Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Sunday, July 9th: Travel to the Big Island!
Akaka Falls by Clayton Trainor
Aloha, This morning I woke up at 4:30 got dressed, brushed my teeth, finished up the last part of my journal, and did my final packing. Then we headed of to breakfast at Denny's. After breakfast we went back to the hotel to pack our stuff on the bus and go to the airport. The reason we took an airplane was we were jumping from Oahu to the Big Island to finish of the back end of our trip.
After we landed we got back on the bus and we went to a food court for a good lunch. When we got done eating we headed of to Akaka Falls. When we waited for the other groups to get ahead so we were spaced apart we talked about the clouds since we were on the wet side of the island. We learned all about the clouds and what they all mean. Then we started to hike down the falls as the clouds just opened up and it just poured and at the end I was dripping wet. My orange Texas Longhorns hat was now burnt red. [Photo: Rebecca talks to her trail group about the history and geography of Akaka Falls before the group heads down the rain forest path for a view.]
Then we boarded the bus soaked and went to Uncle Billy's Hilo Bay Hotel. This time my room partners were; Jordan & Eric. Today we had our evening meeting early and then went to eat dinner. Then we came back and went to bed and work on our journals.
Sunday, July 9, 5:28 a.m.- 4:34 p.m. by Wes Peng
At Oahu
Today, we are saying ALOHA to Oahu and ALOHA to Hawaii. It was kind of hard to believe how fast time had passed! I hope that Hawaii would be even more fun than Oahu has been. I also hope that Hawaii has some of those amazing beaches like Oahu. Although I couldn’t wait to go to a beach, I especially want to go to the Volcanoes Nat’l Park. Seeing all of the waterfalls would also be really exciting. I want to be able to see the volcanic rocks that form in Hawaii, too. Also, I heard that the hotel will be surrounded by extravagant banyan trees and beautiful Japanese gardens.
At the airport
Now we are headed for the Big Island. I heard that the flight will only take about half an hour or so. Anyway, when I first got onto the plane, I was seated with Alex M. I was so excited that I was sitting on the left side of the plane and the field guides said that if you sat on the left side of the plane, you would get an awesome view. They were right!!! Anyway, on the plane we got some juice, it was orange-guava-passion nectar. I loved it so much. Well, it’s time to land now!
At Hawaii
After we landed, we went to get our luggage. At first I couldn’t find any of mine, but I eventually got them both. After everyone had their luggage we waited for the bus to come. The bus finally came at 12:15. When we all boarded the bus, the driver started to talk about the history of Hilo. I have to say, he sure knew a lot. He first told us about the two biggest tsunamis to hit the Big Island. The first one was in 1946 and the second one was in 1960. He said that once the tsunamis hit, nearly 90% of Hilo was destroyed. He also told us how unpopulated Hawaii was. He said that almost 900,000 people live in Oahu, but only 167,000 people live in Hawaii. When he was done talking, it was time to eat lunch at the food court. At the food court there was an assortment of places to eat. From Chinese to Hawaiian. I went to a Chinese place. There I got some lemon chicken. The place I went to was called the C
hopsticks Express. The lemon chicken came with some rice and some pasta salad. When we finished eating lunch, we got back to the bus and the driver told us more history on Hilo. This time I learned that Hilo was on the wet side or windward side of Hawaii. That’s why they got so much rain. Next he told us a brief history of the sugar cane in Hawaii. He said that today people don’t grow sugarcane commercially, but instead they grow it privately. When we arrived at Akaka Falls Nat’l Park, we split up into our field groups. There we talked more about the falls. Jessica told us a story about a god named Akaka. She said that one day Akaka’s wife found out that he was cheating on her. After she found out, she started to chase him away. While she was chasing him, he fell down a 420 foot cliff. Jessica said that they named the falls after Akaka. When she finished, we decided to go hike. First, we went down into Kahuna Falls. I learned that kahuna meant priest. Half way down the trail, it started to pour, but you couldn’t really blame anything because it was the rainforest!!! Anyway, when we got to Kahuna Falls it was so foggy that you could barely even see the waterfall. After we took a few pictures, we went back up to follow the trail to Akaka falls. On our way there Jessica told us about the ferns and the banyan trees there. I learned that the roots of banyan trees grow outside the ground. She also told us that ferns have spores that are red. After that, we saw Akaka Falls. It was so tall! Jessica said that it was the strongest she had ever seen it. Now we were all so wet and we headed back to the bus. When we got on the bus everyone was so relieved. The air-conditioning would dry us up, but it would make us super cold. When we got to our hotel, I found out that my roommates were Nolan, Josh, and J.T. What a day!!!# posted by Author @ 11:10 AM 
