May 28, 1972 Sunday
Last night Bill and I didn't sleep to well. We kept asking each other, "did you put in --- ?" and "Should we --- ?", with an occasional, "Remind me in the morning to --- ". Finally, I got up and put a paper and pencil by the bed so I could write myself some notes. 'Twas a long night, and Bill and I were both relieved when we could finally get up.

We were finished with breakfast and sitting in the living room waiting for people to come by 7:45.

Charlotte (Bill's girl) was the first to arrive, followed quickly by Rusty (Barb's guy). Then there was a surprise -- Lucille & Bob Wiley drove up. They had already been out to the International Airport to see us off -- at eight! They came by the house and Lucille hung leis around each of our necks and gave us an "Aloha" kiss. The leis were white nylon net with Life Savors and gum tied in them. It was a clever idea, and we were delighted. They were so thoughtful, it made leaving more fun.

Three cars went to the airport: Charlotte and Bill in her car, Barb & Rusty in his, and mother, Bill, Sis, Ray, Bob & I in the Lawless car.

We  checked in and had about a twenty minute talk before boarding and taking off -- for Hawaii!!! This is the 50th state we have visited as a family!

This was my first takeoff in a jet, and that is quite a thrill. There's quite a 'thrust' or 'push' when the takeoff comes -- you feel a bit of a pressure against the seat and it is thrilling.

It was clear over San Antonio -- with occasional clouds, but as we flew on, the clouds got thicker. Finally, there was a white carpet beneath us -- fortunately, it had worn places in it, and the earth showed through -- all greens and browns and greys and reds and yellows.

As we approached Phoenix, it cleared (or we went below the cloud cover), and we saw the miniature town approaching. I noticed particularly a football field with seats on one side of it set in a hill. Near that was a building that looked like an inverted pyramid -- flat square roof -- standing on a point. Fascinating! Once Bob said, "Look at the parking lot", and then we realized it was a subdivision and those were people's homes all 'parked' with such precision. The patchwork quilt bit was all around.

Breakfast was served out of San Antonio, and before Phoenix. It was sausage, scrambled eggs, sweet roll & coffee. Our second breakfast of the day.

After we took off from Phoenix, we were asked about cocktails and got some Coke and Seven-Up. We were pretty dehydrated. We learned the air in planes is de-humidified, and you do get thirsty.

Estimated arrival time in L.A. is 10:29.

And we made it. We had been in the airport only a few minutes when Bo and Thelma arrived. We had a good visit with them and then got on our 747 to fly over the water. What a way to go! This doesn't seem like a plane; it is more like a huge train -- three seats on our left side, four in the middle, and two on the right. Lots of room and quite luxurious.

We had Cokes, coffee, or other soft drinks first. Later on we had a fine meal. We had Wailua salad (olive, tomato, shrimp on a nest of greens and cold bean sprouts); then then a choice of exotic beef awapuhl (Mother, Bill, Bill Jr. and Bob) or Tahitian breast of chicken, hala leahiki (Barb & I), atoll laiki noodles, Indonesian vegetable medley, and mauna kea Sunday. All was delicious.

Later in the afternoon (5:00 our time; 3:00 the plane's) we saw our movie -- The Railway Children. It was only fair. There was a Hawaiian travelogue and three horse races that we had 'tickets' for and got to root for our winners. Each of us got one winner out of the three. You had to get two in order to be a real winner. Anyway, the movie and the afternoon wanned, and at three, we arrived in Honolulu ('Twas 8:00 -- our time). We had a little over an hour to wait for our flight to Hilo on Hawaii. These are informal flights -- and fun. The water's beautiful; the suns' bright, the islands tiny from the air. We saw Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach as we flew toward the big island. Maui was fascinating from the air -- the big crater showed well and the pretty jagged coastline did, too.

The Big Island, as Hawaii is called, held a surprise for us -- there's an eruption going on! It started on Grandmother's birthday, Feb. 3, 1972. Mother spotted it as we circled for a landing on the island.


The man from Hola Hola Campers was waiting for us when we deplaned, and in no time we were zipping along in our home away from home, Blue Ginger. This camper on a pickup was small, mostly too small for six, but we finally got settled and squeezed in and squared away -- had a sandwich supper and were in bed by 1:30 (our time), 8:30 here.

Since it was Sunday -- tomorrow's a holiday, we had trouble getting groceries. Only one place was open -- a little drive in grocery in the park, run by a fine Japanese couple. They gave us a box of coconut cookies baked in Japan as a pelon. They kept their store open for us until we could drive over. We were most grateful to them... and the Hola Hola Camper man who called them for us.

May 29, 1972 Monday
As usual, Bill and I slept very poorly. The camper squeaked, we were disoriented, and it was a rather rough night.

This morning Bob mentioned that the roads in the campground were made from crushed lava and that they hurt his feet when he went to the restroom at night. I told him for goodness sake, to use the bath in the camper for that. Mother, hearing us talk about the restroom, asked where it was, and Bob said, "Oh, just follow the bloody footprints".

We've had a good day today. I guess the best thing so far (2:30) to me has been the beautiful black sand beach area. The coconut palm trees grow right off the beach, and the breakers are white and frothy. It was just beautiful. We looked at the black crabs scuttling along the lava, checked the tidewater ponds with their interesting sea life, and hiked along the beach, watching the surfers.

Then we investigated the Puna area -- saw the oldest Hawaiian temple, hiked the interesting lava tree park, ate at McKinsie Park with the breakers breaking on the ragged lave cliff, and returned to the Lava National Park for an early supper before hiking out to see the new eruption.

We did some other things -- saw the Queen's bath tub. I couldn't get anyone to bathe in it with me -- the local kids had pretty well taken it over.

The climax of today -- and maybe the whole trip -- came tonight when we hiked the mile and a half to the new eruption of the volcano. It started February 3, 1972, and is still going strong. The hike out to it, over old lava flows and, in some cases, around steam vents, was a bit rough, but twice the distance would have been worth it. To see that glowing, bubbling, spouting, moving carpet of lava with it's brilliant jagged red crack design was simply a once in a lifetime happening. It was exhilarating, exciting, and mesmerizing. I suppose I could have watched it all night long. Everyone agreed this was quite a sight.

The park ranger who was on duty on the lip of the cliff over which we watched the sight warned us once about leaning on the rope fence they had erected. "If one of you fell in," he commented, "it would take me three days of paperwork to explain it to the government". Quaint since of humor, that.

The walk back, via flashlight and following little white painted stakes, was really an experience, too. Even though getting off the path might have meant falling through hardened lava and getting a severe burn (or worse), we laughed and joked and giggled the time away. We knew knew there was one place on the path where the crust had broken through into a tube about two feet deep, and we surely didn't want to fall in it going back. So old Bill Jr., who was in the lead, all of a sudden turned around and dropped to his knees and yelled, "I found it!".

We struggled on to the camper and made up our beds and returned to our campground -- slept like babes.

May 30, 1972 Tuesday
Up and on a couple of nature trails before going to the ranger station to see movies of our volcanic eruption. We bought some commercial slides of it, too, in case Bill's don't come out. It was too thrilling to miss. Then we started on around toward South Point.

We took the walk to see the native footprints in the volcanic ash and 'mud' when one group was attacking another and the fumes got 'em. Then we headed toward our 'green beach'. we got a bit lost and used up an hour or so, but we finally found South Point Light House and our cutoff by some WWII installations. We parked the car and hiked again to a green beach area and beach combed for abot an hour.

We then stopped at a lovely Manuka Park to look at the foliage of the area (names for us) before going on to Hookene State Park for supper and sleep.

A word about what we are seeing -- the plant growth is fantastic, and the flowers are so beautiful. We can identify much of it from south Texas -- bouganvilla, hibiscus, turks cap, bird of paradise -- to name a few. We all have fallen in love with the ohia tree. It's the first to come back after a lava flow.

Our sleeping arrangements are not,  exactly, as we anticipated. If this is a camper for six, then two had better be midgets and one, preferably, invisible or somehow self sustaining. We finally worked out a system where one of the two boys would sleep outside each night. We borrowed two sleeping bags from Hola Hola. This has worked out pretty well. The second boy sleeps over Barbara and Mother; Bill and I sleep over the cab. That bed over the cab is a great place to lie and view the passing scenery. We take turns riding in back. It is fun -- mother and I often play cards (if we are on a pretty good road), but sometimes things really jump around back there.

Tonight Bob took his first turn at sleeping outside (Bill took the first two nights). We camped at Hookene, and it wasn't very nice. It had a good beach, but the camping and the restroom facilities were not so good.

May 31, 1972 Wednesday
Up around six. When you go to bed at 8:30 or so, you are ready to get up at six -- even the kids. We had SPAM, scrambled eggs, toast, jelly, milk tea and coffee for breakfast. It's one of our best meals.

We then took off for the City of Refuge. This is the place where the early natives could be cleansed when they broke the taboos of their tribe. It is most interesting. We saw their huts, temple area, fish ponds of the king; we rode in an outrigger canoe and saw beautiful yellow fish. We then snorkeled off the park area in some of the prime snorkeling area in all the islands. We saw flounder, ribbon fish, red fish, yellow fish, all sorts and colors of sea urchins, and much, much coral. It is simply another world out in the ocean, and it is fascinating.

A park ranger seemed to be delighted that we were seeing 'his' park the way he thought it should be seen (without rushing the way ordinary tourists do). He was so pleased that he lent us a mask and some flippers. Both Bills, Bob, Barbara and I all tried it a little -- The two Bills did the most. Bob, bless his heart, cut his leg on some coral and had to get out to tend to it.


Then we drove on up the coats and shopped for groceries (for the last time on this island). Food here costs about a third more than it does in Texas, and we are surprised that we can't buy the fruits we were expecting. We've surmised that most people around here simply grow them in their own yards,; consequently, the stores just don't stock them. We've tried mostly highway stores, too.

There is a great deal of Japanese food in the stores, too. Interesting sugared fruits, sweet and sour things, dried fish and even octopus -- little decorated cakes, all very interesting; most of it, I'm afraid, is not to our taste. Mr. Okmora's coconut cookies, were, however, great! I hope to find more of that brand.

We drove on, after lunch, to a beach that rivaled Waikiki, called Hapuna Beach -- beautiful white sand and fine waves. No one really wanted more swimming; so we just walked along the beach and combed for a while. We then drove to Spencer State Park for the night. It is beautiful, quiet and lovely. Bob swam a while, Bill Jr. combed, Mother looked, Bill read his tour books on Hawaii, and Barb and I wrote 'til supper time.

Supper tonight was pears, chicken Rice-A-Roni with a can of boned chicken in it, and green beans. Needless to say, after swimming and traveling, it tasted fine.

We were in bed by 8 tonight. Bone weary. Although we were on a beach, it got quite still and warm.

June 1, 1972 Thursday
Bill was up by 5:45 this morning, I at 6:00, Bob at 6:30, and now, at 6:45 we are still the only three up. I did a bit of beach combing this morning, but I had no luck. It was fun walking in the sand, though. The sea was glassy, the birds noisy, and two dogs frolicked in the water. there are a dozen or so cats in the camp, too. Some are wild kittens, many are friendly, grown cats, and at least two have bobbed tails (but no other Manx characteristics that I can see). We've seen some mongoose in the park and, as I said, many birds, but that is all the animal life (except for that in the sea) that seems to be around.

Everyone was up by sevenish, and breakfast was over and dishes washed by eight; so we left fine Samuel Spencer Beach Park, went back to Waimea and on to Honogaa, where we went through a macadamia nut factory. Very interesting. I bought some nuts and some coconut flakes. Then we drove north to view the Waipio Valley. After that, back we came to Honokaa and started down the Hamakua Coast Highway (I'm throwing in these lovely Hawaiian names just to challenge my readers). As we drove along (and it's beautiful -- the sea on our left, and lush verdant growth, sometimes sugar cane, sometimes a wild tangle of jungle-like vegetation), we took a fifteen minute stop at Laupahoehoe Point -- A lovely little park area with lava rocks along the ocean. The boys crawled on the rocks a while. I wrote. Dad took an aspirin and lay down.

From here, we went to another highlight of the trip: Akaka Falls. We lunched and then took the short hike (420 feet down) to the falls, through a tremendous rain forest area -- bamboo as big as a man's leg and 45 feet tall. Huge fern trees, orchids, gardinias -- the works.

When we got to Hilo, we went to an orchid company, got complimentary anthurium (which we promptly put in envelopes to send home), and saw orchids to drool over. Gorgeous!

Next we went to Leliuokalani Park (try this on your tonsils). It is a beautifully sculptured Japanese looking park with lovely lava rock sculptures and bridges and ponds of fish.

Then came the laundry detail. It took us about an hour to get that chore taken care of.

We returned to Hola Hola for supper -- an eat-it-all because we are leaving supper. Then we drove around Hilo. Found the public library and the big stone the king lifted to prove he was king -- or something. Bill made the mistake of taking us to a shopping area -- we bought three mu-mus; one for mother, sis, and Barb. we had some ice cream, passion fruit -- kuno (or something like that), coconut, and the nice normal things like blueberry and vanilla. 'Twas good.

Back to Hola Hola for the last night in Blue Ginger. It has been a good (if crowded) home for us.

June 2, 1972 Friday
Up around 6:30. Had breakfast and cleaned up the camper (to return it), and packed bags to move to another island -- Maui. I'm sure if we accumulate an equal amount of stuff on each new island that we'll never get it all home!

Barbara is to have an experience today. While we were jetting to Maui, she is flying a Cessna with the son of Gordon Morse, the owner of Hola Hola campers. Incidentally, he's a fine fellow and has been real good top us. We've enjoyed renting from him.

Our flight (at 500-600 MPH) took only 22 minutes. Barb's will take about an hour and forty minutes. We landed at the airport at 10:25, and we settled down in some comfy chairs to write and watch the interesting people, but our Hola Hola camper man came too quickly, and we were whisked away to our new home -- this time, instead of a blue cab, it's orange, and it wasn't quite so well outfitted as the first one. However, it's fine and we made our beds and took off.

We got Col. Sanders Fried Chicken for lunch (after grocery shopping for three days) and went to a beach park to eat it. I'm going to stop saying of each stop, "It was beautiful". You can just assume it was unless I indicate otherwise. All the spots have been so very beautiful.

We started driving the Heavenly Hana Coast Road. It is -- oops, it is breathtakingly so. Bill read somewhere that there are 300 curves o this road, and I believe it -- maybe more! The canyons with their waterfalls and rain forest vegetation also make this quite a drive -- even more so, to me, than the ocean line -- cause it's mostly rugged, lava cliffs and not beaches. However, when there is a beach, it is Waikiki quality with either white or black sand.

We took one interesting nature walk and gathered some paper bark and raspberries, saw our first taro plants, and ended at a state park with an unpronounceable name. It's where, legend says, a princess ran away from her cruel and jealous husband. He found and killed her and periodically the water runs red (from tiny migrating fresh water red shrimp) symbolic of her spilled blood. To get to her cave, you used to have to dive under a waterway, but, we're told, you don't anymore. It's a fresh water pool, but I don't believe I want to swim in it.

We suppered and were in bed by 8:30.

June 3, 1972 Saturday
Up by 6:15. It's a beautiful day. Soon things were bustling in the camper and breakfast was underway. After breakfast we drove our narrow, winding way up to the Seven Sacred Pools. As usual, it rained on us, but we are rapidly learning to ignore that and go on.Bill Jr. and Bob got their flippers and snorkel and masks and got in the water before I did. Bill Sr. lost his zoris on a slick slide (one of 'em rather) and broke the thing on the other. No matter. They were an old, mismatched pair. the pools were clear and cool and we had a great swim. The climbing over the lava rock was a bit rough, but the setting for a Hawaiian swim was great -- lush growth, beautiful waterfall, deep pools, clear water.

We drove back over the Hana Coast and stayed at Baldwin State Park for the night.

June 4, 1972 Sunday
The mosquitoes were a little bad last night, and they drove our cab sleeper, Bob, into the trailer. He slept at Bill's and my feet the rest of the night, and three fit in the bed quite well. We'll do it again tonight up on the Haleakala National Park Crater at Hosmer's Grove.

We had a good breakfast and then drove the north west route to Io Needle. We swam and snorkeled in a so-so beach and saw some terrific surfers working the waves.

We went back to town and, after a bit of a hunt, found a washeteria and washed clothes. The Kona winds have been blowing, and it has been quite stormy. However, after we got to Hosmer's Grove, about half way up the crater, and had eaten supper, it started clearing. Great!

This grove has an interesting nature trail with about 40 species of trees Mr. Hosmer imported, as well as some native plants.

We had a giggly evening and were off to bed.

June 5, 1972 Monday
Up early and driving to the lip of Haleakala Crater. We had a bit of a gas problem, but we had enough to get up, do our viewing, have a good breakfast, and get back to Hola. We were early; so we parked and let everyone shower and change before our flight to the next island.

A word, though, about the crater. Haleakala is dormant -- has been for 200 years. It's a huge crater, 10,000 feet tall and has smaller craters within it. It looks like sites on the moon -- desolate, wild, and, in its own way, beautiful.

We also saw the very rare silver sword plant. We didn't see any in bloom, but with the early morning sun on them, they gave a unique appearance. Bill Jr. took a couple of pictures of them. Except for Maui (and Hawaii 'tis said has a few) these plants grow only in the Himalayas.

At Hola Hola we all bathed, packed and played some cards. Bill and Bill Jr. went to check the mail. He said Charlotte was fine. That's all the news he felt he could impart.

We got to the airport about 11:30; our plane left at 12:05. We had a quick Coke and sandwich while we waited.

What we thought was to be a direct flight to Kauai turned out to have a stop on Honolulu and a change of planes. This makes our sixth plane on this trip. We will, at this rate, have flown on 9 planes in all on this two week vacation. Pretty good!

The flight from Maui to Oahu took 22 minutes and the flight from Oahu to Kauai will be about the same. However, having to change planes took a bit of time, so we are, at the moment, behind time somewhat. No matter, our experience with Hola Hola tells us our camper will be there and ready when we arrive. This has been a fine bunch to do business with.

Well, we're landing on Kauai now -- fourth in size in the Hawaiian group, our third and next to last stop. Oh, me!

When we arrived, we were not met by Hola Hola, so Bill called 'em. A girl came in a little station wagon with bucket seats. We squeezed four of us in the back and the two Bills sat in one bucket in the front.

Our last little camper home, K-3, is a Ford, but it looks like the others. We had a blue one on Hawaii, an orange one on Maui, and a brown one here on Kauai. When we stocked up with food and made the beds, we took off for the canyon area. We had some Dairy Queen cones and drove up Waimea Canyon to Kohee Valley State Park. Beautiful -- a green 2857 foot deep canyon. At the end of the road was Kalalau Valley where a leper and his son fought off the militia trying to put them in a colony, and lived out their days. The wife and mother came out of the valley after their deaths. We spent the night and started around to the beach area, stopping at Mike's Cafe to have some of his famous passion fruit chiffon pie. It was great.

Next we took the Fern Grotto trip up the Wailua, one of the two navigable rivers of the islands. We've been on better hikes, like that to the grotto on our own, but on the boat ride we were entertained by singers -- a man and two women with a guitar and two ukes. They had lovely voices, and while in the grotto, they sang the Hawaiian wedding song. It was our first really 'tourista' attraction, and it was fun.

From Fern Grotto we foureyed on around the north east coast of Kauau and kept getting glimpses of Bali Hai.

we stopped at several views along the way, but finally we arrived at the end of Haena and a very beautiful Kee Beach. we hiked about an hour up along the Na Pali Coast. The boys were eager to snorkel the beach; so they hurried back and were in the water by the time we got down.

They were most enthusiastic about snorkeling. Said it was as good as the City of Refuge. However, it was getting toward supper time by the time we got squared away and, after we ate we had to move to our camp stop (no overnight camping at Kee).

It rained tonight -- hard -- and our overhead vent leaked up a storm. It was pretty uncomfortable, but knowing this was the last night in the camper made it tolerable.

June 7, 1972 Wednesday
Up at 6:30. I'm sorry we wasted as much time sleeping as we did. We have had a great time here. We snorkeled again this morning, but a Hawaiian was going fishing with nets and didn't want us to scare his fish; so we moved to a less desirable snorkeling place. It was fun anyway, and when we got through, we had a fresh water stream to wash off in before getting dressed.

We drove like mad to get back for our noon plane to Honolulu, and then we found that it was a half hour late! Oh, well, it gave ma a chance to catch up in my journal. I needed that. I believe I'll spend the next pages listing the big events on each island so we can discuss them and vote on our favorites.

The flight from the garden island of Kauai to Oahu took about 22 minutes -- not even long enough for me to write more than a few postcards.

I am starting to write the Kum Dublers. Hope I get them all finished.

Once we landed on Hawaii, we were very shortly in our own, rented Chevrolet and headed for the Perry Brothers Cafeteria for an all-you-can-eat dinner. Since it was almost two, we were ready for food. They probably lost money on us. Bob went back for more fried chicken potatoes and gravy. Barb went back for more bar-b-queued ribs, I for salad. The Bills and mother were satisfied with one trip.

Then we went to our hotel: Ilima. It was a great hotel -- two lovely big rooms with two double beds in them -- and good kitchens with stoves and refrigerators.

We all showered, washed hair, and generally cleaned up. Then we were off to the largest shopping center in the world, Ala Moana Shopping Center! It is quite a place. Bill and I bought a shirt and mumus; mother, a ukulele, Barb a pants outfit, Bill Jr. a huge Coke, and Bob (surprisingly) nothing. He just looked.

We didn't get 'home' 'til eight. We ate a quick sandwich and mother went right to bed. The rest of us washed clothes and then went to bed.

June 8, 1972 Thursday
Up at a leisurely time today and breakfasted in our own little apartment. So much room! We fairly rattled around in these two big rooms.

About nine we drove over to the Kodak show and we weren't too early -- though it didn't start until ten, the crowd was already gathering. At ten the show began -- the music and dancing were delightful -- the costumes were most colorful, and the whole show was lots of fun.

We took lots of pictures -- one of mother with 'the chief', an immense Hawaiian in a red velvet cape.

We saw the beautiful hula performed in many 'story' dances and also the Tahitian fast - what would you call it -- shimmy, I guess. Anyway, I recommend that everyone see this show -- you can't beat the price, it is free!

We then drove around the island to Sea Life Park. Of course, having seen Marineland of the Pacific and the Atlantic on the 'mainland '(how is that for remembering the expression -- it comes naturally), Sea Life was not the thrill it might have been. However, we saw porpoise doing a few things we hadn't seen before, and they had a performing whale that really did well. I believe we saw the best one first; the one at Whaler's Cove. It was performed in a little man-made bay with a replica of a whaling ship (sealed down) in it.

We then went to the Ocean Science Theater and Leeward Isles Bird Feeding. That was the show -- with visits to the Kaupe Fishing Village (I learned that octopuses favorite food is the  cowery and there were lots of fishing taboos) and the Hawaiian Reef (this is really the most interesting -- all those beautiful, unusual fish right whee you can view them without breathing through your mouth with a snorkel.

When we finished with Sea Life, we drove back to Honolulu via a different route and experienced beautiful new scenes from the mountains, to the little towns, to the ocean.

We returned to the Ala Moana Shopping Center and spent the rest of our money in riotous shopping. The center is the largest mall in the world. It has palm trees growing in it, and a stream stocked with carp running through it. It's huge -- much larger than two visits can encompass.

We had a fine supper in the Continental Restaurant there in Ala Moana. It is an unusual cafeteria where you can get Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian or American foods. I got a fancy Chinese dinner -- everyone else got roast beef!

We came home and should have gone to bed, but we didn't, we went over to the International Market. What a place! We should have been able to get anything there (I did find mother a Hawaiian pitcher), but the funeral bells Cesarie and Skipper want are still on our hunt list.

We have a couple of things yet to do -- Bo wanted us to visit his old living quarters and see what's there now, and Nancy wanted us to see about a painting for her. The Danforths want funeral bells. I wonder if we'll get them all done?

Anyway, we got in about 10:30 and went to bed.

June 9, 1972 Friday
This is our next-to-the-last-day in Hawaii -- sad, sad.

However, we must be up and going. We breakfasted in our rooms and then, after one false start and return for our lunch, we were off for the Arizona Memorial.

The Arizona battleship has been under water for thirty years and is still seeping oil. It will probably continue to seep for fifty more years, according to the experts. The last salvage effort (it's only nine feet under water on the top deck) was seven years ago. There was still so much oil that the acetalyne torches started a fire and two divers were killed; so the Navy simply gave up trying to salvage. The over 1100 men whose bodies have never been recovered from the ship, will not be disturbed.

I'm glad I saw the memorial. It was not a happy thing, but it was thrilling to see.

From there, we went to the Dole Pineapple Factory and went through their cannery -- and after doing it, I'll still eat Dole products. It was clean and sparkly and very interesting. the machine that peels the pines and got them ready for the women to trip and pack was a remarkable tribute to ingenuity. we drank juice from a fountain and were given sliced pineapple at the end of the tour.

After Dole, we spent two interesting hours at the Bishop Museum. The nice museum lady spent much of her time trying to find someplace that sells Japanese funeral bells for us. She called the head of the Japanese Buddhist Church here in Honolulu and even a Japanese funeral home. We think we finally found some six inch ones -- right at our Alo Moana shopping center. We'll try there tomorrow.

After the Bishop Museum, we journeyed toward the Polynesian Cultural Center, taking time off for an ocean shore lunch stop. We stopped right where a crew in the outrigger canoe race was changing (they are racing around the island as a part of the king's birthday celebration). We just happened to lunch and stop at the right moment. The new crew was in  waist deep water, and when the canoe came, the spent crew fell out, one at a time on one side of the boat, while the new crew scrambled in on the other side. 'Twas a neat maneuver to watch. The fall out crew was girls and the new bunch was boys that really went scooting away.

We ate and drove on to the Polynesian Cultural Center. The College of Hawaii and Morman Temple were nearby, and since we had the time, we stopped to see their gardens for a few minutes, but very soon we were back at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and here we spent the rest of the day. We toured the six villages via mini-buses and then had a Hawaiian Buffet meal. Then came the piece de resistance -- the 7:45 program showing dances, songs and chants of the different Polynesian people that make up Hawaii. It was quite a show, ending with fire dances and an eruption of a volcano.

The drive home was uneventful, but we were all too tired to talk much. What a full day!

June 10, 1972 Saturday
Our last day in these very beautiful Hawaiian Islands! We got up from six to eight-thirty. I, the former; Bob the latter. Barb and I, about 7:30, walked four blocks from our hotel to take a couple of pictures for Bo of the places he used to live.

Then, while mother, Barb and Bill Sr. did sewing, hair washing, and packing at the hotel, I went with the two boys for one last snorkeling tour at Hanauma Bay Beach Park, one of the best for snorkeling. I told the boys we had only about an hour, and I'm writing this as the hour wanes. I've seen them go from one coral cove to another. They must be seeing something, but I'll have to wait to get a report from them. It's about time to call them in, but they'll never see or hear me; so I don't know how I'll handle it.