and cloudy days in "Paradise" -- of my ten days in Hawaii, most were cloudy and rainy. Two had total sunshine for even a few hours. Two other days had brief sunshine. SIx days of total clouds, usually accompanied with rain. Two days were heavy rain all day.
  3. Delta airline service
  4. Hertz Honolulu check-in service
  5. Coming down with a cold after only 32 hours in Hawaii. It later turned into an infection in both ears
  6. Kauai hula performers were no-shows -- I was looking forward to this dip into the culture
  7. Smacking the car into a lane-divider pole during very low visibiliity light
  8. Hawaiian ziplining experiences are all "tours" (multiple line runs that last for hours) -- I wanted just a simple 60-90 second run on a single line and am done with it.

The Totals:




Just to list this as of November 2020: