Hawaii classic or dud

best workhorse family-choked beach: hapuna
prettiest beach: 69
best surf beach: honolii? i was always a civilian :(

best Day At Beach plan if you want to just devote a single day to that kind of nonsense before you turn to concentrate on jungles and volcanoes: hapuna from the late morning to midafternoon ---> 69 from midafternoon to evening. hope for big waves at hapuna and clear water above the reef at 69, altho the tragedy is these rarely go together.

Ha, that link to Shipman Beach was written by an old friend's mom!

Thanks, everyone, I had a great time. Stayed my first two nights in Kalapana and made friends with some locals who took me out hiking over the lava field at night. Drove the Belt Road, went to the NP, Waipio, Tex for malasadas, and Kona were I went surfing and did a night time manta ray snorkel that was recommended. However, things got crazy (in a holy shit kinda way) when one of my fellow passengers on the manta ray boat had difficulty breathing and ended up coding right there on the boat. We did CPR on her the whole way back to the harbor, but she didn't make it.

gr80 when is a good time to go around low season? looking at going towards end of year/start of next year. is that still a good time to go? should i rent a car?

i know very little about hawaii apart from cheesy stereotypes so recommendations would be welcome

Haven't gotten anybody to bite on this story on a music thread yet but maybe here on the Hawaii thread: http://www.wilsonquarterly.com/in-essence/blue-hawaii

hey qiqing sorry for ignoring this, been catching up on ilx over the last few days

the first thing that comes to mind when i think about going to hawaii between december and march is that while its still gonna feel like an otherworldly tropical paradise, the chances of it being overcast and rainy for most of your stay are far greater than the rest of the year. which can still be very cool imo! but if your idea of a hawaiian vacation is laying in the sun be prepared that there's a good chance some (or all) of your week will not be conducive to that. that said, there's a good chance it could be warm and sunny for your entire stay too.

the west coast (aka "Leeward Side") of each island is typically more reliably dry and sunny at any given time of the year. maui and big island have lots of resort-y areas on the leeward sides. on kauai and oahu there aren't too many hotels on the leeward side, but there are definitely good condo/house rentals that if you do your research could end up being just as if not more affordable than a hotel (this applies to other parts of the islands too). i never used airbnb in hawaii but the last time i needed something http://www.vrbo.com/ seemed to be what most people were listing on.

as far as car rentals go, you'll probably want one. even if you end up booking at a Waikiki hotel, (where cabs/buses/walking can get you to a lot of the island), plan on renting a car for at least a day or two (or scooters for half a day) to really get the most out of your visit.

something else to know about winter: the waves on the north shores can be anywhere from "too big to swim in" to "pro surfers are hopping on last-minute flights from all over the world" gigantic. which can be an incredible once-in-a-lifetime thing to witness from shore, but means any swimming/snorkeling plans should be made for the south shores.

without knowing anything else about your expectations, the absolute best advice i can give you is to get one of these guidebooks:

http://www.hawaiirevealed.com/books-apps

trust me: even if you're guidebook-adverse, these people put out 100% OTM advice useful both while planning and getting stoked on your trip as well as for quick reference while there. the publishers have lived on each island for at least 2 years and they secret-shop every business/attraction before each new edition gets printed. they can be a little cute/corny in their writing but they'll also straight up tell you if a restaurant or attraction is garbage. each book starts with a brief but informative history of Hawaii, which is cool. also, after sections on hotels/restaurants/beaches/hikes/snorkeling/etc there's a penultimate section called ADVENTURES in which they've blown up some very cool hikes/secret spots that weren't in print or on the internet previously. you can order from their website or amazon but there's a good chance there are a few copies at your nearest big chain bookstore too.

hope that gets you started for now. if you wanna elaborate on what your ideal vacation would include (maxing at a resort, staying at a beach house, dining/shopping/nightlife, outdoor adventure stuff, countryside drives, all of the above) and/or let me know which island(s) you're leaning towards, i can maybe give you some more specific advice

http://i.imgur.com/p9BoAa8.jpg

going back next year with the wife and tiny kiddo. so stoked. didnt snorkel until the last day last time, had never snorkled before, did not realize that snorkling is potentially the greatest thing to do ever until it was too late, not screwing that up this time.

maui fyi. trying to decide to do the breathtaking but totally white knuckle northern road again this time. which just fyi is strictly forbidden on your rental car contract, probably for good reason, but holy shit, lava pools, the best banana bread ever, huge terrifying cliff roads. hmmm.

Be safe out there folks

http://i.imwx.com/images/maps/truvu/map_specnewsdct-98_ltst_4namus_enus_650x366.jpg

Let's say it's your birthday and you are in Honolulu. Where are you eating your birthday dinner?

morimoto

or orchids

vintage cave seems to be the new spot everyone loves, but i can't vouch for it personally since it opened after i left

but lol: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/02/obamas-eat-at-restaurant-charging-up-to-500g-for-membership/

Hawaii is so classic. The first time I went to Hawaii, I told everyone that I could totally live there. "What would you do there?" they asked, incredulous. What a dumb question. "Nothing," I replied.

BLIZZARD CONDITIONS

http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2015/03/12/blizzard-evacuates-mauna-kea-snow-removers-observatory-crews/

Do any ILXor message board people live in Hawai'i?

davey does.

hi Davey!

i live in scenic hilo

op otm btw

does super cub still post?

kinda weird we never met.

Hi Jersey Al and everyone. Yes, I've lived here in Honolulu for most of the last 20 years

classic: obviously the amazing weather, esp. the tradewinds, natural splendor everywhere, all the activities that go with it year-round; also the great diversity of cultures, tons of great restaurants, hawaiian pidgin english, dole whip, island hopping, localism

dud: obscene housing costs, ongoing homelessness and houselessness crises, corporate overthrow of indigenous monarchy & disenfranchisement of native population, traffic like LA, localism

commercial island hopping just about as obscene as housing, these days, now that there's only one airline and it's saved itself from the ferry.

i grew up in this town and have recently returned; it must be growing because the traffic is much worse and the bayfront much bourgier than it was before i left, tho land on this side of the island can still be got startlingly cheap if you don't need too spectacular a view. kohala, across the mountains--ranch country, brambly coasts, smauglike desolation--is where i lived when i was little and i think it is the most beautiful place in the world and i want to make a western there.

was a fascinatingly successful civ pre-contact, w a very high population sustained in something better than feudal poverty despite tiny land availability and almost absolute isolation. the socioeconomic and religious modes and practices that enabled this success (not to mention various species of trees) were of course obliterated by capitalism+xtianity+freedom but i recommend their study to commies. 19c hawaiian history an absolutely riveting tragedy in which the country, thru some kind of underdog bismarckism, heroically preserves its independence in the face of every hungry empire on the planet while simultaneously being slowly seized from within by the anchor-baby descendents of the missionary generation, who buy up the islands for sugar, open free trade with the u.s. in exchange for founding a long tradition of giving it bits of them to blow up (or for other countries to blow up), and finally stage a coup.

oahu's koolau range just unutterably gorgeous.

(after the western, a fantasy epic.)

also gorgeous btw: "tiny bubbles". i teched a show last year called A CENTURY OF HAPA-HAOLE SONGS and when don ho finally came along after two only occasionally interrupted hours of tin pan alley hacks writing waka-hiki-hoki stuff about how yr definitely gonna get laid my hair stood up every time. a beautiful vision of peace. of course what i ended up singing for a month was "o'brien is tryin to learn to talk hawaiian" ("for his honolu lulu").

difficult listening hour otm about everything.

btw i have a little radio show and would like to do an occasional 'difficult listening hour', if you wouldn't mind me using the name. :)

all queries should be directed to laurie anderson

davey are you on ktuh? prob heard you from my hnl friend's car at some point. gr80 one of the few ilxors i've met; wish his camera still haunted waikiki. last time i visted oahu i saw screaming females at downbeat lounge with maybe 85 moshing teenagers and my best friend since kindergarten and thought huh maybe i should die here.

didn't realize it was a laurie anderson piece. heh.

my girlfriend was mad at me for missing the screaming females shows because apparently they were awesome, but i was exhausted from work when they were in town. yes, i'm on KTUH on friday nights 6-9pm. i play at downbeat lounge every month, too, which ranges from amazing to terrible because it's all random people who show up for the chinatown art walk / first fridays.

i miss gr80 and all the fun parties we used to go to and dj together. gonna try to visit him and some family in chicago this year.

yes, i'm on KTUH on friday nights 6-9pm. i play at downbeat lounge every month, too, which ranges from amazing to terrible because it's all random people who show up for the chinatown art walk / first fridays.

will listen 4 u next time! kind of an effortlessly cool town; after the show we got burgers and when we got back in the car screaming females were live in-studio on ktuh.

I once had a late-night loco moco at the Downbeat on a first Friday.

i had a mid-afternoon loco moco (portagee sausage variant) at cafe 100 yesterday. gotta cut that out. dunno how i ingested as many as i did in high school and lived.

wtf I had no idea dlh lived in Hilo. I have an aunt in South Kohala, we visited a couple years ago and are likely to go again next year...

well dlh used to hail from Portland, so there's that

I miss super cub, good poster

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!

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.

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

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.

there will never be another california

because california is awesome

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"

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.

oh man we drove the 137 when we were there, that stretch of rocky lava coastline is insane

being able to stand on land that didn't exist when you were born is a trip

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.

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

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

in hilo the derogatory term for hippie (besides "hippie") is "punatic"

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"

if can can if no can no can

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.