August 30-September 4, 1987

August 30-September 4, 1987

For our honeymoon Aimee and I went on a two-week vacation to Hawaii. Aimee had been there with her family but I hadn’t and it had always been a dream of mine. We spent our honeymoon night at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare and in the morning took the shuttle to the airport. It was a long flight to Hawaii but we were enjoying our first moments in public as a married couple. We landed in Honolulu on the island of Oahu and were greeted by a couple native Hawaiians who gave both of us leis made from beautiful fresh flowers. Our vacation package had us staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki Beach. Interestingly it is the same hotel Aimee’s family stayed at many years prior.

After checking in, the first thing we did was change into swimsuits and head for the beach. On the way we stopped at the poolside bar, ordered a Pina Colada and toasted our arrival in paradise. Oooh! It tasted delicious! I don’t know if it was the fresh pineapple or the ambience. But everything seems better in Hawaii.

The next day I took Aimee shopping at the International Marketplace and we bought some clothes better suited for our stay. For Aimee we got a flowery Hawaiian sundress that made her sparkle. For me a bright blue Hawaiian shirt. We also bought a fresh pineapple that we dug into with my dive knife in the hotel room.

Aimee thought we were going to spend the week on Waikiki Beach. She doesn't know me yet. Instead we drove to Pearl Harbor. There we took the ferry tour to the USS Arizona Memorial. The often-pictured white Memorial lists all the crew lost in the attack on December 7th, 1942. The memorial rests atop the hull of the sunken ship. Since many of the dead are still entombed in the ship, the site is an official Navy Cemetery. The water is pretty murky so little can be seen of the hull below except a rusting gun turret sticking out and the remnants of still leaking oil. That evening we took a cruise off Waikiki Beach.

On Wednesday we rented scuba tanks for the day and drove to Hanauma Bay on the southeast corner of Oahu. On the way we stopped at Diamond Head, Honolulu’s famous icon at the end of Waikiki Beach. You realize it is an extinct volcanic crater when you drive inside the circular walls. You can climb the tall ocean-side wall bringing you to old gun emplacements from WWII.

Hanauma Bay is a very picturesque circular inlet. Like Diamond Head it is also a volcanic crater. One side sunk or eroded away letting the sea fill the interior. A shuttle service gives us, and our heavy dive equipment, a lift down the steep hill to the beach.

This is our first Scuba dive without an organized group. Aimee is not too whoopee about the idea; I don’t think she has learned to trust me yet. In addition I find for the first time that she is not too fond of wildlife. I excitedly point out to her that the reef we are following out to sea contains Moray Eels. For the rest of the dive she stays about 20 feet to my side and keeps waving me away from the reef. I guess it would look bad to friends and relatives if she loses her husband on the honeymoon. She is quite ecstatic when we finish the dive and return to shore. Although the diving here wasn’t great, it so beats Pearl Lake, our practice area in Wisconsin. No thick full body wet suit needed!

After the dive we take the long way back to Honolulu giving ourselves a circle tour of the island. Oahu is gorgeous. This island gets a bad rap because of Honolulu being just another big city. But Oahu is much more than Honolulu. Those critics obviously never saw the rest of the island. Our next stop is just east of Hanauma Bay at the Halona Blowhole. Here an old lava tube sometimes directs the surf in blasts into the air. It must not be high tide, as we don’t see anything spectacular. Another nearby scenic stop is Makapuu Lookout. On the north shore we stop at Ehukai Beach (Banzai Pipeline) famous the world around for huge winter waves that challenge even the expert surfer. In summer the waves are quite tame and it is deserted.

Cutting back inland toward Honolulu we pass pineapple groves and sugarcane fields. Fondly remembering the C & H commercials from my youth I tried gnawing on a stalk of sugarcane. Yuck! Not sweet and not tasty!

Back in Honolulu we did a quick tour of the downtown sights. We stopped at the Punchbowl, yet another old volcanic crater. Within its wall is the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The crater is on a rise above Honolulu and provides nice views of the city. We also stop at the Judicial Building with its King Kamehameha statue in front. Kamehameha was the first Hawaiian king to unite all the islands. We also saw Iolani Palace, which before statehood, was home to the Hawaiian royalty. The last monarch, Queen Liliokulani, was overthrown in a coup and the islands handed over to the US.

September 4-8, 1987

September 4-8, 1987

Hawaii has lots of islands and I want to see them all, so Aimee and I pack our bags and take a very short Hawaiian Airlines flight to Kauai. Our accommodations are at the Hilton Hotel on the east side outside Lihue. It is immediately apparent that this island is a marked contrast to Oahu. It is significantly less populated and considerably lusher. We begin our exploration of Kauai by driving up the coast to the north end of the island stopping at Hanalei Bay. Hanalei is famous for being the filming location for the movie South Pacific. The road ends at the rugged Na Pali coast. From here to go any further, we either have to hike or swim. We opt for a Zodiac boat tour tomorrow morning. In the meantime we head back to Lihue and drive up the Wailua River Valley stopping to admire Opeakaa Falls.

The next day we take our tour of the Na Pali coast. It is so cool! A Zodiac is a horseshoe shaped motorized rubber raft that you see the military using in movies. All of us tourists are straddling the sides of this giant inner tube. The boat takes us on a wet ride along a very rugged sheer green sea cliff. I guess the constant southeast wave action of the ocean has eroded the northwest shoreline till only tall sea cliffs remain. I am told the island of Molokai’s Na Pali coastline has the highest sea cliffs in the world. We snorkel around a shallow beach area at the end of the trip.

This Hawaiian trip is one big personal fantasy tour for me. I have never been in a helicopter before so next we sign up for a helo tour of the island. It is awesome. Words can’t describe the scenery of Kauai. Imagine a tall volcanic island with the world’s wettest spot in the center. The rain turns the island green, carves canyons into the mountain, and then cascades in spectacular waterfalls down to the sea. There is probably no better place to take a helicopter tour. The flight takes us over numerous tall waterfalls accessible only by air, and inside spectacular Waimea Canyon. We shoot over the crest of the Na Pali sea cliffs so fast that it feels like the bottom of the chopper fell out.

The highlight of the flight is flying into the crater of Mt Waialeale, the highest point in Kauai and the wettest spot on the earth. It is like a sheer green half-cylinder 3000 feet tall, and we get in close. We got sooo close to the crater wall I was sure the blades were going to hit. I become enamored with Waialeale during the flight and for the rest of trip I look for ways to get close. Unfortunately the island’s jungle interior seems inaccessible without a lot of hiking.

In the afternoon we drive up through Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, stopping at several overlooks. Unlike the Arizona version this one is pretty lush with lots of color. Continuing our drive thru up the canyon, the road enters Kokee State Park. There we stop and hike a short trail that ends up overlooking the Kalalau Valley on the Na Pali coastline.

Since Kauai has the wettest spot on the earth, it is natural to have lots of wonderful waterfalls. We saw several near our hotel. Besides Opeakaa, we drove right up next to Wailua Falls. Wailua is the double-strand star of the TV show, “Fantasy Island”.

I wanted to walk down and swim in the pool at the base of the waterfall. Aimee refused. She never heard of going off the road or sidewalk. It must be against the rules! After much cajoling (or fear she might lose her new husband) she follows me down the slick dirt slope. I take my shoes off and wade in the pool below. Aimee won’t do it and just watches (I am sure she is expecting the waterfall police to show up any minute). She has a lot to learn about taking vacations with me.

September 8-12, 1987

September 8-12, 1987

On the move again we next fly to Maui and stay on the western Kaanapali coast. The next morning we make the famous drive to Hana on the northeast coast, along a very long and very winding but pretty coastal road. We stopped at a botanical garden on the way with its Banana trees and beautiful flowers. Around every corner of the Hana Road seems to be another small waterfall. Near Hana are lots of Taro root fields from which the local food Poi is made. Just past Hana we stop and swim in the Seven Sacred Pools (aka Oheo Gulch), a series of cascading ponds. We take a short hike upstream thru grasslands to view Makahiku falls. A little farther past Hana is Charles Lindbergh’s grave. I would go but the road is supposed to get a lot worse, and I don’t want to do the winding return road in the dark.

The next day we stop in the town of Lahaina just south of the hotel. Lahaina was an important port for the Pacific whaling fleet of the nineteenth century. What a wonderful paradise it must have been for the all-male crews fresh from many months cooped up on a ship. In the center of Lahaina is a monstrous Banyan Tree. Banyans can expand by sending roots down from spreading branches. This one tree covers probably an acre!

From Lahaina we take a boat out to Molokini. Molokini is a crescent shaped volcanic islet off Maui. I am going to scuba dive the center reef to see shark ledges. This will be my first swim with a shark! I was nervous all last night thinking about it.

Aimee takes a pass on the adventure and decides to snorkel around the boat instead. Later the boat captain tells her that the surface is shark bait area, and she would have been safer on the sea floor. Well, I can report I saw a shark, only one, but my first, all two feet of him cowering under a rock. I took a photo up close to make him look larger.

In the afternoon we drive to see Iao Needle, the heavily eroded core of the volcano that formed the western half of Maui. We also stop and tour a sugar cane factory.

One evening we go to a luau on the beach complete with roasted pig in the sand, poi (ick! unless you like wallpaper paste) and hula girls. You gotta like hula girls.

The best part about Kaanapali Beach where we are staying on Maui is the sunset view. Looking toward the ocean are the nearby islands of Lanai and Molokai. When the sun sets it sinks behind Lanai. Beautiful!

 

We get up in the middle of the night to take the Haleakala sunrise bus tour. Haleakala is the huge dormant volcano that forms the eastern half of Maui. I am not an early riser, especially on vacation. It is a long bus ride in the dark and when we arrive at its 10,000-foot peak, it is freezing. We brought a hotel blanket with us but it doesn’t help much. We are tired and cold and spend most of the time on the bus shivering. We are way above the clouds here and I can’t say dawn was that impressive. When it does get light, the crater reveals an eerie moon-like terrain. I can’t wait for the bus to leave and take us back to warmth!

Unfortunately our two-week fairy tale existence has to come to an end and we must fly back home to our jobs and our new marriage. Hawaii was awesome but it was also very expensive. Everything we did cost a ton of money. Fortunately we got a fair bit of cash as wedding gifts. The money will go a long way to paying off this vacation.

February 1989

February 1989

I was in Orlando for a Nalco sales meeting. Aimee flew down afterwards and we went to Disney World and Epcot Center. We then rented a convertible and drove south to visit Aimee’s cousin in Fort Myers on the southwest coast of Florida.

November 1989

November 1989

Aimee visited a pet store next to her parent's store in Niles, IL and saw a puppy Basset Hound she fell in love with. After paging me a dozen times, I stopped there after work and we bought him. We named him Benjamin Moore in honor of the paint buckets he would guard for the next few years.

August 1990

August 1990

Aimee and I made the three-hour drive north to explore the Wisconsin Dells, a popular summer excursion for Chicagoans. The Dells is a scenic glacier-carved gorge of tall limestone bluffs on the Wisconsin River. They are similar to the Mississippi bluffs north of my hometown of Alton, IL. We take an amphibious “duck boat” tour to see this original attraction.

Most tourists now come for the other attractions of shopping and water parks. We took in the Tommy Bartlett Water Show on nearby Lake Delton. It is a water-skiing show similar to the one I saw as a teenager at Cypress Gardens in Tampa, FL.

October 1990

October 1990

We went to Las Vegas for a few days staying at the Excalibur Hotel. It is brand new, having just opened a few months ago in June. With four thousand rooms it is the largest hotel in the world.

This casino-hotel is on the far south side of the Strip. We walked up the strip to visit the other hotels, Caesars Palace and the new Mirage with its volcano fountain. It is a longer walk than I realized, and Aimee rightly complains she didn’t bring the right shoes for this much exercise.

Before this trip I read the book ‘Beat the Dealer’ thinking I could pay for the trip with a little card counting at the Blackjack table. I did make money but concluded I was only making $2.50 an hour. Not a good paying job!

Instead Aimee and I went to a few shows. We saw Dolly Parton in concert; she gave a terrific performance. We also saw a typical Vegas show. I had to tip the host a ten-spot to get a decent table.