2015 Hawaii Cruise & California Road Trip

Cruise Ship Family Trip to the Islands WITH FOLLOWUP ROAD TRIP ON THE CALIFORNIA COAST

Author: Lois Olive Gray Photos: Kay Ellen Gilmour, MD Website: www.kaygilmour.smugmug.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS HAWAIIAN HISTORY...................................................................................... 3 MAUI ISLAND ................................................................................................ 5 THE IAO VALLEY STATE PARK .............................................................................. 6 O’AHU ISLAND ............................................................................................ 10 PEARL HARBOR ............................................................................................... 10 KAUAI ISLAND ............................................................................................. 17 HAWAII--THE BIG ISLAND ........................................................................... 21 KONA ............................................................................................................ 21 HILO .............................................................................................................. 23 MACKENZIE STATE PARK .................................................................................. 24 FUN FACTS ABOUT OUR 50TH STATE: HAWAII ..................................................... 27 ENSENADA, MEXICO ................................................................................... 28 LA BUFADORA ................................................................................................ 28 SAN DIEGO.................................................................................................. 31 USS MIDWAY ................................................................................................. 31 SAN FRANCISCO .............................................................................................. 33 THE TICKLE PINK ............................................................................................. 34 MONARCH BUTTERFLY SANCTUARY ................................................................... 36 POINT LOBOS STATE NATURAL RESERVE ............................................................ 38 MONTEREY WHARF .......................................................................................... 39 PFEIFFER STATE PARK....................................................................................... 40 PACIFIC BAY AND THE MCWAY FALLS................................................................. 40 ELEPHANT SEAL COLONY.................................................................................. 42 HEARST CASTLE ............................................................................................... 47

Cruise Hawaii - Drive California How to Travel: Escorted Trip followed by DIY Trip Company: Holland America Ship: MS Veendam Dates: January 15 to February 18, 2015

INTRODUCTION This long trip combined an escorted cruise ship tour of Hawaii with a road trip of the California coast. Both parts of this trip were well-planned and executed, filled with scenic beauty, loaded with animal observations, lots of relaxation aboard ship, and just plain fun. The cruise portion aboard the Holland America Veendam lasted 18 days, 5 days at sea on the way to our 50th state, 8 days there visiting the islands of Oahu, Big Island, Kauai, and Maui, and then 5 more sea days getting back to San Diego via an afternoon in Ensenada, Mexico, made necessary by the Jones-Shafroth Act of March 2, 1917 requiring 1 foreign port to be visited on ocean-going travel in a cruise ship of foreign registry.

Holland America ships are flagged in the Bahamas.

Aboard a mid-sized cruise ship like the Veendam, you can choose how active you want to be because there are activities planned all day and into the night. There are many stairs to climb if you wish to avoid the elevators. There is a promenade deck which requires 4 complete laps to complete a mile. There is a small fitness center available as well though it is usually pretty crowded. There is a swimming pool on the upper deck too. And the Activities Director always includes at least one athletic competition during the day--such as ping pong, bowling, skeet shooting and the like.

Besides energy-requiring activities, there are also available differently themed trivia contests, cooking demonstrations, wine and beer tastings, tours of the kitchen, movies with popcorn, book discussions, daily quizzes in the Library, napkin folding sessions, afternoon tea in the formal dining room, sales pitches for on board art, jewelry, clothing, future cruises, and of course the casino where you can donate more money to Holland America than just the price you paid for your cruise. Very popular with many cruisers, including two of us, there is an ongoing program providing instructions and hands-on experimenting with Microsoft products (this cruise itwas Windows 8.1) and learning about digital photography and processing of the pictures that captured your trip experiences.

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There are many quiet places, including your own cabin, where you can read, write, watch the sea and sky for bird and animal sightings, and doze off for a well-earned nap. If you forget to bring your own reading materials or your e-reader, the library is well-stocked with all kinds of books to borrow. There is also a daily newsletter stocked in various spots around the ship.

Every night, the very energetic activities director had scheduled a different form of entertaining in the ship's performance theater. We saw singing and dancing by professional performers; there were magicians, ventriloquists, pianists, violinists, and solo singers too. Of course, the quality of the performances was as varied as one would expect on a variety show anywhere.

The four of us dabbled in some of all of these choices and not one of us tired of sailing.

And we all looked forward to the 5 days it would take us to get back to San Diego. Of course, a big factor in our great satisfaction with sea days was the fact that the mighty Pacific was as calm as a lake during all but one of our days afloat. We had one slightly bumpy day but none of us felt anything like seasickness. We were lucky enough to see whales at sea and some people saw dolphins. But it was surprising how devoid of birdlife our route across the sea appeared to be.

There was an unusual occurrence during our first evening at sea. The Captain came on the PA system and announced we would have to return to San Diego forthwith because a fellow passenger had experienced a severe medical emergency that required hospital care ASAP. Together with the Coast Guard, the onboard doctor and our captain determined that the safest course for the passenger was the speediest possible return to the mainland. Though we had left San Diego about 5 p.m. the first time, we actually officially started our cruise about 1 a.m. in the morning. A couple of updates later informed us that the passenger had survived and was in stable condition. We never knew what medical problem he/she had experienced but everyone presumed it was either a heart attack or a stroke.

During our sea days we saw something further that none of us would have ever anticipated: the exciting rescue of a downed pilot. He had apparently tried to fly from San Diego to Honolulu on a tank of gas. When he was about 200 miles short of his destination, he realized that his tank was on empty and he had to ditch in the ocean.

How scary was that for him!? We never knew how he had made such a bad miscalculation of his fuel needs.

Be that as it may, he radioed his position to Honolulu and reported when he ditched.

The Coast Guard obviously knows what ships are in which shipping lanes and the 2

Veendam was closest to his position. A coast guard plane flew out and located the pilot, already in the water, and threw a huge balloon-like structure to mark his location and this device also kept him afloat. The plane kept circling his position until one of the lifeboats from the Veendam reached him and brought him on board. Our Captain kept us informed about the rescue operation. Once the very lucky pilot was examined by the onboard physician, the Captain reported that he was in excellent shape with no injuries.

Needless to say, he was in exuberant spirits.

To paraphrase Samuel Johnson's famous opinion of London life ("When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life"): When a man is bored on sea days, he may well be boring himself.

HAWAIIAN HISTORY How about a bit of Hawaiian History? Can't not provide a synopsis since our 50th state has such a different history from any of the others. Alaska also came to the USA in a different way, but it has no royal history and its written history started with Europeans as did the original 13 colonies. So here goes: Most historians today believe that the first people to reach and establish homes in the then unnamed island chain were natives of the Marquesas Islands. These intrepid and efficient sailors travelled 2000 miles in open canoes to reach a new home about 400 A.D. With them, these first inhabitant of the island chain brought pigs, chickens, dogs, and as uninvited stowaways, rats, geckos and skinks also came to live with the native species, mostly birds. Remember, only two species of mammals are native to Hawaii--the hoary bat and the monk seal. In addition, these early settlers also brought at least 24 alien plants with them, including taro, sweet potatoes, tapa (for clothing), kukui nut trees, coconut palms, Indian mulberry, and sugar cane.

Since their population was fairly small, their environmental damage was not severe.

However, when the Tahitians arrived and conquered the native peoples, their importations and their cultural practices (songbird feathers were used for capes, headdresses, shields) decimated the native bird species and drove at last half of them to extinction. The Tahitians were warlike and brutal in conflict and they quickly overpowered the peaceful Marquesans around 1200 AD. Today's very few native Hawaiians are a mixture of the original Marquesans and the later arriving Tahitians.

The Tahitian culture was dominant on the islands until captive peoples who were treated as slaves began to rebel against the many taboos instituted by the Tahitian rulers and priests. In 1793 a child was born who would later bring the dream of an 3

overthrow of the Tahitian chieftains who ruled on the different islands and fought among themselves continually to fruition. His dream was also to unite all 8 of the islands under one royal family with a more beneficent form of ruling. That child grew up to become Kamehameha the Great. As in all cultures where a native-born hero arises to rescue his people, many mythic stories have created his history--his birth was marked by thunder & lightning, his parentage is disputed, he possessed inhuman physical strength, his wisdom exceeded his years, he was devout and respected the original Hawaiian gods and goddesses and therefore was blessed by them with good fortune.

A very important, and ultimately deleterious, group of people arrived in the islands starting with Captain James Cook who is believed to be the first European to visit Hawaii when he landed on Kauai on January 18, 1778. Some historians believe that Chinese or Indonesian people may have encountered the islands prior to Capt. Cook, but there is no hard evidence to support this belief. Capt. Cook's first landing was somewhat fortuitous his arrival coincided with the islanders' celebration of one of their gods. When the sails on Cook's vessel were sighted, the islanders are said to have believed that Capt.

Cook was the embodiment of their war god. Therefore, he and his crew were greeted peacefully and entertained as a god should be.

Cook named the territory the Sandwich Islands for his patron, the Earl of Sandwich, the very same nobleman who is credited with the century's "fast food" invention, the sandwich, for which his name is ever blessed. Cook's first encounter with the Hawaiians was successful--he received the fresh water he needed to continue his explorations and traded some extra goods from his ship with the natives.

His second visit the next year did not go so well. The Hawaiians were not in a celebratory mood this time and fell to petty pilfering which angered Cook. The last straw was the theft of one of his ship's dinghys. He roared on shore demanding the return of the boat but creating only confusion and return anger among his hosts. Someone from the ship fired a musket and killed one of the Hawaiians, shocking everyone. No one today believes that Capt. Cook fired the rifle, but the vengeance exacted on the Europeans fell on him. A great melee occurred and he was hit in the head, falling into the water unconscious whereupon he drowned. The rest of the crew of Cook's ship scurried off shore and back to their ship, happy to escape with their lives.

In the ensuing years, many Europeans, Americans, Chinese, and Japanese whaling, trading and sealing ships arrived in the bays of Hawaii. Some things good came from these encounters--such as the receipt of useful trade goods like knives, metal pots, cloth, fruit trees, seeds, and firearms. Deleterious effects were created too however-4

alcohol, diseases such as smallpox, syphilis & gonorrhea, alien species of animals and plants--of which wreaked havoc on the peoples, the environment, and the culture. From a peak population of 300,000 Hawaiians the number dwindled 80% to around 30,000. As had been true in the New World after its discovery by Columbus, the encounter proved to be apocalyptic to the native peoples.

In 1810 after considerable fighting with the petty chieftains, Kamehameha accomplished the unification of the island under the new dynasty he created in his own name.

Furthermore, he established traditions that would keep his dynasty in power without further fighting among the former nobles. His royal house lasted until the death of Kamehameha V who died in 1872. He died childless and the throne passed to his uncle.

The dynasty lasted another 21 years before the Kamehameha Dynasty fell when Queen Liliuokalani was deposed, imprisoned for seven months and forced to abdicate by the patently illegal force of US citizens, descendants of the original missionaries, and others who wanted to promote the annexation of the Islands by the United States so that bigger profits, less import/export taxes, and more political power could redound to those rebels against the kingdom.

To his everlasting credit, US President Grover Cleveland (an anti-imperialist) sympathized with Queen Liliuokalani's petition and refused to accept a bill which would have made her removal legal and allowed the desired annexation. His successor, William McKinley, refused to see the justice of the Queen's claim and allowed the bill of annexation to move forward. Therefore, in l898 the bill of annexation was passed by Congress and signed by McKinley. So that was the end of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Hawaii remained a territorial possession of the USA until l959 when it became the 59th state.

STATE OF HAWAII Maui Island This most "touristy" island was our first landing site on our visit: Lahaina is the port where we docked. Our ship-sponsored excursion here was entitled "Haleakala Crater and the Iao Valley." From the descriptions we read, we thought this would give us our best look at "wild" Maui and of course we all wanted to see Haleakala volcano.

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The Iao Valley State Park The park service protects a rain forest ravine area along with Kamehameha's Iao Needle.

The needle is a slender stalk 2250 feet high of an ancient cinder cone which the first king of the united Hawaiian Islands climbed to prove that he was fit to be king. That man was Kamehameha the Great (also known as Kamehameha I). It does look like a formidable rock formation to ascend. It was considered sacred by the ancient natives who called it the phallic stone of their sea god.

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A paved walkway led us through the levels of the ravine among all the lush greenery draping the walls of stone and the Needle as well. There were ribbon waterfalls dropping through breaks in the vegetation, adding to the humidity in the already warm surroundings. A gentle mist fell on us as we strolled along the path but it never rained hard enough to require us to unpack our raingear or umbrellas. This park was our first experience of wet Hawaii, parts of which get amazing amounts of rainfall yearly. Iao Valley is one of those very damp spots. Haleakalā National Park Next we drove to Haleakala Volcano, ascending its many switchbacks to reach 10,032 feet.

As we rode in our minivan up the many switchbacks to reach the summit of the mountain, it was hard not to imagine ourselves and/or other people flying down this steep road on bicycles probably unstoppable no matter how good the brakes. No wonder the Park Service decided to stop allowing anyone to ride all the way down.

Nowadays, private commercial outfitters can rent people biking equipment for the ride but they can't begin the downhill run until they are out of the Park boundaries.

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According to the Park officials, there have been way too many fatalities on that riotous ride Haleakala is a massive shield volcano that forms 75% of the island of Maui, rather like Mt. Etna forms almost 100% of the island of Sicily. There is another smaller and older shield volcano that creates the other 25% of Maui. Haleakala, its name means "House of the Sun" is considered to be 1.2 billion years old while the smaller volcano is 1.4 billion years old.

A

shield

volcano

is

one

of

four

types

of volcanoes described

by

geologists and volcanologists. Shield volcanoes are the only type found in the Hawaiian Islands, but they are not limited to that area. Iceland, East Africa, Washington state, Idaho, and Oregon are also home to this type of volcano. They are built almost entirely of highly fluid lava flows often erupting for long periods of time. For instance, Kilauea has been erupting continuously since January of 1983. Because of the continuous slow low viscosity magma flows, these volcanoes tend to be relatively low in altitude but very widespread.

Haleakala's crater into which we peered with some fascination is quite large: 7 miles across, 2 miles wide, and 2600 ft. deep. Many geologists contend that it is not really a true crater but a depression caused by shifts in the earth's crust under the mountain.

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Haleakala is huge and there are vents in the crater which constantly emit plumes of steam or smoke. Though this volcano has not erupted in modern history, it is considered to be very much alive. However, shield volcanoes are not as dangerous as pyroclastic ones that throw huge amounts of ash into the air and discharge fast moving a'a lava which moves extremely fast. These eruptions are a danger to life in all its forms: animal or vegetal. Shield volcanoes with their slow-moving flows usually pose a danger only to agriculture and infrastructure.

At present on the island of Hawaii (the big Island), there is a little town called Pahoe which has already been declared a disaster area because the lava flow from shield volcano Kilauea is relentlessly but slowly oozing towards it. There is no way to stop the flow because it is so wide.

Already one house has been destroyed (no loss of life) and "toe" of the flow is threatening the waste treatment facility on the town's outskirts. It has rolled up to the hurricane fencing surrounding the concrete parking pads and is edging towards the buildings. Experts believe that the whole town will be engulfed within 2-3 months. But of course the people can get out before the destruction rolls over them. However, they will have lost their homes, businesses, property, farms, schools, churches, and government buildings to the choking blanketing lava. We could feel the heat from the toe of the flow which started 25+ miles away at the top of Kilauea. Very eerie feeling and quite impressive.

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O’ahu Island Pearl Harbor Surely no one can visit Honolulu on O'ahu the first time without paying respects to the US sailors, soldiers, marines, airmen and the civilians who lost their lives in the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941: The Day That Lives In Infamy.

Thus, the second of our excursions on O'ahu was the visit there and to the National Cemetery at Punch Bowl Crater. Today, the beautifully shaped harbor filled with surreally colored blue-green seawater lies peaceful & sheltered almost completely surrounded by the tall buildings of the modern city of Honolulu.

The Arizona Memorial with its stark white walls & sloped to the middle roof is a shocking and surprising reminder of the carnage wrought here by the unexpected air attack. All of us were most surprised at how small the memorial is--I guess we thought it would be much larger, covering the entirety of the submerged battleship Arizona. But it only covers a small portion of the ship whose open hatches can be seen outlined & ghostly in the clear harbor waters.

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The simplicity of the Memorial is dramatic and yet subdued as is appropriate for its purpose. Other sunken ships are all memorialized where they sank: the USS Utah and the Oklahoma. The Japanese air attack was centered on Pearl Harbor but it did not spare the military bases all around O'ahu. The first wave of 183 planes launched from 6 aircraft carriers 230 miles from the island reached their target at 7:50 a.m. Sunday morning. The island was completely unprepared and undefended even though it was the strategic Pacific command post for the US. There were coastal gun batteries but these were trained on the sea to repel a traditional naval onslaught which did not arrive.

A 2nd wave of 167 dive- bombers came in 30 minutes after the first on the other side of the island. The attack was a complete surprise and no real defense was ever mounted.

The attack killed 2,390 people--1999 sailors, 233 soldiers and airmen, 109 Marines and 49 civilians. Military and civilian wounded totaled 1,178. Of the eight battleships in the harbor, 5 were sunk at their anchorage. 21 other vessels were sunk or heavily damaged.

164 aircraft were destroyed as they were parked wingtip to wingtip. 159 others were damaged. After massive salvage operations, all but three of the vessels were returned to service. The Arizona, the Oklahoma and Utah still rest where they sank.

Though the Japanese attack was massively successful, the US did experience some good luck: its three aircraft carriers were not in Pearl on that day, the submarine base was not damaged, huge stocks of oil and several dry docks and piers were undamaged as well. The success of this sneak attack allowed the Japanese even greater success in capturing a wide swath of territories across the Pacific, including the Philippines, Guam, Hong Kong, and Malaya the very next day. The capture of many former colonial islands and territories including New Guinea, the Marshall Islands, Guadalcanal, Burma and many others fell in rapid succession. It would take three grueling years of brutal Pacific war to liberate all these captive countries and islands.

The Japanese Navy lost 55 airmen and 29 planes as well as four of its two-man submarines. A fifth was captured. Thus, 9 submariners were killed and 1 was captured-the first prisoner of war held by the US. The Arizona Memorial is so designed that when visitors enter, they are looking across an open assembly area (accommodating 300 people at a time) towards the opposite wall shrine where the names of the dead are inscribed. In the center of the Assembly Area is an open area where you can see down through the floor to the decks of the battleship.

The Memorial is 184 feet long with two peaks at either end with a sag in the middle. The whole was designed to look like a ship's bridge straddling the sunken hull. There are 7 elongated oval windows on each side commemorate the date of the attack.

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The Memorial can be approached only by sea--a park service ferry is the usual mode of transportation. Since over 2,000,000 people visit the site yearly, it is a good idea to purchase one's tickets prior to arrival at the National Park area. The visits are timed to insure good traffic flow and to allow as many people as possible to visit each day 13

The sunken Arizona represents the beginning of World War II for the USA and Battleship Missouri, also moored in Pearl Harbor, now represents the end of the war for the whole world. On its decks, the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed. It's very meaningful to have both the beginning and the end together in Pearl Harbor.

This vessel, one of the greatest battleships of all time, was forever consecrated as the site of the Japanese surrender. The ceremony lasted 23 minutes and was led by General Douglas McArthur, though there were representatives from the military of all the Allied nations. Today, the area on the deck where the ceremony took place is designed to look 14

just as the ship appeared then. There is a copy of the Surrender Instrument in a case also showing many of the battle stars awarded to the Missouri during its several tours of active duty. The Missouri is 887 ft. long and 108 ft. wide with a draft of 38 ft. and a height of 209.8 ft/ Its speed was in excess of 32 knots and fully loaded its displacement was 58,000 tons. Just a bit bigger and faster than our little middle-sized cruise ship, the Veendam: 719 ft. long, 101 ft. wide and a speed of 22 knots. The Mighty Mo had an interesting history as a fighting ship and served in World War II, the Korean War, & Operation Desert Storm.

Though its most illustrious role was surely the part it played in the official Surrender of Japan, ending WWII. However, an intriguing story that is rather a lovely complement to that starring role is one which happened during the War. On April 11, 1944, a kamikaze pilot flew his plane against the ship and hit on the starboard side. Half the plane and half the pilot slipped off the ship's side into the water. But part of the aircraft and the other half of the young man ended up on the deck. A small fire ignited by the crash was quickly put out and no significant damage to the ship occurred. The first ever Captain of the Missouri, William M. Callaghan, ordered that the pilot's remains be given a military funeral because he had "done his job to the best of his ability with honor and courage" and deserved a military funeral.

There was controversy at the time with some of the crew bitter at Callaghan's decision but this military professional stated his belief that the long and ancient tradition of respect for one's enemy during warfare demanded that this human being be treated with respect. In later years, most of the more outspoken crewman who had protested during the episode agreed on the record that Captain Callaghan had been correct in his mandate. Naval and other military superiors agreed that he had acted in accord with the best traditions of "honorable nations and peoples" throughout history.

The Pearl Harbor excursion ended with a short tour of the downtown areas, including the former royal palace of Iolani, the National Military Cemetery in the Punch Bowl Crater, a close-up of the life-size statue of Kamehameha The Great across from Royal Palace (only royal structure in the USA) and even the Department of Public Health where Obama's controversial birth certificate is recorded. But we were not finished with O'ahu yet. The following day we went an excursion entitled "Explore & Taste O'ahu's North Shore." This tour was decidedly less interesting that the Pearl Harbor visit.

First of all, our day was really the only nasty one we had in Hawaii. It was raining and windy and cold. We visited some of the lovely beaches where surfing contests are held, like Sunset Beach, Waimea Beach, Haleiwa State Park and Beach. We sampled farmed 15

shrimp along the way and even endured a freezing picnic lunch in an inadequate pavilion on a pretty much deserted beach. There were feral chickens to feed with our soggy sandwich breads & some wet potato chips.

The very best part of this little tour was our visit to the Japanese Cemetery just below the very strange Koolau Mountains. These rugged ramparts looked like the skeletons of medieval cathedrals with formations looking like flying buttresses upholding the range.

The mountains were very green but then it was raining there. The granite was not hospitable to trees but there were low shrubs and either grasses or mosses covering the surfaces of the mountains.

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The cemetery honors the Japanese who migrated to Hawaii l00 years ago to work the sugar cane and pineapple plantations. There is a lovely Buddhist temple, the Ryodo Temple, on the grounds of the graveyard with a huge sonorous bell whose deep bass voice honors the people buried here each time it is rung by visitors whether Japanese or not. So we all had a turn at hitting the bell with a huge "knocker" swinging on a rope which reached the housing and struck it perfectly.

Maybe we should have been disappointed that we were not driven to Waikiki Beach or to Diamond Head for a climb, but we really were not. After all, we did not know what we were missing, if we missed anything anyway.

Kauai Island The so-called Garden Island was our next stop. This is where so many mainlanders move when they want to experience "living off the grid." As our Texas guide proudly told us (after having lived on the island 4 years), "we do things differently here. We hunt the feral pigs, eat the wild chickens, grow our own vegetables and fruits, and try to avoid having anything to do with government. We are independents who don't like folks coming to our island to change things."You would have thought the boy had been born on Kauai. "Furthermore, we want to play and relax as much as possible--have beach parties with beer and fires and hot dogs. Just enjoy the simple life!" Wow! Well, he obviously did not live that lifestyle 24/7 because he had taken this gig to lead us unwanted tourists on an exploration of his adopted "home." The name of the excursion we had chosen was "Discover Hawaii"--rather odd I thought since it was covering just one of the island chain. Oh well, that's probably what our rather "entitled & presumptuous" young guide thought anyway.

Kauai is one of the rainiest spots on the planet and the first part of this excursion took us to the completely placid Wailua River for a boat ride into a place called the Fern Grotto. We had hula dancing, ukulele playing, and native songs along the way. Oh joy! While we floated along leisurely, Sleeping Giant Mountain top in front of us was pointed out as the rainiest place in the world--up to 600 inches a year. That's pretty damp, folks!

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So we were not surprised when we reached the entrance to the Fern Grotto to find our walking path filled to overgrowth with lush green plants, a wettish sidewalk, and high humidity in the feel of the area. The wall of the U-shaped Grotto was completely draped with vines, and flowering plants, and ferns--pretty much hiding the granite walls forming the grotto.

Though not exciting, the Fern Grotto was quite pretty and it was again no surprise to hear that it has become a favorite wedding site for many Hawaiian folks as well as some "foreigners" as well. Our local guide sang the famous Hawaiian Wedding Song so we would get the real feel of the place.

The river was lined with the Hawaiian version of mangroves, called Hau (pronounced like "how") trees. They push out from the banks and need to be trimmed back occasionally if the waterway is to be maintained unobstructed. This plant is considered "native" to Hawaii because it probably arrived on the islands without human intervention. The tree is fascinating because it grows into such twisted thickets that it looks like human hands must have "braided" the limbs into fantastic shapes. The maximum height of this hibiscus relative is about 20 feet but it spreads laterally quite quickly.

The tree produced a yellow blossom which turns orange and then fiery red and finally purple as the day wears on and is brown when it drops from the end of its branch. It was a special tree to the native peoples because it was so useful. Even to remove a branch required the local chieftain's permission. Clothing could be made from its bark, 18

the roughness of the bark could help in starting a fire by friction, and its light wood was perfect for canoe building. It is true that Kauai is not as "touristy" as Maui or as urban as O'ahu, so we were hopeful that we would be seeing some natural settings and maybe even some birds and/or other creatures on this excursion. Most of our river ride however was more like a trip through the waterways in Ft. Lauderdale, FL (the Venice of Florida) because we were seeing beautiful homes peeking through the vegetation lining the Wailua.

Maybe our next stop would reveal more of the garden island's natural environment.

That was to be the Kilauea Lighthouse and the adjoining Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge & Bird Sanctuary. Though it was threatening to rain harder than the misting dampness we were feeling at first, we all struck out on the walk to see the gannets and albatross nesting on the cliff-sides across the little inlets.

There were many nests and restless birds flying from the water to the nests. Some were even feeding chicks though that was difficult to see without binoculars which none of us had brought along. It got colder and rainier while we stood and watched the avian activity, poked around in the little gift shop, and stared at the lighthouse which was not open to the public.

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When we re-boarded our tightly packed van, we were driven to Hanalei, a township much appreciated and populated by the rich and famous. We saw houses which belonged or had belonged to Oprah, Sylvester Stallone, and Kevin Costner among other luminaries. Our very smug guide informed us that Stallone had been "driven out" because he just wasn't "our kind of people". Too private and too selfish because he did not want the public walking on his beach in front of his house. That just doesn't fly here on free & easy Kauai according to our guide who feels like he owns the island.

There were other stops in the Hanalei area including Animi Beach, Hanalei Bay, and the Princeville Resort. Our outdoor picnic was at Anini Beach and it was a little cold and damp too. Not only that, we were disappointed that we had to consume the picnic fare standing up; there really was nowhere to sit down. Oh well, the hens and biddies kept us entertained for a while.

Kathy reminded us both at the beginning of our visit to Kauai and at its conclusion that her hairdresser, David, had warned her, based on his trip there, that there was really not much to see but chickens! He was right--and we did see lots of chickens.

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Hawaii--The Big Island Kona We had two stops on Hawaii--Kona and Hilo--took two excursions as well. We landed in Kona first and our trip there was entitled "Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with Lunch." Because the drive from our ship to the park was 2.5 hours each way, this was one of our longest onshore experiences. But it was well worth the ride and this bus was larger and we were not crammed in as we had been in the minivan on Kauai. It was exciting to see the countryside change as we made our way to the park that includes Kilauea Volcano-- from lush fields and patches of forest to the barren lava fields of the volcano. This was the first populated of the Hawaiian chain but by contrast it is the newest geologically. The goddess Pele is still building the island, creating more and more land with her continuous lava flows.

After a brief ride around the crater rim, we visited the Jagger Museum the Thurston Lava Tube and of course the Park Visitor Center. This part contains both Kilauea and Mauna Loa but we did not see the latter until we visited from the Hilo side of the Big Island. The biggest surprise to all of us at the Museum was seeing the several different forms of lava that the volcano spits out. Most unbelievable were the strands look like hair or fur. Sometimes these lava strands contain round shiny "gems" which are said to adorn Pele's hair. Never have seen or even heard of that type of lava.

The crater revealed the constantly smoking vents that prove Kilauea is wide awake with Pele's plots and plans for her next big explosion. Besides the rim and crater views, there is also the Thurston Lava Tube to explore in this part of the National Park. This is a 500 year old tube and has been lit for tourists to explore safely. It is wide enough and tall enough for easy walking on its flat floor.

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Lava tubes are formed when a lava flow cools and solidifies on its surface, allowing the interior lava to continue to flow through the now straw-like tube. When gravity pulls the rest of the lava flow through the tube, a hollow cave-like structure remains. The tubes can be as tiny as straws or as large as the Holland Tunnel in New York.

The walls and ceiling of the Thurston Lava Tube reveal the patterns of flow and stoppage, creating frozen swirls and necklaces of lava. The walk to the opening of the tube is through a tropical rain forest setting and many birds can be heard chirping in the trees. This is a very fascinating part of the National Park to visit.

There is a government/university sponsored astronomical facility on the top of Mr. Kilauea as well but it is not open to visitors. Nene geese are also protected in the park and can usually be seen by visitors if they have missed them elsewhere during their travels around the Hawaiian Islands. Our excursion ended with a visit to a Kona coffee store and café. Incidentally, the Kona type of coffee had been brought to the Big Island by the Boston missionaries who arrived in the 1820s and it has been a good source of income for the inhabitants ever since. The coffee drinkers among us also enjoyed tasting many different flavors but most preferred the "straight" coffee.

Hilo The next day we docked in Hilo on the other side of the Big Island and our excursion this time took us to a different part of Volcanoes National Park so that we could visit Mauna Loa, the 2nd largest volcano on Earth. The Big Island is formed by 5 volcanoes, the two most important of which are Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Mauna Loa rises 13,678 ft and covers an area of 4 acres. It has been born of the "hot spot" under the Pacific Plate. That plate is slow moving, about 3" a year and because of that drift Mauna Loa will be extinct in about 500,000 years when it’s part of the Big Island will no longer rest over that hotspot.

Mauna Loa's last major eruption occurred from March 24 to April 11, 1984. Because it is a shield volcano like Kilauea, the eruptions are long and slow rather than explosive.

Therefore, though it is very destructive for the landscape and any human structures, it is not as deadly to humans or animals because they have time to move themselves away from the flow.

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Our excursion of Hilo was called "Explore the Land of Frozen Fire" allowing us to explore the old lava flows created by Mauna Loa and Kilauea. This included Mackenzie State Park where we joined many other people, both locals and tourists, who walked the 1/3 mile path over an ancient lava flow down to the dramatic "new" black sand shore called Kaimu Beach.

Mackenzie State Park

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This was the best excursion we experienced because, Trevor, our guide was the best one we encountered. He was knowledgeable but never smug and enthusiastic about his adopted home but never possessive or exclusive-sounding. He taught us several interesting things about Hawaii such as the fact that earthquakes are rare in any of the islands even with all the live volcanoes sprinkled among them. Tsunamis are rare but extremely destructive when they occur. The last serious one happened in l946 and produced 100 ft. waves. Surprisingly, only 150 people were killed. Apparently, the people were aware of the enormous danger when they saw the ocean pull back until the waves could no longer be seen. Hawaii has lots of high ground and the people and animals ran to those areas immediately and prevented a huge loss of life such as occurred during the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 25, 2004 and the March 11, 2011 Pacific Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami.

Trevor explained some of the cultural differences found on the Big Island in particular.

The emphasis on family (very extended family) is strongest in some areas (o'hana in Hawaiian) as against a strong leaning towards a warrior culture which demands greater independence and stronger confrontational relations. And of course both these traditional systems are continually infiltrated by Western traditions of family, society and intergenerational relationships.

The Big Island has about 150,000 people with 40,000 of them living in Hilo. As in Kauai, many people prefer to live off the grid and supply their own water, use solar panels for their own electricity, hunt the wild cows, goats, pigs and chickens which thrive abundantly on the island.

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Fun facts about our 50th state: Hawaii 

US Annexation: 1898



Territorial Status: 1900



Statehood: August 21, 1959



Population: 1,400,000, median age is 38, life expectancy is highest in USA: 81.3



Land Area: 43rd in size, 6,423 Sq. miles, similar to Massachusetts



Hawaii is the world's longest archipelago at 1500 miles and 10 degrees of latitude



Hawaii is the smallest state in area, the 11th smallest population but the 13th most densely populated



It is also the most remote population center in the world.



Hawaii has the 4th longest coastline, after Alaska, Florida and California



Though we Floridians may squeal at this fact, Ka Lae Point, on the Big Island, is the southernmost point in the United States.



Hawaii is the only state containing a tropical rainforest.



Hawaii is the only state with its own royal palace (Iolani Palace on O'ahu) which had electric lights 4 years before the White House in D. C.



Mauna Kea on the Big Island is the world's tallest (not the highest) mountain when measured from its base on the seafloor at 33,476 ft. Mt. Everest is the world's highest as measure from its land base at 29,029 ft.



Hawaii is ranked first in healthiest state ratings.



And ranked eighth in safest state listings.



It is the only state where coffee, cacao, and vanilla beans can be grown.



There are no billboards allowed in Hawaii and there are no native snakes; trying to bring snakes into the state will result in a huge fine.



Hawaiian State Flag: only state displaying the Union Jack.



Only state where whites are in the minority at 23% to Asians 38%' however, the state advertises itself as the only state where everyone is in a minority group.

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There are many other amazing and different aspects of Hawaiian life, culture, history, customs, geography and geology, weather, biology, zoology, language, agriculture, economy, politics, religion, and peoples. But to explore any or all of these, it is much more fun to go to the Islands yourself and learn about those that are most intriguing to you.

When we sailed away from Hilo, we were on our way to 5 more sea days with that afternoon stop in Ensenada, Mexico, already mentioned previously. The way we spent our sea days has also been described so I will go on to our final ship-based excursion in Mexico. It was called "Ensenada and La Bufadora."

ENSENADA, MEXICO Ensenada is a rather dowdy little coastal city of many years duration. We had a short city tour with a stop at a restored casino built by William Randolph Hearst back in the 1920s.

Many of his Hollywood and other A-list celebrities visited this lovely building and enjoyed the gambling because the house made sure there was no cheating. The US Great Depression put this Casino on the back burner since so many folks discovered they did not have money to spare on gaming, including Hearst himself.

Today the building and its grounds belong to the city and it is a cultural center where many events from public art shows, wine tastings, musical performances, marriages and other celebrations are held. The building has been beautifully restored and it is very handsome. Most of the woodwork on walls and on the ceilings are imports from Cuba and Spain. Their colors are still vibrant and the designs are quite intricate and lovely.

According to local legend, the cocktail called a Margarita was developed here and one of the extras provided in a visit here is a free sample of the famous beverage: and it was quite tasty!

La Bufadora The real focus of the excursion was La Bufadora, a blowhole on the coast. Considered to be one of the three largest in the world: Iceland and New Zealand being the homes of the other two. A blowhole occurs in a long sea cave when the wave action forces air into the depths of the cave and then it explodes out as the waves recede. Not only is the water blown high into the air, a thunderous noise accompanies the "geyser." When the amount of air trapped is large, the sight can be quite spectacular. La Bufadora has reached 100 ft. in the air when the waves are high. While we visited, I would say the "geyser" effect was probably about half that. But it was still a natural phenomenon worth seeing.

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The attraction is 19 miles north of the Ensenada and the highway between afforded some really beautiful vistas of the sea and the harsh desert terrain. Shapely cacti stood tall on the cliffs, proving their amazing adaptability to whatever the environment throws at them-- prolonged drought, high winds, or even expected cold weather.

There is a fascinating, annoying, lively, colorful, happy gauntlet to run from the bus parking lot to the blow hole. Probably two or three football fields in length, the paved walkway is teeming with vendors, sidewalk eateries, tiny shops selling all manner of trinkets, clothing, hats, shoes, music CDs, Mexican geegaws, and all kinds of tourist souvenirs. For the most part, the sellers are polite rather than pushy, offering all sorts of samples of food, drinks, ice creams, and fruit juices to entice the many tourists, both locals and foreigners, to stop at their little "hole in wall" to browse through the items on sale. They were rarely rude or insistent but instead everyone seemed to be in a party humor, not behaving as though their livelihood depended on these tourists, as we were sure it did.

29

Perhaps, the most incredible part of this "shopping opportunity" was the duplication of items all the way on the pathway. Everybody seemed to be selling much the same thing and their shops were cheek by jowl to one another. How did they all make money on this long walkway. How do the locals or the tourists decide from which stand to purchase their mementos of their visit? Obviously the whole does work somehow because every day the folks bring out their wares and cheerily greet the floods of visitors to La Bufadora. No wonder the Mexicans love their local natural phenomenon. It draws a world of people into their net.

CONCLUSION OF THE CRUISE The morning after our Mexican extravaganza, we docked in San Diego and began the very well-organized disembarkation from our lovely floating hotel--the Veendam and its gracious and helpful crew. We were among the last to leave the ship since we had no connections to make that day. As a matter of fact, Holland America personnel loaded us onto buses and took us the few minutes to the Sheraton Marina Hotel where we would spend the rest of the day and night. We had an early morning flight to San Francisco in the morning which would bring us to the start of our California Car Cruising road trip.

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CALIFORNIA COASTLINE CAR CRUISING San Diego USS Midway Our day in San Diego turned out to be quite enjoyable. The weather was beautiful, we found a nice little deli on the Sheraton Marina campus, and went for a tour of the aircraft carrier, USS Midway, permanently docked in the Harbor very near our hotel.

This is one really big ship and it has an illustrious history as well. It is the longest serving aircraft carrier of the 20th century, having been launched into service in September 1945 and decommissioned to serve as a museum ship in 1992. Actual opening day for the museum was June 7, 2004. Since then more than 4,000,000 visitors have boarded the enormous ship to explore its many decks, hear veteran sailors speak about their experiences on board the ship in peace and war, see a documentary on the Battle of 31

Midway for which the ship was named. This Battle is considered by most historians to be the turning point of the war in the Pacific in the Allies' favor.

This great ship is 1,000 feet long (about the length of three football fields) with a beam of 121 foot, and a draft of 38 ft. At top speed she can move 30 knots an hour even though she is as tall as a 20 story building and weighs 70,000 tons. A normal complement of sailors was around 2300 who were served out of 4 galleys at least 13,000 meals per day. The ship had to be refueled every three days because she burned 100,000 gallons of fuel every day. In her history, over 200,000 sailors have served their country aboard her.

We all were much impressed by the well-organized tours of various parts of the ship and viewing the new documentary film on the Battle of Midway (only opened about two weeks before we arrived). However the most interesting part of our visit was the lecture given by a retired Navy Pilot who had served on this ship and had 1050 take-offs and landings on this very flight deck. He was very personable and was well spoken enough to convey how frightening the experiences could be, how dangerous this kind of flying is, how much skill is required to become an Ace Pilot on one of these carriers. He was also humorous, proud but not arrogant, and excellent at holding our attention. He told us that his wife was happy he does this volunteer "tour of duty" and calls it "day care for retired Navy pilots.

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San Francisco We were up early for our flight to San Francisco on 2/8, but all flights were delayed because of fog, rain and high winds in San Francisco. We were delayed about 2 hours which really didn't matter because we did not have very far to drive between the airport and our first hotel of the trip on the Monterrey Peninsula. However, even after we got our wonderful new Tahoe SUV and started down the road, the rains continued and as it got darker we resented the delay more.

However the late start did not prevent our stopping at the Santa Cruz Wharf hoping to see some sea lions and otters. Though it was really cold and we bundled up in everything warm we had brought with us, we braved the biting wind and walked to the ocean side and there we saw the most wonderful sight we would have asked for: a mother otter with her baby near her using her paws to crack a shell by hitting it against her chest. She was so determined and cute that we were just beside ourselves.

Sometimes the pup would grow tired of waiting for his snack and would just go to nursing while mother continued to work on the shellfish. We watched them quite a long time as they would gambol in the waves, turning upside down and reappearing so easily and slickly. The light was fading but we couldn't tear ourselves away.

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Soon we heard the sea lions barking and calling a bit further down the pier so we had to run that way to watch their antics, despite the misting rain and the cold wind. Their show wasn't quite as acrobatic as the otters' but they gave us a good performance of sea lion tricks. The gulls were vocal all the time as well and displayed considerable temerity in landing on the wooden railings quite near to us. They were large and handsome fellows too.

But the looming darkness and continuing rain caught our attention and we reluctantly headed back to warm car and started down the coast again. Since John had never been to this part of California, we had asked him to be the tour director so he could choose the places he most wanted to see and to select the hotels, inn, and cabins we would use along the way as far south as San Luis Obispo at which point we would return to San Francisco by an interior highway.

Anyway, at first our views of California and the coast were lovely until they could not be seen any longer due to nightfall. We were very happy to finally arrive at our first destination.

The Tickle Pink Kay & Lois had stayed at this famous "inn" sometime in the 70s and were looking forward to seeing it once more.

But the name must be explained somewhere so why not right here before I get into other details. Edward Tickle was a California State Senator in the l940s.

He & his wife, Bess, purchased the property and built a stone cottage on it.

Mrs.

Tickle

was a

dedicated

gardener and particularly loved pink flowers. So she is credited with the name of their beautiful home site. Of course, the original cottage has long since been razed, but the name for the property and the Inn itself has stayed the same. And of course part of the advertisement for the property is that folks who stay here are always "tickled pink."

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If you are curious about the site which is truly spectacular, just a take a peek at their website and you will want a night or two there yourself. And of course, it's right there in Carmel and next to the Monterey Peninsula. Lots to do in the vicinity from sightseeing, shopping, hiking, animal viewing, beachcombing, very expensive golfing and just watching the Pacific Ocean in all its moods from your own aerie on the balcony.

At night it was difficult to check out the place because the outside lights were quite dim and, besides that, we were all trying to help Kay maneuver the huge Tahoe around in the tiniest parking area ever. It certainly hadn't been created with big American SUVs in mind. Finally, she found a space she could squeeze the car into without any bumps or bangs.

Then we could go ahead and enter our marvelous suite of rooms. Kathy & John had the larger unit with the fireplace, living room, small bar area, etc.

Kay & Lois had the smaller bedroom, but since the rooms were adjoining, the living room became joint space. The larger suite positioned the bedroom & bathroom sliding

there

door

behind

a

giving plenty of

privacy in those areas even if the public places were in use.

Both parts of the suite had big balconies, wonderful since the wind was whistling around and we could hear, rather than see, the tumultuous waves being whipped up along the rock-strewn shore and the cliffs behind them. Kathy reminded us that the Irish term for huge incoming waves is "seahorses" and it certainly seems an apt description.

Because we were somewhat tired, but definitely reluctant to give up our hard-won parking place, we decided to order room service so we could just sit and enjoy the elegant ambience of the Tickle Pink. This inn provides an included breakfast and an afternoon wine and cheese extravaganza at 4 p.m. on its terrace overlooking its marvelous vista, it does not include a full-service restaurant for lunch, dinner or in room dining. Instead, it offers you the menu from the adjacent Hyatt Hotel from which you can order what you want and have it delivered by Hyatt personnel, yet charged to your Tickle Pink account. So we decided to accept that offer. Three of the group had mussels and the fourth chose the shrimp cocktail. The cost turned out to be rather 35

pricey, but we all enjoyed it and the lovely champagne with which we had been welcomed to our stay.

Well, that was true until the morrow when we learned that John had had a bad night of it when it became clear that he and the mussels had fought all night and he lost. We waited until about 10 a.m. before we started out on our adventures for the day to make sure John was well enough to venture far from the suite.

We were disappointed when we found that the PGA tournament scheduled during "our" week in the area had caused the complete closure of the famous 17 Mile Drive. Kathy, Kay & Lois had been on the drive in past visits but John had never seen it. Oh well, we knew there was no good reason to moan and groan because there was a lot else to see.

Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary The first activity that claimed the top of our now needfully flexible itinerary was a visit to Pacific Grove, CA, to visit the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary there. It was the right time of year to be there and we were sure we would be seeing lots of the fragile, yet amazingly determined, creatures who migrate such huge distances each year. The sanctuary is not anything official; it just happens to be the place where the weary butterflies land each year to eat, rest and mate. The trees they seek in the area sit right in a residential community and volunteers from the area are present all day to explain the miracle visitors are witnessing. Millions of the beautiful butterflies cling to the branches and leaves, fluttering, flying, even "puddling" on the ground as they seek mates.

The "life cycle" of this amazing species is interesting enough to include a brief description here. Just knowing about this miracle of nature makes seeing them all

the more wonderful. There are two

concepts to be grasped in this explanation: metamorphosis and generation. Probably most people

are

familiar

with

butterfly/moth

metamorphosis, so I'll briefly review it.

Adult

females lay eggs on the underside of a milkweed plant leaf. In 3-5 days the eggs hatch into tiny larvae. In 9-15 days the larvae become caterpillars and eat the milkweed voraciously as they expand 2000 times their original size and molt their skins 5 times to accommodate the 36

prodigious growth. The caterpillar then "pupates" or winds himself into a chrysalis while his body undergoes even more amazing alterations as he goes from a wormlike appearance and becomes the beautiful butterfly. The adult butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, pumps fluid from its abdomen into its wings, lets them dry out, and flies away to eat and mate and lay eggs.

The non-migratory butterfly dies within 2 to 6 weeks. So that is the life cycle of the individual Monarch Butterfly and totally amazing in itself.

However, the life cycle of the species is even more mind-blowing and it consists of 4 generations of butterflies: Generation One is typically laid in March & April. It lives the life described above. Generation Two is born in May & June and stays put in the same area as Generation One & goes through that same metamorphic cycle. Generation Three occurs in July and August and repeats the same pattern: laying eggs and dying in 2-6 weeks. Generation Four is so special and different. It is born in September and October and it responds to the signals Mother Nature sends that it is time to migrate to a warmer clime. These adults do not mate, indeed neither sex has mature reproductive organs when they start on their amazing migration, sometimes covering more than 2000 miles.

When Generation Four reaches its destination, it clings to trees, cliffsides and the like through 7-9 months of life. During their time of rest (almost a hibernation phase), their reproductive organs mature so that by the time they arrive at their destination The butterflies we saw had come from their Mexican retreat for the winter. When Mother Nature again sends her signals about migration, these adults wing their way back to the warmer climes at which time they mate, lay their eggs, and die. That next generation of butterflies will be Generation One again to restart the life cycle of the species as well as their individual life cycle. Ain't Mother Nature grand--and mysterious! Next time you see a Monarch, just think how often it must change and adapt individually and as a species!

For us, this lesson the volunteers provided while we visited made this experience all the more significant and remarkable.

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Point Lobos State Natural Reserve

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is almost at the foot of the cliff where sits the Tickle Pink so it was a natural first stop. It is a special spot because the views of the ocean and beaches are just awe-inspiring. Plus there is a good chance of seeing sea otters in the coves and grey whales cruising by farther out to sea. In addition, there are some adorable California ground squirrels resident there, usually near the parking area.Our morning in the Reserve was perfect in weather conditions and cloud formations in the bright blue sky overhead. Grey whales did not parade by while we searched the horizon but Whaler's Cove sheltered a male sea otter quite near shore and he was in a frenzy of grooming himself. We decided after careful observation that he must have lined himself up a hot date and wanted to look his very best. He stayed near us for about 20 minutes before hurrying off to meet the gal of his dreams.

We hiked the Shore Trail (on top of the cliff not, not along the beach because that is very dangerous when the "seahorses" are obviously bringing in the tide) and climbed up to get even better views of the wild beach scenes and the craggy cliffs. Never saw a ground squirrel but managed not to be overwhelmed with disappointment.

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Monterey wharf Next stop was the Monterey Wharf: target was lunch and more sea critters!

The wharf site is tourist-friendly and there were plenty of people around. Lots of restaurants to choose from and plenty of tiny souvenir shops too. The sea lions were barking vociferously so that it was easy to follow their sound and watch them swimming and hauling out on the platforms beneath the pier floor.

There really were some whoppers on site as well. Such fun to watch their antics and their water ballet dances.

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A young lady stood in front of a restaurant called "Crabby Jim's" and offered us samples of New England Clam Chowder. That was an excellent marketing technique because she certainly got us to go inside for lunch. The chowder was really rich, creamy and delicious.

But best of all, for me, was the Havana Mojito--the best one I have ever tasted! The food was quite tasty as well so the chowder was not a dishonest lure.

The day was so beautiful that we all agreed to skip the Monterey Aquarium because we preferred to be outside. Again, Kathy, Kay and Lois had already been there and this was John's trip and he didn't want to go there. Fine by all of us.

On Tuesday (2/10) we left the lovely Tickle Pink to drive 50 miles south on the coastal highway towards our next stop at the Lucia Lodge--though not nearly as deluxe as the Tickle Pink , it was reputed to be correct in its boast that it provided the most spectacular view along the coast with the most amazing sunsets to be found on the Big Sur.

Pfeiffer State Park We stopped at Pfeiffer State Park which preserved coastal redwood trees. It is a shady and almost dank place but we enjoyed seeing the large and ancient trees there. We had a good lunch at their visitors center and then took a short walk across the Big Sur River, where we saw several Stellar Jays and a little herd of mule deer. The deer were much more cooperative for pictures than were the jays who were jumping from limbs to ground and back again and then to another tree continuously. Impossible to catch them still for even a second. But they are a beautiful bird with their iridescent royal blue feathers and the sporty black cockade atop their heads.

Just a few more miles south on Highway One took us to an unexpected park--The Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Actually we enjoyed this one more than the previous one. We took an easy walk to a beach overlook with busy hummingbirds leading the way as they hovered over the brilliant orange flowers lining the walkway. The park had once been a private homestead but it was deeded to the state with the proviso that the house had to be razed. And it duly was torn down and now only its foundation can be located.

Pacific Bay and the McWay Falls The focal point of the park and the endpoint of the walk was the view of Pacific Bay and the McWay Falls. The Bay with its lovely orange sand beach welcoming long slow rollers which reached ever closer to the cliff wall behind the shore was quite wonderful. The 40

wave fronts frothed and curled as they rolled up the beach, looking as delicate and creamy as marshmallow sauce. The finishing touch to this delightful picture was a thin ribbon waterfall flowing constantly off the cliff with its "plunge pool" seeming to invite then encroaching tide to overwhelm and consume it. We watched that process until the salty waves were whirling up against the cliff completely devouring the sandy beach and engulfing the fresh water of McWay Falls.

Walking back to the comfy Tahoe, we noticed how the lush greenery of the plants and trees in the Park decorated the entire scene with curling tendrils, waving palm fronds, flower- festooned shrubs, and the whole scene was augmented with melodious bird calls. When we looked out at the Pacific Ocean rather down into the Bay, we were surprised and delighted at all the colors of blue and green that were visible in the ocean waters. Very tropical in appearance and really beautiful.

Lucia Lodge The stunning coastline of the Big Sur accompanied us all the way to the little town of Lucia where the eponymously named Lodge sat on a very imposing cliff overlooking a now much calmer Pacific Ocean. Too bad really because those galloping "seahorses" earlier in the trip were magnificent to watch as they galloped in smashing and crashing against the sea stacks and the shore. But at this site, we were here to enjoy a special sunset, as advertised.

There were 10 individual rustic cabins comprising the Lodge and, as John had requested, we had the last two so that our view would take in the open ocean as well as the cove beneath our ridge. The cabins were small and rudimentary but their austerity was redeemed by their luxurious bed linens. Even though it would be cold that night, we were sure the bedcovers would be warm and comfy.

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The much anticipated sunset certainly did not disappoint! It was long in developing and in disappearing, fiery in colors, and completely sky-filling. The colors started off a pale yellow with some pinks, melted into oranges, and finally burst into flames. Just gorgeous! And as the sky went dark after that thrilling light show another almost immediately appeared in the form of sparkling crystal clear star-shine. This section of the Big Sur was totally free of light pollution so the star show was brilliant.

Elephant Seal Colony No, we did not have rooms at that famous castle but we did get three fascinating tours of the House that Hearst Built. However, our peak experience on this next 50 mile drive south was the totally unexpected gift from Mother Nature: the 15,000 strong colony of elephant seals strewn along several beaches we were passing. We stopped at the beach which had signs about the creatures and mentioned docents (volunteers) that could help visitors understand the behaviors being exhibited.

42

43

Baby sleeping next to upturned Mama – Mating pair in background – Ground squirrel observing Sure enough, there were several volunteers,

both

men

and

women, who possessed all the information observers

any could

amateur

want.

There

were males, females and babies on the beach, most of them napping in the warm sands.

Youngsters stayed close to their mamas and occasionally nursed as well. However, the word was that at this time of year, the females were weaning the pups who would soon be left alone on 44

the beaches as the adults swam out to sea. After a few days of hunger, instinct would take over and the new generation would follow their folks and learn to make their own way in the oceans of the world.

The male elephant seal is not a particularly winsome creature because of his very large trunk- like nose parts--hence the name of course. The nose grows from about age 3-5 years and by sexual maturity between 7-9 years It has reached its complete size. That large nose helps produce a drum-like sound which the dominant males use to warn other males away from their harems. The females have sweet sleek facial features rather like their cousins the sea lions.

The male elephant seal is really enormous, much larger than the female. He reaches about 13 feet in length and weighs 4500 lbs. (A male African elephant typically weighs 15,000 lbs.) Female elephant seals reach 10 ft. in length and weigh about 1500 lbs. (A female African elephant weighs about 10,000 lbs.) Pups weigh in at 75 lbs. at birth and are nursed for 28 days during which time they gain about 10 lbs. a day! The pups that are born in the January-February period when the adults haul out on beaches were actually carried in utero for a year (through a process known as delayed implantation-the sperm and egg join but the embryo is not immediately implanted in the uterus.)

After the 28 day feeding period, the females become fertile again and mating takes place before the adults return to the sea.

Much of the male behavior on the beach at this time of year is centered on mating. The really large mature males are called "beach masters" and they corral a harem of females and a territory on the beach, both of which they defend from other males. During this same time, the females are busy defending the pups from any males near them. We observed several battles between males which can be bloody but rarely results in a death. The fighting method used is "head banging" really with the animals crashing down on the heads and backs of their rivals with their very large tusks. We saw one fight that definitely created bloodshed in the smaller male who had tried to encroach on the beach master's territory. When he finally backed off and belly-flopped his way back into the ocean, we could see the blood flowing from the back of his neck. While we observed (about an hour and a half), the injured fellow did not venture back on shore in that area.

Another interesting behavior we saw was the effort spent in trying to prevent sunburn-at least that's how it was interpreted to us. The males and females spent a lot of energy in flipping wet sand onto their backs. Perhaps the cool sand also served to keep their temperatures down as well. At any rate, that was another similarity between terrestrial elephant and elephant seal behaviors. There was much bluff charging going on as well, 45

particularly by the males but the females would also become aggressive toward anyone approaching their pups. These seals maybe acrobats and ballet dances in the water, but they are painfully awkward on land. They flop forward or backwards on their bellies, using their flippers to heave themselves along. As inefficient as this sounds, the animals can move very rapidly.

Observing this busy colony was interesting and fun, but we knew we needed to reach our next lodging before dark--in San Simeon. So reluctantly, we left the creatures and the volunteers and started down the road again. It wasn't that far to our next motel and we passed the entrance to the Hearst Castle on our way down, but the tours we had scheduled would take place the next day.

Our Best Western Motel in San Simeon was the most utilitarian of the places we stayed, but we had rooms overlooking the beach so it was very nice. Even better, there was a good restaurant right on campus so we didn't have to drive distances for our meals. The beach was so inviting that we took a stroll along the shore waiting for another memorable sunset but this evening the skies did not deliver the amazing one we had the previous night. Watching surfers work the small waves was funny but a young lady practicing her hula- hooping skills for a local competition was more impressive.

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Hearst Castle This enormous estate that is now a National and California Historic Landmark defies description but it is easy to impress both visitors and readers because of its size, grandeur, ornate decoration, and beautiful natural setting. William Randolph Hearst's father originally purchased the 250,000 acres with 14 miles of coastline and used it as ranch land and as a retreat from the busy world of San Francisco business. Several small houses, cabins, and even tent sites allowed the ever-growing family to disport themselves in this beautiful setting.

William inherited the property as an only child and began to plan for its development in 1919. He began by hiring Julia Morgan, a civil engineer and first female graduate of the prestigious architecture school in Paris. From that date until 1947, Morgan and Hearst built, rebuilt, altered, added, subtracted and created the current mansion. 127 acres were carved out of the large land holding to create the estate and this is the portion that was donated to California upon Hearst's death in 1951. The Castle was open to the public in 1958, but the Hearst Family (60 living members at present) has access and usually stays in some of the other structures scattered in the 250,000 square acres of the property, particularly in a large Victorian house which is not available to the public.

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La Casa Grande as the castle was called by Hearst & Morgan is 60,645 square feet in size and includes 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, libraries, dining rooms, tennis courts, a movie theater, an airfield and during Hearst's lifetime the largest private zoo in the world. There are three guest houses on the property adjacent to the castle: Casa del Mar at 5,875 sq. ft., Casa del Monte at 2,291 sq ft. and Casa del Sol at 2604 sq. ft. The interior of the castle also includes huge kitchen and pantry areas, garages, maintenance areas, linen closets, wine cellars and a large outdoor esplanade that circles the entire castle building.

Because the Castle sits atop the 1600 Ft. La Cuesta Encantada (enchanted hill), the bus ride to the site takes about 15-20 minutes. During the drive, Alex Trebek narrated and told us various things about the property, the famous visitors who stayed here at Hearst's invitation, the private zoo and other little bits of info. Interestingly, some descendants of the now-disbanded zoo still live on property--grazing animals of course.

There are zebras, two species of deer, and Barbary sheep (aoudads from North Africa) which are often found in petting zoos in the USA. The front façade of the steel reinforced concrete castle is modeled after a medieval church in Ronda, Spain. The architectural style is labeled Revival Mediterranean and the 48

interior of all the structures showcase many ceilings, floors, architectural details brought over from Spain and Portugal, and the walls are highly decorated with paintings, tapestries, frescoes which Hearst constantly collected. Indeed, some people say that he designed the castle to house his extensive art collections rather than using his art collections to decorate his home. The oldest sculptures on the property are statues of Sekhmet, the lion-headed Egyptian goddess of war and destruction. The statues are at least 3000-4000 years old and they sit on the Esplanade, reminding visitors of treasures much older than the Hearst Castle.

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Hearst Castle is an enduring legacy for Californians and visitors from everywhere and we were certainly

happy to be able to visit this lavish monument to great wealth

and conspicuous consumption. While it is easy to be cynical about such things, it is also good to remember that much of the art and culture of the world is preserved by wealthy people.

The Madonna Inn at San Luis Obispo Our last 50 miles drive south took us to the prosperous-appearing town where Cal-Poly is located. But it is probably more famous to the general public this gaudy, kitschy, outrageous, humorous yet well-executed inn "lives" here and brings more visitors to the area than the University!

As we drove down the coast, the terrain changed rather dramatically. The low mountain range disappeared completely until we found them again standing behind our destination-- the Madonna Inn. There were several picturesque small towns and villages along the coast with many expensive looking boats of all types moored in their marinas.

Beaches in these small towns were much more inviting for walking, beachcombing and swimming because there were no cliffs blocking the way from town and/or parking facilities. The fields and pastures were golden in the winter sun and we did see some livestock. The area looked to be more agricultural than tourist-oriented.

We all found it interesting that this wonderful property is named after the owners and designers whose last name was actually Madonna. Spread over green pastures rolling up to the hillsides, the Inn consisted of several buildings (the motel rooms) blazing white in the merry sunshine. White picket fences coiled in and around separating parking areas and fields used for games and horse shows. The buildings were decorated with gingerbread covered porches and walkways. Very attractive against the green grass meadows and the hillsides.

One of the signature decorations of the Inn is that anything and everything that can be styled in the color pink will be! So the tennis court grounds are brilliant pink, the walls of many of the buildings are pink, the flowers are pink, the Steakhouse restaurant is so pink, it looks like a bordello! There are 116 different rooms available and each one is totally individual in colors, architectural details, and motif. For instance, Kathy & John's suite was called "The Tack Room" and it was overwhelmingly red: tiles, leather bedspreads, curtains.

But it was also appointed with the trappings of a stable and tack room. There were two 51

bedrooms, each with a king-sized bed and two bathrooms as well.

Lois & Kay's room was called "España" and it looked as if it had been stolen from the stage set of a performance of "Carmen." Everything was heavily Spanish--furniture, drapery, bedcovers, tiles and walls which looked like distressed stucco with red (pink) bricks showing through.

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We found the Copper Pot breakfast room convenient, fairly priced and offering many choices for the morning wake-up call. The Alex Steakhouse was ridiculously decorated (perhaps because Valentine's Day was just around the corner) with hearts, cherubs, pink Xmas type lights, pink velvet banquet seating, and pink carpeting. Even more ridiculous however was the prices charged for the meals. As far out of sight as the l970s!

Inland Drive to San Jose & San Francisco After a tasty and calorie-filled breakfast at the Madonna Inn, we started north on an interior highway to San Jose. Our first stop that day was at the San Miguel Mission Church and Cemetery.

This church and its property were originally large: 18 miles south, 18 miles north, 65 miles east and 35 miles west to the Pacific Ocean. Thousands of Salinan Indians worked at the Mission and most were baptized. This was the 16th of the California Spanish Missions.

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in 1834 the Mission was secularized and the buildings were used for many different things such as stores, bars and saloons, a hotel, and the like. Most of the remaining Salinan Indians dispersed from the area and returned their former homelands.

In 1859, President Buchanan of the USA returned the Mission property to the Catholic Church and it once again became an active church which it remains today. Astonishingly, through all its abuse and neglect, its wonderful original wall paintings have been preserved. They are quite vibrant and show the influences of Indian art coupled with the traditional Spanish painting styles of the period. St. Michael stands above the altar in the form of the a wooden statue painted during the 19th century. The adjacent cemetery is believed to hold the bodies of at least 2000 Salinan Indians who lived on and worked the mission lands.

John stopped to visit an historic adobe house that stood near the Mission Church. It also seemed to have been a building of many uses. It was only mildly interesting, so he said.

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Further up the road, we stopped at Pinnacles National Park and took a long drive and a couple of short walks. This park has been a national one since two years ago. Kay and I remembered having visited it several years ago when it was still a California state park.

On a hike back then, Kay had had a primal scare when she heard a cougar cough behind and over her head from a cliff on the walk.

We saw no creatures except for the ground squirrel Kathy & John spotted. It was hot in the park which was surprising since along the coast where we had been earlier, it had been coolish and even cold part of the time.

Last stop was Gilroy: the garlic capital of the USA. We all wanted to try some Garlic Ice Cream and it turned out to be much better than it sounded. We tried both vanilla and chocolate and all preferred the vanilla. However, none of us like it well enough to wish it was on sale in Florida. We did purchase a couple of garlic souvenirs like stuffed olives and the like.

Our very last adventure before heading for the San Francisco Airport was an hilarious and abortive search for the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge. GPS, MapQuest, questioning the locals, reading a paper map: nothing availed us. Every time we followed whatever directions we ended up in a waste treatment facility. When we finally did get to the right place, the ladies on duty in the visitor center told us they were very well aware of the problem with GPS and Google Maps, etc. They had tried to get Google to change its directions for over six months, but the problem still persists.

And after all that mucking about, laughing, cursing, we should have stopped trying because the place was empty of birds of any kind. No shore birds, no songbirds, no hawks, no vultures. NOTHING. So we called it a day and drove on to the airport from which we would be flying back home the next morning.

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We all four had great fun on this combination trip to Hawaii and Coastal California with a lovely ocean cruise in between. And we all wished we could buy a Tahoe when we got home. What a comfy and great performing automobile!

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