Pops and I hit the soggy trail today and made our way to the northern tip of the island. We visited the towns of Hawi (pronounced ha-vee) and Kapa'au, then Pololu Valley lookout. As you can see, it was a spectacular day at Pololu. I vowed to return soon to hike to the black sand beach at the bottom, a task my dad is not really up to these days. As we passed through Kapa'au, I pointed out the statue of King Kamehameha and noted that he was born here, near Hawi. Dad looked at the sculpture, then said, "I thought he was fatter.""Fatter?" I asked.
"Well he's fat in the movie," he said.
"What movie?" I asked.
"Well, in all those movies the king of the natives is always fat," he said.
"So there's no specific movie, just movies in general when you've seen a king on some island?"
"Yeah," he says. My dad isn't one to dwell on the detailed accuracy of history. The other day on the phone, he tried to tell me that Dwight Eisenhower "invented" the military industrial complex.
"He didn't invent it," I said, "he warned of it's power. There's a big difference."
"No, that was Truman. Eisenhower invented it."
Much like Al Gore invented the Internet, no doubt.
There's no good that can come out of an argument like this, so I craftily changed the subject.
I'm guessing the "movie" he was thinking of upon seeing the Kamehameha statue today was actually an old rerun of Gilligan's Island.
We ate creamy and delicious cones at Tropical Dreams in Hawi. I enjoyed coconut. He savored Tahitian vanilla.
I love Kapa'au. I want to live there. They have everything you need; small grocer, a couple of restaurants, shops, theater and a hardware store. At Hawi and Kapa'au, the feel of old Hawaii (pronounced ha-vy-ee) is alive and well. Unfortunately, real estate there is a little out of my price range. OK, it's a lot out of my price range. But hey, a girl can dream....
On our way home, we stopped to pick up some tasty Thai food in Hilo Town. While we waited for our order, we walked around the block. That's one single block. During that achingly slow stroll, he complained that I was working him too hard.
"I thought you said you were suppose to exercise?" I said.
"This isn't helping. This is just going to make my legs sore tomorrow. They're cramping up now," he whined. Mind you, we were barely moving over a flat surface. I felt like I was shuffling along with Tim Conway as the old man.
"But you have to start sometime. Why not now?"
No answer. Just some giant, exhaustive sighs and a few hacks. Then he lit a cigarette. Alrighty then....
Truth be told, however, it was a really nice day with dad.
We returned to Glenwood in the driving rain.
The Buddha rama, Pad Thai, masaman and summer rolls were totally onolicious to da max, cuz!
A hui hou. Aloha!
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