Hawaiian Coast

We spent a week in Oahu, where we have family roots, and we drove around the island. The beaches are so varied; they all look different - some are rocky, some have black sand, some have walls to soften the waves, some have palm trees, some have flowers. We also spent a few days in Kaua'i, where we have no family ties, but it was beautiful - they don't call it "the Garden Isle" for nothing! There are plenty of secluded beaches outside of Waikiki, especially in Kaua'i.

These pictures are out of order.

Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon" of Hawai'i. It's in Kaua'i.




The Pali cliff in Oahu where ancient Hawaiian warriors jumped to their deaths rather than surrender (I think this was when the first Kamehameha united all the islands by conquering them.)




Oahu




Oahu




Oahu




The Na Pali coast on Kaua'i - it's inaccessible, so you have to either get on a helicopter or boat to see it. We did a dinner cruise on catamarand-ish boat.




From the resort we stayed at on Oahu

Hawai'i Pictures

This was probably not the typical Hawai'i tour. This was my mother and siblings exploring our Hawaiian heritage, so it was a week before we even stepped onto a beach, and Waikiki was almost an afterthought.

I met my mother's cousins and aunts who I've heard about all my life, but finally got to know. We indulged in Hawaiian food (that will be a post of its own), and visited sites of historical/cultural interest. We talked to an uncle about our family tree, both Hawaiian and Chinese ancestry. We saw live Hawaiian music and came home with stacks of CD's - Iz, Keali'i Reichel, Hoku Zuttermeier, Lopaka Keli'ikanaka'ole, Amy Hanaiale'i, Ledward Kaapana (who is apparently distantly related to us!)

We all felt a strange and strong connection to the land, and got emotional at certain points - when a young man blew a conch shell, viewing the Na Pali coast, being in the room where Queen Lili'uokalani was imprisoned when the Americans overthrew her monarchy, our final departure from Hawai'i. History is always fascinating, but in this case, it feels like my personal history, the history of my people, and my queen.

Here are just a few interesting highlights. I'm doing a whole food post later, and I'll do a separate post of just scenic photos.



These chickens are everywhere; they run wild. There are different theories about how they became wild and so abundant. They request that people not encourage them by feeding them. Don't feed the chickens!



Iolani Palace, the only real palace where monarchs lived in the entire US. Queen Lili'uokalani was imprisoned in a room here for two years.



There are adorable little churches built in the 1800's by early missionaries all over - this one is in Hanalei. We were all unimpressed with Hanalei's shopping district (more of a generic beach scene rather than Hawaiian), but the scenery away from the tourist areas is lovely.



Kahiko Hula! There were lots of these statues around Oahu; this is one of the many at the Aloha Tower shopping center.

Our Trip to Buffalo

Erie County Courthouse, downtown Buffalo

A couple weeks ago we had the chance to go to Buffalo, NY with some friends. They were going because Giselle (otherwise known as Miriam, otherwise known as sis) was in a ballet performance, and had to be there for rehearsals--so we got to spend a whole week in the city, splitting our time between rehearsals and seeing the sights. We visited Niagara, which was utterly amazing and cannot be described in words; we toured some decommissioned ships at the naval park (very cool); we drove and walked through downtown Buffalo with its wonderful churches and old skyscrapers; and we spent one long and interesting evening walking up and down the street with a tired toddler and a sick toddler, poking into bookstores and candy shops and cafes, trying to find a place to eat that wasn't a bar or a budget-breaking restaurant.

You don't realize until you're on the road, away from everyday comforts like refrigerators and microwaves, how important food really is. But when you have eight people who spend all day running back and forth from state park to ballet studio to hotel room, it's very important to have adequate meals. And when your only refrigerator is a small styrofoam cooler and you have no oven or microwave to speak of, dinner becomes a matter for careful strategy. You can't come home half an hour before dinnertime and throw together something from what you have in the fridge. So it turned out well that we had a Walgreen's next door and a grocery store down the block. We brought a crock-pot and an electric griddle to our hotel room from home, and Giselle's mother cooked some great meals in our improvised kitchen by the bathroom sink while the Four of Us sat on the bed and watched Dick Van Dyke episodes.

(By the way, if you ever happen to be out late walking on Elmwood Avenue, getting tired and looking for someplace to eat, you might try SPoT Coffee. I don't know of any other place that gives you a rubber chicken to identify your order and lets you sit on a blue velvet armchair while you eat quesadillas and bruschetta. Also, the best way to follow up said dinner is to go down the block to Starbucks and get a Java Chip Frappuccino with whipped cream and mocha drizzle. I'm just saying.)

Anyway...on with the pictures.

On the way up: at the New River Gorge in West Virginia.

Driving through Pennsylvania.

Our first sight of Buffalo.

Looking down Delaware Avenue from our hotel room, with the Walgreen's next door.


Walking to the Tri-Main building, where Buffalo City Ballet is located. The building was once a factory which at different times produced Model T Ford's, Bell aircraft parts, and engines for the Navy. Now it's been converted into space for offices and shops.


Buffalo Naval Park. Behind us are the USS Little Rock (larger, on the right), the USS The Sullivans, and the USS Croaker (the submarine).


We found this almost by accident, driving around the theater during a rehearsal, but it turned out to be one of the best stops of the trip. It's the old New York State Insane Asylum, built in the 1870's. The building, empty now, has halls sprawling over several acres, all connected to one another with copper-roofed passages. It's an amazing place and very creepy. Henry Hobson Richardson, the famous architect, designed it, and another famous designer, Frederick Law Olmsted, did the grounds. But it hasn't been used in years: they stopped using it for patients in the 1970's and it's lain empty since the administrative offices moved out in 1994. It was made a National Historical Landmark in the '80s, and Wikipedia says that New York has set aside some money to restore it. I hope so; it's such a beautiful building that they shouldn't let it go to waste.


We were looking for a grocery store the first night we arrived and saw the silhouette of this building not far from our hotel. (If you have ever been driving around a strange city at night and suddenly seen the outline of a castle looming black against the night sky, then you know what it's like.) It was too late to explore that night, but of course we went back when daylight came. This is the Connecticut Street Armory, built in the 1890's for the 74th Regiment of the New York State National Guard. These days it's a meeting place for several military and veterans' groups.

Niagara Falls!

At Niagara Falls State Park.

Shops on Elmwood Avenue.

The fair and ghostly Giselle, who was, after all, the reason for the whole trip.

(Pictures by Tim, Giselle, and The Moms)

Forth unto Buffalo!

Our Furniture Store Discovery

During our few days in Orlando, we passed by this little building a few times; you can see it right off the freeway:

Of course, the boys were curious to see what such a place might be like on the inside, so on our way out of Orlando, we stopped and went in. It turned out to be a highlight of our trip. The place is like a museum. They sell furniture and art for homes looking for that unique touch. I think it's all reproductions; everything is massive. The paintings are handpainted and signed copies of famous art. I'm just going to post a sample of what we saw. They have a website if you'd like a complete list of prices and what's in stock.

A fireplace:

Four-poster bed:

A chair for that awkward corner that every home has:

More Orlando

We spent a couple of days with family; they live on a small farm with chickens, pigs, goats, cats - and Miss M rode a cow.

Her cousin dolled her up with play make-up and fingernail polish. I think that was the highlight of the trip for her!



Mr. B. and the boys went to Tampa to see a Red Sox "away" game. The Red Sox lost that game, but they still won their division title for the season.

More Medieval Times

I'm posting some of the artifacts from the Medieval Times village in a separate post. Some of these were authentic, some were reproductions. There are craftsmen who work there; we watched one guy working with bronze sheet metal. There was an 800-year-old weaving loom there.









When you sit down, there's a pewter plate and plastic mug at each place - no silverware, because people in medieval times ate with their fingers. I'd been carrying around a stainless fork of Miss M's in my bag all trip, so I was pleased to eat in a more modern fashion.



We didn't take many pictures of the actual jousting; we didn't want to use a flash.





There was a gift shop that sold souvenier clothing (although most of the women's apparel said "wench" on it), swords, DVD's of the jousting, and little gift items.

Medieval Times

The one touristy place we scheduled was Medieval Times, a jousting dinner theater in Kissimee, Florida. We found out after we got there that the site includes a replica of a medieval village with actual period antiques on display. There are a few Medieval Times around the country, but this was the first, and it's the only one with a full village.







Some of the architecture and buildings made some interesting images.

Orlando

Phyllis guessed correctly - we went to Florida! We visited my mother in Orlando (the kids call her "Tutu," which is the Hawaiian name for grandmother) and my sister in Orange City. Then we visted Miss Roxie in Hobe Sound. Along the way, we did some tourist things, too. But we didn't do Disney World or Sea World or Universal Studios. Standing in 45-minute lines in Florida's heat isn't our idea of fun.

Miss M was excited and the first one ready to leave. She packed her own suitcase all by herself the night before we left (Mommy had to re-pack it after she went to bed to make sure she brought enough clothes and not just toys!)

Miss M was our first travel casualty. She tripped on the sidewalk at a rest stop in South Carolina and skinned one leg and foot.



The very next photo on the roll, coincidentally, was this. Tim was snapping photos of the roadside scenery, and this street sign he photographed by accident nicely sums up Miss M's injury.



We stopped for just a few minutes at the beach near Hilton Head; it was too cool and windy to stay longer than that. There was a storm on the way. We didn't know it, but that storm meant that it rained every single day of our vacation until the day we planned to leave!




We spent an afternoon browsing the Florida Mall in Orlando. Who ever guessed that such a place as M&M's World existed??

Yes, M&M's World! M&M's in every color of the rainbow, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut, almond, mint, vanilla, peanut butter - a chocolate lover's paradise!
No coconut flavored M&M's, though. Then it would truly have been paradise. :)

L. finally replaced his baseball cap, which had been falling apart. He needed to have his wardrobe in tip-top shape for the Red Sox game in Tampa during our week there.

And we checked into our hotel. Our non-smoking room smelled like cigarette smoke and had roaches, but we stayed because our room had a loft, which was fun for the boys, with its own half-bath. Two bathrooms and room to sleep six (one on the floor of the loft) for the price of one room was too hard to pass up, even with the defects. And we loved the courtyard with this very nice fountain.

I'll post the rest in another post or two.