August 7, 8, 2015, Hilo, HI Orchid show and Jake Shambukuro

On a Hilo cloudy day we drove to see the 63rd annual Hilo Orchid Society Show and Sale at the Afook Chinen Civic Center.   What a treat.  I saw orchids I never knew were possible.  Little tiny orchids on long sprays, huge orhids of all colors, beautiful displays by orchid growers and many beautiful orchids available to purchase.  It was a 25 minute walk from the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel.  David took a photo of my by the Grand Prize best of show stunning purple called Vanda Pat delight, dark blue FCC.  I wish I knew the names of the different basic kinds of orchids.  It isn't that hard really.  Cattleya, Dendrobium, Miltoniopsis, Oncidiinae, Phalaenopsis, Vanda, and then lots of rare ones like the miniatures.   Even Alaska has 30 species of orchids.  A very good short description of orchids.

Here are some of the best photos we took at the show.  You can see the ones with ribbons and maybe read the names.

David is enjoying the show

This one is called Dorothy

This looks like a bunch of carrots

An orchid grower's display

This was chocolate brown and very long

These are very tiny and pink seemed to be unusual

This was the selfie chair

An overview of the whole show

After the orchid show we had the seafood buffet at our hotel, the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel.  Fresh hot snow crab so sweet you could have it for dessert.

We got to the Jake Shimabukuro show at the Palace Theater just before 7:00.  We had general seating and the concert was sold out.  Even so, we got good seats on the side.  There really aren't any bad seats in that theater.  They are raising funds to put in air-conditioning.  They gave out paper fans because it was really hot.

Jake has mellowed and matured.  He has two children now.

Jake's music has matured.  He plays ukulele at a level few will ever achieve.  However he is no longer banging and strumming as fast as he can and as loud as he can.  A new album will be coming out in October.  He played us a few of the new songs, and some oldies with his unique arrangements. He did Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and Akaka Falls and Hi'ilawe.  We were really stoked afterwards.  I came back in to grab this photo as he signed autographs.

Sunday

We decided not to have the $24 per person breakfast at the hotel.  We found this funky health food breakfast restaurant on Keawe street that had the best food!

Conscious Culture Cafe & Big Island Booch Kombucha

We drove back the saddle road.  This time it was clear and beautiful.  As we got to the summit I asked if we could go to the visitor center.  We climbed an additional 3,000 feet to the 9,000 ft level.  I wanted to see how I would react to this elevation.  Machu Pichu is at 9,200 ft and I always thought I couldn't do it.  We both felt weird, but survived just fine.

The sun made the 60 degrees seem warm.  We of course did not have any warm clothes to put on.  The gift shop sells mostly sweaters, hats and gloves.  I got a globe ball and a map of the world 3D card that shows the world at either night or day, as well as earrings like globes of the world.

We stayed to watch the 55 minute movie about the history and information of the Mauna Kea telescope area.  It mostly pictured how they have spent a lot of time and energy into preserving the cultural aspects of the site.  One of the presenters spoke perfect Hawaiian, another was an elder, and others were shown honoring the land.  They talked about the lake where they take the umbilical cords  to here to center the child and center him with the earth.  Recently in the news, a group of Hawaiian natives have been blocking the road and protesting against the construction of a 30 meter telescope.  We were on our trip for most of this so I am not sure what the problem is, but they said this weekend was the first weekend they were open in awhile because of these protests.  A tour went up to the 13,000 ft area where the telescopes are located.  This tour is free.  The only requirement is that you stay to watch the whole movie so you are acclimated to the elevation, and that you drive a real 4 wheel drive vehicle, not our All Wheel Drive Escape.  A man and woman led the tour up the mountain which would let people see into one of the telescopes there.  They recommended staying there until sunset, then returning to the visitor center to look into the telescopes they have  for visitors.  There is a meteor shower going on right now, the Perseid shower.  Mauna Kea is the place to be to see such sights.  If you lived here, astronomy would be an excellent hobby.  Whenever there was a special celestial event, you could see it with the latest telescopes right here!

We learned about an endangered plant called the silver sword.  We had a little snack in the picnic area and saw a sign for the silver sword protected area and went inside the gate.  What a treat.  These plants are beautiful

The delicate flowers are pink

These just sparkled they are so bright and silvery

A sacred site inside the enclosure

This cinder cone was bright red

Mauna Loa as seen from Mauna Kea

Dorothy peering through the swords

On the drive back we noticed smoke from the Waimea area.  It seemed very far away.  As we came down after Waikoloa town, the smoke got much worse.  Traffic was backed up.  At the intersection, traffic was basically stopped.  We turned around and went back up and home via Mamalahoa Hwy.  Later we found out there was a brush fire on Kawaihai Rd.  It was eventually closed.  4,000 acres are burned at this moment and it is not out yet.