Hawaii: 1974

Going to Hawaii in August 1974 was like going to a foreign country then. It was incredibly beautiful because I had never been any place like this before. My new young wife then around 21 years of age had gone here with her High School Boyfriend for a year when she was 18 after they had graduated Berkeley High School across the bay from San Francisco. I met her about 3 years later in church after she had returned to the mainland after living in Hawaii for about a year with her boyfriend there. We had gotten together in the spring of 1973 and a year later we had a son born in may 1974. So, after a tumultuous year because having a child was sort of unexpected for her and neither of us were very prepared for something like this we had moved from San Marcos, California to Mt. Shasta California and finally we moved to Hilo, Hawaii where she and her boyfriend who called himself "Golden" and she called herself "Crystal" had moved to Hawaii from high school when they graduated in 1969. I had already graduated in 1966 so I was older and somewhat wiser by then at age 26 when my son was born(but not much). However, becoming a father was something I had always wanted because it would allow me to stay younger longer in sort of keeping the best parts of my childhood intact while raising my children to adulthood.

However, the reality of being a Father at 26 wasn't anything I actually expected. So I went from being worshipped by a lot of girlfriends to the reality of a wife that was young and beautiful, but to keep our marriage intact for my son was quite a job that I was barely ready for at age 26. Even though we eventually broke up while living again in Mt. Shasta in 1977 I was given custody of our son to raise because she was still not grown up enough to raise him at age 26. And that was just fine with me.

So, when we returned to Hawaii (for her) the first week I was there was the hottest most humid I had ever been in my life and I sort of thought I was going to die from the heat and the humidity. I was used to heat of 110 degrees or more in the Los Angeles and San Diego Areas but I had never had to deal with temperatures this high with humidity which for me was sort of a killer. So it took me about 1 week to learn how to not pass out in those humid high temperatures. I succeeded by not having to work the first week and by taking frequent cold showers and by putting ice cubes in a washrag and rubbing my forehead with them. Because most people did not have air conditioning in Hilo in 1974 and neither did the friends we were visiting. Within a few weeks we had rented our own house there and I had adjusted to the temperatures.

It still takes me about 2 days or more to adjust to the temperatures and humidity in Hawaii even though after I get used to it it feels like heaven there (from about November to April) when it is "High Season" for all of the Hawaiian islands (You might travel their cheaper if you go from May to October but it is warmer than you might expect (especially with the Humidity). Kauai is the coolest being the furthest North Island and Hawaii (the big island) is the warmest being the furthest south where I was in 1974.

I had sold my 1966 VW Bug that was Seablu in color and my grand piano that was a high school graduation gift from my parents in order to move to Hawaii. However, we only actually lasted about 3 months there because friends of mine from Alaska were rolling 1 foot diameter avocados from a tree in our yard from the roof to me and I was barefoot and I stepped on a piece of glass in the tall grass around our house that someone had left previous to us that I didn't know about so I needed 10 stitches in my right toe and anytime I stood up blood would flow out of my toe so I had to keep it up on a table to keep it from bleeding. This prevented me from working and soon we had to return to the mainland because of this because my wife had to take care of my son and couldn't work then.

But, she was also freaking out from the rats in the house that we had rented. She was freaking out that they were going to eat our son's face at night so I finally realized it was time to go because we had run out of money to be there.

I returned with my wife and son to the mainland because my father wanted me to work in a new mining business my uncle and he had started part time for them. So, I contacted my friend who is an architect with a degree from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and we went to work for my Dad and my uncle's business as working partners to the mining business.

While we were in Hawaii I rented a Datsun Car for the 3 months there. Because I wasn't certain we were going to be able to make it there financially. So, I had some inkling that we might only be there around 3 months when I rented this car.

We did a lot of amazing things like drive up to the top of Mt. Mauna Kea which is over 14,000 feet and people ski up there. We went to the Queen's Bath which now is under a lava flow but then you could swim in it and that was really fun. We went to Hapuna Beach at the north of the island and snorkled there and I got stung in my right foot with a scorpion there on the beach and couldn't really walk right for about 3 or 4 days.

I learned about Caimu (the Hawaiian name for Jesus) who walked across the ocean and up onto Kalapana Beach (not too far from where the lava comes out into the ocean at:

 

Kīlauea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kīlauea‎

Wikipedia

Kīlauea is a shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, the most active of the five volcanoes that together form the island of Hawaiʻi. Located along the southern ...

‎Geology - ‎Eruptive history - ‎Ecology - ‎Human history

My wife was telling me how Jesus had walked across the ocean there to visit the Hawaiians and shared with them much like he brought the Blue Corn to the Hopi Indians as well that could grow in the desert. Visiting Kalapana beach which wasn't a resort then I could feel this energy there of Jesus.

Hawaii in 1974 was a completely amazing experience and otherworldly in a variety of ways. Later, in 1989 I returned this time to Maui and lived there in 1989 with my 2nd wife and 3 of our children. The oldest decided to stay on the Mainland and finish in his high school there while living with his grandparents.

So, I have since my first experience been amazed by the Hawaiian Islands because they are like no other place on earth. They are about as far away from any other civilization than anyplace is on earth. So, it isn't hard to believe you are in heaven when you visit Hawaii (At least at first when you are still a tourist).

Even now all these years later I still love to visit Hawaii because there really is no place like it on earth.

I think the Hawaiian Islands and Paris, France (each in their own way) are amazing playgrounds for adults.

My wife told me we were going to Paris and I got angry (because I had never been there). So, I was completely surprised at what a playground for adults Paris was. From the Eiffel Tower to the River Seine with bridges across and Ferry boats traveling up and down it to the Louvre and all the historical art throughout the older parts of the city, Paris is also a playground for adults like Hawaii is too(just not tropical). If you go to Paris don't forget to visit Versailles which is another historical playground for adults as well (but mostly rich ones in history).