SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY: FROM ALMOST HEAVEN...BACK TO PURGATORY

I've had many memorable experiences at the Four Seasons Hualalai.  During my ash dropping ceremony period eight years ago, I compared this hotel with the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and the Park Hyatt Tokyo.  Four Seasons came in #3. But then, I later had extraordinary moments here with Chaine des Rotisseurs, golfing and just doing nothing, that, over time, have elevated this hotel to surpass even the Ritz Carlton Tokyo.  Here could well be the closest thing to Heaven.

So on my final morning of this heavenly tour, I noticed that the hotel thought there were two people in the room, as the indication on my check-in document showed that I could order up to $86 for two breakfasts.  I thought, heck, I'm paying a lot just to stay here, so I'd get a Japanese breakfast, plus a salmon, bagel, cream cheese, arugula, onion, capers and tomato special, with the second combo to be saved in the refrigerator for lunch.  I had brought with me two beers, so ordered a Prosecco to bring the price closer to $86.  Turns out they add tax and tip, so the following breakfast cost just about $100, with $14 charged to my account.

The fruits were rambutan, star fruit, grapes and longan.  There were birds everywhere:

Above, two yellow-billed cardinals, similar to the Red Crested version found on Oahu, but without the crest.

Then, for lunch:

One night at the Four Seasons Hualalai is double the cost of two nights at the Sheraton Kona Resort.  However, kamaainas (locals) pay around $300/night less.   Also interesting that half the distance from the airport relative to the Sheraton Kona Resort.  SpeedieShuttle to the later was half the cost of the taxi from the former to the airport.

The flight back to Honolulu, although perhaps a tad hazy, could well have been the most memorable of my inter island trips.  First, take-off, with the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority to my right:

That's snow on top of Mauna Kea.   I've served as Secretary of the lab board, initiated a couple of companies here and look forward to further advancing the Blue Revolution at this site, so how much more sentimental can these photos be as just the beginning of a return to Purgatory.

Next, Haleakala, where, if you look closely, you can see a bank of wind energy conversion devices.  Then, Kahoolawe, with Haleakala in the background:

On landing, Waikiki and Diamond Head:

Perhaps the highlight of the entire trip was a beautiful rainbow over Honolulu:

Appropriately enough, a rainbow over Hawaiian Airlines:

This largely unplanned and surprising sentimental journey reminded me of two favorite songs in my top 100:

• Sentimental Journey:  released at my age of 5, coincident with the end of World War II in Europe, was co-written by Les Brown, who also conducted, with Doris Day singing her very first hit. 
• I'm Getting Sentimental Over You:  something about this song, released in 1935 by Tommy Dorsey, with he playing the trombone, makes me very sentimental, but I don't know why.

So I'm now back in Purgatory, also known as 15 Craigside.  I did some quick research, and could not find one person who ever went from Heaven to Purgatory.  So I guess the Four Seasons Hualalai is not quite Heaven.  While at that hotel,  I thought, what a wonderful collection of workers, but of course that was because only the best ended up up there.  But then, that would not be quite fair to them.  So who does the serving in Heaven, if there is such a place?  Maybe there will be robots.

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MY HEAVENLY TOUR AROUND THE BIG ISLAND

To summarize, I have friends from the West Coast spending some time in Kona.  They're renting a home in Honaunau.  I'm staying at the Sheraton Kona Resort.  Only a few years ago this hotel was in embarrassing disrepair.  Today, surprisingly good.

Not too long ago Sheraton must have made a decision to resurrect the property, for this is now a truly fine resort.  Not quite Heaven on Earth, but getting there.  Their executive lounge is excellent, high-end restaurant superior and view fabulous.  People make a place, and their staff is superb.

I was picked up at the Sheraton and we went south to the Southern Most City in the USA, Naalehu:

From left, Victoria from Oregon, Jim from San Francisco, Kathy and Ron from Napa.

My trainee cottage (scroll down to next posting) when I first lived here is a two-minute walk from this sign.  Across the street then was the Plantation Manager's home.  It is now Punaluu Bake Shop, famous for their sweetbread, the bread kind, not the organ delicacy.

Symbolic of what happened to Naalehu when the sugar industry left in 1996 is their theater.  If Pearl and I had not moved on in 1967, we might have still been living here.  

Unfortunately, it began to rain, and the deluge continued for the next few hours.  Finally, the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  

Kilauea Volcano has been erupting now for more than a third of a century, and while tourism has been helped, the emissions are a major source of air pollution for the State of Hawaii.  We stopped by the Volcano House for lunch:

We all ordered fish and chips, and I had a Prosecco.

Then went to see Kilauea Caldera, inside of which is Halemaumau Crater:

Lava was visible.

Our next stop was Akatsuka Orchids, where they have a variety said to cost $20,000:

Actually, the top photo is just another typical orchid (click on $20,000 to see the expensive one), and, I think, the bottom is that of a rhododendron, growing in the wild next to our van.  All these stops were similar to last month, when I took a tour off the Pride of America.  We next drove through Hilo and stopped at Rainbow Falls.  Then on through the Saddle Road, where I was dropped off at the Four Seasons Hualalai.

As much as I enjoyed my stay at the Sheraton Kona Resort, Four Seasons Hualalai is a fabulous oasis, maybe even Heavenly.  I had dinner at Ulu:

I started with a flight of Junmai Daiginjo sakes, which I had with a plate of sashimi:

The sunset was spectacular:

What an incredible photo of the torch flame consuming the setting sun.  For dinner I had a takoyaki (with locally caught octopus), plus arugula, Thai corn and mushroom soup, and another corn concoction.

The pounding surf, sunset show and truly fine cuisine made for a great ending to a memorable day.

However, the prodigiously awesome moment of the entire trip had to be my communion with the Universe later that evening.  Scroll to the next posting, then to the bottom, to experience why Four Seasons Hualalai might well be that mythical gateway to Heaven.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average set another all-time average, up 32 to 20,101.  Chevron, Exxon, GE and 3M all dropped, but everything else went up.

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PEARL'S ASHES: Billions and Trillions

CHAPTER 4:  Pearl's Ashes #1 to #6 Reprised

I was today planning on providing the bureaucratic details about the spreading of Pearl's Ashes.  However, yesterday I essentially, in an eight-hour period, reprised the stories of Pearl's Ashes #1 to #6.  

I spent the day going halfway around the Big Island with my friends from the West Coast.  Tomorrow, I will present those details.  Today, I will chronologically re-live these linkages with my first six ash tossing.

I was picked up at the Sheraton Kona Bay and we drove to Naalehu, where we stopped to rest.  Here, my freshman roomie, Jim, and I at the Southern Most City in the USA:

I might add that President John F. Kennedy had created the Peace Corps in 1961.  Jim and a bunch of other classmates at Stanford were in the first real full year of volunteers.  They were paid all of $99/month.  The thought of being sent to trouble spots around the world for $99/month did not appeal to me.  However, I had to do some sacrificial duty, so I instead came home to save the sugar industry for $500/month.  Glad I came, for here is where I met Pearl, who was a nurse in the next town, Pahala.

Walking back to our van, I noticed a house that caught that looked familiar.  This was the cottage in Naalehu where Pearl and I first lived when we got married in 1962:

I've been through Naalehu dozens of times since I first left, but never noticed this beginning point of our marriage until today.  Of course, the new paint job was probably why.  Just outside of Naalehu was where PA#5 can be found.

Next was the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  One senior's national park card for $10 covered the entire car with five people. We learned that if you wanted to see the lava flowing into the ocean, you needed to drive another 1.5 hours, then plan for a 6-hour walk, where it will be dark on the way back.  As such, we just had lunch at the Volano House and saw Halemaumau with lava inside the pit:

This was the location of PA#6.

It began to rain from Naalehu, and kept pouring for the next few hours into Hilo where we went to PA#1, Rainbow Falls:

I've never seen the water so brown and angry.

Then on the Saddle Road, we passed by Mauna Kea, the site of PA#2.  It was cloudy so we couldn't see much of either volcano.  Here is a photo of that day.

We then headed for the West Coast of the Big Island and got close to Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, PA#3.  Numbers 1-3 occurred on 10 August 2009.

I was then dropped off at the Four Seasons Hotel, where I had a memorable dinner accompanied by a fabulous sunset:

The torch light is consuming the sun!!!.  I later lay on a recliner at Kaupulehu Beach with a Hibiki on rocks.  Here was the site of PA#4.  In the dark sky amidst coconut palms was Venus:

But more than just a planet.  I was stunned to see so many stars.  Maybe it was my cataract surgery in August, but I've never seen so many in the sky ... hundreds .... no, thousands ... maybe billions .... or a trillion, for I swear I could see the Andromeda Galaxy right above me ... it has a trillion stars.  Kept fading out and re-appearing, and kind of looked like this photo at a distance of 2.5 million light years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average cracked the 20K barrier for the first time, rising 156 to 20,069:

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