Beautiful Hawaii

Beautiful Hawaii

I got to live in Honolulu, Hawaii from August 1966 to August 1969. Again, I sure wish I had gotten a decent camera and done more with photography. I think of the lost images I could have had. Sigh. Now you would have thought, having been in Hawaii before, that I wouldn't drag along that heavy coat. But I did. And I won't even comment on the hair style. I know, I know, it looks like something crawled up there and died.

I lived with my step-mom and dad, who had moved over for a little adventure. My step-mom made this long pink flowered dress for me. I loved the Hawaiian lifestyle. That's a pomelo tree behind me. They moved back, and I stayed on in my own studio apartment. The rent was pretty high, $125, as I recall. But when you only make about $350 a month, that was a lot of money.

It was pretty awesome to have lived in Hawaii during those years. A lot was going on. The Viet Nam war got into full swing. Lots of service guys were wandering around Hawaii. The space program was hitting it's stride and I was living on the island when the astronauts returned there for de-briefing. I like all that kind of stuff. When the volcano on the Big Island started doing it's thing, I bought a plane ticket and went from Oahu on an evening flight over the volcano. It was magnificent. I had friends there and we would go out to Waikiki and have some fun. I dated a few guys there and also met people from all over the world. It was a great adventure. I will always love Hawaii.

But I did get homesick after 3 years and returned to Oregon.

But I vowed to return to Hawaii. And I did. My husband and I went there in the summer of 1977. We went with another couple and had a great time. We were on Oahu and then went to Kauai. Did I mention that I love Hawaii! And so, I vowed to return.

And I did. In March of 2009 my husband and I went on a Hawaiian Cruise. We boarded the ship on Oahu, went to Maui, The Big Island and Kauai. We had a wonderful trip, even though we had cloudy, cooler and wetter weather than normal. This photo was taken from Kailua-Kona, where we finally had blue sky and warmth. And as we packed up and left for home, I, of course, vowed to return.