Family Reunion in Idaho Falls

Akaka Falls

Lu'au!

They were drawing "tattoos" at the Lu'au. All the other girls were getting flowers and cute little turtles. I asked for something "not girlie" and got a ferocious shark! I wanted to keep him!














This was a presentation on how to open a Coconut. We could have used this the day before, when everyone found their coconuts, since he covered how to tell if it was a good coconut and how to get the husk off with the least amount of effort.










The beginning of the dinner show, "King Kamehameha" the first king of all Hawaii, came to the island with his royal court.

More Place of Refuge

The "Great Wall" that separated the Royal Compound from the actual place of refuge.









They don't call them totem poles, but here are the Totem Poles in the place of refuge.













Me in front of the Totem Poles

















The Temple in the place of Refuge.

Hawaiian Place of Refuge

Today's outing was to the Hawaiian Place of refuge. This was basically King Kamehameha's Royal hangout, and housed a place where you could run to if you violated the kapu, or Hawaiian social law punishable by death. If you made it to the place of refuge, you could be cleansed and return to society. See the link for the "real" story.




I think this picture was of a 1/3 replica of a temple (Maybe someone from class can confirm this)











This is a "bowl" worn into the lava flow near the beach that was used to serve ceremonial drinks and other things.











Very fearsome!



















This is the royal canoe landing.

Lava Tree State Park, Champagne Pool

Today was MUCH less intense! We started out at Lava Tree State park, which has been at least partially "re-nativized" - they've removed all non-native vegetation in an effort to wipe out the Coqui frog that has invaded. 22,000 per square acre! (Or is that cubic acre because of the frogs up the trees?) The short hike on a paved trail was just what we needed to loosen up our sore, stiff muscles from the lava hike 2 days ago.

Second was a slightly more strenuous hike to the Champagne Pool, a tide pool that is also fed by hot springs, making it a very pleasant place to snorkel!

Black Sand Beach, Green Sand Beach, South Point

The day after the Lava Hike! It's amazing anyone had the ability to crawl, let alone walk the couple of miles to the green sand beach! Places we went included the Black Sand Beach, the Green Sand Beach, and a visit to South Point, the southernmost point in the US.

Petroglyphs, Lava Hike

WOW, what a day! I think the 5 mile-or-so hike out to see the seeping lava nearly killed some people.



This was the fastest moving flow that we saw:

Slideshow of pictures taken on 5/13/2007, mainly of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Field Class Day 1 (Arrival)

Not much was really done today; basically flying and waiting. We checked into our dorm at the Kilauea Military Camp and tried to sleep off some jet lag.

The Day Before Class

I flew to Hawai'i (the Big Island of Hawai'i is called Hawai'i) today and met up with my group.

I was lucky enough to have the morning free so I could go see the Arizona Memorial.

That was an amazing experience. The droplets of oil that come up from the wreck have a myth to them. It's said that when the last soldier who survived the Arizona dies, then the "tears" of oil will stop. The veterans who served on the Arizona and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor ask that their ashes be buried with their fallen brothers in the wreck. In reality, the oil tanks of the Arizona are corroding, and it's possible that they'll have a major oil problem in the future.

Headed to Hawaii

Ok, so I'm in Hawaii. I stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. As soon as blogger lets me, I'll add some pictures.

Aloha, Suckers!

I have now gone to the online check-in and printed my boarding pass. I will leave at 9:40 tomorrow morning. Believe it or not, I'm actually mostly packed. Just really have stuff left that I need to use tonight or tomorrow morning.

I've also downloaded to my Treo650 all my reservation confirmations, and also have printed them out. Woohoo!

IF I have internet access, I'll try to remember to post stuff.