I really like the Big Island. I have some friends in Lower Puna and try to get over every other year. So see you guys next year, I guess!
― kate78, Thursday, 7 January 2016 21:04 (eight years ago) link
yeah i was in portland about eight years.
any ilxors visiting the big island should def hit me up! it's not really that big an island.
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 January 2016 21:34 (eight years ago) link
hawaii and honolulu in particular are thrilling in the ways in which you end up rubbing up against so many different cultures and backgrounds and ethnicities all crammed in to such a relatively small space compared to the metropolises that usually produce such diversity. i always felt this uneasy mix of delight and fatigue living in a place defined by its insiders and outsiders or its natives and transplants. and among the outsiders this common bond of all being transplants drawn to the same place not because of industry or culture but just out of some kind of idea of paradise
― gr8080, Thursday, 7 January 2016 21:39 (eight years ago) link
grady otm. though i just came because my family moved here. it was a big culture shock, but now i think it's kind of a good thing that locals scare off plenty of the more thin-skinned people who transplant themselves to hawaii. you have to earn your acceptance here, and it keeps the place from becoming another california.
― davey, Friday, 8 January 2016 20:48 (eight years ago) link
there will never be another california
because california is awesome
― Οὖτις, Friday, 8 January 2016 20:49 (eight years ago) link
I was really surprised when we got over to my aunt's place in Kohala, I was like "what are these fields of wavy grass doing on top of this volcano"
― Οὖτις, Friday, 8 January 2016 20:50 (eight years ago) link
i love california too. but i'm glad hawaii is distinct from it demographically is all.
ecologically we're pretty different of course. one thing i love is exploring the new land created by the volcanic flows around Kalapana. last time i went, that wavy grass was just sprouting up in patches through the lava rock. felt like being on the moon, but with the ocean right there.
― davey, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:05 (eight years ago) link
oh man we drove the 137 when we were there, that stretch of rocky lava coastline is insane
― Οὖτις, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:08 (eight years ago) link
being able to stand on land that didn't exist when you were born is a trip
― gr8080, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:11 (eight years ago) link
yes! that highway is a beautiful stretch in spite of the many angry hippies who inhabit puna. the hot spring at ahalanui park down in that area is great, too. it's the only one in the state, which is kind of surprising considering that japan has about 7000 of them.
fun fact: just last year, the lava flow nearly destroyed the old hippie town of pahoa. it came as near as 100 yards of the main drag, then petered out for the most part. everyone was talking about it.
― davey, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:23 (eight years ago) link
yeah we stayed near Pahoa when we were there, so when I heard about that and I checked some videos of the lava flowing - it's kinda funny what a slow-motion disaster that was, like no one could stop it but it moved at a snail's pace.
definitely angry hippies in Puna, I felt like we were perpetually on the verge of becoming very unwelcome visitors to someone's clandestine weed farm
― Οὖτις, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:26 (eight years ago) link
the best, weirdest kind of natural disaster: ultra-slow-motion, daily headline updates (5 yards closer!), simultaneously of almost no danger to human life and totally impossible to stop from destroying an entire town -- xp
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 8 January 2016 21:29 (eight years ago) link
in hilo the derogatory term for hippie (besides "hippie") is "punatic"
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 8 January 2016 21:30 (eight years ago) link
hahaha that's classic
yeah there was something very *Hawaiian* about the lava flow. People just standing around looking at this stuff crawling forward, "huh well nothing we can do about it. shit, there goes the corner store"
― Οὖτις, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:33 (eight years ago) link
if can can if no can no can
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 8 January 2016 21:35 (eight years ago) link
xp hehe 'punatic'. man, it's a pretty hardscrabble life, subsisting on the organic farm. i stayed on one in puna for a couple nights. to make a long story short, i wouldn't recommend it and i can understand where the anger and disillusionment comes from.
bumbye you going learn you bettah get one edumacation and one job.
― davey, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:39 (eight years ago) link
from what I've seen the big island (and most of the other islands I've been to tbh) don't seem v conducive to farming in general
― Οὖτις, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:42 (eight years ago) link
quite rich soil in places, like the hamakua coast, but yeah there's not a lot of soil compared to a continent, and most of this island is the dry stuff full of lava particles that i think needs a lot of coaxing to grow much except ohia and jurassic park ferns (this is the soil they grow the coffee in, and the mac nuts -- not exactly subsistence crops). another reason the pre-contact population is impressive. when i was seven another serious problem with the soil was the zero possibility of dinosaurs.
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 8 January 2016 22:05 (eight years ago) link
classic
― big Mahats (mattresslessness), Saturday, 9 January 2016 05:39 (eight years ago) link
Dud: Idiot travel writers coming to confirm their biases, disregard the history of the place, and paint the people who live here with broad-brush stereotypes. You might not expect the NYT to publish something that reductive and ignorant, but there it is: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/magazine/hawaii-travels-escape.html
― davey, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:16 (seven years ago) link
headed to aunt's place on the big island at the end of June!
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:17 (seven years ago) link
The lava flows have been going crazy lately. Should still be a great time to go see it by boat or on foot when you're here :)
― davey, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:25 (seven years ago) link
I'm idly curious to see the destruction wrought by the lava in Pahoa since the last time we were there. dunno if we'll get around to where the lava's actually hitting the ocean in the south (assuming that's still going on)
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:29 (seven years ago) link
I didn't get a chance to take one when I visited last year, but I've heard good things about the guided lava tours around the Pahoa area, in case you'd like to seek them out.
― davey, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:35 (seven years ago) link
Most tourist destinations attract tourists because they are naturally attractive places, which is classic. But tourists generate their own atmosphere and where they congregate in the greatest numbers suffers degradation in proportion. This is like a law of the universe.
― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:48 (seven years ago) link
I'll keep it in mind, at the moment we just bought our plane tickets and are trying to figure out where to stay next. We'll be there for 8 days, I think, with half of that spent at my aunt's in Kohala, but I think the other four days we'll probably stay somewhere near Hilo, idk have to look around
xp
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 20:49 (seven years ago) link
As for places around Hilo, I would try to stay in the Volcanoes National Park area b/c that is forever my favorite natural place in the islands. Note sure if that's too distant from Hilo for you tho, it depends on your itinerary.
xp Agree that tourism inevitably is exploitative.
― davey, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 23:44 (seven years ago) link
You might not expect the NYT to publish something that reductive and ignorant
isn't that basically what they do about everything, including their local coverage? IIRC we have a few threads on it
maybe just need a rolling "NYT is dumb #6590728340 in a series" thread
― Not the real Tombot (El Tomboto), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 23:52 (seven years ago) link
I'd like to visit hawaii one day though.
― Not the real Tombot (El Tomboto), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 23:55 (seven years ago) link
You're probably right. I've only read their more journalistic news stuff, not so much the lifestyle stuff. Anyway you should come visit some time.
― davey, Thursday, 30 March 2017 10:45 (seven years ago) link
shakey - highly recommend a day trip to Waipio Valley:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waipio_Valley
http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/rare-look-waipio-valley-hawaii-island
one of the weirdest and most beautiful places i've ever been to.
there are feral horses walking around!
― gr8080, Thursday, 30 March 2017 12:42 (seven years ago) link
Arriving on big island today huzzah
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 25 June 2017 15:46 (six years ago) link
a-looooooooooooooo-ha!
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 25 June 2017 18:00 (six years ago) link
Super nice weather on Oahu today! So I went on the Hanauma Bay Ridge Hike and snapped this photo.
http://i.imgur.com/ltKDi4Jl.jpg
Hope you'll be getting similar weather on the Big Isle :)
― davey, Monday, 26 June 2017 03:48 (six years ago) link
why do people bring their fucking drones to the beach, on vacation WHY
― Οὖτις, Friday, 7 July 2017 17:22 (six years ago) link
happened twice, immediately cast about for a rock to throw both times
Ppl bring them to make themselves feel like they haven't wasted hundreds of dollars iirc. Yeah that shit is pretty annoying.
― davey, Friday, 7 July 2017 22:56 (six years ago) link
I feel like drones should be fair game for ppl with things to throw / slingshots
― davey, Friday, 7 July 2017 22:57 (six years ago) link
on the plus side I swam with some sea turtles and saw an (apparently rare?) hawaiian monk seal, so that was cool
― Οὖτις, Friday, 7 July 2017 22:59 (six years ago) link
Oh! All those creatures are magical. And yes the Monk Seal is fairly rare, population currently is about 1,500, I just heard on the news.
― davey, Saturday, 8 July 2017 00:04 (six years ago) link
Classic: Monk seals birthing and raising pups on the busiest beaches in Waikiki.
http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/rocky-endangered-hawaiian-monk-seal-gives-birth-kaimana-beach-waikiki
― davey, Saturday, 8 July 2017 00:05 (six years ago) link
Waikiki FAP this week? Or not nbd always next time
― los blue jeans, Tuesday, 22 August 2017 06:07 (six years ago) link
Waikiki... FAP?
― davey, Tuesday, 22 August 2017 10:23 (six years ago) link
Kaka'ako FAP > Waikiki FAP imho
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 22 August 2017 14:10 (six years ago) link
any other ilxors got INCOMING BALLISTIC MISSILE THIS IS NOT A DRILL on wireless emergency alert this morning? better than coffee.
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:29 (six years ago) link
https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/9522437235256770
i think i'm coming around on her
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:30 (six years ago) link
oh that's not how it works? okay well tulsi says there is actually no inbound nuke. good arguments on both sides imo
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:31 (six years ago) link
okay official never-mind notice. this has been cool cuz i definitely needed an experience that made our moment feel both more real and less
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:52 (six years ago) link
wait...so what actually happened?
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:57 (six years ago) link
how much time passed between the 'you're going to die' and 'oops, false alarm' messages?
wtf
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:58 (six years ago) link