Exploring Hilo

Aimee and I both felt that we could live in Hilo the minute we got off the plane. Within an hour, we were looking for Property. After a day, we were tearing up our plane tickets home.

We spent our first full day on the Big Island exploring our new favorite city. Carol had a few meetings at work that day, so she gave us some tips and sent us loose.

Breakfast was at the Hilo Farmer's Market, which was, amazingly, an actual farmer's market. Most farmer's markets that we've been to really should just be called hipster's markets. The closest thing to fresh produce that you usually find at these things is pickled kale chips being sold by a bearded 20-something. But this one was different. On the Big Island, you can sneeze out an apple seed and come back to a mature tree the next day. Produce grows here without even trying.

That makes the Hilo farmer's market a true collection of actual farmers selling their actual produce. It was amazing.

By the way, those bananas were $2 a bushel. $2!!! You can't buy a pint of beer here for anything less than a car payment, but since most people seem to have an actual banana tree in their backyard, produce at the market was surprisingly cheap.

After breakfast, we headed up along the coastline to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. We can never go to another botanical garden again. Seriously.

I've never been one to gush about a botanical garden, but here I am. Gushing.

See what I mean? In the 1970s, the garden site was literally a trash dump until a retired botanist stumbled upon the land when looking for somewhere cheap to build a house. He planted a couple of items, cleared out the rusting car parts, and let nature do the rest. Now it is universally considered to be one of the best botanical gardens in the world, and its still run by a private foundation led by the late botanist's wife. Not only is it a can't-miss destination if you go to the Big Island, it's reason enough to go to the Big Island.

Our next stop was the Waipao overlook. It's a beautiful spot overlooking another beautiful spot. This island isn't even trying anymore.

And because every road trip should include a brewery, we made a stop at the Big Island Brewhaus. It's a brewery on the Big Island. There is nothing else that needs to be said about that.

Our next stop was for some dessert. The Big Island had a lot of Portuguese immigration a century ago, and the second most famous import is the malasada (ukuleles hold the top spot). A malasada is essentially a Portuguese donut, which was enough to get our attention. Tex's is the most famous bakery on the island, and for good reason. Delicious.

It's going to be hard to leave this island.

Forwarding address to follow

We set off for Hilo on Tuesday morning, after another wonderful breakfast on Oahu. We already missed the place by the time our plane's wheels left the tarmac. But the funny thing about Hawaii is that you only think each island is your favorite until you visit the next one. They're all incredible. But Hilo was our kind of incredible. The skyline of Oahu's condos and luxury shops gave way to Hilo's foresty green and 70's-era beach vibe.

Hilo is on the windward side of the Big Island (aka Island of Hawaii). This means, as the name implies, that it's on the side of the island that most often faces the wind. The calm but steady trade winds carry a consistent stream of moisture that supports the lush foliage. And by lush, I mean that our host casually planted some papaya seeds six months ago, and the tree was already as tall as I was. The perfect volcanic soil and steady coastal rain support the amazing landscape that defines the city.

And speaking of our host, let me introduce you to Carol Galper!

Dr. Galper was one of my favorite medical school professors and has had a tremendous impact on my career. She was the person that orchestrated my first trip to the Hopi reservation and exposed me to dozens of other great learning opportunities throughout Tucson and the state. And who knows, as I keep falling more in love with Hilo, she may also be responsible for me eventually working at a health center here!

She recently retired from the U of A and bought a house on the Big Island, where she'd been vacationing for years. And I'm here to say that it's as nice as it sounds.

We landed in Hilo late in the afternoon, and had a really nice dinner with Carol and her husband at Pineapples, a local bistro. We stayed up late talking about how amazing the island is, and Carol gave us all kinds of tips on what to do while we're here. Of course, all she really needed to say was go outside, pick a direction, and walk until you see something amazing. We're going to do just fine here.

Paradise

Our next couple of days on Oahu just got better and better. The island didn't change, but it did seem nicer every day that we woke up without our mainland responsibilities.

Sunday morning had a gradual start. A stroll along the waterfront, meandering though the resort shops, a nap on the beach. It was one of those days.

That evening happened to be the annual Pan-Asian parade along Waikiki's main waterfront. Several of Oahu's different Asian communities each built a float and the members hula danced in front of them. It was a little surreal, but a fun little show.

On Monday morning, we toured a ukulele factory. This was actually one of the trip activities that I was most excited about. I picked up the ukulele about a year ago, and it was one of the few things that kept me sane during intern year.

There are three or four major ukulele makers still on the island (most have moved overseas), and Kanile'a was the one that I was most interested in visiting. It's one of the (relatively) newer manufacturers, and they build ukuleles that can hold up in drier climates like Arizona.

Our tour guide actually happened to be the company founder, and he was a great ambassador for the company. He took us through everything from the loading dock that the special Hawaiian Koa wood arrives at to the workspaces of the craftspeople putting on the final glaze.

He even played us a song at the end!

I like this place.

Of course, I walked out of there with a brand new Koa ukulele. Best souvenir ever.

That afternoon, we did a little driving tour along Oahu's famous North Shore. The surf was relatively low, but that area can easily get ten to fifteen foot waves. It's largely credited as the birthplace of modern surfing.

On Monday night, we headed over to the house of an Arizona friend that now lived on Oahu. We peppered him with questions on what it's like to live in paradise, and took very close notes. It was a great way to spend our last night on Oahu, and I'm sure we'll be back.

75 and sunny

First of all, well done, Hawaiian airlines. Our first sign that we were in the right place was the orchids in the gate agents' hair. Aimee was the first of us to notice that and took it as an excellent omen for the trip. But my mind was on more practical matters. This was the first flight that either of us had taken as legit health professionals.

I remember reading in some travel magazine that flight attendants like it when health professionals introduce themselves. That way, they know where to find people if they need help. But it felt a little ostentatious to walk on the plane and say, "Hello, I'm a doctor and I'll be in 12F." So I debated whether or not to say that, and ultimately decided that I might as well say something before the novelty of flying as a doctor wore off. So I got on the plane and spotted a flight attendant. I told him that, yes, I'm a doctor and I'm in 12F. He paused for a second and gave me a look that said something like, "Sir, this is a flight from Phoenix to Oahu. Every third passenger is a doctor. Sit down, hot shot."

With that awkward encounter behind me, I sat down to an otherwise amazing flight. Ukulele music played over the plane's loudspeaker, and as they're quick to point out, Hawaiian Airlines is the last domestic airline that still serves complimentary meals on all flights. And as I'll be quick to point out, they're the only airline that I've been on that pours a free Mai-tai for everyone in coach. Well played.

After the entirely tolerable 6 hour flight, we got lei'd by our friends, Michael and Steven. They live in Tucson, but visit Hawaii several times a year. Steven works on Oahu every couple of months, so they bought a condo that has become their second home. We've been trying to work out a time to join them on the island since we first met a few years ago, and as luck would have it, they could join us for this leg of the trip.

They picked us up at the airport with the aforementioned leis (real flowers, smelled amazing), and brought us back to their condo so that we could change. Hawaii is three hours earlier than Arizona, so the best plan to fight off jet lag is to stay active and awake as long as possible. To help with that, our hosts booked us on an afternoon sail around Waikiki. So considerate.

Now, this was no ordinary boat ride. This was the semi-famous weekly cruise organized by Hula's, Waikiki's favorite gay bar. So needless to say, I was the most out of shape guy on that boat by a mile. That said, I still walked away with a few phone numbers. Aimee took it all in stride, but gently suggested that I wear my wedding ring on our next boat trip.

The cruise was absolutely perfect. The sky was bright blue with just a few wisps of light ocean clouds, and the water was clear enough to see the bottom 40 feet below us. When we got out from the flow of harbor "traffic" (a couple of sailboats and some paddle boarders), the captain cut the engines and let us swim around for a bit. Not surprisingly, the water temperature was perfect, too.

I don't quite remember what was going on in that photo, but if I had to guess, Steve (center) said something characteristically hilarious that had Michael and Aimee in stitches.

After the cruise, we came back into Waikiki to walk around and explore the area. Waikiki is like San Diego minus the hipsters crossed with Las Vegas minus the gambling. There are Gucci stores next to surf shops with street hustlers out front distributing fliers for escorts and gun ranges. It's a funny little place, but we loved every bit of it.

Hold my calls

Let's get something out of the way. Many of our previous trips have been to marginalized countries. Some of them brought insight and meaning about the world we live in. Other trips have had altruistic goals as we worked to better the lives of those around us.

Not this one. This trip is pure vacation.

Aimee just graduated nursing school and passed her license exam. I just finished intern year in the hospital while helping run a brewery. Those two sentences don't come close to capturing the work we put into our heath careers this year, but I'm too traumatized to go into any more detail.

So we decided that there would be no backpacks, no semi-legal border crossings, and no concern about water purity or food safety on this trip. We're going pure beach.

We've been planning this trip for a year, and at 3 AM on the day of the flight, I've finally finished my brewery work. It's time to head up to Phoenix.

See you on Oahu!