23andMe

23andMe was having a sale over the holidays, so I bought kits for both D and me. D got his results back last week, but I just now got mine. As expected, I do not have the alcohol flush gene. However, I do have the lactose intolerance gene, although as far as I can tell I'm not intolerant. I also have 4.4x the usual risk of developing Celiac disease (allergy to wheat gluten). I wonder if eating tons of bread increases or decreases that risk?

Lisbon, Portugal (2005)

Our train arrived in Lisbon early the next morning, and we hopped a bus to downtown. There we discovered that Lisbon is quite hilly. Although our hostel was only 500 meters from the bus stop, the distance consisted primarily of 4 sets of stairs.

After dropping off our luggage at our hostel (Pensao Londres, 80 EUR/quad), we went back towards town and got breakfast at A Brazilica, a cafe that seemed quite popular with the locals.

Then, we headed towards Belem, where we saw an old monastery which housed the tomb of the explorer Vasco da Gama, a monument to Portuguese exploration headed by Prince Henry the Navigator, and the Tower of Belem.




We then tried to go to the Basilica Estrela, but got sidetracked at the Praca do Comercio, down by the water. We hung out for awhile, shopping and snacking, before finally catching the tram to Estrela. Unfortunately, when we got there at 7pm, there was a service going on, so we just looked at the exterior, peeked at the adjacent gardens, and then headed back.

We had dinner at Martinho da Arcada, one of the oldest restaurants in Lisbon. Despite its reputation and the nicely dressed waitstaff, the food was only so-so.

As we were walking back to our hostel, we saw lots of people in formal dress emerging from the subway to walk down a red carpet into some kind of event. That, combined with the fireworks setup that we saw in Belem, made us think that it must be some kind of holiday, but we couldn't figure out what it was.

The next day, we took a train to a nearby town called Sintra. There, we visited the very colorful Pena Palace, we walked up and down the walls of the "Castle of the Moors", and admired the view from the mountain top.



It was a comfortable day trip from Lisbon and a nice break from visiting big cities.

(I don't know what happened, but I seem to not have taken any notes on the very last day of our trip. I'm guessing we probably wandered around Lisbon some more? I have a couple photos that look like they were taken from up on a hill. Oops.)


On the morning of the fourth day, we caught our flight to Heathrow, and then back to San Francisco.

Now, over five years later, I'd say my favorite part of the trip was our visit to the Alhambra in Granada. I also have fond memories of eating paella in Valencia, and of our time in Paris; although I'd been before, it was very different having Parisian friends taking us around. In addition, we had never driven in Europe before, and it was really nice being able to see some of the countryside and smaller towns for once, rather than being restricted to trains and big cities.

Madrid, Spain (2005)

It took about six hours to drive from Seville to Madrid, so we arrived at the Hostal Adriano a few hours before dinner. Our quad was cheerfully furnished with colorful Ikea-looking furniture, but the elevator was broken and we were on the 4th floor. This was somewhat of a pain especially with luggage.

For dinner we went to a tapas bar called Taberna Maceiras, which was yummy and cheap. I especially liked their seafood dishes; mussels, clams, and a tasty octopus dish. Afterwards we walked around the Paseo de Prado and saw lots of fountains and interesting-looking buildings.

The next day we walked to the Puerta de Sol, to the Plaza Callao, and then up the Gran Via, pausing occasionally to shop along the way. I quickly decided that I liked Madrid better than Seville; the streets were wider and straighter, not paved with cobblestones, and everything was newer and grander-looking.

We had lunch at a cafe on top of El Corte Ingles (a giant department store) and then wandered over to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and its gardens.


We also stopped by the nearby Almudena Cathedral (not super impressive, or maybe we were sick of churches).

After walking through the historic Plaza Mayor, we found lunch at a wacky-looking restaurant called Malacatin. There, we paid 18 EUR apiece for a barrage of meats and vegetables, including: chickpeas, potatoes, cabbage, beef, ham, sausage, chicken, and lots of other dishes that I've forgotten. We ate ourselves sick, and then headed to the Museo Reina Sofia.

There were pretty good exhibits showcasing Dali, Miro, and Picasso, but otherwise I wasn't particularly interested in the rest of the modern art. The building itself was kind of cool looking, with glass elevators overlooking a square. We spent some time at an art fair that happened to be taking place outside.

For dinner, we ate at Arroceria Gala, which specialized in (of course) rice and paella dishes. The paella there was okay, but I still liked the version we had in Valencia best.

On our last morning in Spain, we finally got a chance to try traditional Spanish churros. The accompanying "hot chocolate" turned out to be almost the consistency of chocolate pudding, and about as rich. We'd only gotten two orders for the four of us, and were still unable to finish them. I can't believe Spanish people eat churros with chocolate for breakfast! It tasted very much like a heavy dessert to me.

We then spent a few hours at the Prado Museum. They had a great display of Goya paintings, including the 3rd of March, as well as some Velazquez, Rafael, El Greco, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Caravaggio. It was quite an impressive collection.

We also drove out to the Plaza de Europa to see the new "leaning towers" and to check out that area of town, before returning to our hostel to grab our bags.


From there, it was two transfers to get to the main train station; first the Metro from Sol to Plaza de Castilla, and then the SE (special edition, presumably?) bus to the Chamartin train station to catch our overnight train to Lisbon. We got on at 10:45pm, settled our luggage (our cabin consisted of two sets of bunk beds, a sink, and not much else), played hearts for an hour or so, and then went to sleep.

warning: much whining follows

On Saturday, I sprained my knee getting off a chairlift, which meant the end of my ski weekend. I spent Sunday in the lodge watching football, which would have been kind of okay, except I also had stomachache (probably from eating ramen and s'mores all day).

On Monday, I came down with a horrible cold and went home early. On Tuesday, I stayed home entirely, due to being incapacitated by that cold. On Tuesday night, D came home from work with my cold. Due to both our colds and my knee not recovering very quickly, we had to cancel our Tahoe trip for next weekend. Grr.

This morning, I went to the dentist and had some fillings. During the process, the dentist said "hmm...", took a bunch more x-rays, and then told me I'd have to come back for more fillings. Twice.

It is really not my week. I wonder if I should hide in a bunker on Friday.

Granada & Seville (2005)

The road between Valencia and Granada wasn't great. We left just after 3pm but didn't arrive at our hostel until after 10pm. We did stop at a small diner outside of Jaen for a quick dinner, and we also got lost at the very end due to bad directions, but I'd say the drive takes a minimum of six hours.

Driving long the interior was pretty different from the coast. There were lots of mountains and tunnels, and the people seemed a lot less used to tourists (or maybe just Asian tourists), although not in an unfriendly way. I didn't feel like I was constantly checking my pockets anymore, but very few people spoke any English, so it was harder to get around.

The hostel, once we found it, was really nice. It was called Hostal Camino Real, it cost only 39 EUR for a double with ensuite bath. The entire building seemed new, and both the bathroom and the bedroom were spacious, with a bidet and a heated towel rack in the bathroom. It was run by an older woman who sounded American (or Canadian) and was friendly and helpful. The location was super convenient for us, since we were primarily focused on visiting the Alhambra, and the hostel is right on the road leading up to it.

We'd discovered while in Valencia that the advance tickets for the Alhambra were sold out already, for the date we wanted. Our only option was to arrive early and try to get one of the 2000 tickets which were released at 8am every day.

So, the next morning, we were up by 7am, and in line by 7:40am. We were probably around 200th in line, so we got our tickets within 15-20 minutes of opening, and were inside the gate by 8:30am with our audio tour guides.

We spent the next four hours looking around, at the Nasrid palace, Charles V's palace, the gardens, the Alcazaba, and all the other sights. We had an amazing time at the Alhambra; for me it was the highlight of our trip.









I took a whole bunch of pictures before finally exiting the area around 12:45pm, tired and ravenously hungry, since we hadn't had time for breakfast. We headed into town to grab a bite, and ended up eating at a pizzeria called "Yesterday".

By 3pm we were on the road towards Seville. Although the distance was only 265 kilometers, and it only took 2.5 hours to drive, it felt like forever; I guess we were tired from our early morning, and (again) the road wasn't great.

We got to Seville around 5:30pm and checked into our hostel, Casa Sol y Luna (42 EUR/double). After an hour or so of vegging out, we went to a local bar/cafe for some tapas and "fino", a very dry sherry. Then we walked to the Cathedral, through the Alcazar Gardens, and enjoyed an ice cream on the waterfront, before heading back to the hostel.


The next day, we dropped off our laundry with the hostel owner (10 EUR/load) and bought tickets to El Arenal, a flamenco show. We got a late brunch at Cafe Bar Campanario, by the Cathedral (cheap and delicious tapas and sangria). We decided against going inside the Cathedral itself, and did some shopping in the area near our hostel instead, until everything started to close for siesta around 1:30pm. We retired to our hostel since there was nothing to do but wait out the siesta, and went out shopping again around 4:30pm, in the Calle Sierpes area. D and I ended up buying some ceramic serving plates as gifts.

For dinner we ate at El Baratillo / Casa Cheri, a very homey paella place where one woman took all the orders, cooked all the food, and chatted up all the diners.


After dinner she pulled out a guest book for us to sign, which was filled with notes from hundreds of guests from all over the world.

Finally, at 10:30pm, we went to see the flamenco show. There were six dancers, three guitarists, and three singers. It was pretty good, but not as impressive as I'd hoped.

Barcelona & Valencia (2005)

From Carcassonne, we drove over the Spanish border to Barcelona. All went well until we reached the city, and then there were a series of small mishaps. First, we missed a turn in a roundabout, so we came out on the Avenue Diagonal instead of the Avenue Meridiana. Then, we got stuck not being able to make a left turn for what turned out to be several miles. Finally, we got a flat.

Luckily our friends were much more useful than we were in this situation; the tire got changed in 15 minutes flat. We asked a passing couple for directions, and although they were very nice, their rapid mix of Catalan and Spanish was quite difficult for D to understand. Also, the two of them gave conflicting advice. D ended up trusting the woman, and did manage to get us to our hostel shortly afterwards. We'd had a great experience with the Pensione Fernando back in 2000, it was an easy call to go back there.

Similarly, for dinner, we returned to to Le Quinze Nits, off of the Placa Reial, and just like last time, while we were waiting for a table, we watched some poor tourist get their pocket picked. Ahh, Barcelona.

Dinner was fantastic. First of all, the four of us drank two liters of sangria. For food, I had beef carpaccio, a lobster and shrimp turine, and half of a "Catalana dessert" which tasted somewhat like flan. Everything was delicious, and the bill only came out to 38 EUR per couple.

The next day we got off to bit of a a late start. For breakfast, we had Spanish omelettes at a cafe off of Las Ramblas. Then we went down to the Hertz office to figure out out what to do about our flat. They wanted to charge us 120 EUR just to fix (not replace) it, so we decided to get it fixed ourselves before leaving town the next day. We bought our Madrid to Lisbon overnight train tickets since we were near the train station, and then finally set off on our self-guided city tour.

First, we hit the Sagrada Familia. The insides of the spires are hollow, and there is a (small, six-person) elevator that rises about 65 meters inside one of them. From there, we walked across a small bridge from one spire to another, and then ascended another 25 meters by stair. The stair circled around the spire's interior, with cutouts to either side, so we had some dramatic views of the city:


After coming back down, we went on a walking tour of L'Eixample district, which took us past several houses designed by Gaudi. We had lunch at a tapas place called Jofama, and then continued on to the Parc Guell. We walked around most of the park before heading back downtown for dinner. Despite not having reservations, we managed to squeeze in at 8:30pm (opening time) at Agua, a very popular waterfront restaurant, where we had fresh seafood tapas and entrees. For dessert we ordered an espresso mousse, which was supposedly created by Ferran Adria, but it wasn't as impressive as I'd expected. Afterwards, we walked around La Barceloneta (a neighborhood by the beach) for awhile before heading back to our hostel.

First thing the next morning, we went to find a tire repair place. It turned out to be quite an impressive operation; there was space for about four or five cars, and it was located at a triangular intersection, so the cars could easily drive in and out. It cost us 190 EUR to replace the tire, as it turned out to be unpatchable, but we figured Hertz would have charged us extra anyway.

Before leaving town, we stopped by the Olympic Park, where we wandered around for while in the garden near the torch, the stadium, and the entrance area.

From Barcelona it was about 3.5 hours to Valencia. Upon arrival we drove through the city to El Saler, just outside of town. We hung out at the beach for couple of hours; it was a bit rocky but the weather was warm and the water calm.

Afterwards we checked into our hostel (the Home Youth Hostel, for 62 EUR per quad), and set out to find some dinner. The restaurant recommended by our guidebook, El Rall, opened at 9pm, like most Spanish restaurants. We got there slightly before that to try and snag a table, which we did. There, we finally had a chance to try paella Valenciana (chicken & rabbit) in addition to some tasty tuna carpaccio. The paella was excellent, and the service size for four was extremely generous; we didn't even try to order dessert. The bill came out to less than 80 EUR for the four of us, so it was quite reasonably priced, too.

The one thing that we really wanted to see in Valencia was the new City of Art, Science, & Nature. Specifically, I'd heard "L'Oceanographique" aquarium was really impressive. So, we slept in a bit, and then packed up and headed there.

The entrance fee was pretty steep at 21.50 EUR, but it turned out to be really worth it. In three hours, we walked through all of the open exhibits and saw one of the two shows (the dolphins):


Other highlights included: walruses, beluga whales, penguins, sea otters, Japanese giant crabs, various sharks, and a Mediterranean exhibit. We also grabbed a quick lunch at a cafe inside, before leaving for Granada.

Chenonceau, Bordeaux, & Carcassone (2005)

The next morning, we got all packed up and took the Metro to Gare de Lyon to pick up the rental car. We spent a couple of minutes wandering around in the railway station before spotting a "voitures" sign. Then, when we spotted the Hertz stand, we saw that was boarded up and locked shut. I was pretty worried at first, but when we got closer we were able to decipher a sign telling us that the Hertz was now located across the street. After that, we quickly found the right place.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of our troubles. The person who was helping us seemed fairly junior, and he was certainly very confused by our reservation (which we had made through Auto Europe and not Hertz, with a reduced drop fee). It took us 45 minutes to get our car, which ended up being two classes larger than we had wanted (Peugeot 407 wagon). Apparently it was a pain to drive, not that I dared to attempt driving it in Paris. We finally got on the road around 11am.

Our goal was to arrive in Bordeaux by evening, but along the way we visited the Chateau Chenonceau, not too far from Tours. We spent most of the afternoon there, walking in the gardens and looking around inside the castle itself:



In Bordeaux we checked into our hotel, the Hotel Choiseul (kind of old and dingy), before having dinner at Le Valentino, a small but trendy Italian-French fusion place off of the rue St. Remi. We had some trouble locating the restaurant (my fault) so we did get to see a fair amount of Vieux Bordeaux (Old Town) that evening, as well as lots of fancy boutiques in the Palais du Bourse area.

The next morning we checked out and headed to a nearby laundromat. Laundry cost 3.80 EUR for a 3kg load (washer only), and 1.10 EUR per 10 min for the dryers. In the end it was quite expensive, but we didn't have much choice. At this point I realized we'd forgotten our travel towels in the hotel, so I ran back just in time to catch the desk clerk as he was leaving for the afternoon! Luckily he was able to understand my broken French and he let me in to retrieve our towels.

For lunch we got some panini sandwiches near our parking garage in the Place des Grandes Hommes. Then, we set out for St. Emilion, a famous wine region near Bordeaux. It turned out to be a charming area with lots of old buildings and small streets. We walked up a tower to admire the view, and then decided to rent some bikes to further explore the area (10 EUR apiece). During our ride, we also stopped by a small chateau called Villemaurine and had a nice tour and tasting.

We left St. Emilion around 6pm, and arrived in Carcassonne just in time to check into our hostel at a decent hour. We'd chosen a tiny place called Sidsmums which was run by a British family. It was pretty bare but cute, with wood cabins and pebbled paths, and it was completely dark and silent at night, so we got a good night's sleep.

We got off to a later start the next morning, partially because we consciously decided to sleep in a bit, but also because one of our friends had forgotten her wallet under her pillow, so we had to turn back and get it. I guess I wasn't the only forgetful one!

We had a fairly cheap (5 EUR) breakfast in a small cafe near the canal in the lower city, and then tried to catch the shuttle to La Cite proper. We waited about 25 minutes before giving up and driving up. Surprisingly, we had no trouble finding parking up there, and it only cost a couple of Euro.

We wandered around inside for most of the rest of the day, climbing up and down the ramparts and watchtowers, and exploring the castle and the churches, including one very old cloister wall:


We did some souvenir shopping on our way out, and I was surprised they didn't have the Carcassonne board game available.

Paris, France (2005)

D and I moved back into our house around Halloween, but I'm still cleaning up boxes from my study. A few weeks ago, I ran across a stack of composition notebooks. Back before I bought my netbook, I used to keep travel journals using pen-and-paper. I have notes from our trip to Western Europe in 2005, our trip to Eastern Europe in 2006, Cambodia and Vietnam in 2008, and Argentina, also in 2008. I'm glad that I have all the details down somewhere, but when people ask me for travel advice, it's way better to have them online, so I think I'm going to take some time and start transcribing them into this blog.

I'm starting with the oldest notebook, which chronicles an 18-day trip through France, Spain, and Portugal that D and I took with two friends. We left San Francisco on September 2nd and returned on September 20th.

We arrived in Paris in late afternoon of the 3rd. I had pre-booked us at the Fourcy branch of the MIJE hostel, which turned out to be centrally located, with small but clean rooms (32 EUR per person for doubles). Reception spoke excellent English but I did have to speak a few words of baby talk to the guy selling phone cards down the street: "telecarte" "pour telephoner", and "oui".

One of our friends had a high school friend who lived in Paris with her boyfriend. We met up with her and she took us to her apartment in Montrouge, where they served us delicious homemade crepes. Her boyfriend is from Bretagne (Brittney) which is where crepes originated, so I imagine they were quite authentic. We had toppings such as salmon and cheese, eggplant and pork, and olives. For dessert the choices were: assorted fruits, lemon and sugar, nutella, chocolate, and cointreau with sugar. Delicious!

The next morning we had free baguettes, croissants, coffee and juice at the hostel, and then headed off to the Louvre, since it happened to be the one Sunday a month that museums in Paris are free. D and I had been to the Louvre previously (in 2000) but our friends had not, so we hit all the famous pieces first (Mona Lisa, Madonna on the Rocks, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, etc.), before perusing the Richelieu wing at a more leisurely pace. We also saw the apartments of Napoleon III for the first time, which was a bit like Versailles, although smaller and less grand. We also hung out in the Jardin des Tuileries for awhile before meeting back up with the friends from the previous day, plus another who arrived from London on the Eurostar. Once we found everyone, we took the subway out to Montmartre, where we hiked up to Sacre Coeur.

I had been up there twice before, but the view is really nice and the surrounding neighborhood very cute, so I certainly didn't mind returning again. We tried to get lunch, but the restaurant that we had in mind was closed for holiday; apparently it's common for French people to do this in late summer. We finally just got some fresh sandwiches (ham and cheese, etc.) from a little sandwich shop.

After eating, we went to check out L'Arc de Triomphe, and then walked back up the Champs Elysees, past the shops to the garden-like area, before cutting over to Les Invalides, and then into the Musee Rodin. The museum was nice, small, and filled with Rodin sculptures, both in the gorgeous garden and inside the one small building.

For dinner, we ate at Le Petit Prince, where the decor was interesting and the food was fabulous. The special was a duck-themed meal with three kinds of foie gras; one raw, one chilled, and one cooked. I had an appetizer of mussels and a main course of veal, cooked with fondue cheese and onions. It reminded me of French Onion Soup, but with different cheese. For dessert we had warm chocolate cake and millefeuille with strawberries and cream.

On our last full day in Paris, we had planned to sleep in, but were woken up around 8am by the fire alarm. After standing in the courtyard for 10-15 minutes, we were told it was a false alarm, but since we were already up, we figured we'd just head out. Note to self: in the future, when there is a fire alarm, go ahead and take the extra five minutes to get fully dressed and pack a day pack, because everyone sure as hell will.

After that auspicious beginning, we decided to go to Notre Dame, followed by the Centre Pompidou, and then the Picasso Museum. We had some problems finding lunch again (everything was closed) but finally ended up at a brasserie called Les Quatre Fils, where we ate croque monsieur, omelettes, and salads.

Afterwards, we decided to go back to the river to catch a boat tour. We went by boat from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower, where we tricked D into taking the elevator to the very top, from where we took tons of pictures.


One of my relatives had recommended Le Relais de Venise, so we went there for dinner. Upon being seated, we were asked one question each: "medium, well done, or rare?" before being served a salad, bread, fries, and steak with a curry-style sauce. At first we were a little worried about the portion sizes, but then the waitress came back around and dished out seconds, which made it a great deal for 24 EUR each (including wine).

We then took the Metro to Montparnasse where we had drinks at the restaurant on the 56th floor, while waiting for the Eiffel Tower to light up (every hour on the hour). I snapped a lot of photos, none of which turned out, but it was a nice view nonetheless.

whirlwind tour of the Big Island

After several relaxing days in Maui, we headed to the Big Island for the rest of the week. I'd read my Big Island Revealed guidebook thoroughly before arriving, and had planned out an ambitious itinerary.

We arrived mid-afternoon and picked up our rental car. We had originally booked a compact, but the tourbook "strongly suggested" a 4x4, so we paid an extra $100 or so to upgrade to a Jeep Wrangler. Best decision ever.

After stopping by our hotel in Keauhou, we headed down the coast to South Point. It was super windy there, so all the trees were leaning over:


When we reached the coast, we tried to find the famous green sand beach, but after 20+ minutes of pretty extreme off-roading, we hadn't found it and the sun was starting to go down, so we gave up and just admired the sunset while driving back:


On the way home, we stopped by Annie's Island Fresh Burgers for dinner. They closed at 8pm, and by the time we arrived it was already 7:30pm, but they were super nice and the burgers were amazing. I had "Steakhouse Burger" which was topped with mushrooms, gorgonzola and arugula, and D had the "Fresh Catch Wasabi Sandwich" which was a fish sandwich on sourdough with wasabi sauce and onion rings inside. I don't remember the name of the actual fish, but D said it tasted kind of like butterfish.

The next day, our primary goal was to explore Volcanoes National Park. Since we knew it would be a long drive, we got up at 6am and were on the road by 7am.

First we stopped by Punalu'u, another black sand beach. It was less impressive this time since we'd already seen one in Maui, but still really pretty:


We arrived at the park well before noon, and drove all around the open parts of the summit area:



It kept raining on and off, but we decided to try a hike anyway. We parked our car at the Kilauea Iki Lookout and headed into the crater on the Kilauea Iki Trail.


The trail wraps around the right side of the crater rim before descending onto the crater floor:


It showered on us a couple of times, but it was so warm that we dried off pretty fast. It was a fun hike, and only a couple of hours long, so afterwards we grabbed a quick lunch at a tiny cafe in the town of "Volcano" and then proceeded onward to Hilo.

I had two primary objectives in Hilo; to buy cookies and candies from Big Island Candies, and to buy mochi from Two Ladies Kitchen. We accomplished both.

Our stop at Big Island Candies was super-efficient; it looked like they were used to tour groups, they had tons of samples, and we quickly decided on several boxes of Mac Nut Crunchies, a few bags of the famous chocolate caramel dipped shortbread, and some of the new toffee candies. I also liked the Kona coffee cookies but the bags were too big and looked too crushable to take home, so I passed on that. The salesladies were super nice and kept pushing more samples at me while trying to talk to me in Japanese. They seemed a bit confused when I replied in English but continued to encourage me to "try! try this!".

Our experience at Two Ladies was totally different. It was New Year's Eve and they were technically closing early at 3pm, but when we arrived at 3:45pm the door was still open, so we went in anyway. We tried to place an order but at first the guy behind the cash register said they were closed. We then tried to buy a pre-boxed assortment anyway, and as we were trying to get that rung up, a girl came out of the kitchen and said that they'd accept our order. We quickly scanned the menu and picked out eight flavors, waited until the cashier had helped another two or three customers (the place was crazy busy), and tried to place our order. It turned out they were out of a few flavors, so we tried again. In fact, we tried like three or four times, each time waiting in line again, and by the time we got and paid for our order, we'd been there for over half an hour. Some of the flavors that we either attempted to order or ended up getting were: lilikoi (aka passionfruit), peach, plum, sweet potato, daifuku, tsumami, chiso, yomogi (some kind of leaf), kamato, peanut butter, and brownie. The whole time, I was impatient to leave because I wanted to hit a few more sights in Hilo before heading back to the volcano, so I was totally not appreciating the super-chill super-slow Hawaiian mode of operation. Later when we were eating the delicious strawberry red bean mochi in the car, I grudgingly decided it had been worth the wait after all. In fact, D says he may be spoiled for mochi forever.

Despite the delay, we did manage to stop by nearby Rainbow Falls before leaving Hilo:


From Hilo, it was about an hour drive to the lava flow viewing area at Kalapana. There were warning signs recommending 4x4 a few minutes out, but it wasn't really necessary, and right at the end we were directed to park and walk. It was only half a mile from the parking lot to the barricaded area, but it was a bit treacherous walking across the solidified lava, so the USGS had marked out a safe trail:


The lava was amazing. We got right up to about ten feet away, and could see clearly as the orange extrusions appeared, grew, and then cooled off and became dark grey and solid. There was a security guard there but he was super nice; he helped people get close-up photos with their cameras, poked at the lava with a stick to show us how hard it was, and answered lots of random questions. He explained that the part of the lava that we were standing on was only three days old, and that typically tourists were not allowed to get this close to the lava flow, but luckily the USGS had recently come by and certified a safe path for us.

We stayed for a good hour and a half, until after sunset. As the sun went down, it was easier to see all the glowing bits of orange everywhere, but it got harder to take photos:





As we were standing there looking at the lava, I recognized a former coworker of mine! She used to do marketing for my team's project, but had left to join a startup, and I hadn't seen her for several years. She had apparently gotten married as she was there with her husband, but otherwise looked much the same. Small world, indeed.

On our last full day in Hawaii, we decided to make good use of our Jeep yet again. First we drove up to Waipi'o Valley, on the north side of the island. The drive there was pleasant, but from the overlook it was a mile down a 25% grade mud/dirt road with multiple switchbacks, followed by a flat part covered in giant mud puddles. I was seriously afraid we were going to drown the engine, but we did make it to the beach, and it was very relaxing and peaceful there:



After getting back to the top, we first stopped by Tex's Drive In in Honokaa for some malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts), and then at Hawaiian Style Cafe in Kamuela for a real lunch. I ordered a Kalua pig hash and D had a combo plate of honey fried chicken and kalbi. When we saw the food we realized our mistake. Either we should have saved the malasadas for later, or we should have shared one dish. Despite being quite cheap, the portions were huge, and came with lots of sides (mac salad, fried potatoes, and more). We ended up taking half of the food to go, and headed for the Saddle Road.

The Saddle Road sits between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea and links Kona and Hilo. The guidebook said that it was not in very good shape, but I think it must have been paved since then, because we had no problems at all. About halfway down the road, we turned towards Mauna Kea, heading for the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy.

The summit of Mauna Kea is at an elevation of almost 14,000 feet, is a dry environment, and has stable airflow. As a result, it is one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observation, and there are thirteen world-class observatories up there, funded by eleven different countries.

Ellison Onizuka was an astronaut who was born and raised in Kona. He successfully completed a mission on the Space Shuttle Discovery before being killed later in the Challenger explosion. The Onizuka Center is named for him. We stopped there at the Visitor Information Station, where we inquired about the best way to approach the summit. We knew that we were required to have a 4x4 vehicle, but they also gave us a detailed map and told us that if we could catch up to the tour which had left just ten minutes prior, we could see the inside of the Keck Observatory.

We started up the gravel road, which didn't seem that steep to me, but we had a hard time keeping up a decent speed, and D said the Jeep would fishtail from time to time. About a mile and a half in, it started beeping and flashing "hot oil". I told D to pull over, we turned off the A/C, waited 5-10 minutes, and started again. This time we made it up to about mile 4 before the beeping began. Again we waited a few minutes, and this time we were able to hit the pavement at mile 5 and make it up the rest of the way to mile 8.

The view at the top was breathtaking:


It was also really, really cold at 40 degrees, plus wind chill. Luckily we had both brought fleeces, windbreakers, and I had a scarf. We'd lost the tour on our way up, so when we got to Keck I (there are two Keck observatories), we had to bang on the door to get them to let us in. (They did.)

The tour guides showed us the telescope and talked about a lot of the new techniques used to optimize the images, such as adaptive optics using deformable mirrors.


We then went outside and they talked about the different organizations/countries which had funded each of the telescopes, and even a little bit about the history and geology of Mauna Kea. Towards the end I got really cold and retreated inside the car, but even then I enjoyed the view.


After the tour we slowly descended back to the visitor center at 9,000 feet. We kept stopping along the way to take photos, and we noticed other tourists copying us, too. The scenery was really spectacular:





Back down at the visitor center, we attended a talk given by a lecturer from the University of Hawaii (Hilo) about his work with adaptive optics. It was fascinating, but sadly half of the audience left early. On the bright side, the other half of the audience was super-engaged, asked a lot of really informed questions, and a few had brought their own telescopes (!!). As the talk ended, we were directed outside to where a bunch of telescopes had been set up to look at various astronomical objects. I was most impressed by the four visible moons of Jupiter, since I've seen a lot of the constellations before.

We spent our last morning at the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau Place of Refuge. Apparently back in the old days, if a Hawaiian broke a "kapu" (law), he/she could avoid punishment by running/swimming to the nearest place of refuge. An offender who managed to reach such a place would be purified and officially forgiven by a priest. Hmm.

Anyway, Pu'uhonua o Honaunau was one of the most sacred of these places of refuge, and today it's been made into a kind of outdoor museum to teach visitors about ancient Hawaiian culture. I'm not sure we learned all that much there, but it's a pretty place and is a good deal (like everything else in Hawaii) at $5:



From there we were off to the airport. When we got to the rental car return, the Budget rep actually asked us for a gas receipt! That was a first for me. Luckily we actually had filled up just a few miles away, so we didn't have to pay any penalty charges. Whew!

first time in Maui

After Christmas, D and I flew to Maui to meet up with my sister and her husband, who were coming from Taiwan. None of us had ever been to Maui before, so we did quite a few touristy things.

D and I didn't arrive until early afternoon on the first day (due to Alaska Airlines jacking us and rescheduling our flight for three hours later), so we only really had a few hours of daylight after stopping by Costco to pick up food supplies, including my favorite sweet potato and taro chips.

We decided to drive up the coast past Kapalua, and made it to the Nakalele Blowhole before turning back:


The next day we drove up to the Haleakela Crater and hiked the Sliding Sands trail:



It was pretty and not strenuous, but very very windy, so we were glad we'd brought our windbreakers.

We were all hungry by the time we started heading home, so we stopped by Da Kitchen on the way home. Their specials board was covered with different variations of "moco", and in the end I went with "chili moco" (with beef chili) and D ordered "katsu moco" (with chicken cutlet). We topped that off with an appetizer of fried spam musubi. Initially we'd ordered four dishes for the four of us, but luckily the waitress forgot one, as each order was probably enough to feed three regular people (or two Hawaiians).

On day three, we drove the famous "Road to Hana". It was very lush and beautiful with lots of waterfalls and other sights to admire. However, one of our favorite parts of the drive was all the little food stands selling tasty snacks like coconut candy, homemade beef jerky, and really good banana bread. We decided Twin Falls had the best taste (not too sweet) but Halfway to Hana had the best texture, with big chunks of gooey banana. Yum.



We were going at a pretty leisurely pace so we didn't make it past Hana, but we did get to hang out for awhile at the Waianapanapa black sand beach. We were completely fascinated by the sand, which varied between black pebbles and very very fine black sand:


We also amused ourselves watching people jumping off rocks. It seems to be a common pastime in Hawaii:


For dinner we went to Lahaina Grill, which is one of the nicest restaurants in Maui, but of course there were still people in flip-flops. Ah, Hawaii. The food was pretty good but not super impressive, and the noise level was quite high, especially by the bar area, but the Mai Tais were delicious.

D and I went on a whale watching trip with Pacific Whale Foundation on the morning of on the fourth day. It was an amazing trip; in addition to several whales, we also spotted a 10 or 12-foot long tiger shark:


One of the whales got so close (within 100 meters) that the captain had to cut power to the boat:




We met up with the other two for lunch at the nearby Pacific'O Restaurant, where the food was again fine but not spectacular, but the view was very nice; we could even watch the beginning surf classes as we ate.

The rest of the day was pretty lazy; we had planned to go to a beach to hang out, but it was really hot outside and really comfy in our condo, so we mostly just sat around snacking on pounds of Foodland poke, occasionally venturing out to downtown Lahaina to check out the art galleries or to eat shave ice. D had two large orders of shave ice from Ululani's that afternoon, and he paid for it by having a terrible sugar crash afterwards.

We were all leaving around noon on the last day, so we only really had time to have brunch. I chose the Gazebo Restaurant, which is a tiny place inside the Napili Shores condo complex that has a fabulous view overlooking the water:


I was actually quite impressed with the food too; my sister and I split pancakes with bananas, mac nuts, and white chocolate chips (yummy), plus a "half portion" of fried rice (again, enough to feed two), her husband had a burger, and D had a crab melt (delicious!).

Afterwards we hung out on the shore, and discovered the water was teeming with sea turtles! We watched them riding up and down on the waves for quite some time, before we were forced to leave for the airport.