Testing out the improved Press This function of WordPress. I’m not comprehending it yet…
Rooted in sport and inspired by the runway, these men’s shoes give the ’90s style of the ZX 7000 modern fashion details like a high cut and a slick neoprene upper with leather and synthetic overlays. They ride upon a big chunky EVA outsole.
Source: Tubular Runner Shoes
How much time should you allot to tour the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park? You could stay a few short hours or even a few days, but my recommendation is to spend a full day in the park. The park’s web site has excellent planning information so be sure to review their links and trip planner. Essentially, there are two main tracks – the Crater Rim Drive tour and driving the Chain of Craters Road. Unfortunately, both routes have must-see attractions that you don’t want to skip. Get to the park as early as you can and even bring lunch along to enjoy at one of the sites. Better yet, stay at the Kilauea Military Camp inside the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to get a sunrise start.
Because of our travel plans, we split our park visit, but we still weren’t able to see everything we wanted. In one afternoon, we drove the entire 18.8 miles of the Chain of Craters Road, starting in the cold, lush rainforest of Kilauea then descending 3700 feet to arid, lava-covered plains reaching the Pacific Ocean. While there are ten identified stops on the Chain of Craters Road, we didn’t stop at most of them. In our limited time, we really wanted to see the Holei Sea Arch at the End of Chain of Craters Road and the petroglyphs. We did stop off at the Kealakomo Overlook, marked by the wooden platform that gives better scenic viewing. The overlook is about the halfway point to the end of Chain of Craters Road.
About this time, you start feeling the drastic change in weather. Gone is the chilly mountaintop weather with the car’s AC now doing the cooling. Finally, we reach the end with the awaited sights to take in. The Holei Sea Arch stands with the waves slowly eroding this natural wonder.
Further up the coastline, the continuous strike of the waves carves the next formation for future visitors.
The end of the road has a small snack bar along with a few restrooms which you should take advantage of before making the drive back. On the return trip, you can now do the hike to the Pu‘u Loa Petroglyphs. Don’t rush on this short but rocky trail and look for the stone markers to keep your bearing.
After a longer-than-expected 0.7 miles, you’ll come to the raised platform protecting the largest petroglyph field in Hawaii where you’ll see ancient images carved in stone.
After exploring the Chain of Craters Road, it’s time for the shorter Crater Rim Drive with its nine designated stops. Although the Kilauea Visitor Center is a good place to start, it doesn’t open until 9am. The park is technically open 24 hours a day so if you’re early, bypass the Visitor Center to see and feel the steam vents and steaming bluff.
Seemingly at every hour of the day, the steam rises as moisture evaporates due to the natural underground heat.
Park your car and crisscross the trails in the area. Don’t worry, there isn’t much of a sulphur odor.
Once you’ve inhaled enough steam, continue on to Kilauea Iki Overlook and imagine that huge crater overflowing with molten lava.
At the overlook, there’s a half-mile hike through the rainforest if you want to experience another type of habitat.
Stop #6 is the Thurston Lava Tube. How Mr. Thurston found this lava tube trekking through the rainforest is beyond me.
Sadly, we missed three stops on the Crater Rim Drive Tour. We couldn’t squeeze in a visit to the Jaggar Museum during their hours of operation. We tried to hike the Devastation Trail but was rained out, and we just didn’t have time for the Keanakakoi Crater hike. But given a half day, I think we could have sufficiently seen the sights of Crater Rim Drive. So yeah, one full day at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is the minimum amount of time I would plan for. If you want a more leisurely stay or want to explore all the stops, then you’d have to stay at least two days. Kids as well as adults will find different aspects of the park to enjoy, so it’s a great trip for the entire family.
By now, it’s no secret that Starbucks baristas like to mess with customers by feigning misunderstanding your name for your drink order. So when your drink for “Darthy” is called out, just be proud of your perceived lineage to the Dark Lord of the Sith.
This morning on Hammertime, Two Voice Tuesday took a slightly different direction with a creative challenge. The fan who proposed the most creative combination for Gregg Hammer would win a prize. Listen to the two finalists of a duet of David Ige and Linda Lingle or JrKJr’s sister as the Swedish Chef espousing fast food.
While the contest is for the most creative, I gotta give it to the duet. Oh, the image I used is from the Lilly Pulitzer line at Target that’s just a time reference.
File this under better late than never… Back in February 2015, Toyota unveiled their updated Camry line hashtagging it #BoldNewCamry. In Hawaii, Servco sponsored a social media tweetup where invited guests could check out the new Camry and even take a test drive around the Ward area. As a bonus, food was catered by Tango and games were hosted by familiar faces. The return favor for all of this was giving Toyota your impression of the bold, new Camry. Here’s just a sample of what was collected from the night. When you watch the video, listen to Gary N profusely lavish on about the bold new Camry, and you’ll see a tweet or two from me and @abaggy.
I must admit that the Camry does look great. It’s got style and high tech features like the integrated smartphone charger. Place your iPhone on the interior charging mat and it charges wirelessly during your commute. I rode in the four cylinder model that still had some decent pickup even with four passengers.
I like the aggressive look of the fascia and the styling of the front lights, atypical of a family sedan.
Truthfully, the Camry did impress, but at that time, I was looking for something roomier and with more swagger.
Here’s my favorite shot of the night.
And here are a few more pics from the #BoldNewCamryHI event.
Let the title of that crossover comic settle in for a moment, Archie vs Predator. Yes, that Archie. The red head with pals Jughead, Reggie, Betty, and Veronica. And yes, that predator. The cloaked alien that hunts in the heat of summer and rips out spines of its prey.
Yeah…
How do these comic cultures come together is beyond me, and that’s why this is a must buy comic series. Available in print or digital versions.
There will never be an end for the classic Potato Head line. New characters, old characters – they can all be Potato Heads. Here’s one I recently saw, Marvel’s Hulk
So thankfully, I missed it all. Heck, I didn’t even know about it but just happened to be at Target when the Lilly Pultizer collaboration released. Fashionistas had known about this day, lining up outside retail stores early in the morning or swarming Target.com. By the time, I was at the Target in Kailua, this is what remained of the Lilly clothing line.
Actually, when I first walked by the rack, it was completely barren. But seems like a few items made it back to the rack. In the back of the store, there was another section for home items, mostly towels at this point. Sorry no pictures, and sorry to the fans who missed out on the Target + Lilly line that supposedly is not being restocked.
Not sure if it was related, but the in-store Target guest wifi network wasn’t behaving as well. Once you connected to that network, Internet traffic was super slow and yes, Target.com and its app just would keep throwing errors. Taking a look at the hashtag of #LillyforTarget, you can still get a glimpse of the nationwide craziness and the unhappiness of empty handed shoppers. In the store, I felt compelled to move some of these pastel colored goza mats into the Lilly Pulitzer section just to see what would happen.
Looking at the Lilly line on-line, personally, I’m not sold. Oh, I’m definitely sold on the hype of the product line, loving and hating brands that can create enormous buzz (looking at Apple and Nike). For my tastes, I described the Target + Lilly line as “Easter Hawaiian,” meaning Hawaiian style prints in Easter pastel colors, but some items are eye catching.
But really who am I trying to kid? While I may not be a fan of the Lilly designs I saw, if there was a collaboration between Lilly Pulitzer and Nike, I’d definitely be open minded and would consider rocking the “Nike + Lilly.”
Forget the diversity and multi-cultural aspect of Apple’s recently released emoji set. That’s all politically nice, and all but the real appeal is the ability to increase your emoji mojo. Foot Locker is on it with their creation of quality shoemoji. Check out the stable of Air Jordans, and this is just the first screen of shoemoji.
Sadly, these shoemoji are only available in the Foot Locker mobile app and is sent as an image on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
More about shoemoji from the Bleacher Report.
The nostalgia of summers past is rolling out at Starbucks with their upcoming S’mores Frappuccino. Starting on April 28, 2015, Starbucks will inspire you with the nostalgic experience of roasting S’mores. That means that you’ll be sucking down:
marshmallow-infused whipped cream and milk chocolate sauce, a creamy blend of graham, coffee, milk and ice, then finished off with more mashmallowy whipped cream and a graham cracker crumble.
Not really a summer memory I can recall in Hawaii. Maybe if Starbucks made a rainbow shave ice inspired drink then I could relate more. But no matter, I’ll try one of these S’mores Frappuccino, especially since the Hammer signal was beaconing this morning. Although it was a bit too early for my radio listening, other Pulpy fans told me about reviewing this drink for one Gregg Hammer.
If you have too many personal electronic devices with chargers and cables strewn about your household then you too should look at Cove, an elegant home recharging center. Long time accessory builder, Griffin Technology, is expanding their lineup with Cove and is using Indiegogo to crowdfund this project. The Cove can charge up to five personal electronic devices at one time and not just iDevices. Any of your gear that charges with an USB cable is Cove compatible.
Learn about Cove…
Right now, there’s an early adopter special of $150 for a Cove for the next 48 hours. I admit that I’m intrigued by Cove, but I have two concerns. I don’t know where I would place a Cove in my household that’s close to an electrical outlet and second, I’m afraid I’ll forget devices in the Cove when the door is closed. But I do have this phone and that phone and that other phone, a GoPro, an external battery pack, a tablet, a mini tablet to charge…
If given the opportunity, staying at the Kilauea Military Camp (KMC) while on the Big Island is sure to be a memorable experience. However, you need to be affiliated with the Department of Defense in order to book KMC cottages. I’ll be honest here. Don’t expect luxury at KMC. It’s clean, it’s functional, all the amenities are there, and it’s inexpensive. The cottages have been remodeled over the years, but if you’ve been to the cabins at Bellows then you’ve experienced a typical KMC cottage. Again, nothing wrong, just keep things in perspective.
There are a variety of cottage configurations, generally offered in 1 to 3 bedroom setups. However, the kinds of bed in each cottage could vary. A one bedroom cottage could have one bed in the single bedroom along with a sofa bed in the living room, or there could be two beds and a sofa bed. It all depends. When calling to make a reservation, just explain your desired arrangement and the workers will try their best to accommodate.
Each cottage is equipped with heaters in each room (including the bathroom), and there’s a fireplace in the living area (you do have to pay/buy the Duraflame logs). And there’s good reason for this heat. Located 4000 feet up in a rainforest, the weather is much different than downtown Hilo. You can expect 20-degree temperature swings from 80 degrees in Hilo then 60 degrees (and colder) on Kilauea.
On location, there’s a general store that covers all your basic needs, laundry facilities, an bowling alley, and an arcade. Although we didn’t eat at KMC, there are dining facilities and a bar. I didn’t check out the Fitness Center, but I made good use of the free Wifi in our cottage. Parking is typically available right outside.
KMC is actually located inside of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, making it super easy to experience the national park’s attractions. You do need to pay a park entry fee, but it’s good for a week. Being inside the park has great advantages of fully exploring all the attractions and getting an early head start before all the visitors arrive. More about park’s attractions in my next post.
There are some things to consider before reserving your stay at KMC. Your plans and itinerary while on the Big Island matter. KMC is somewhat remotely located, about a 45-minute drive from Hilo. Most likely, you won’t be commuting between KMC and Hilo in a single day. Once you head out for the day, you’ll probably stay out. When you come back at night, drive carefully. As you drive further up the volcano, there are less and less street lights. Somewhat windy roads, single lanes, and poor lighting are challenges. Then there’s the rain. Yes, Kilauea is a rainforest. Clear skies could change to downpours very quickly. So add the factor of rain and slick roads to the other conditions, and you’ll be faced with this.
Overall, lodging at KMC is well worth it. There are activities around the area that can last a day or two, and really, it’s just amazing to see how different the climate of Kilauea is.
A few more pictures of the Kilauea Military Camp.