HAWAII, 1968

         In previous posts, I’ve indicated that John was an adventurous, let’s do it last minute kind of guy. This didn’t end with marriage and honeymoon, but continued. Just before Christmas 1968, he came home from work and told me we were going to Hawaii!!!

          Now, everyone knows that you can’t just book a December trip to Hawaii at the last minute…and John didn’t. Flying and changing reservations back then was very easy. Someone at Nordstrom had been promoted and had to cancel his vacation. He sold his tickets and arrangements to John. So, we were, indeed, going to Hawaii right after Christmas. 

           We also still “dressed” in 1968. John wore his white Nehru jacket and small checked black and white pants. I had a couple of dresses I wore when we weren’t going out and about. Then it was shorts and t-shirts.

John's Pineapple plantation

          What a wonderful experience to leave the gray of Seattle and step off the plane into sunshine and warmth. The hotel we stayed at was actually a little enclave of cottages between two high rise hotels. There was a pool and the ocean was just a little walk away. The gentleman who had arranged the trip for himself and his wife had made arrangements for a number of tours. We visited the Dole Plantation and I was astounded to see how pineapple actually grew. We also went to something like Sea World. It had a three-masted ship and a dolphin show. We could have also toured the Arizona, but for some reason John didn’t want to do that.

          John had an even better idea. He’d rent a little motor scooter and then we’d be free to go anyplace on the island instead of just staying in downtown Waikiki. The days we didn’t have a tour, we’d head out on that motor scooter and just go wherever the road took us. After all, it was an island, so we couldn’t get lost. We saw places and things that most people probably didn’t back then. I remember we went through this little town, camp, wide place in the road. It was like visiting Mexico again. The children were running around naked, the homes were literally shacks, and there didn’t appear to be any running water or electricity. I was appalled that such places could exist in the U. S. of A.

          One day we got up and went to Makaha Beach where they held the surfing championships back then and maybe still do today. At one end of the bay, the big waves came in. As they moved down the bay, they became smaller so people like me who didn’t swim well could body surf or just be in the water. John spent most of the time on the beach while I spent it in the water. I know he enjoyed sitting there, covered with sun block and towels so he wouldn’t be burned and watching all the young women in their bikinis. I enjoyed people watching and playing in the water.

          By the end of the day, we had exhausted our supply of sun block. When we left the beach on our motor scooter, the sun was behind us and low in the sky. I didn’t think about getting a sunburn, but by the time we got to the hotel, the backs of my arms and calves were bright red. Oh my, this trip it was me saying, “Don’t touch my sunburn.”

Inside Diamond Head

          We also attended our very first outdoor concert. It was held in the bowl of Diamond Head. I cannot remember who was playing, but we enjoyed hiking through the tunnel and into the volcano basin. It was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

          You cannot go to Hawaii without going to a Luau. It was part of the tour package and we attended late one afternoon. The roasted pork was delicious although a trifle greasy. The poi was absolutely awful. We couldn’t imagine eating anything like that on a regular basis. John really enjoyed the young ladies dressed in Hawaiian attire. They danced the Hula and there was a group of young men who danced with fire sticks while music and drums were played by others. The young men were very handsome as well…I enjoyed watching.

          Of course, we were there for the new year. What an experience. Long before dark and midnight, people in the two adjacent hotels began throwing strings of fire crackers from their balconies. The space in between where we were acted like an echo chamber. This was in addition to all the other fireworks on the beach, in town, everywhere. Talk about noisy plus it went on almost the entire night. The following morning when we went out and about, there was red firecracker paper littering the sidewalks, streets and everything else. It looked as though it had snowed red during the night.

          We also experienced how it rains in the tropics.  One afternoon, we had to wait for a light to change so we could make a U-turn in order to reach the hotel. The sky opened up and it rained so hard you could barely see. We were drenched by the time the light changed, John turned the motor scooter and we went a quarter of a block to the hotel. There’s a photo of John pouring water out of his shoe although it might not be very clear. It rained like that most afternoons in Waikiki. It was great fun to be swimming in the pool or the ocean while being drenched by the rain. Then, the sun would come out and dry up everything.

John pouring water out of shoe

          Then, there’s the fruit. We discovered apple bananas. They tasted as though the banana had been soaked in apple juice…delicious. Haven’t seen them or had them since. The pineapple…oh yes, the fresh pineapple. My mother craved pineapple while she was pregnant with me, but you couldn’t get it. She said that’s why I liked it so much. I ate pineapple morning, noon and night, to the point the skin inside my mouth actually sloughed off.

          

          What a wonderful vacation that was. Family and friends picked us up at the airport and we enjoyed reiterating all out adventures to them. I wish I had been journaling back then because I know I’ve forgotten a lot of experiences and stories I could share now if I remembered them. While I may not have a journal, I do have some very bad photographs (wish I’d had a phone with a camera back then) and some wonderful memories of sharing Hawaii with John on our first trip there.