Kona September 24 - 30

Walua Trail - Our New Walking Path

Kona September 24 – 30

Aloha,

Happy Sabbath to all and a Hau’oli La Hanau to me!

I’m celebrating 71 years today and it has been a great day because of my family and friends making it a special day!  Mahalo nui loa for all the birthday cards and wishes.  Most days, I don’t even feel that old!!

We have had another great week in Paradise!  On our P-Day, Monday, we rode with Elder and Sister W. over the Saddle Road between the Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa volcanos to the Hilo side of the Island.  It was the first time we had been over this road.  Most of the years we came here, the road was so bad the rental car companies would void your contract if you dared to venture over it.  Now, most of the road has been rebuilt and the last half is an easy drive.  Considering Kona is at sea level, the summit of the road is over 7200 feet in elevation.  The weather was clear all the way and we were able to see the tops of both volcanos which are both over 13,650 feet in elevation.  Pictures later!

When we reached Hilo, we drove to Banyan Drive which is right along the shoreline near Hilo Bay.  The road is lined with huge Banyan trees which were planted in the early to mid-1930s by famous people of the time, such as Amelia Erhardt and Babe Ruth. We even found one planted by Heber J. Grant!  We stopped along the drive for a picnic lunch and to take pictures which we will share later.

After the picnic and sightseeing in this beautiful area along the Bay, we headed north up the Hamakua coast to visit Akaka Falls State Park, one of our favorite places to visit on the Big Island.  While not large in terms of area, the park features some of the most spectacular characteristics of a tropical rainforest you will find anywhere.  We took lots of pictures of the flowers, trees and waterfalls we enjoyed and yes, we will share them later. Imagine the sweet aroma of White and Tahitian ginger along the pathways.  The main feature of the Park, of course, is Akaka Falls which cascades 442 feet from top to the misty pool at the bottom.  I’ve included one shot of the “jungle” and a couple of the waterfall to give you an idea of this “Garden of Eden.”  Awesome!

 

Akaka Falls

 

 

The "Jungle"

 

We capped off the trip by visiting one of our traditional eating places, Paniolo’s Country Inn for a great hamburger, fries and a Macadamia nut, chocolate chip cookie for dessert.  We have enjoyed this good ol’ comfort food for over 25 years.  This is not a gourmet or health food restaurant!

We told you last week about the Temple Presidency announcing a ‘special’ Wednesday evening session to encourage Big Island members to come to the temple more often.  We didn’t know what to expect and since the ordinance workers would be the Presidency, Matron and Assistants, plus the two Missionary couples, we had mixed emotions about a lot of Saints attending.  They started arriving at about 5:30 PM and by the starting time of 6:30; we had filled the room to overflowing (by about 50%).

Now we were feeling very happy with the turnout, but one of my responsibilities is to monitor the air conditioning and air quality from a display on my desk and it didn’t take very long for an alarm to start in the air quality of the ordinance room.  Now, you might think it was the temperature but, you would be wrong!  People breathe in air and exhale mostly carbon dioxide CO2.  We had exceeded the alarm set level for CO2 in the room.  We took several measures to lower the level and everybody had an enjoyable session with no complaints or health problems.

This week we will welcome two wards from the island of Moloka’i to the temple.  We look forward to their visit even though we will be rising earlier and serving a few more hours each day.  Their faith and commitment to temple service is inspiring and while we may be tired physically, we will be energized spiritually by their example of service and faith.

The Temple will be closing on Saturday for General Conference then we will be closed for the next two weeks for our semi-annual, maintenance and cleaning.  This will be our first experience with being actively involved in a maintenance shutdown but we will get some days off to enjoy some island travel and see some of our favorite places again.

It has been a great day and Skyping with some of the family has made it seem like they’re close by us.

                                                    Blowing out the Candles via Skype

Love and aloha from Paradise!