Welcome to our Hawaii 1999 album. Rather than give you a boring blow by blow narrative of the trip, I've opted to skip the missing bag and plane delay episodes and concentrate on a couple of the places and activities we really enjoyed. 
We left for Hawaii from L.A. (a stopover point) on Sunday, June 20th and returned from Maui to Philly on Thursday July 8th.
We didn't photograph everything in sight since this was our third trip to the islands.
I have included a list of our major activities in case you want any travel advice or just want to share experiences.
The album is broken down by island and there is also a photo thumbnail page for those who want to skip the verbage and just look at the pictures.
Overview links
- Big Island overview
- Garden Island overview
- Gathering Place overview
- Valley Island overview
Detail album pages
- Hawaii 1999 album overview
- The Big Island (Hawaii)
- The Garden Island (Kauai)
- The Gathering Place (Oahu)
- The Valley Island (Maui)
- Just the pictures -- combined
Those activities marked with an '*' have pictures in the photo section.
Big Island (Hawaii)
We spent four days on the island, flying in and out of Hilo. Expect rain anytime in the Hilo area, although every morning is almost a guarenteed shower. Don't believe what the rental companies tell you about the 'saddle' road. The part from Hilo to the Mauna Kea access road was just repaved (Spring 1999) and although curvy, makes a great scenic drive.
Major activities:
- tour Volcanoes Nationl Park including Chain of Craters road
- *investigate lava flows in the Kalapana area
- *visit black sand beach near Kaimu
- visit Parker Ranch area near Waimea
- *visit beaches and sites on northern Kona coast
Garden Island (Kauai)
We spent six days on the island, flying in and out of Lehui. We found that arriving around 9:00 p.m. didn't leave us many options for eating dinner, especially after tracking down the rental office to pick up our condo keys. Fortunately, we found a grocery store in Koloa and did pizza in the microwave.
Major activities:
- *tour northern shore beaches
- *take a boat ride around the NaPali coast
- scuba diving with Bubbles Below
- *drive up Waimea Canyon and Kokee Park (nene geese)
- *drive to Polihale State Park on western side of island
- *visit local Poipu sites
The Gathering Place (Oahu)
We spent three days on the island. Except for a brief stop to see the Kodak Hula show, we spent most of our time on the North Shore and away from Honolulu.
The Gathering Place photo page.
Major activities:
- *watch the Kodak Hula show
- *visit Hunauma Bay
- *visit Polynesian Cultural Center
- *visit North Shore beaches
The Valley Island (Maui)
We spent seven days on the island including the 4th of July. The hardest part of our stay here was gettin gup at 2:30 a.m. one morning to catch the sunrise on Haleakala. Definitely worth it! this was also the shopping stop. We had already bought an extra bag to put all of our 'acquisitions' in.
Major activities:
- *visit Kaanapali beach areas
- *enjoy Embassy Suites activities: sunsets, scuba lessons, shore dive, lei making
- *trek to Haleakala for sunrise
- scuba dive at Molokini with Ed Robinson Diving Adventures
- *trek to Haleakala for sunrise
- *visit Iao needle
- *visit new Maui Ocean Center
- visit Hilo Hattie and other 'shops'
