Where was I?

I took a wonderful vacation to Hawaii.  I have to recommend it.  We took Norweigan Cruise Line's 7-day cruise around the Hawaiian Islands.  It is the best way to see a lot of Hawaii.  You spend the night on the boat and take excursions, or just tour on your own, each day.  We then spent a few extra days in Kona on the Big Island so that we could go to the top of Mauna Kea to see the observatories.  There are 13 or so different observatories - including one from Japan and one from a French and Canadian consorium.  The mountain is over 13,000 feet - we saw snow!  The road up is a bit rough.  The Saddleback Road to Mauna Kea was built very quickly by the U.S. Army to move materiel across the island during WWII.  It hasn't been improved very much.

Hawaii really has a different culture than the mainland.  I felt like it was more ? than here.  Most people we met that were born and raised in Hawaii were a mixture of races and cultures.  And everyone sounded the same - Hawaiian.

It was a wonderful trip, now back to the books!

Bon Voyage!