Mesa AZ, Feb. 16 to March 8

Feb. 16 Jeep trip in desert.

The day after getting back from Hawaii we went on a Jeep trip in the desert.  The poppies and other wild flowers were in bloom on the hillsides and along the road.  The desert is surprisingly green.  We have seen lots of cattle grazing and there are water tanks, some with wind mills to pump the water, all over the desert.  We went out with the Jeep group about twice a week.  Most of the time we cooked lunch over a campfire with everyone bring food to go with the main dish.  We had very good lunches and very innovative meals.  Most of the time there were around 8 Jeeps on a trip and very well planed with GPS coordinates at every turn.  They have been out on the desert many times and know their way around.

Following the road through desert

Arizona Poppies

A view of the beautiful mountains and desert

Feb. 21, Jeep trip

old mine

balance rock

Feb. 23, Jeep trip

On this trip we came upon an old shack called Sugar Shack.  It was built into the hillside had lots of things people had left behind when they visited.  The refrigerator whick is built into the back wall was full of canned goods. 

Sugar Shack

Feb. 25, Wickenburg

Today we drove to Wickenburg to check out the old historic town.  There are bronze statues around the center of town to tell the story of the history of Wickenburg.  We visited the Desert Caballeros Western Museum which was filled with many western paintings, sculptures, artifacts, cowboy gear and memorabilia.  They did a very good job of depicting life in the old western town.  A 200 year old mesquite tree served as the town jail where criminals were chained to the tree to serve out their stantence or a drunk get sober.

Jail tree

school teacher

store

bar

kitchen

sculpture in front of museum

Feb. 25, Carefree

On the way home we stopped in Carefree.  They have a beautiful cactus garden with a large sundail in the center town.  There is a crested Sagauro which was transplanted in the park.  Crested Sagauro's are very rare.  There are shops surrounding the park. 

cactus garden

Crested Saguaro

Feb. 27, Jeep trip

Hillside  covered with large Saguaros

Line up of Jeeps

This is the best crested saguaro we have seen

women on the trip

The guys

Feb. 28, my birthday dinner at Rustler's Rooste

We had a terrific view of the city from our table.

March 1, Jeep trip

Having lunch
We had chicken and shrimp stirfry

March 3, Tonto National Monument

These cliff dwellings were built during the 1300's by the Salado culture and they occupied these dwellings for approximately 300 years.  They overlook today's Theodore Roosevelt Lake.  We climbed a steep trail up the mountain side to access the dwellings.  They are 85% origional and we could even see the smoke from fires within the dwelling on the walls and celing.

View from the top

smoke on walls and celing

view from the parking lot

March 3, Tortilla Flat

We stopped in the little wide spot in the road, Tortilla Flat and had ice cream cones.  The Apache Trail is paved to this town and then it turns to dirt and windes around the mountains and a couple of lakes for about 25 miles.  Pavement returns close to Roosevelt Lake.

Tortilla Flat

March 5, Jeep trip

This was our last Jeep trip with this group from Apache Junction.  There were eight regulars who went on most trip and they were all from different states.  We had people from New York, Ohio, Minisota, Michigan, Illinois, Alaska, and Kansas.  We were fortunate to meet such nice people and we had a great time on the trips in the beautiful Arizona desert.

rock formations

Copper mine
We were on the mounntain overlooking this mine and there was a locked gate across the road so we had to turn around and go our the same way we came in.

These are the stones I cut and polished in lapidary. 
Four have been made into pendents in silversmithing and I have one to finish tomorrow.

After being here in Mesa for 2 months we leave on Thursday, March 8th to go down to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  We are meeting Bernie and Rea who we met on the Jeep trips and going to stay inside the park for 3 or 4 nights.  We are then going to Benson which is east of Tucson for a week.  Happy Travels, Barb

Hawaii Feb. 1 to Feb. 15

Oahu
We left from Phoenix early in the morning on Feb. 1st and arrived in Honolulu around noon time for 3 nights.  There is a three hour difference between Arizona time and Hawaii.  Our hotel in located along Waikiki Beach.  We are on the 24th floor and the view out our window is Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach across the street.  The beach area is very busy with lots of hotels along it and the weather is sunny and warm.   We take a walk down to the International Market Place which has lots of small shops and we also walk along the beach. 

Diamond Head

View of beach from room

Waikiki Beach

Banyon Tree

We start the day early and go to the USS Arizona Memorial which is built over the remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona, the final resting place for many of the 1,177 crewmen killed on Dec. 7, 1941.  At the visitors center they hand out timed tickets for 150 people every 15 minutes.  To start the tour we see a movie on the history of the attack on the ships in Pearl Harbor and then take a Navy boat to the memorial.  We saw a small oil slick on the water that is leaking from the Arizona.  The ship was full of fuel because it was going out to sea the next morning.  About 500,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil remain in lower-level tanks on board, with one to four liters seeping out daily.  Viewing the Arizona and the markers placed around the harbor where the other ships were sunk or heavily damaged that morning and seeing the movie on the bombing was very moving. 

Memorial from the visitors center

Coming by boat to Memorial

USS Arizona

Battleship Missouri Memorial

Inside the Memorial

After seeing the Arizona Memorial we drive to the North Shore part of the island.  Along the way we stop at Dole Pineapple and ride a small train around the fields.  There are plots of pineapples in various stages of development. and many native plants of Hawaii.  We stop and visit a couple we met about 6 years ago at White Pine Campground in Idaho.  They have a camper which they keep on the mainland and go over a couple of time a year to visit the other states.  Their house is by the famous Pipeline where the waves in the winter are usually big for surfing.  They weren't running very big the day we were there but a week later they were 25 feet high.  They took us up the mountain to view the beaches from the top.  We ate lunch at a food truck and had a delicious seafood lunch.  The North Shore is laid back compared to Honolulu and Waikiki Beach. 

Train at Dole

Pineapple plants

Pineapple bloom

pineapple

North shore

View from top of mountain

Our last full day on Oahu we drive up the dry side of the island to the end of the road.  Along some of the beaches there were people living in just about anything they could find to live in.  There was trash and stuff laying everywhere around their tents and shacks.  That night we go to Germains Luau on the beach and enjoy a night of good food and a great show of music and dancing.  We had roasted pig and all the traditional Hawaiian food.

People living on beach

The Pig

 

Germaines Luau

Kauai
On Saturday Feb. 4th we fly to Kauai for 7 nights.  We are staying in a time share at Poipu Beach with Chad, Mel, Jacob and Andrew.  The view from our room looks down on the large pools and the ocean on the edge of the resort.  Our room is large with 2 master bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen, living room and washer and dryer.  We ate breakfast and some lunches and  a couple of dinners in our room.  The boys loved spending the days at the pool. 

view from room

Andrew and Chad

We took a drive to Waimea Canyon nicknamed Grand Canyon of the Pacific and saw the beautiful mountains and canyon below.  Another day we drive the other way around the island along the Na Pali Coast.  We saw 3 whales breech from a viewpoint.  There was a rugged coastline and steep clefts to see and we stopped at Kilauea Lighthouse.  It began to rain when we were at the lighthouse so it was a good day to sight see.

Waimea Canyon

Chad, Andrew, Jacob and Mel

Kilauea Lighthouse

 

Hawaii (the big island)
On Saturday Feb. 11th we fly to Hawaii, the big island to stay for 4 nights.  Our hotel is located at Hilo Bay and we have a view of Coconut Island and the bay.  The dormant volcano Mauna Kea backdrops the city of Hilo across the bay from our hotel. 

View from our room in Hilo

Mauna Kea Volcano behind Hilo

Sunday we go to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and see Kilauea Caldera.  There is no lava flowing at the moment and the road around the crater rim is closed half way around.  We are able to visit an overlook of the steam coming out of the crater and a lava tube and steam vents.  There are old lava flows everywhere and they are labeled by the year of their flow.  It is amazing the miles of lava flows there are on this island. 

Kilauea Caldera

Steam Vent

Lava Tube

Lava flow

Crater

Lava that flowed to the ocean

Monday we drive down around the island to Kailua-Kona area.  On the way we stop at a black sand beach at Punalu'u Beach Park where we saw 4 sea turtles out of the water resting.  The black sand is beautiful and is simply lava ground into a course sand.  We stop at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park on the black lava flats of the southern Kona Coast.  These are royal grounds where there were thatched huts and temples around 1550.  After having lunch at the marina in Kailua Bay we visit Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park which is a fishtrap constructed of lava rock by Hawaiians.  Fish swam into the bay at high tide and were trapped inside the walls as the tide fell.  We drove up around the top of the island and back to Hilo.

Black sand beach at Punalu'u Beach Park

Sea Turtles on black sand beach

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park

Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park

Tuesday we stop at Rainbow Falls just outside of Hilo and take the Saddle Road across the island back to Kailua-Kona area.  We visit Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site.  This Temple on the Hill of the Whale was built in 1790 by Kamehameha I and is one of the last major sacred structures built in Hawaii.  Kamehameha remained king of the islands until his death in 1819.

Rainbow Falls

Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site

Wednesday afternoon we flew to Honolulu and then to Phoenix.  Had a wonderful trip and enjoyed seeing Chad and family and visiting 3 islands.  Hawaii is a beautiful state and now Dick and I have been to all 50 states.  We are back in Mesa until March 8th when we move to the Tucson area.
Happy Travels, Barb