The Adventures of Sunsette -- Texas Travels, Part II— Apr. 12

[Elfy]

Living on a boat does have the advantage of moving when you want.

[dargosmydaddy]

Wow, those are some breathtaking landscapes!

[Alliecat]

"Hi everyone!  Thanks for reading!  Mum says, wikiwiki  and finish telling the story so she can delete all the copies of photos she made for us to post that are filling up her laptop.  OK, OK, I'll hurry.
"Yes, we rather liked that idea of living on a boat.  It would have to be a big boat though.  And how very sad about the cats.  They have hard lives sometimes, and some people should not have pets."

"OK, hana hou, one more time, and we're on our way again.  We'll be awake a very long time, but Mum didn't want to waste our last day sleeping.  As if we could!  We're on our way to Haleakala, the 'house of the sun'... but that cloud deck doesn't look promising."





"Up the very long, very winding road.  It was very strange to pause here and think that we were sitting just under the underside of a cloud."



"We're at the visitor center at 7000 feet.  The 'ahinahina is very endangered.  It can live up to 50 years, but after blooming once, it dies.  There are different kinds on each island.  And this one is we-sized!"



"There is life on the barren-looking lava."



"On, up into the clouds, we pass 8000 feet..."



"Yep, that's snow.  There was quite a bit during the (ahem) 'cold spell' they had while we were there.  We thought Mum should get out and make a snowball, but there wasn't really anywhere to get off the road and none of us were that enthused about snow."



"FIRST PULLIPS TO SUMMIT HALEAKALA!!!  Woooo!!!!!  (OK, we got a drive, but are you gonna dispute our claim?)  Here we are at 10,023 feet.  Unfortunately it was a dense and freezing cloud and we couldn't see a thing.  Look how wet we are from the fog!  We shivered a bit, looked at the placards in the visitor station, and with a shrug about the weather, started back down again.  Mum has pictures from last time.... we know what it's supposed to look like...
"Maybe we'll have better weather... next time...??"




"Here we are at Leleiwi Overlook.  Do we look cold?  Mum was afraid we'd blow off the edge."



"You could start to see a little bit again here.  But maybe not enough, for the guy who drove his car right over the curb into the parking lot and lost a hubcap. "



"All we saw was hints of the landscape below."



"The endangered Nene ('nay nay') is related to the Canada Goose, but unlike other geese, their feet aren't completely webbed, which makes it easier walking on the rough terrain they live on.  They usually mate for life.  They face many threats from predators, cars, and avian malaria, and there were once as few as 30.  Conservation efforts have raised the population to 2500-3000.  It's the Hawaiian state bird."



"We're on our way down the mountain as the day dwindles.  Here's a view toward Lanai..."



"...and the west Maui mountains.  See the little roadway down there?"



"West Maui mountains again."

"And with that, the last of the daylight ebbed away... we had to head for the airport.  We were so sad.  How could it be that we had to leave...?"
"We had a red-eye out of Maui at 9:45.  Mum couldn't sleep.  Far below, the moonlight made cloud shadows on the sea, and once in a while we saw little specks of boat lights."


"Here we are at LAX somewhere around 4:30 a.m."



"Aaaand, we have a WINNER!!  All-time grand prize winner for the worst priced airport food EVAAAHH!!  2 little wraps and this yogurt thingie were $27 CAD.  Mum ran out of food already so she had to.  But even worse, Montreal customs guy made her throw away the second wrap she hadn't eaten yet because God forbid, there were BACON BITS IN IT."



"On our way again, we started seeing stuff like this.  Yeah, the white dusting is pretty, but, nope.  According to the seatback map, we're over Colorado and that's the Rio Grande."



"More of the white stuff and Mum stopped writing down where we were, but housing density like that makes us claustrophobic."



"We'd get banned from the board for profanity if I wrote anything that Mum said for the next while."



"Crashed in a hotel cos we can't get a ferry home tonight.  We were awake 31+ hours (or thereabouts) by now.  (Well, Mum was.  Aloalo and I could nap in our case, haha.)"



"Some of you may recall from our 'Dispatches From the Field' segment that this is what we came home to.  These are the faces of despair.  WHYYYYYYYYY??!??!"



"...Geez, Alo... where do we even start with all these bills...??..."

[davidd]

Snow in Hawaii! You have seen something that I never saw during my 16 years (plus several vacation trips before that) there!

But... yeah. From my current perspective, I can totally relate to your lack of enthusiasm about seeing snow in Hawaii... or anywhere else.

The suitcases loaded up with Caramacs is so funny because that could just as well be a photo of my suitcase during trips away from the islands! And now, we have had people bring them to us!

I find seeing urban sprawl from the air to be incredibly depressing. Every developed area like that is a massive "heat island" full of "progressives" who lament over Global Warming. Yeah, uh... all you people are the cause of Global Warming and air pollution and water pollution and all the other stuff you want to "fix." You know that, right? No, actually, they don't know it. They just think it's something that can be "fixed" by "the government." But anyway, there is less and less open space, and it is quite evident from the air.

Then, returning to all that snow, I would be all like, "bring on the Global Warming!" (It's the 10th of June now and we are still having temps dip into freezing territory at night!)

So... how long until the bills are dealt with and you're headed back to Aloha-land?

Mahalo (thank you), girls and Mum, for sharing your ex.citing and entertaining Hawaiian ex.ploits with us!

[fishy]

That ahinahina plant is amazing. It's like something out of a myth rather than a real entity! :0

[Lejays17]

What a pity it was so cloudy when you went up the mountain. It’s a great shot with the foggy droplets.

And back to bills and reality... such a let down after a wonderful trip.

[Alliecat]

"Dear Dolly 'ohana,
"We want to say a great big Mahalo Nui Loa to all of you who followed along on our big adventure.  We appreciate you reading!  
"Now, our story is pau ... for now....  Mum still says 'aloha' to people and offers a Hawaiian Word of the Day when she works at the library.  We sure hope we can go back soon.  
"We'll leave you with a peek at Mum's helo tour, for those who want to watch a video...  Mum has the 'official' video but wanted to make one of her own photos too.  It's not quite a PTFCo production cos we're not in it, but, we hope you like it. (Click on the black box to go to the video on Flickr.)"



"... and last but not least, one of our very favourite photos from the trip, the one Mum made all that effort to get us surfboards for and then find a place to take the picture.
"More adventures to come, but for now we'll say aloha and malama pono -- take care!"

"Love, Sunsette"  

[fishy]

Great photos!

[davidd]

Awww... that final photo really makes me miss Hawaii even more.

Sad news, though: you're gonna have to save up a LOT more money for your return trip. The Honolulu City Council, in their wisdom, just passed legislation banning independent vacation rentals. They plan to issue permits to a few... about 1/10 of the current number they estimate are operating on Oahu. Anyone operating without a permit will be subject to fines of $5,000 a day.

That's the power of the hotel and resort industry lobby at work.

On da Big Island, vacay rentals have already been banned, but apparently people are ignoring it in some areas, and there has yet to be any enforcement.

[neon_jellyfish]

What an adventure! I hope you'll be able to get back soon!

[Lejays17]

That's a lovely final shot with the surfboards.

I've really enjoyed reading youur adventures & admiring all the landscapes and other photos - not quite the same as going myself, but as close as I'll get for the moment.

[Alliecat]

"Aloha again everybody!
"Thanks again for reading my adventures.  I've got another one to share with you; this one's at home.  And it's.... a cuteness upgrade!!!
"We all know (and everyone has been too polite to say; thank you very much) that my hair has not been particularly supermodel-worthy for quite some time.  Mum got me a new wig late last year, but she was kinda scared to try to change it because she heard minis' wigs were really solidly stuck on.  Then she said there wasn't too much point changing it before we went to Hawaii because the new wig would get mussed from travelling, and we want it to be nice for a little while, at least.
"Finally, recently, we tackled the job.
"Here's what happened."


"Mum.... you got me this a while ago.... are we going to change it or what?"
"I know, sweetie.  Mini wigs are supposed to be really stuck-on.  I'm afraid of damaging your head!  That would be awful.  What if I need my Swiss Army Knife to get it off and I really hurt you?"



"I'm brave if you are.  Let's do this!!"



"Well, it wasn't really that hard at all!  (And we didn't need the knife.)"



"It's really long.  Ready for my trim!"









"Whoa!!  I look amazing!"



"Thanks, Mum!"






"Outside for a couple of quick photos."

"Then... glamour shoot time!"


"Ta-daaa!"
















"Crystal joined me to finish off.  Two little supermodels with fabulous hair!"




"Mahalo for looking!
"Love, Sunsette"

[davidd]

Fabulous hair... and long! Long enough to pick up all kinds of sand and twigs and moss and seaweed and stuff during your outdoor photo shoots!

But it's worth the hassle to look that fabulous!

"And we didn't need the knife...." but we used it anyway, because it looked so tough and rugged and cool and stuff!

I would have found it difficult to imagine Sunsette benefiting from a "cuteness upagrade," but as she says herself, she looks amazing now! More amazing!

Congratulations on your Improved-But-Still-You look!

[neon_jellyfish]

The girls look stunning! The new wigs really do wonders for them!

[dargosmydaddy]

Wow! Good for you (and Sunsette) being brave, and I'm glad it came off relatively easily. Double kudos for being able to give it a salon-worthy trim, too! (That looks really difficult to do well.) She looks adorable.