hawaii - 2013

My prior post was about my 1998 trip to Hawaii -- as a single man, attending a professional conference and then staying on for some sight-seeing. Continuing in that vein, because I promised a Facebook friend that I would, I'm writing this about my 2013 trip. In 2013, I went to Hawaii as part of a family of five. Ethan was becoming a Bar Mitzvah, and he had no real interest in the traditional rituals that most Jewish boys go through to celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Blair and I, both atheists, had no interest. The only relative who seemed to have any desire for us to go through with a traditional celebration was Blair's father, Hal. But with the health problems he was having at the time, he had more important worries.*

On this trip, we spent all our time on the Big Island. There's no way that I'll manage to cover everything we did. Sorry.

On the East side of the Island, I loved taking my family to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to show them the sights I had seen fifteen years earlier. Of course, stuff had changed -- including the location of the end of Chain of Craters Road. But the feel was still there. No one in the family was taken with the Thurston Lava Tubes the way I had been. C'est la vie.

Fortunately, Blair had a few tricks up her sleeve. She got us booked for one night in a cabin within the park, which was really cool, and she found us a really nice hot spring. But the best, I thought, was the seven (I think) miles-long walk across the Kilauea Iki crater. Yeah, there was lots of bitching and moaning. But we made it.

One morning, while we were touring a botanic garden, Ethan recalled that a friend had told us about his trip to Hawaii, getting onto a tour that got closer to an active crater and visible molten lava than one is legally allowed. We hadn't looked into it before the trip, but decided to see if it was possible. We texted our friend, and the exchange went something like the following:

Me: Hey, Jason, we're in Hawaii, on the Big Island. Do you have the contact information for that lava tour you told us about?
Jason: You're on the Big Island? I'm on the Big Island! We should get together for lunch!

So we made our lunch plans. We met up with Jason, who was touring with an old friend of his (who also happened to know my cousin -- small world). I forget why, but the tour didn;t work out. Maybe the lava wasn't flowing. Maybe the guide was uncomfortable allowing someone as young as Ethan along. So we went back to the botanical garden.

We saw a variety of beaches, including one with green sand and a couple with black sand. I loved these -- not least for the fact that they were off the typical tourist path, and I enjoyed the low-key atmosphere. And there were a couple of other beaches we got to on the West side of the Island. Fun swimming.

The kids wanted to go snorkeling, which would have been great except that Asher was too young -- he was four at the time. So I skipped that tour and hung out at the hotel pool with him. He was not happy to be left out. But he was allowed on the nighttime manta ray snorkeling trip. I'd never seen a manta ray up close before, and found them fascinating. Too bad I got seasick and ended up puking into the ocean. That did not endear me to the others on the outing.

I recently asked Sharon if she remembered the trip; I knew that Ethan remembered it and that Asher didn't. She recalls one particular trip to a restaurant. She went outside to look at lizards while she waited for her chicken salad sandwich. By the time her sandwich was ready, she had caught several lizards. On that note, I remember trying a hamburger with grilled pineapple on it. That was the best. What wasn't the best was liking it so much that I got a second one (even though I was already full). Yeah, there's a reason I'm overweight.

It's too bad that two of the kids don't remember that trip. We'll have to back.

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*As an aside, people talk about "getting Bar Mitzvah'ed" or "having their Bar Mitzvah," and both of those formulations give the impression that one has to go through some ritual (akin, I think, to a Confirmation -- but I could be wrong about that, since I'm not really expert in Christian ritual) to become a man (in a religious sense). In fact, when a Jewish boy turns 13 he becomes a Bar Mitzvah (literally, a "son of the commandments"). No ritual required. No party required. It happens. For religious purposes, he is viewed as an adult. There are some functions during the regular prayer services that can only be performed by a Bar Mitzvah. Accordingly, it has become common for people to perform these functions when they are first able to (i.e., at the first Sabbath service after they become a Bar Mitzvah. And then to have a big party celebrating it. Those events are now colloquially referred to as getting Bar Mitzvah'ed. Oh, and let's not get into the gender issues here. I'm already off on a tangent.