What is living on the Big Island?
It's the goosebumps I feel when I hear a popping noise, see a glow, and all the lights in the town go out. It's the bright orange hibiscus flower my daughter dropped in a tall glass. It's the confusion of thinking that my teenage son was rattling windows and slamming doors with his youthful energy and frustration and finding out it was a 4.7 level earthquake. It's knowing that paradise is really a bubbling, volcanic cauldron joining hands with the ring of fire, and that I am living on top of it. It's walking in the bright sunshine and being amazed that the temperature is absolutely perfect.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Lost in the Woods: A New Journey
I may change this blog altogether. Many of my friends have been bugging me to post pictures and write about my experiences on the Big Island of Hawaii. We just relocated to the Big Island about a month ago, and we have had plenty of adventures since.
I haven't wanted to write about my experience because they weren't the blissful paradise stuff that everybody is hoping to experience vicariously through the blog. And, really, the Big Island is just one leg of our journey. I think I will have to write some back story in order for anyone to grasp where I am at mentally and emotionally in this "journey."
Today, tonight, at this moment I am living in Waimea, Hawaii, also known to the US Postal service as Kamuela. Waimea is in the north central part of the island--a little closer to the leeward Kona side (I think by 5 miles). If you parachuted from an airplane in hopes of landing on tropical Hawaii, you'd probably think the compass had gone bonkers and had actually dropped you in Germany or New Zealand or Pennsylvania even but not Hawaii with flower leis and ukuleles. You'd be damp with cool mist and all around you'd see large verdant hills dotted with black, white, and brown cows. Then you'd get hungry, so you'd start walking to find some mangoes or papaya (you might find an avacadoes or oranges) and instead you'd find McDonalds and Burger King and a great place to get steaks called Paniolos, which means cowboys in Hawaiian. Yeah, this is Big Island ranch country up here next to Mauna Kea, which is perplexing by the way. Mauna Kea is this huge 14,000 ft mountain saddled by Keck Observatory but it looks like a very large sloping hill, not as sloping as Mauna Loa, but definitely nothing like the peaks of Mt. Hood or Rainier.
Evidently, because of Waimea's proximity to Mauna Kea and how the trade winds blow, it is often cool, windy, and damp. If you like a surreal, tidy green landscape, Waimea is beautiful. And as a town goes, its a bit plain but quaint, clean, safe, has a nice park for the kids, and plenty of family oriented activities. It's one of the wealthier towns of the Big Island, so you don't really get the island flavor like Hilo. It's a nice town with two good coffee shops, Waimea Coffee and Starbucks, and a great albeit expensive burger joint called Village Burger that uses local Hawaiian Beef and veggies. They have a veggie burger called the Taro Burger made with taro a starchy root native to the Big Island that was once a staple. Overall, my first impression of Waimea when we drove through the first time hasn't changed after living here for two weeks: I see rectangles and squares.
So, why are we here? I responded to an ad in Craig's List and got a job or rather a full-time "situation" for a couple of months. I am working for a non-profit film festival and instead of a paycheck we get to live in a nice, centrally located, 3 bedroom, furnished house, with a great yard and utilities. And, the VOG from Kiluea and its vents doesn't usually come up to Waimea. Unfortunately, all kinds of pollens and molds do. My allergies have been practically feverish since I've been here. I'm half-miserable more than half of the time. Even as we speak, I sniffle and rub.
Luckily, dry air and sea air are only minutes away. Spencer State Park is the quickest, easiest beach to get to from our house. I love the state parks here. They're free and most have easy access to beaches or ocean swimming. Spencer is perfect for families. The beach is sandy and the waters are protected from the wind and strong currents by reefs and the shape of the land making the swimming area nice and relaxing. Today I saw a couple of guys come out of the water with about 10 fish that they had caught spear fishing near the rocky reef areas. These areas are also great for snorkeling. The park has many picnic tables and a nice covered pavilion that looks out onto the ocean. Today I set my computer up on one of the tables and worked while Mark and the kids swam and played in the sand on the beach. Those are the times that I totally dig living in Hawaii and think to myself, "yeah. I can do this."
I haven't wanted to write about my experience because they weren't the blissful paradise stuff that everybody is hoping to experience vicariously through the blog. And, really, the Big Island is just one leg of our journey. I think I will have to write some back story in order for anyone to grasp where I am at mentally and emotionally in this "journey."
Today, tonight, at this moment I am living in Waimea, Hawaii, also known to the US Postal service as Kamuela. Waimea is in the north central part of the island--a little closer to the leeward Kona side (I think by 5 miles). If you parachuted from an airplane in hopes of landing on tropical Hawaii, you'd probably think the compass had gone bonkers and had actually dropped you in Germany or New Zealand or Pennsylvania even but not Hawaii with flower leis and ukuleles. You'd be damp with cool mist and all around you'd see large verdant hills dotted with black, white, and brown cows. Then you'd get hungry, so you'd start walking to find some mangoes or papaya (you might find an avacadoes or oranges) and instead you'd find McDonalds and Burger King and a great place to get steaks called Paniolos, which means cowboys in Hawaiian. Yeah, this is Big Island ranch country up here next to Mauna Kea, which is perplexing by the way. Mauna Kea is this huge 14,000 ft mountain saddled by Keck Observatory but it looks like a very large sloping hill, not as sloping as Mauna Loa, but definitely nothing like the peaks of Mt. Hood or Rainier.
Evidently, because of Waimea's proximity to Mauna Kea and how the trade winds blow, it is often cool, windy, and damp. If you like a surreal, tidy green landscape, Waimea is beautiful. And as a town goes, its a bit plain but quaint, clean, safe, has a nice park for the kids, and plenty of family oriented activities. It's one of the wealthier towns of the Big Island, so you don't really get the island flavor like Hilo. It's a nice town with two good coffee shops, Waimea Coffee and Starbucks, and a great albeit expensive burger joint called Village Burger that uses local Hawaiian Beef and veggies. They have a veggie burger called the Taro Burger made with taro a starchy root native to the Big Island that was once a staple. Overall, my first impression of Waimea when we drove through the first time hasn't changed after living here for two weeks: I see rectangles and squares.
So, why are we here? I responded to an ad in Craig's List and got a job or rather a full-time "situation" for a couple of months. I am working for a non-profit film festival and instead of a paycheck we get to live in a nice, centrally located, 3 bedroom, furnished house, with a great yard and utilities. And, the VOG from Kiluea and its vents doesn't usually come up to Waimea. Unfortunately, all kinds of pollens and molds do. My allergies have been practically feverish since I've been here. I'm half-miserable more than half of the time. Even as we speak, I sniffle and rub.
Luckily, dry air and sea air are only minutes away. Spencer State Park is the quickest, easiest beach to get to from our house. I love the state parks here. They're free and most have easy access to beaches or ocean swimming. Spencer is perfect for families. The beach is sandy and the waters are protected from the wind and strong currents by reefs and the shape of the land making the swimming area nice and relaxing. Today I saw a couple of guys come out of the water with about 10 fish that they had caught spear fishing near the rocky reef areas. These areas are also great for snorkeling. The park has many picnic tables and a nice covered pavilion that looks out onto the ocean. Today I set my computer up on one of the tables and worked while Mark and the kids swam and played in the sand on the beach. Those are the times that I totally dig living in Hawaii and think to myself, "yeah. I can do this."
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