Week of December 17, 2023 | View The Map
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Sunday
Aloha! (both hello and goodbye in Hawaiian). English is the main language spoken in Hawaii, but Hawaiian is spoken here often. We are now in warm (and beautiful) Hawaii. Hawaii consists of several islands: Hawaii (also known as the big island), Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, and Maui. Over 75% of Hawaiian residents live on the island of Oahu. We are on the "big island" of Hawaii and staying in the city of Kona. It is beautiful (see our pictures). Did you know that former President Barack Obama was from Hawaii, at least for part of his childhood?
We have had quite an adventure-filled few days, since we last wrote in our blog. We flew from Arkansas to San Francisco, California. On the flight we made friends with some kids from S.F. who had been in Arkansas for a band trip. Thankfully, we had a LONG layover in S.F., so our new friends got to take us out and show us around. What a CITY! Holy Idaho!
San Francisco is located on the west coast of the United States. Can you think of any large cities that we have visited that are on the eastern side of the United States? Did you know that San Francisco is located on the San Francisco Peninsula? Do you remember the definition of a peninsula? That is land that is surrounded on all but one side by water. This city even includes several islands (one of them is Alcatraz, a former prison). Holy Idaho!
"San Fran" is only 46 square miles, but there are over 800,000 people living there! It is the second most densely populated city in the entire United States. I think by densely populated, they mean there are a lot of people in a small area. What do you think? The city is actually the fourth most populated city in California and the twelfth in the United States. San Francisco is famous for all of its hills, and I can see why! My feet are still killing me. There are more than 50 hills within the city limits. Holy Idaho!
Have you ever heard of the San Francisco Bay? I knew a bay was a body of water, but Geo explained to me that a bay is a body of water that is partially enclosed by land. Bays have wide mouths and access to the sea or ocean. I guess part of the land enclosing the San Francisco Bay is the city of San Francisco. We saw the bay. Our friends also took us to see the Golden Gate Bridge, and we even rode on a cable car. Be sure to check out the pictures in our blog. Holy Idaho! We had so many pictures we even added an additional blog entry to share more photos with you.
I was a little nervous in San Francisco because of the two large earthquakes they had in 1906 and 1989. And minor earthquakes occur on a regular basis! The residents in San Francisco do worry about another major earthquake and have taken precautions in the larger buildings and infrastructure of the homes. I wonder what causes an earthquake? I will have to ask Geo.
We have had quite an adventure-filled few days, since we last wrote in our blog. We flew from Arkansas to San Francisco, California. On the flight we made friends with some kids from S.F. who had been in Arkansas for a band trip. Thankfully, we had a LONG layover in S.F., so our new friends got to take us out and show us around. What a CITY! Holy Idaho!
San Francisco is located on the west coast of the United States. Can you think of any large cities that we have visited that are on the eastern side of the United States? Did you know that San Francisco is located on the San Francisco Peninsula? Do you remember the definition of a peninsula? That is land that is surrounded on all but one side by water. This city even includes several islands (one of them is Alcatraz, a former prison). Holy Idaho!
"San Fran" is only 46 square miles, but there are over 800,000 people living there! It is the second most densely populated city in the entire United States. I think by densely populated, they mean there are a lot of people in a small area. What do you think? The city is actually the fourth most populated city in California and the twelfth in the United States. San Francisco is famous for all of its hills, and I can see why! My feet are still killing me. There are more than 50 hills within the city limits. Holy Idaho!
Have you ever heard of the San Francisco Bay? I knew a bay was a body of water, but Geo explained to me that a bay is a body of water that is partially enclosed by land. Bays have wide mouths and access to the sea or ocean. I guess part of the land enclosing the San Francisco Bay is the city of San Francisco. We saw the bay. Our friends also took us to see the Golden Gate Bridge, and we even rode on a cable car. Be sure to check out the pictures in our blog. Holy Idaho! We had so many pictures we even added an additional blog entry to share more photos with you.
I was a little nervous in San Francisco because of the two large earthquakes they had in 1906 and 1989. And minor earthquakes occur on a regular basis! The residents in San Francisco do worry about another major earthquake and have taken precautions in the larger buildings and infrastructure of the homes. I wonder what causes an earthquake? I will have to ask Geo.
- Meri
The city of San Francisco
View from driving across the Golden Gate Bridge!
Another hill in San Francisco (I got my workout)
Map of San Francisco
Check out this map of San Francisco. What bodies of water can you find? Can you find the San Francisco Bay? (You may need to use the arrows to zoom out.) What cardinal direction would you travel going from San Francisco to Oakland?
More Pictures and Earthquake
We attached a few more pictures of San Francisco. I explained to Meri that the earthquake activity found in San Francisco is caused by two major faults: the San Andreas and the Hayward. An earthquake is a vibration that travels through the earth's crust, caused by moving tectonic plates under the earth's surface. They can be big and cause a lot of damage or a simple rumbling.
- Geo
The cable car we rode
The sign for the cable car
One final shot of the city - and the Golden Gate Bridge
Monday - Back in
So as you can tell, we had quite the adventure in San Francisco. But nothing has compared to what we are about to do! We actually bought tickets to ride in a helicopter directly over Kilauea, the LIVE volcano on the "big" island of Hawaii. We leave our hotel in one hour. I can't wait. Holy Idaho! If you didn't know, Geo is a bit afraid of heights, so he isn't exactly looking forward to this experience... At all!
Text from Pandora:
M & D miss u. trying to fly to HI for w-break
Holy Idaho! Can you believe it? My parents might be flying to Hawaii for the winter break. That will be so great, our family together. I must admit I even miss Pandora (a little bit). I wonder when they will arrive, if they can make it.
Hawaii is simply amazing. I hope I can show my parents everything. Honolulu, the capital of this state, is on another island: Oahu. We have learned SO MUCH already about Hawaii. Hawaii is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Our hotel offers free snorkeling, and yesterday we went out and snorkeled through caves. I didn't even know that Hawaii had caves. Tomorrow we are going to visit the largest mountain in the world (yes, it is on the "big island" of Hawaii): the snow-capped Mauna Kea with an elevation of nearly 14,000 feet. Holy Idaho! I can't believe there could be snow in this tropical location. There are actually lots of different climates in these islands. Oh yes, I included a link to learn more about tropical oceans in this blog. Don't miss it! Okay, we are off to our helicopter ride. I am SO excited!
Text from Pandora:
M & D miss u. trying to fly to HI for w-break
Holy Idaho! Can you believe it? My parents might be flying to Hawaii for the winter break. That will be so great, our family together. I must admit I even miss Pandora (a little bit). I wonder when they will arrive, if they can make it.
Hawaii is simply amazing. I hope I can show my parents everything. Honolulu, the capital of this state, is on another island: Oahu. We have learned SO MUCH already about Hawaii. Hawaii is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Our hotel offers free snorkeling, and yesterday we went out and snorkeled through caves. I didn't even know that Hawaii had caves. Tomorrow we are going to visit the largest mountain in the world (yes, it is on the "big island" of Hawaii): the snow-capped Mauna Kea with an elevation of nearly 14,000 feet. Holy Idaho! I can't believe there could be snow in this tropical location. There are actually lots of different climates in these islands. Oh yes, I included a link to learn more about tropical oceans in this blog. Don't miss it! Okay, we are off to our helicopter ride. I am SO excited!
- Meri
Snow-capped mountains in Hawaii
View from our hotel
Honolulu - the state capital (we didn't visit here, just found a picture to share)
Tropical Oceans
Check out this site to learn more about Tropical Oceans (the animals, locations, and more).
Tuesday
Wow! That is all that I can say about our helicopter ride over the LIVE volcano. I know Meri told you that I was scared, but that isn't true. It was exciting. Did you know that Kilauea is the most active volcano in the WORLD? It has been erupting since 1983! How many years is that? I attached a long video taking you on a helicopter ride. This is the same clip we found online last week. But if you didn't have a chance to check it out, take a look.
We are supposed to be the detectives on this "case" to find Louie. But he must be onto us. We arrived at our helicopter, and our pilot handed us a brown envelope, saying he was instructed to give this to Meri and Geo when we arrived. How did Louie know where we were going? Inside we found some photos, a note, and a key. The note had an address (located in Kona).
Louie wrote:
Globetracker knows who to hire. You two are good detectives. Here is a key to my house. Take a break, and enjoy your holiday. I will be in touch.
The photos included pictures of the West Virginia coal mines, the Mississippi River cruise, and even Alaska, all places where we have been in the past several weeks.
So Meri and I are now heading to the address with the key. We will update you as we find out more. I wonder if Louie will be there, or is this just another trick?
We are supposed to be the detectives on this "case" to find Louie. But he must be onto us. We arrived at our helicopter, and our pilot handed us a brown envelope, saying he was instructed to give this to Meri and Geo when we arrived. How did Louie know where we were going? Inside we found some photos, a note, and a key. The note had an address (located in Kona).
Louie wrote:
Globetracker knows who to hire. You two are good detectives. Here is a key to my house. Take a break, and enjoy your holiday. I will be in touch.
The photos included pictures of the West Virginia coal mines, the Mississippi River cruise, and even Alaska, all places where we have been in the past several weeks.
So Meri and I are now heading to the address with the key. We will update you as we find out more. I wonder if Louie will be there, or is this just another trick?
- Geo
Kilauea
Volcano erupting (HOT LAVA)
A fruit tree from below (neat picture, huh). Hawaii has some delicious fruits!
Video of Kilauea
This video takes you right to this active volcano.
Map of Kilauea
Here is a map of the island of Hawaii. Do you see Kilauea! Is the large volcano on the northern or southern part of the island?
Wednesday
Holy Idaho! This guy is good. We found his house yesterday and when we arrived, we found another note on the table.
The refrigerator is fully stocked for the holidays. Enjoy your time with your family. I am off to visit my own family in my hometown.
We met a few of Louie's neighbors. They told us that he has three vacation homes: in Florida, Hawaii, and the South of France! They have no idea where his hometown is, but they know it is somewhere pretty far from all of his vacation homes and his office in D.C.
Now what do we do? We called Uncle GT, he told us to sit tight at Louie's house (which is ocean front and even has a pool). He said we might even learn more about Louie here. So you know I won't complain! He knows Louie and knows that it is safe for us to stay here. So now we are waiting to hear more. Holy Idaho! We just heard the doorbell ring. Do you have any guesses about who it could be?
The refrigerator is fully stocked for the holidays. Enjoy your time with your family. I am off to visit my own family in my hometown.
We met a few of Louie's neighbors. They told us that he has three vacation homes: in Florida, Hawaii, and the South of France! They have no idea where his hometown is, but they know it is somewhere pretty far from all of his vacation homes and his office in D.C.
Now what do we do? We called Uncle GT, he told us to sit tight at Louie's house (which is ocean front and even has a pool). He said we might even learn more about Louie here. So you know I won't complain! He knows Louie and knows that it is safe for us to stay here. So now we are waiting to hear more. Holy Idaho! We just heard the doorbell ring. Do you have any guesses about who it could be?
- Meri
View from Louie's deck!
Here is the area we snorkled yesterday. We forgot to post the picture of this beautiful area.
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