TRAVEL: Hawai'i, 2013

All pictures by Zachary V. Sunderman.
Please do not use without credit.

Though Hawai'i is now a United State, it was once an independent kingdom, and long before that, a Polynesian chiefdom. On top of that, it's about 2,500 miles from the American mainland. I think, therefore, I'm justified in considering Hawai'i my first trip "abroad."

Kirsten and I went there for our honeymoon because her aunt got us a timeshare. Allergic as I am to the clichéd "tropical vacation," I was not as excited as I could have been. That turned out to be wrong. The Big Island, where we spent all our time, was astoudingly and irresistibly gorgeous, especially when we were near the ocean.

But Hawai'i also offered this volcano aficionado and ancient history nerd some truly mind-blowing experiences that were completely new to me. I couldn't believe it when, having parked at the summit of Kilauea, I pushed past some foliage to discover the massive, active crater of Halema'uma'u, ringed by a recently cooled eruption and pouring smoke from the lava lake beneath its rim. Of course, the entire land area of Hawai'i is made up of volcano, but this was my first direct encounter with a volcano's monstrous engine of destruction and creation.

I also was lucky to see the remains of many traditional stone temples, or heiaus. By far, the most special experience was Mo'okini, the oldest existing heiau in Hawai'i (c. 500 CE, original temple; 1100-1300 CE, current). Situated next to the birthsite of Kamehameha I, it was accessible via a narrow, unmarked road in the island's northern desert. We weren't sure we were doing the right thing, but we couldn't find another road that seemed to go where the map said the sites were, so we went with it. After passing a small airport and a few farms, the wooden signs here pointed us down a dirt road that sometimes banked at seriously uncomfortable degrees - but the reward at the end was having these sacred historical sites all to myself.

I was not very good at taking pictures at the time of this trip, so there are only a few shots I think are worth sharing.

Hawai'i 2013

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