2 °F
By TikiSteve | December 16, 2008
On Monday, the high temperature in Minneapolis was -3 °F. You don’t want to know what the low was.
Some people don’t seem the be that affected by it. It just kills me.
On the positive side, I have a job. There’s a lot to be said for that.
It’s still nice in Hilo!
Check out the Pacific Tsunami Museum’s Hilo Bay Webcam.
Topics: from minnesota | No Comments »
A Good Time To Be in Kona!
By TikiSteve | December 6, 2008
Is there ever a bad time to be in Kona?
Minnesota Forecast:
Forecast for Kailua Kona, Big Island of Hawai’i:
At 1 p.m. it’s 17 degrees and sunny. But, the 20 mph wind from the NW makes it feel a lot colder. It’s an evil wind. There were some more interesting, descriptive words going through my mind as I made a quick trip to the post office and to Wendy’s.
I bought some Kona coffee the other day. During the four months that I was there this year I developed a fondness for Hualalai Estate 100% Hawaiian Coffee:
They’re not giving me free coffee to say that. I just like their coffee. It’s not their high end Peaburry, but I think it’s the best deal on Hawaiian coffee that I’ve found so far (I’m no expert, or coffee snob, I just know what I like).
They sell it at all of the ABC stores in hawaii. I bought mine online from them directly at www.konagrown.com. In their store it’s the one called HAWAIIAN PRIMO. Right now they have free shipping. You could even stuff them into an adult’s Christmas stocking!
I took this picture at the Hilo Seaside Hotel in February, 2008. Can you see the giant Koi in the pond?
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December 4, 2008
By TikiSteve | December 4, 2008
The high temperature today in Minneapolis was about 16 degrees.
It’s the time of year when the drive to and from work is measured by how long it takes for the car to warm up. The steering wheel is ice cold.
There was just enough wind today to make 16 degrees feel colder. It’s a good thing that I spent the first four months of this year in Hawaii. I soaked up enough of the island to carry me through (at least part of) the winter. Of course, it’s a lot easier to say that in early December. Three months from now, when it’s still ice cold and snowy, Hawaii will seem as far away as the moon.
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Old Man Winter
By TikiSteve | December 3, 2008
Old man winter is a real mother.
It really didn’t get warm here in Minnesota until about two weeks into June. Hawaii was so nice when I arrived in January.
Now, it’s winter again. The high temperature today was about 24 degrees. It’s dark at 5 p.m. I’ve lived in Minnesota most of my life and I still find it hard to believe that people actually live here. (I’m a native, so I feel that I have an in-born right to complain.) The long, psychological battle against winter has begun.
I’ve started selling more Christmas Tiki Shirts. It’s that time of year. People often buy them before their winter/holiday trips to Hawaii. It’s nice to know that if I can’t be in Hawaii, my shirts can. A nice woman from the islans of Molokai bought a few dozen Christmas Tiki shirts to sell at a flea market there.
The picture of Mauna Kea was taken at Moku’ola (Coconut Island), Hilo Bay, January 2008.
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Kipuka Puaula, Namakani Paio Cabins, and Mauna Loa Road
By TikiSteve | November 8, 2008
On April 27, 2008 I decided to drive up Mauna Loa road. I had never been there before and I felt I had to do it before I returned to Minnesota on May 1.
A little to the northeast of Mauna Loa Road, just off of highway 11 is Namakani Paio. They have some cabins that you can rent. They are very basic. Erica and I stayed there in January of 2007. When we stayed there it was cool, foggy, and very damp. It was misserable in the cabin. They give you linen when you pick up the cabin keys at the Volcano House. It probably would have been fine if it hadn’t been so damp. I sleeping bag would have been better. We only made it through one of the two nights we planned to stay there.
I decided to stop by Namakani Paio again just to see if it was cloudy and damp. It wasn’t. It was a beautiful April day.
Namakani Paio Cabins
It was a beutiful 71 degrees. The elevation is about 4000 feet. There are signs in the area warning hikers about steam vents and other volcanic hazards in the area.
Kipuka Puaula
Just after the turnoff from highway 11 onto Mauna Loa Road is Kipuka Puaulu.
Kipuka Puaulu is also known as Bird Park. There is a nice trail leading through the woods.
It looked like a steam explosion had blown this rock loose.
Volcanic gas from Halemaumau crater can be seen billowing up in the background.
The Drive Up Mauna Loa Road
Mauna Loa Road is very narrow. Much of it is one lane. At first, from the parking area at Kipuka Puaula, I wasn’t sure I could drive up it. It looked like a paved bike path. At times it winds through the forest and then through more recent lava flows.
There’s not much traffic. It’s a nice, slow, winding drive up the mountain.
Volcanic gas from the Halemaumau vent in the center of the picture.
The road cuts through the Keamoku lava flow. It’s an a’a lava flow from 1823.
Some of the lava is black, and some of it is brown.
The parking lot at the end of Mauna Loa Road. It’s the starting point for the Mauna Loa hiking trail.
I didn’t have the time or the gear to go very far on the trail, but I got a few photos:
The area near the parking lot is forest.
The pictures don’t have enough resolution to see it, but from this vantage point you can see volcanic gases coming up from three different points on the island. Very Cool! You don’t see that every day! (Unless you live in Hawaii)
Pahoehoe Lava Flow:
I understand how looking at someone else’s trip pictures could seem boring. But, the intensity of the day is and the awsomeness of the island is still burned into my mind.
Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!
Topics: the first 100 days | 1 Comment »
Filling In Some Gaps and Halemaumau Crater
By TikiSteve | October 25, 2008
There’s a bunch of time to be accounted for. When I left off, I was still on the big island. Now I’m back in Minnesota.
I went to Hawai’i in January 2008 with the idea of trying to move there. I thought it was a long-shot. But, it’s something I really want to do and there was nothing to lose.
In order to live there, I have to find a way for me, Erica, the dog, and the cat to live there. I didn’t find one, so now I’m back in Minnesota trying to pay the bills.
I haven’t given up. So, the blog will continue. I will have to come up with Plan B.
While I was in Hawai’i, Kilauea became much more active. Erica and I went to volcanoes national park in January 2007. At that time we could walk right up to the crater rim and look into it. This spring a big hole was blown out of the bottom of the crater and volcanic gases started coming out. This was as close as I could get to it in April of 2008:
All of that volcanic gas effects the residents on the island. It creates what they call vog. Some people are very sensitive to it.
To give you an idea of the size of the crater, Wikipedia says, “The roughly circular crater floor is 770 metres (2,530 ft) x 900 metres (2,950 ft).”
In 1866, when Mark Twain was there, the crater contained a lake of molten lava.
The new vent in the crater was about 215 feet across as of September 5, 2008. Also, on September 5th the U.S.G.S. got some video of a lava lake forming inside the new vent: Lava Lake Forming (the link seems to work with Mozilla Firefox, but not Internet Explorer 7).
Topics: Plan B, the first 100 days | No Comments »
An Update
By TikiSteve | August 31, 2008
It’s been quite a while since I’ve updated the blog. Is the quest to escape the stiffling, freezing confines of Minnesota over?
No, not until the day I die!
More updates will soon follow.
Steve
Topics: Plan B | 1 Comment »
Stars
By TikiSteve | April 28, 2008
It’s easy to forget about the stars. Most of the time we can’t see them very well. Light from cities keeps most of them from being visible in a lot of places. I knew I had to get up to Mauna Kea at night to see the stars before I left.
Friday night I drove up to the Mauna Kea visitors center. They have a program from 6-10 p.m. every night. They start out by talking about the stars. They talk about what is going on in the observatories at the summit. The summit is at about 13500 ft. They also talk about what you’ll see from Mauna Kea.
The visitors center is at 9000 feet. The drive up was rainy and cool. When I got to the visitors center it was in the 40s, foggy, and drizzling. I got there about 5:30 p.m. They say it usually clears up at night. I decided to stay in case it did clear up. The talk was interesting, but the weather didn’t cooperate. I drove back to Hilo at 9:30 without seeing any stars.
I drove up again on Saturday and it was the same way. They had a different speaker that night. One of the astronomers from Mauna Kea was talking about the birth of starts. That’s what he studies. It was very interesting. The programs are different every night.
It did eventually clear up. They started pointing out the brightest stars and planets. They pointed out the Southern Cross which I had never seen before. I always think of a Crosby, Stills, and Nash song when I hear it mentioned.
They bring out telescopes to look through. They pointed out a star forming gas cloud in the Orion constellation. You don’t see that every day. It was pretty cool. I had never seen the rings around Saturn before, except in pictures. It was kind of unreal to look through a telescope and see Saturn with its rings.
After the program was over and everybody leaves the star gazing gets better. Without the glare of headlights you really get a good chance to see the stars. I put a self-inflating air mattress in the bed of the truck and then laid out my sleeping bag. It was perfect for watching the stars. It was only about 40 degrees, but I stayed comfortable.
Between the elevation, the dry air above me, and the lack of city lights, it was great. There is really nothing more awesome than that. There are so many stars that you normally don’t see. You forget that there is so much above our heads. Most of what exists is up there and you quickly realize it as you gaze up.
After a while some thin clouds started moving in. I started driving back to Hilo. When I got down a few thousand feet it cleared up again. I stopped at about 6000-7000 feet and pulled the truck off of the road. The viewing was even better than it had been at 9000 feet. I laid in the back of the truck until about 12:30. It was 42 degrees.
I saw lots of meteors. It was one of the best things I’ve done in Hawaii. There are lots of good star gazing spots. I’d like to go out again before I leave.
I hated to leave but, I needed to go back to my room in Hilo and start packing up. I was moving out on Saturday morning. I was up packing until about 3:30 in the morning and then I started again about 7:30. I needed to be out of the room by 11. It’s all of the business related stuff that made it take so long. I’ll be spending the last few nights in Kona.
Topics: the first 100 days | 1 Comment »
Flotsam
By TikiSteve | April 20, 2008
You never know what you’ll find walking along the beach. The place I’m staying is right next the the water. On one side is a public access beach area. I started walking along the water today as I usually do. It was a typical Sunday. There were lots of families at the beach. There were people fishing and children playing in the water.
At one point I noticed a police officer on foot. That’s unusual. It’s common to see them in their unmarked cars waiting for speeders, but they’re not usually on foot. I kept walking along the beach and I noticed that there were several police officers standing next to the water. They had some police tape out. Right on the other side of the tape were people picnicking, fishing, and a some people that were watching the police.
The police were looking down at something. There was a piece of fabric over what I could see of it. The first thing that comes to mind is a body. And, that’s what it was. Somebody’s last day at the beach:
At first I wasn’t going to take a picture. But it was so surreal. When I walked up, the body was surrounded by police officers. And, about 30 feet away, some guy was fishing, amidst lots of people out enjoying the beach.
Children were playing in the water a few hundred feet away.
Apparently, some people that were fishing noticed something floating out in the water. They watched if for a while, and then one of them swam out to see what it was. They pulled it to shore and called the police. I watched the police for a while. The body seemed to have some trauma to the back of the head. It looked like there were some pretty big gashes. The person was fully clothed and wearing black boots.
4/21/2008
I just saw this information in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald web site.
Story:
Body found in ocean
Police trying to determine if foul play was involved in elderly man’s death
The body of an elderly Caucasian man was pulled out of Reed’s Bay in Hilo on Sunday afternoon, attracting the attention of curious onlookers picnicking just feet away.
The man’s pockets were loaded down with rocks, and his face appeared to be bruised, said a witness who retrieved the unidentified body around 2 p.m. from waters off of Reed’s Bay Beach Park.
For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2008/04/21/local_news/local01.txt
Topics: the first 100 days | 3 Comments »
Jesus Loves You
By TikiSteve | April 12, 2008
I was out for a walk today and got a good laugh from this sticker:
Plumeria trees grow all over the place and their flowers often litter the ground:
Sorry about the big gap in posts. I’ve been thinking about how much time to give it here. It’s really just a matter of money. I still have my house payments to make in Minnesota as well has housing expenses here. Along with my student loans and everything else it adds up.
I’m not making as much from Tiki Steve sales as I was before I left Minnesota, so I don’t have as much money to work with. With all of my expenses I really need to get a descent job as opposed to just any job. So, it’s possible that I’ll be heading back to Minnesota (shipping the truck and everything back) in May. I need to start getting some interviews in the next few weeks.
If that’s the case, I’m still glad I tried and I won’t give up the dream. I just may have to restrategize. I don’t want to live here without Erica. Overall, I feel pretty good about the attempt to move to Hawaii.
The sun rises on the Hilo side and sets on the Kona side of the island. But the sunsets in Hilo are still very nice. I took some pictures with my camera phone while the sun was setting tonight.
Hilo seems to be a truly enchanted place.
Topics: the first 100 days | 5 Comments »