HNL to ORD

Today started on a flight from Honolulu to Chicago. It’s a direct flight (good) but long (8 hours) and travels overnight (bad). We arrived at 5.19 am in Chicago – I with barely an hours sleep (not a good look or mood for me) and E with about 5. Fortunately E’s kind mother is collecting us, so we do not need to negotiate taxis and trains. At this point I am unsure how much of anything I can manage – lack of sleep certainly makes things more difficult to handle (I can see why some of the symptoms of sleep deprivation are undistinguishable from those of depression)

On the way from the airport we stopped for breakfast in a family-run restaurant. This type of restaurant seems only to exist in the US. There is a choice between booths and tables. The waitress, often offering coffee refills, is wearing an uniform of white apron over a dress though it is obviously all one piece. The menu has short stacks and regular pancakes. Opposite us sits an old couple in silence eating breakfast slowly. It is incredibly early (only 6.30) but there are still a reasonable number of tables occupied. As E’s mother pays for our breakfast and old woman informs us she just turned 82. She is looking well on it but seems lonely as she chats at length to us. She attends the same church as E’s family and is telling us repeatedly that she thought E’s brother was E’s husband. It’s a type of intimate exchange I expect to see in a rural area rather than a large city like Chicago.

After breakfast we go to E’s house. At this stage dawn has its grip on the day and I fear in the battle between daylight and exhaustion, daylight will win. This happens to me with distressing frequency. Today is not an occasion and I sleep on a flat bed, glorious compared with the economy airline seat. My alarm set for 11.30 wakes me. I feel so much more able to face the day but know I am still tired enough to sleep soundly tonight.

Then I take the L (Chicago’s underground/elevated train system) to meet my friends M&R to get the key to their place where I will be staying the next 2 weeks. R joked a few days ago that she will get “the B&B ready for me”. Its lovely to see them again. We order take-in (so much more choice in the US than in Ireland) and catch up.

A quiet day in Honolulu

The last few days have been hectic. Yesterday was particularly so with a 6.25 am pick-up (=very very quick and small breakfast for Helen). Today I was supposed to go on a tour of Pearl Harbour but I decided a 6.30 pick-up sounded like the opposite of a holiday so I spent almost the whole day within a 500m radius of the hotel.

I tried to sleep late to compensate for early mornings and late evenings but I failed spectacularly being wide awake since 5.30 – not a good situation since I only went to sleep at 2 am (and now that I am elderly I fear my face will no longer hide the signs of a rackety life). I spent a lot of the morning watching the Pysch marathon on USA network. I know it’s a bit of a waste with the wonders of Hawaii just outside but in my defence I have a very soft spot for Pysch.

At least I took advantage of the luxury hotel – swimming in the pool, ordering room service. But the best of all was my first swim in the Pacific. Unlike my sister I am not a big fan of the sea so rarely go swimming in it. However it seemed a terrible waste not to try the waters of Hawaii. They were lovely. Really really clean and a good temperature (though a little colder than I expected). Depending on how tomorrow goes I may try it again.

Tomorrow I fly back to Chicago. I fear it will be very very very very very very very cold there. I hope I will adjust. Alas I won’t be needing my pretty orange sandals there.

Happy Birthday and Volcanoes

Everybody must be nice to me – its my birthday (or at least I have not yet gone to sleep so it still counts as my birthday). As most of you know I have been on an extended holiday since August. The original plan was to keep a blog of my travels and activities. However I was too busy to do so. November is national blogging month and the 2 blogs I read have committed to posting daily. Inspired by then I will do the same. Every day from now until end of November I will blog either on what I have done that day or from the last few months adventures in Mexico, France, Italy, Spain and Hawaii.

I am often melancholy at birthdays thinking about what I haven’t achieved and how I am getting older but not always wiser. Additionally this birthday is somewhat significant (my age is between 30 and 40 and is the product of two prime numbers but I am neither 33 nor 39). So there were all the ingredients for quite a depressing day. To combat this I arranged to go to Hawaii with my friend E.

We arrived in Honolulu on Saturday. We are staying on Oahu but today we flew to the Big Island to visit the Volcano. I am fascinated by geothermal activity, that’s why I love Rotarua in New Zealand and Yellowstone in USA. Every so often I think it would have been better to keep on geology rather than choosing chemistry but then I remind myself of how terrible geology field work is in Ireland – standing on a narrow road trying to avoid the passing traffic as I look at rocks while failing to keep myself or my notebook safe from the relentless Irish rain. But its different in Hawaii. We had no rain on the Big Island and despite the relatively short time on the Island, we saw some of the newest land in the world and an active volcano.
The US state Hawaii is a series of 8 volcanic islands. The pacific plate is slowly moving over a geothermal hotspot. The older islands are to the northwest and no longer have volcanic activity. Maui has both dormant and extinct volcanoes but real geothermal activity is on the island of Hawaii (also called the big Island because it’s the biggest – indeed all the other Hawaiian Islands could fit in its landmass). The Big Island is actually 5 different volcanoes in different stages of lifecycles1. Kohala—extinct2. Mauna Kea—dormant3. Hualālai—active but not currently erupting4. Mauna Loa—active, partly within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park5. Kīlauea—active: has been erupting continuously since 1983; part of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

As we only had a day we took an organised tour which visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Before that we visited a black sand beach. To be honest the b each was tiny most of the area was covered with hardened black lava. The lava had flown underground until it reached the sea where it cooled. It was amazing the amount of land that had been created. Also the old shoreline was still easy to spot with lines of mature coconut trees. Some baby coconut trees were growing in the black rock. I thought there was no way the rock could sustain plant life but there was overwhelming evidence against me (even though they were only baby coconut trees)

After the beach we went to Volcanoes National Park. We saw an active caldera complete with gaseous plumes. Unfortunately there was neither lava nor magma to be seen. Probably just as well as the lava is dangerous. The visitors centre had a display about the geologist who got caught up to his knees in lava. After several months he was able to walk again but if that can happen to an expert, God only knows what might happen to the lay people!

But the best part of the day was the birthday wishes I got from all over the world (from Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East). I got emails, texts, facebook posts and a present from my friend E. I also spoke with my sister, brother and mother. Thank-you everybody for helping me have a happy birthday. Over the next few weeks I will be in Chicago and Toronto so some of you can help me celebrate in person (because November was Helen’s birthday month long before it was national blogging month)