Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/22, 1/100 sec, ISO2000 “Sunset” Big Island, 2024
Today we went on a fantastic trip to the summit of Mauna Kea with Mauna Kea Summit Adventures. It was so good. We were picked up in Kona and driven in a nice new van up to the summit, while the driver (Arthur) told us a ton of interesting facts about the Big Island. At the summit we enjoyed a beautiful sunset, and then returned to the visitor center where our driver set up a telescope and we spent a couple of hours stargazing. It was pretty great! Highly recommended.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 20.5mm, f/13, 1/100 sec, ISO800 “Distant Haleakala” Big Island, 2024Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/2.8, 15 sec, ISO3200 “Mauna Kea Sky” Big Island, 2024
It was travel day today! After watching our last amazing sunrise over Diamond Head, we checked out of the Park Shore Hotel and caught the bus to the airport. Again, the fare is only $3 per person, compared to $35 for a Lyft of Uber. What a deal!
Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 4.2mm, f/1.6, 1/2000 sec, ISO32 “At the Airport” Honolulu, 2022Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 4.2mm, f/1.6, 1/14900 sec, ISO32 “Bye Oahu” Hawaii, 2022
It was a short island-hop over to Maui where my nephew picked us up and brought us back to the house in Wailuku. Our house was designed and built by my grandpa in 1956, and has been in the family ever since. It holds so many memories for us, and I’m looking for more memories to be made there! :)
Mariko and I settled in and then went out for some food at Tin Roof. I haven’t eaten there before, but everyone has good things to say about their chicken sandwich, so I had to get one! We also ordered some saimin, then took the food to the beach and ate at the picnic table behind the canoe club building. The sandwich was really tasty, but the chicken was a little dry (which seemed to be an anomaly). We did enjoy the crunch and flavor, though, and it’s really high on my chicken sandwich list, for sure. The saimin was also yummy and made for a perfect first meal on Maui.
After that we did a little grocery shopping at Foodland, then went back to the house to relax with a couple beers with my nephew and watch the baseball game. Welcome to Maui! :)
Today we went on a “circle tour” around the island of Oahu. The mini-bus picked us up at about 7:30 am and took us east to see the sights before heading north and continuing counter-clockwise around the island. Mariko and I had both driven around the island before, so we’ve seen most of the sights before, but it was nice to hear the tour guide talk about Oahu and some of the local history. We also stopped by Fumi’s shrimp restaurant and had a delicious plate of spicy garlic shrimp. Yum!
The only bummer about the tour was that there was a traffic jam in North Shore because of construction, so we were stopped for a hour or so and the air conditioning wasn’t the strongest… it was pretty uncomfortable! All-in-all though, I enjoyed the tour. It was $79 per person, and since it lasted about 8 hours, I think it was a good deal.
We exited the tour bus in the heart of Waikiki so we could stroll back to the hotel, do some souvenir shopping, and get some fresh air after spending so much time in the mini-bus. I really enjoy being in “tourist mode”!
In the evening, my cousins took us out for dinner at La Ciccia for some delicious Italian food. It was actually sort of Japanese/Italian, with dishes like mentaiko pasta, kumamoto oysters, and other delicacies. Really yummy, and it was fun to catch up with my cousins, a couple of whom I haven’t seen in 15 years or so!
After dinner, it was back to the hotel and some much-needed sleep.
