Never been in there, but I shall check and let you know.

Hey, this is fun! Maybe we'll find other places you haven't been! what about the angel shop - that intrigued me. We have a teddy bear shop in Henley, and i haven't been in there either, just keep driving past it.

Never went into the angel shop and just noticed it once out the corner of my eye. Hafta check it out, too. These places are down in the old part of town where if the termites don't hold hands, the entire place will fall down. They are little home grown holes in the wall and tend to be pricey and more for the hippy sort than I tend to be.... I'll let you know what I discover. This IS fun!

Now if only they did the same sorta thing for HW!!!! Just think what you'd find for me to go and look at!!! (the teddy bear shop is like that too, it's in an elizabethan building, you'd like it - but not the prices)

We'll have to cook up some more things for you to check out, Marcia. You're like our very own Hawaiin remote module, so we're sending you to the hippie section now, be sure to wear flowers in your hair.

I hear you - and plenty of beads... My digital camera till tell the tale along with my words. What fun. Warning - this is NOT gonna be the prettiest part of Hilo, let alone the Island of Hawaii... But you will see interesting people there if I can pry them out of the woodwork. The area is not safe at night, btw.

Sounds like a day trip then. Be careful. It will be interesting to see the inside of the cybercafe. That's great you're putting up all these visuals.

Yeah, go for it!!

I will be accompanied by my driver who is a pretty burly guy considering his antiquity. I'll be ok. Wonder if they are open on Holidays...

Go look for us!! (is it that unsafe??? go carefully too)

Only unsafe at night when the shops close and the druggies gather at a park nearby. There was a knifing there not long ago...

Oh, HW is like that too!!! That's why we get nervous about H coming home late at night from work in town.

On a slightly different tack, check this one out Marcia. http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/photogal/statesoils/hi_soil.htm

Have you been here before either? http://www.weatherunderground.com/US/HI/Hilo.html

Maggie! Only you would/could find a webpage with Hilo's soil profile on it. In the classic instance of what truly definies top soil, we have none here. It is all to new. The best is what everyone else thinks of as subsoil and as such needs much nutrient additives introduced during the growing season. It IS interesting, though... In one of my very first posts in Gewo's wx (weather) topic (14) I specified Wunderground as the one which was the engine running my dektop programs such as wetsock and WinWeather, both of which are up and running on my desktop. Thanks for reminding us and for zeroing in on Hilo!

*grin*!!!

Where in Hawaii is Marcia today?

*sigh* in the corner of my bedroom at the computer crunching SETI data (on my 5th block of it). Will see if I can't get out tomorrow. Gotta get on the driver's schedule and be able to be in a confined space with him...but tomorrow is special and I should be able to do whatever I want!

Yeah - go for it!!! (and please, please, please let it be a lovely day!)

If I don't have to spend the day alone! Thanks!!! I'd love to show you the volcano, too. It is erupting nicely!!!

waiting patiently ....

so am I but not all that patiently. Fluid lava is only visible from the air right now.....*sigh* (I'm cleaning bathroom and hanging new shower curtain and doing other Domestic Goddess things around here)

So, you didn't get to out for your birthday?

Dinner... But I did have fun on the internet *grin* I removed "online romance" off my favorites list

Sheesh - and removed my grammar as well... Man, it's been quiet since I became proper again - but what an adventure! Think it is not over yet... I have been added to 10 or 20 people's lists and I do not recall any women... Hmmmm...

BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARCIA!

Thank you Dear......*HUGS*

Put this in springark, but it sorta fits here too: any whale watching tales Marcia??? SING OUT LOUD, SING OUT LONG Some male humpback whales lengthened their songs while others ceased to sing altogether when exposed to low-frequency sonar tests off the coast of Hawaii in 1998, suggesting that sonar transmissions by the U.S. Navy could disrupt whale breeding and cause other behavioral changes, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. On average, the whales' songs were 30 percent longer than normal, a strong shift given that the sonar was tested at less than full strength, said Patrick Miller, lead study author and a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Still, he said the researchers didn't notice any "extreme reactions" in the whales such as breaching. Many environmentalists are calling on the Navy to end some of its uses of sonar, saying that it can disorient and killwhales. straight to the source: BBC News, 06.22.00 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_801000/801458.stm

(I think you lost the remote control, Terry, Marcia hasn't posted any pix!!! *grin*)

Have not gotten together with the Master (otherwise known as "wheels") but camera is ready to roll. Been sidetracked for a short while. Gotta get out and take pix... Yup! Lots of Whale-watching tales from my former life....when I had a Real Life

Jeffrey Field, also known as "fatty moon", recently visited Hawaii, some excerpts and the web address. http://www.noresistance.com/mystic.html I had absolutely no desire to go to Hawaii. Hawaii is the name of the Big Island. Hawaii is also the name of the seven islands which comprise our 50th state. The Big Island is, well, big. Twice as large as all the other islands combined. About the size of Connecticut. You won't find Diamond Head, or Honolulu, or Waikiki, or Pearl Harbor on the Big Island. They're located on O'ahu. The Big Island has something for everyone. Twenty of the 22 climatological areas are located here (everything but the sub-Sahara and the tundra.) Ice and snow to dripping rain forests - you name it and you'll find it on the Big Island. But I'm not here to describe our physical trip. I'm going to tell you about the trip behind the trip. . . . and there's more on this website from fattymoon@well.com, who occasionally visits Spring.net.

Cross posted from Geo 17 (http://www.volcano-hawaii.com/petroglyphs.htm) Petroglyphs:Ancient Hawaiian Rock Art Want to get a true picture of the history of Hawai'i? You can learn a lot from Hawaiian petroglyphs - ancient rock carvings that tell stories about early life on the islands. The Hawaiian petroglyphs is a great mystery of the Pacific. No one knows who made them or why, but it seems that perhaps ordinary people, not artists, etched the linear and triangular figures into the pahoehoe lava. These graphic carvings, more than 3,000 of them, were probably made as part of ritual or prayer and speak of spiritual phenomena - mana. Upon approaching a petroglyphs field, a wonderful cast of characters leap to life. There are dancers, paddlers, fishermen, and family groups. Turtle, dog, ship and horse symbols are also depicted, as well as fish hooks, spears, poi pounders and canoes. There are 135 different petroglyphs sites on six inhabited islands, but most of them are found on the Big Island of Hawai'i.

Take a virtual tour of Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden http://www.htbg.com/tour/index.html Beautiful flower pix, some take a bit of a time to load though ..

I'll be interested in your and Marcia's comments on Jeffries fascinating travelougue.

*Whew* I had forgotten to look in here for a while. Yup! The Big Island is the magnificent stepchild of the Hawaiian Islands. We are 4000 square miles in size and growing even as I write this. Wow! I am amazed at the wonderful posts. Sprin5...Thanks!!! You did more for my morale in those comments. This is a unique and most diverse landmass probably acre for acre than anywhere else in the world. We have enven had glaciation on the highest peaks! You will be seeing pix soon - my son and his fiancee are arriving next month to introduce her to volcanoes, Hawaii and all the rest. I will tag along for some of the journeys to discovery and have my digital with me. I can hardly wait!!! Maggie, how could I forget Petroglyphs??!! I have hiked across the burning lava and barren deserts here to seek them out. I'll post pictures of them - a few in here and a few in Geo 17. Thanks all for your interest. I am delighted and cannot wait to read the rest of the comments in those enticing URLs. Mahalo!

(I posted that in Geo too!!!!!!) Looking forward to the pix

Found another virtual Hawaiian tour. The video clip isn't really worth the download (IMHO) but the photo tours of the islands are nice ...and the volcano pix. (Marcia I've forwarded a few of the HILO pix for you...!) Here's the Big Island URL http://satftp.soest.hawaii.edu/space/hawaii/all.bi.vfts.html This is just for Kilauea and has Hilo pix http://satftp.soest.hawaii.edu/space/hawaii/vfts/kilauea/kilauea.vfts.html

Here's the URL for all the Hawaiian islands virtual tour http://satftp.soest.hawaii.edu/space/hawaii/virtual.field.trips.html

Thanks Maggie!!! Wish you could hear it. Smell it. It is amazing over here!

One day.......!

I read this account of the housing ordeal in Hawaii. True? We recently sold our condo north of Lahaina and have been facing the ordeal of trying to find a place to live in west Maui. We were willing to take just about anything, since it's only a transitional move for about a year while we build a house, but damn!--what a nightmare! We ran an ad daily for a month in the local paper, and didn't get a single bite (except for a room in a cane house in Lahaina--shower out back). Finally, through word of mouth, we managed to nail down an ohana (cottage)--I don't think it's bigger than 400 square feet--unfurnished, for $1200 a month. It will be tight quarters for about a year. What's a cane house?

Cane house? I am guessing that it is a house built for workers by the sugar cane companies way back when - they are all alike and tiny bungalow style houses with the amenities at a bare minimum (but did not realize the shower was outdoors!) Lahina is a happenin' place with lots of artists and pricey eateries and galleries all over the place on Maui. Maui is expensive anymore and local people usually do not afford it. Sad! We used to go to Maui for a week each summer just to get away... and now that is no longer affordable!

As to your original question, prices of land / houses on all islands is unbelievable. This nisland is not so bad because we are huge by comparison. Yes, it is very likely true! For around Lahina

She's real nice! Congratulations Hawaii!

There she is.....Mis America...! And UH football won their first game the same evening...and UHHilo won our first volleyball game of the season. It was a great weekend. Thanks for posting her! Lovely lady and most representative of the population!

Did you make it to any Halloween celebrations in Hawaii, Marci? Do they make a big deal of it?

Hawaii makes a big deal of it for kids. Like clockwork, at 8pm all disappear back to from whence they came. If your porch light is not on, they do not bother you. It is fun. Lots of the schools and malls have events to occupy the kiddies, too. One year I was a judge and one little kid came dressed as a swamp monster covered entirely - excepting for his feet and ankles - in Spanish Moss. He (I think it was male) won, of course! We remained home since there was no game at the univesity. Had there been I would have made spiders and other lovely things to give to my friends after they had adorned the T-shirt stand for the evening. And, I would have had a stock of candy to last me into the NEXT millennium...! How was your part of Austin?