travel

Cousins

I went up to Portland a couple of weeks ago (my traveling shoes have been getting some wear lately) to visit an aunt, some cousins, an old friend, and a beautiful city.

You may have noticed I'm back from vacation. Have been for about a week, actually. I apologize for the back-blogging. It's not a practice I generally approve of, but I didn't want to spend all my time in Hawaii formatting blog entries, so there you have it. I'll write on the go, but photo editing and spell-checking waits for the home turf.

Mahalo

Aloha mongooses, bright green geckos,

Dolphins, parrotfish, and mynah birds

Aloha Keauhou Bay, Kahalu'u, Two Step, and White Sands

Aloha sweet plumeria flowers

Sulphurous volcanoes, and sudden rain storms

Aloha craggy black volcanic shores under overcast skies

Hello, goodbye, I love you

And until we meet again

With the Tide

It's an interesting experience traveling familiar ground with folk I don't readily associate with this place. I'm learning new things about it. We tried stand-up paddle boarding under the experienced tutelage of my father-in-law. Turns out I love it; who knew? Love it enough that I might try it on our considerably colder end of the Pacific when I next find myself in Santa Cruz.

Occasionally, though, I'm diverting the group or my own two feet to beat familiar trails. This, in and of itself, is not without discovery.

Mauka

And towards the mountain we go.

I have no specific memory of visiting the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park as a child, though I must have done. I do remember driving out to see the lava trickle into the ocean once. A far-off red ribbon viewed from a perch on a rock with my grandparents and a buddy when I was twelve or maybe thirteen.

Makai

There is no left and right on Hawaii. There is makai (towards the ocean) and mauka (towards the mountain). As I am perhaps the only geographer with no innate sense of direction, this works out well for me. I can navigate with confidence when the two main landmarks are visually apparent no matter where you stand.

This is good because our various digital devices are having a hard time out here. And Siri's Hawaiian pronunciation is worse than her Spanish. ("Dos" has a long "o", love; it's not "daws".) We finally turned her off before she could try Kamehameha or Kealakekua again.

Geology and Biology

I had forgotten how the ocean smells different here. Of course it does -- different geology and different biology -- but it was something I hadn't remembered until I was standing on a craggy black pumice shore looking out over the water.

My grandparents lived here for about the first twenty years of my life. We visited in the summers. At least us kids did. I've been back to Hawaii once since then, but a different island.

Boarding

Getting ready to board the plane. My son is plastered to the window at the gate watching the planes taxi up and down. It's his first flight. I wasn't too much older than him when I was flying by myself. Short trips off to see a cousin on the other side of the state. I can't imagine putting this kid on a plane by himself. Is that because to a mother a child seems way smaller than she ever was? Or is it because the world has moved on?

On the Fourth Day of Christmas

After a pleasant visit with family, and friends-that-are-family, now homeward bound. I miss the cat.

On the Second Day of Christmas

Traveling well-known roads often seems to take little time at all, your tires know the way so well; it's more of a palette cleanser as you trip along from one home to another.