If I could spend a day going all over the US, with instant transport from one place to another and an unlimited budget, here is where I’d go and what I’d do in 2012….some of these places I discovered in 2011, others I’ve known for a long time and one I’ve never visited….

Morning

Wake up at:

• The Down East perfection of the Pentagöet Inn, Castine, Maine or
• The homey Library Suite at the Prairie Moon Bed & Breakfast, Hutchinson, Kansas or
• A Southern grande dame, the King Edward Hotel, Jackson, Mississippi or
• A giant of literary history at the Algonquin Hotel, New York City

Breakfast at:

• Bah’s Bakehouse (muffins! scones!) near the Castine waterfront or
• Billy’s Downtown Diner (omelettes!) in downtown Bethlehem, Pennsylvania or
• The Homemade Cafe (pecan waffles! home fries!) in Berkeley, California

Spend the morning:

• Thinking and learning at the National World War I Museum, Kansas City, Missouri or
• Bodysurfing on the Na Pali Coast, Kauai or
• Marveling at musical craftsmanship at the American Banjo Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma or
• Stepping back into the Revolution at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

Lunch

Feeling seafood-ish for my midday meal at:

• Paia Fish Market, Maui (or these other places to eat in Paia) or
• Pike Place Market, Seattle, Washington

Afternoon

Afternoon spent:

• Shopping in gracious Savannah, Georgia or
• Heating up in a mud bath at either Dr. Wilkinson’s in Calistoga, California or the Bath House in Jemez Springs, New Mexico or
• Taking a Chicago Architecture Foundation docent-led river cruise past incredible buildings in Chicago, Illinois or
• Going for a swim in Wekiwa Springs, Florida or Barton Springs in Austin, Texas or the spring-fed pool at Balmorhea State Park in western Texas (I’ve always wanted to see Balmorhea.)

Mid-afternoon snack:

• Garrett Popcorn in Chicago (The Chicago Mix flavor, of course) or
• A Ted Drewes frozen custard at the original stand on Route 66, St. Louis, Missouri

Evening

Sunset:

• Key West, Florida or
• Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California

Dinner at:

• Brady Tavern, Tulsa, Oklahoma or
• The Old Lahaina Luau, Maui or
• Really, any BBQ joint in Memphis, Tennessee

Wrap it up with:

• WaterFire in Providence, Rhode Island or
• YOUR recommendation down in the comments! Give us some ideas, from anywhere in the US, for an evening activity.

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“Isn’t it beautiful,” I sighed, looking out at this scene from my table at Hotel Molokai‘s open-air restaurant, Hula Shores. My dining companion, a local, gave me a funny look, and agreed — in a way that made me realize she was just being polite.

Jaded, I thought, she sees this scene all the time.

I was wrong. The photos that follow were taken in the next 56 minutes, although things really started happening in the last ten minutes. I didn’t edit them at all — there are a few things I’d like to do with them in terms of composition — but the point I’m making here is about the color.

Everyone knows that Hawaii’s got some spectacular sunsets; fewer know why.

Conventional wisdom holds that spectacular sunsets come from air pollution, which isn’t really true. For the most brilliant colors, you need clean air. (You can prove this to yourself if you take off in an airplane at sunset on a hazy day — compare the colors you see from the ground, where polluted air tends to hang, to what you see at cruising altitude.) You also want a certain amount of moisture in the atmosphere to produce light scattering clouds, a cirrus and altocumulus are best.

The exception to the clean air rule is volcanic ash, which Hawaii’s also got — but only at high altitude. That’s what produces a “volcanic twighlight”, about 15 minutes after sunset — also known as an afterglow.

Read more about how to make a beautiful sunset here. But first look at what happened to this already lovely sky:

48 minutes later:

Four minutes after that:

And two minutes later:

Previously: Why tropical waters are so damned blue.

This year, the only people I knew who remembered Pearl Harbor died. My grandparents were in their late 90s, and were among the very many who were not in Hawaii, nor in Oahu on that day – they were in not, in other words, immediately affected by the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7^th, 1941, although it would of course shape their lives as it did everyone else’s at that point in history. I am sure that they did not need to be reminded not to forget.

But the attack on Pearl Harbor does not live in my memories. Or, to put it another way, the first memory I have of the attack on Pearl Harbor is in my junior high social studies classroom, when we were learning how to describe the reasons why nations go to war: systemic causes, proximate causes, immediate causes. Pearl Harbor was the correct example to give on the essay portion of the test defining “immediate causes for war”, the reason why the United State entered World War II. And since that war was waged against the forces that were busy annihilating most of the other side of my family in Poland at that precise moment in time, my feelings about Pearl Harbor were similar to Winston Churchill’s reaction upon hearing news of the attack: “So we have won after all!”

“You are here.” A few days before the 70^th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, I visited the newly renovated Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument in Oahu. The slate blue water of the harbor was calm as I walked beside it, reading the placards describing the attack. It was late afternoon, the soft air was losing its heat, the blue skies just a little cloudy, the palm trees swaying and the succulent shrubbery glistening. I stopped in front of a large photograph taken on the morning of the attack, raising my eyes from the shapes identified in the billowing smoke as Battleship Row, Dry Dock #1, The Nevada to the scene in front of me, and darting back down again. My position in the photograph was marked with “you are here”. It was filled dark shapes that could have been small trees or perhaps a knot of people, crouching. The sky was not filled with wispy clouds filtering the sunlight, but with debris, the larger pieces marked as “bursts of antiaircraft fire”.

I passed on to other placards, photos showing black smoke with the only spots of bright the turrets of the ships enflamed. More than 3,500 people were dead or wounded. A photo of a mass, temporary flag draped grave. A photo of a dead body of a man, in shorts and a t-shirt, face down in shallow water near the beach at Kaneohe Bay. A Navy casualty.

There was a gun on display inside the new exhibit of the visitor center, found to have been fired that day at enemy aircraft, by servicemen under attack. Those without guns threw wrenches. There was also a gas mask on display, the likes of which were issued to every person on Oahu in the days after the attack, when martial law was declared, with the instructions to have it with you, always. There was description of barbed wire strung up along the beaches. What was not pictured, I could easily imagine.

It is of course correct to describe the attack on Pearl Harbor as an immediate cause of war. But after my visit to Pearl Harbor Visitor’s Center, I understood that December 7^th, 1941 was also at its start a day like any other, a day when a wrench was tucked into a work belt, a gun slid into a holster, not just an essay answer or a symbol. What is still impossible for me to remember, after this visit, will now also be hard for me to forget.

As the leaves begin to turn bright flame colors and an edge of chill comes in to the wind from the sea in Atlantic Canada, it’s time for the Celtic Colours International Festival. On Cape Breton, in the far north of Nova Scotia, musicians from the distinctive Celtic style of the island’s music join with artists from the Celtic strands which have helped create that music in inviting the world home to Cape Breton to celebrate family, friends, heritage, and music.

Concerts take place all across the island in venues which range from large performance halls in Sydney and Port Hawkesbury to schools, churches, and community centers in places including Baddeck, Belle Cote, Inverness, Iona, Boularderie, Cheticamp, Christmas Island, D’Escousse, L’Ardoise, Louisbourg, Marion Bridge, Membertou, North River, and Judique. Whatever the venue, each concert includes sets by three or four different acts, and then all join up for a finale, so any concert is great way to see how the music from Ireland, Scotland, the United States, the Nordic lands, and Cape Breton interwine as well as a fine chance to be introduced to new musicians as well as see longtime favorites. It’s a way of presenting music which makes for a lively and celebratory atmosphere amongst both artists and listeners. There are several concerts from which to choose each evening, and the after hours festival club in St. Ann’s offers another chance to catch the music after main shows for an evening are done.

This year, artists appearing will include The Black Family from Ireland with sister and international star Mary Black. Also from Ireland will top fiddler Niamh Ni Charra, who in addition to her solo career is known for her appearances with Riverdance. Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes from Scotland will be there, as will US old time and Appalachian style fiddle player Bruce Molsky, who is a festival artist in residence this year. Cajun band BeauSoliel avec Michael Doucet from Louisiana will be there too, as will sean nos dancer Nic Gariess, and Appalachian singer and banjo-player Sheila Kay Adams. High energy band Blazin’ Fiddles and award winning singer and songwriter Emily Smith are among those from Scotland who will appear.

Among the Cape Breton musicians who will be taking to the stage in their home island are inventive fiddle players Ashley MacIsaac and J.P. Cormier, singer Mary Jane Lamond, and regional and international favorites Brenda Stubbert, the Colin Grant Band, Rodney MacDonald, Marc Boudreau, Douglas Cameron, Maybelle Chisholm McQueen, Troy MacGillivray, and Kimberley Fraser.

There is more than music to be had during Celtic Colours, too, which this year takes place from October 7th through October 15th. There are art exhibits and craft shows featuring the island’s visual artists, outdoor walks and talks celebrating Cape Breton’s natural beauty, and community meals and jam sessions celebrating the spirit of community which pervades the island.

It’s none too soon to be making plans to visit. Even if you’ll not make it this year, the Celtic Colours International Festival web site will give you a fine taste of the music and the lively atmosphere on Cape Breton in October.

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Sometimes it’s hard to peer through the “vlog” (volcano fog) and the eye becomes numb after seeing miles of the same endless black lava, but there is still something strikingly beautiful about walking across some of the newest earth on Earth in Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island of Hawai’i.

I was going to post about 23 seconds of video that demonstrates the weird sound you hear when walking across a lava field;  the crackling, crunchy sound of cinder-like hardened magma blobs that were born miles below your feet.  There were a couple of photos that had to get thrown in there, though, and a bit of music seemed appropriate, but the video below is still only about a minute.

It’s otherworldly, this new world being created as we watch it….but never remove any of the lava rocks, or goddess of fire Madame Pele will be very angry….

Direct link to the lava video on YouTube.

(Disclosure: I was on the Big Island courtesy of a Hawai’i Tourism Authority press trip. The guide they provided our group was Warren Costa of Native Guide Hawai’i – he was a treasure trove of history and stories.)

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