Hawaii, part three (December 2016)

Happy solstice (a day late), and welcome to the final part of my Christmas 2016 trip to Hawaii. (For part one, click here). My final day on Maui was spent at Haleakala National Park. Haleakala is the volcano that makes up about 75% of the island of Maui. I did some hiking around at the top; unfortunately, and for reasons I don’t remember, I didn’t take many pictures. But I did get these…note the elevation in the first pic. It will come up again later in the story.

At the end of the day, I headed back to the Kahului airport, to catch a flight back to Honolulu. Like my morning in Honolulu a week earlier, I had two roller bags with me: one to check, and one carry-on. Having to pull a bag with each hand was (again) a bit awkward, so I was (again again) aware that I was walking a bit clumsily, but I (again)³ did not expect what happened next…

Cedric’s PD Is Blatantly Obvious, Exhibit C:

Having seen me struggling with my two bags, the woman working at the baggage check counter asked me if I’d like a wheelchair to get me to my gate. This time I was inedible. Sorry…incredulous. I felt like saying, “Look, lady! Just a couple hours ago, I was hiking rough, rocky terrain at an elevation of over 10,000 feet! I don’t need no steenking wheelchair!” But instead, I simply declined the wheelchair. She still gave me Pre-Board status, but (again) I wasn’t going to refuse that.

I realized later that this day had been the perfect illustration of one of the weirder aspects of Parkinson’s Disease (PD): many PD sufferers have difficulty walking on flat level surfaces (like in an airport lobby), but have no trouble at all walking on rough terrain (like rocky/rooty hiking trails) or up/down steep slopes or stairs, and can still jog or even sprint for short distances. See this video for an amazing example of this weirdness.

After landing at Honolulu and picking up my rental car, I drove to my high-rise hotel downtown. I arrived at the hotel lobby, once again pulling both bags. By now, you may be able to guess where I’m going with this…

Cedric’s PD Is Blatantly Obvious, Exhibit D:

When I checked in at the hotel, I was given a “wheelchair accessible” room. In this case, they didn’t even ask – just gave it to me. And it’s a good thing I didn’t actually need it, because I put the phrase “wheelchair accessible” in quotes for a reason. This hotel room was cramped! So much so, that the door couldn’t open all the way. I really don’t think a wheelchair could have even gotten through the door, much less maneuvered around the room. I wish I had taken some photos of the room, but I didn’t. The next morning, I did get a few pictures of the view from the room…

For my first full day on Oahu, I headed to the southeast corner of the island, then drove north along the coast, stopping at a few points of interest along the way. My first stop was Waimanalo Beach. This is a large and scenic beach. The water and air temperatures were wonderful, and the water’s viscosity was just right! Near the parking lot, this beach was rather crowded. Fortunately, the beach is four miles long, so if you wanna do some walking, you can find uncrowded stretches. Once I found an uncrowded area, I played in the sand and water for awhile, then snapped the pictures below before moving on.

My next stop was Waiāhole Beach, so have some more photos…

And finally, the ruins of a sugar mill…

From the dead sugar mill, I backtracked a little to reach the fabled Hawaiian Interstate Highway system, which cuts across the interior of the island to Honolulu. The next morning, I hiked the Manoa Fall Trail on the outskirts of Honolulu. In addition to the pics below, I took video of the falls. However, I did not have a tripod with me and (as previously mentioned) the PD was acting up on this trip, so all my attempts at video on this trip look like they were shot by Spasticus Autisticus.

On my back from Manoa Falls to my Final Hawaiian Destination, I had stop for a stop sign. That doesn’t mean what you think it means. I mean I had to stop to photograph a stop sign. Y’see, for some reason, Honolulu is The Land of Blue Stop Signs.

My Final Hawaiian Destination was the Halona Blowhole. I took video of the blowhole, but again, all my videos from this trip sucked. I didn’t manage to get any still photos of the blowhole, but there was plenty more to see in the surrounding environs. Check it out…