59 Revisited) Muir Woods National Monument

Visited: Friday, October 20, 2017

It was really nice to get back to Muir Woods - even if it seemed nearly as busy as when we visited during a weekend.  We took a longer time this visit, even going off the main path to see the Kent monument, honoring the man who saved the park from development, over a century ago.  It was peaceful and relaxing, and an ideal place to see after a long time on the road.  I hadn't remembered just how far the park was from civilization - but it's a welcome separation.

117) Pu`ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site

Visited: Tuesday, October 17, 2017

It's amazing what a difference a great ranger talk makes.  We arrived just after one had started, and joined - and it tied Pu`ukoholā Heiau, built by King Kamehameha I as one step in unifying Hawaii, in to the history we read about in Iolani Palace and the Bishop Museum.  The Heiau itself is impressive - or, really, the two that you can see are impressive, each in its own way, and the submerged one is impressive for the difficulty in underwater archaeology with sharks.  Beyond the temples, there's not much there, but it's more than enough - they are great at telling the story.

At this point, we have exactly 300 NPS units to go; as best I can tell, when we started we had 391 to visit.

116) Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park

Visited: Monday, October 16, 2017

Kaloko-Honokōhau tells the story of the Hawaiian people - in much the same way as Pu`uhonua O Hōnaunau, really, which took away from the impact for us as we visited them back-to-back.  That said, there are elements at Kaloko-Honokōhau that did stand out.  The fish trap is fascinating - though I wish there were more information at the site.  And right by the trap we saw a bunch of sea turtles, one on the beach and at least three in the water, occasionally coming up for air.  Finally, there are a few petroglyphs - not as many or as clear as those at Hawai'i Volcanoes, but still nice to see preserved.

115) Pu`uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park

Visited: Monday, October 16, 2017

Pu`uhonua O Hōnaunau is a fascinating site - Hawaiian royalty lived there, and anyone could use the other half of the site for refuge.  The konane board was fascinating - it's too abstract a game for me, but a nice mix of Othello and Checkers.  The park was saved by Charles Reed Bishop - the same man who created the Bishop Museum in Honolulu to honor his wife.  Fascinating gentleman from Glen Falls, NY - I'm very thankful for him, over 100 years after he passed away.  

114) Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

Visited: Saturday, October 14, 2017-Monday, October 16, 2017

This park definitely lived up to expectations.  Without taking a long hike, there's only so many things to do - we visited the visitor center, saw the video, listened to a couple of ranger talks, visited the Jaggar Museum and came back at dusk to see the lava, walked around the steam vents, walked the length of the lava tube, saw the lava arch, walked through the rain to the petroglyphs, and stopped by a bunch of craters.  All of which were truly fantastic - but after a day and a half, we were done.  About the only thing we didn't do which would have been nice was to hike to where the lava is dumping into the ocean - but it's a long enough hike that three weeks in to our trip neither of us were anxious to do it.  Maybe a good excuse to come back.

Volcano House, where we stayed, was well worth it; even without air conditioning, I wasn't too warm to sleep.  The breakfasts were quite nice as well - and the views were great.

113) World War II Valor in the Pacific National Memorial

Visited: Wednesday, October 11, 2017

It's hard to really speak with great energy about so somber a site as Pearl Harbor.  But it did strike me as a very fitting and well executed Memorial to those who lost their lives 76 years back.  (It's scary to realize that we're just 24 years away from the century anniversary of the date that will live in infamy.)  For me, the greatest highlight was not the memorial, or the museums, but Mr. Robert Lee, who as a 20 year old witnessed the attack.  His father was responsible was the water supplied to the base, so he had an incredible angle from which to view - and then participate, if in a spitting-in-the-wind fashion.