Today’s guest post is from Mary Jo Manzanares, Travel & Culture Channel Editor, and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe. 

If you watched the NFL Pro Bowl over this past weekend, you got a glimpse of Oahu, Honolulu, and the Waikiki area. It’s very tempting to think of the island as one of sun, sand, surf, sunbathing, and adult beverages. All that would be true, of course, but there is another side to Hawaii, a side full of history, culture, and reverence.

On my recent trip to Honolulu, I had the opportunity to enjoy both aspects of island life, and today’s post touches on a more serious side of island life.

Overlooking the city of Honolulu, is the extinct volcano Punchbowl Crater, home to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, frequently referred to as Punchbowl Cemetery, or simply the Punchbowl.

In addition to its tremendous views of the city, Waikiki, Diamond Head, and Pearl Harbor, the Punchbowl is the final resting place for veterans of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. During holidays, the individual graves are decorated with small flags, making a sobering view.

Marble slabs called the Courts of the Missing list the names of military personnel who are missing in action or who were lost or buried at sea (in photo above). At the base of the staircase leading up to the Courts of the Missing reads the following inscription:

In these gardens are recorded

the names of Americans

who gave their lives

in the service of their country

and whose earthly resting place

is known only to God

The Punchbowl was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The Punchbowl is located at 2177 Puowaina Drive, Honolulu (map it), and is open daily. Visiting hours are 8 am – 5:30 pm, September 30th – March 1st, and until 6:30 pm, March 2nd – September 29th. On Memorial Day, visiting hours are 7 am – 7 pm. There is no charge to visit.

There is no charge to visit.

The Punchbowl is accessible by car, and a number of tour companies make it a scheduled stop on their itineraries. I much prefer the solitude of a personal visit, rather than visiting with a gaggle of others, who are sometimes unappreciative of the reverence that should be demonstrated while visiting. There is an e-tour available for those unable to visit in person.

Photo credit

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Post from: The Hawaii Traveler

Honolulu’s Bishop Museum offers the natural and cultural history of Hawaii’s indigenous people.   Founded in 1889 by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last heir to Kamehameha I, you’ll find artifacts and exhibits representative of all the Pacific Islands.

A couple of my favorite highlights are the Science on a Sphere exhibit and the Science Adventure Center.

• Science on a Sphere is a 68 inch, 200 pound fiberglass sphere suspended from the ceiling.  It serves as a sort of 3-D movie, displaying full color, satellite and animated images.  You can watch a hurricane forming, a dust storm, violent solar storms, or any number of phenomenon occurring on our planet or in space.
• The Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center is focused on helping visitors understand the environment of the islands.  You’ll find exhibits and research on such diverse topics as volcanology, oceanography, ecology and biodiversity.  The Hawaiian Origins Tunnel was fun, but nothing tops the walk-through volcano!  And for another view of the volcano, climb up to the tree house and get a birds-eye view of it erupting.

The Bishop Museum is also home to Hawaii’s Sports Hall of Fame, honoring athletic excellence of islanders.

The museum is located at 1525 Bernice Street in Honolulu, and is open daily (except for Christmas) 9 am – 5 pm.  Admission if $15.95 for adults, $12.95 for seniors (65 and older) and youth (ages 4-12), children under 4 are free.  Special rates for local residents and military personnel, and their guests.  On-site parking is available.

I’d recommend allowing around two hours for a visit.

Photo credit:  flickr

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Post from: The Hawaii Traveler

One of the higlights of a trip to Honolulu is a visit to the USS Arizona Memorial.

Located at Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona Memorial honors the site where World War II began for the United States. The memorial was dedicated in 1962, and is the water gravesite for 1,102 crew members who were killed in the December 7th, 1941 bombing.

The memorial was designed to span the hull of the battleship, without ever touching it. The structure is 184 feet long, with two peaks at each end, with a sag in the middle of the structure. The sag is deliberate, and Alfred Preis, the memorial designer, sums it up like this:

“Wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat and ultimate victory… The overall effect is one of serenity. Overtones of sadness have been omitted to permit the individual to contemplate his own personal responses… his innermost feelings.”

The ship’s HUGE anchor is displayed at the entrance to the visitor center, and it is here that you begin your journey through the exhibits and memorial. At the visitor center are a variety of historical exhibits and artifacts, and a documentary film about the Pearl Harbor attack is shown. As I looked around the theater area, I saw visitors representative of countries around the world, including many elderly Japanese tourists. I couldn’t help but wonder how they felt after viewing the documentary. What stories had they been told, or experiences that they lived through, about the attack. I wondered how their view of history compared and contrasted with mine.

Following the film, visitors are transported by boat to the memorial. At the entry to the memorial, you pass by two bells that were on the USS Arizona, and the enter the central assembly room. This area features seven open windows on walls and ceiling to commemorate the date of the attack. An opening in the floor overlooks the sunken decks of the Arizona, and it is from this location that visitors can pay their respects by tossing flowers and leis into the water. The oil that still seeps from the wreckage is sometimes referred to as “black tears” or “the tears of the Arizona.”

At the far end of the memorial is a marble wall shrine, behind velvet ropes, that lists the names of all those killed on the Arizona. It stands as a reminder to the very human cost of the attack, and that the beauty of the memorial is overshadowed by the solemnity and respect due to those buried in the water below.

The USS Arizona Memorial is open daily, from 7:30 am – 5 pm. Tickets are free, and issued on a first come, first served basis. During peak tourist times it can get quite crowded, as it is a stop on many organized tours. My recommendation is to visit during off-peak travel periods, or first thing in the morning before the tour buses arrive. Allow about an hour and a half to see everything.

Post 9/11 security regulations are in effect, and no purses, backpacks, camera bags, diaper bags, etc., are allowed in the visitor center or on the Memorial tour. Personal cameras are allowed. There is no baggage storage available, so leave them at home, in your hotel room, or in your car trunk.

The memorial is about a 45-minute drive outside of Waikiki, and is also accessible by Honolulu bus system. The #20 and #42 bus will take you to the Visitor Center.

Post from: The Hawaii Traveler

Located on a nine-acre campus above the University of Hawaii-Hilo, with spectacular views, the center, formerly known as Maunakea Astronomy Education Center, is where families and students from all walks of life explore the connections between Hawaiian cultural traditions and the science of astronomy.

Visit BigIsland.org for maps and driving directions to the Hilo area and its many attractions.

Photo by  Flickr Creative Commons by MGShelton

Post from: The Hawaii Traveler

Cleopatra, or Cleo as she was known, was the Honolulu Zoo’s resident old timer, and in fact was the second oldest hippopotamus in captivity in the U.S.  During her tenure there, she became fast friends with just about everyone, including a young hippo that she adopted as her own.  But Cleo was suffering under the burdens of old age, and at 3,500 pounds, she was unable to stand on her own.  A zoo veterinarian put her to sleep last Saturday at the age of 52.

Cleo’s body will be sent to a university lab for research and study. Thanks, Cleo, for being an important part of Hawaii’s science, education, and culture scene.   You will be missed.
Photo by Flickr–Creative Commons, by duluoz_cats

Post from: The Hawaii Traveler

• Museums–The Hawaiian cultural experience is the richest on Oahu, but there are usually small exhibits and “ad hoc” museums on every island, if not in a designated spot, then at hotels and resorts.
• Libraries–Getting something good to read while you wait it out doesn’t have to be expensive. Hang out at a library, not just for the books, but because librarians are a wealth of information about what else there is to do during your stay.
• Botanical gardens–Most public and botanical gardens have at least a few indoor areas, and are beautiful, fragrant places to spend time.
• Indoor tours–Home Tours Hawai’i is a culinary tour of the Big Island, but if you consider homes on wheels, there’s also a motor home tour of Oahu that sounds interesting and totally unique.  Upcountry Maui is also a great place to take self-guided tours of arts studios.
• Make something–with arts and crafts studios cropping up everywhere, it’s easy, even on-island, to find a place to let your inner artist out, even if it doesn’t want to get wet.
• Go up–Getting high in Hawaii, so to speak, is easy, because each island is situated around one or more volcanoes. Drive to the highest place on the island, and you might just find yourself above it all.
• Eat–While you may already be stuffed, take the opportunity to eat someplace you wouldn’t ordinarily go. Try something you wouldn’t ordinarily try, like the ox tail soup a Kaua’i diner serves for breakfast, or Spam sushi.
• Helicopter rides–Depending on how severe the weather is, a helicopter service may cancel all flights; however, call to get the scoop. The rain may actually free up a charter service’s schedule.
• Water parks–one way to ignore the rain is to get wet, at your own discretion.
• Hotels and resorts–Take a tour of the grand, sprawling resorts in your neck of the rainforest.
• Play centers–take the kids to an indoor playground or learning center, and make new friends to boot.
• Spas–a no-brainer, for anyone, anytime.
• Take a drive–Get out the map and point. Remember the saying, “No rain, no rainbows?” Rainbow hunting in gray conditions ought to be easy.
• Get out of Dodge–Check the weather and visit another island. If you’re on Maui or Oahu, you can take a ferry. If you’re elsewhere, you may have to take an interisland flight.
• Malls–Not only can you shop and grab a shave ice or ice cream, you might catch a free show while you’re there and do some people-watching.
• See a movie–Either by renting one, or going to a theater.
• Take in some live music–It’s everywhere on the islands; walk or drive to the nearest cluster of shops or restaurants, and listen for the slack key guitar.
• Go out anyway–When was the last time you went singing in the rain? Most of us don’t have the gills it takes to weather a week of exposure to the elements, but an hour or two could be fun. Just make sure, if you decide to swim, that conditions are safe.

Post from: The Hawaii Traveler

 If you think Kona’s just about the coffee, consider also its grapes.  For one, The Volcano Winery at the 30 mile marker in Volcanoes makes award winning wines that can’t be had anywhere but in the great state of Hawaii.  (For a list of states to which you can have wine shipped, check out the rates and availability here.)

Attend a tasting, or just take a tour. And when your friends ask you how it tastes, tell them, “Like chicken.” Gets ‘em every time.

Photo by Flickr–Creative Commons, by jesiehart

Post from: The Hawaii Traveler

Arguably none of them stayed and savored the islands like Mark Twain, however,  who has been touted as penning some of the best travel writing about Hawaii that’s ever been written. Not to ignore the greats, however, Jack London wrote a glorious piece on his island experiences in the late 1800s.  And then James Michener wrote the novel Hawaii in the late ’50s.  Wow.

Not as in, “Wow, that’s a great book,” but as in, “Wow, James Michener’s blue pencil must be broken.”  Just as a hint, he covers about 4 bazillion years of Hawaii’s history, starting with the first volcanic eruption that mothered the islands themselves, and ending with a discussion of what Tom Selleck’s favorite hair care products were while filming Magnum P.I. episodes. I joke.

And now you can sleep where they slept and hang out where they hung out. (The famous authors, not Tom Selleck.)

Volcano House hotel  Back when Twain stayed here, it was a primitive hostel, not the grand structure it is today. Crater-view rooms start at about $200/night. Call ahead, however, and ask about the vog before you go. The volcanoes area on the Big Island has been evacuated this year due to active lava flow reducing air quality to dangerous levels.

The Namakani Paio campground is three miles away in a grove of towering koa, ohia and eucalyptus trees. The Volcano House runs cabins there that you can get for about $50 a night. (Bathrooms and hot showers are separate there.)

See the monkeypod tree in Waiohinu (look for the sign), planted by Twain himself.  You’ll find the Shirakawa Motel (808-929-7462) just down Highway 11.

He’s not a best-selling author, but he was the king. (Long before Elvis came.) And he slept on the grounds of the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel (800-367-6060)  It was, after all, his capital.

Elvis really did sleep at The Cocoa Palms Hotel on Kaua’i, along with lots of other celebs from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s.  (And I’ve slept there too. Tell your friends!)  Unfortunately, you can’t sleep there anymore.  Hurricane Iniki wiped the place out in the ’90s, and it was never restored to its previous splendor.  Ask your resort concierge or ask around about taking a walking tour through the property.

Post from: The Hawaii Traveler

Do you love Hawai’i, rainbows, drive in restaurants, and good red chili? Me too.  That’s why whenever I’m in Honolulu, I set up camp at the Rainbow Drive In.  The Rainbow’s been around since 1961, when a former Army cook and restranteur joined forces to provide working folks and the Waikiki crowd with good food at good prices. (And did I mention the chili?) If you’re the no-frills type, you’ll love it, too.  Try the mixed plate!

Rainbow Drive In
Address: 3308 Kanaina Ave
Honolulu
Phone: 808-737-0177

Photo by Flickr–Creative Commons, by bobster1985

Post from: The Hawaii Traveler

If you grew up near water, you might consider the rope swing de rigeur for summertime frolicking and fun.  And rightly so; nothing says “rite of passage” and “finding your inner Tarzan” like a good rope over a cool, natural body of water. (Hope it’s deep, too.)  That’s why if you’re a traveler who’s rope swing literate, you’ll love Kipu Falls on Kaua’i.  If you’re lucky, some locals will be there to give you the best high diving show on the island.  Disappointment alert:  The swing isn’t always there. Authorities periodically cut it down, only to find that someone has replaced it.   Regardless, the views and the atmosphere are spectacular.

How to Get There:
Take Highway 50 west from Lihu’e. One mile past Puhi, at Mile Marker #3, turn left on Kipu Road. At the ‘Y’, bear to the right. Turn left on the dirt road just before the bridge. Park your car on the road, by the metal gate, and walk downstream on the path for a short distance, to the waterfall.

Messages From the Mom in Me, or, Buzzkill Alert:

• Don’t leave valuables in your car.
• Don’t dive off the rocks; the rope swing is adventurous enough for the uninitiated.
• Wear shoes, even if you’re just there to watch and take pictures; the rocks along the edges of the cliff are sharp.
• It’s possible for leptospirosis to live in fresh water streams.  Even I pay little heed to these types of issues, but if you do begin to feel flu-like symptoms within 4-14 days afterward, seek medical attention immediately, making sure to mention your whereabouts.

Post from: The Hawaii Traveler