Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> Gene,
> Did you get to walk through a lava tube???Did you see the bamboo  
> that seemed a mile high?  Did you go to the southeran most tip of  
> the island and see all the "not in use" windmils and the trees  
> growing at right angles from the wind?  Spent almost a month on the  
> big Island in 2002 and you brought back all the memories.  The  
> farmers market was a gardeners dream.  Did you try any of the  
> street corner Huley, huley chicken???
> Did you snorkle among the beautiful fish?  Did you go on a whale  
> watch or had they left already?
> Jeanne

Yeah, you have been there.

In addition to the dripping but tourist popular Thurston Lava Tube in  
the active volcano area I saw several other tubes and caves that  
resulted from lava tube construction. The eerily wooded Puako  
petroglyph area has a low cave that is the result of a tube. A few  
hundred yards to the south, on the way to the fish ponds, one walks  
through an area of many collapsed tubes. One with a good roof was no  
doubt used as a home as it is of adequate height and has through  
ventilation and a flat floor. The formation of lava tubes is unique.  
For those curious, a thick layer of lava flows to the sea, at some  
point the top layer cools sufficiently to solidify while the hot  
stuff continues to flow below, the flow stops because the volcano  
stops belching or the flow is diverted, and the hot stuff continues  
to flow and empty out the tube as it slides into the sea. Everything  
cools down and a long tube has been formed. Much later, thin roofs  
collapse, making the tubes accessible. Some tubes originating high in  
the mountains carry rainwater and create freshwater springs near the  
sea. Such areas are often identified by small palm groves.

Huley chicken? Didn't see or smell any of that. Farmers market  
vendors were happy to provide samples of seductive fruit, though.  
High bamboo, yep. Banyon trees that grow to the sky and full of  
flowering vines. Avoided the extreme south end where the big-money  
boys built it and the condo buyers did not come. Maybe the wind is  
the reason.

I no longer snorkel. I have enough memories of that in Japan to  
satisfy. Whales, yes, lots of them. Chris started watching them with  
the binocs when we were going through Lapakahi State Hist. Park, the  
600-year-old village south of Kawaihae Harbor. She was so taken by  
them that I finally walked back to the car and left her there.  
Fortunately she became tired of holding up the binocs.