Beginning on November 1, 2024, which is the date of my mother’s first letter from her Hawaii trip 84 years ago, I am serializing day by day, the book,
Cecilia
King’s Extraordinary Senior Trip, which you can obtain from Amazon in either Kindle or paperback.

I hope you enjoy the upcoming nine-months in Hawaii 1940-41. You can order the entire book from Amazon in either paperback or Kindle format,
click
here.

Kilauea Military Camp, Wednesday, May 14, 1941

Kilauea Military Camp, Hawaii^[1]

May 14^th

Dear Daddy & Mother –

So many, many amazing things I’ve see and done in the past few days – hoping I can remember all of them to tell you. We left Honolulu at 8 AM Monday morning – the party included only Mrs. Boyd
(Ruth) & myself as the other two girls were flying & Mrs. Ryan was unable to go because of a cold. General Ryan was down to see us off, and Uncle Ed said Bon Voyage with a sack of chocolates
and two leis each. The “General Royal T. Frank” (better known as the Rolling Frank or seagoing tig) steamed out of harbor Honolulu past Diamond Head & the endmost peak of Koko Head, into the sea. We set out on the top deck
with the other about thirty passengers at first – in five minutes the first one gave up the ship, and everyone (but M. Jane Thomas, the new bride (Fay F.), a navy chap and I) had disappeared below in another hour – suffering from the malady of tosses, pitches
and rolls. It was really terrific the way that little ship played in & out of the waves twice its size. Our stateroom (thanks to Gen Ryan) was the most magnificent on the boat – well ventilated, next to the upper back deck – and it was 7 feet by 9 feet, containing
four bunks and a wash basin. Lunch was a glorious affair for us starving few who had survived the sea’s antics. In the course of the afternoon we passed Islands of Lanai (almost a solid pineapple field) and Molokai (where the leper colony is) – Dinner at six,
and docked at Maui Is. About dusk. Nearly everyone, anxious to leave the scene of their days’ unhappiness as soon as possible, went immediately to the “poor but honest only hotel” of Maui. Ruth & I went with Col. & Mrs. Bonham^[2]
(he’s the new CO of Kil. & she was our roommate) walked up to the little harbor town for a coke & bused into a more mainland town. Saw little of interest so went back to the ship. We settled in the dining room & had a few games of bridge with the Col. & the
funny little foreigner who was captain of the ship. Next morning, up at seven, after a marvelous breakfast of wheat cakes we climbed into a taxi & started for Haleakala Volcano crater (Ruth & I, Col. & Mrs. Thomas & M. Jane). Up, up, up, through cane fields
& ranches. On into the forest belt (pines and eucalyptus – [no can spell] with brilliant flame trunks) on up to the steep rocky slopes –finally into the band of clouds separating the top of the crater from the lower part. Up through the mist and
then into the clear cold heavenly air and clear summit of the 10,000 volcanic mountain. It was a Shangra La – so natural & beautiful! The gigantic crater 9 x 12 miles across was filled with smooth lava flows of reds, golds, silvers – and about twenty
small caters (“cones”) on the floor. Though they looked small from our 10,000 elevation they were said to be immense. Looking over & beyond the billowy white % silver clouds below we saw the blue of the atmosphere, almost indistinguishable from the ocean blue
– and the distant island craters forty & fifty miles away.

Down a few hundred feet we followed a trail of narrow volcanic ash inside the curved crater wall about two miles to see the “Silversword” – a flower in full bloom now, found only in that crater
& Mt. Everest. It clung to the solid walls of lava  rock, huge clusters of almost transparent silver white blade leaves or petals. Simply lovely!

Back to the boat for a late lunch (via a flat tire) and rested until two thirty when our taxi came again for a trip to the Iao Valley.^[3]
Down between two steep mountain ranges is this lovely valley, rich with the fragrance of moist fresh earth and heavy green foliage. Mountain streams coming from twenty streams, bubbling through the rocky valley – millions of ferns, hui trees (where wood is
used to make fire by rubbing together two pieces) guava trees heavy with their yellow fruit, lauhala trees with palmy branches and spider-like roots above the ground – ginger blossoms and sleek ti leaves. Again back to Kahalua & went to Kress to buy some fresh
salted nuts (yes, even Kress has invaded Maui) to partially satisfy our insatiable hunger – then
a mad decision to walk the four miles to the boat, But, welcomely, some Maui reserve officer picked us up after two miles & we rode back. We set sail right after dinner – and everyone turned in, to get to bed before we reached the rough sea after the channel
– except Col. Bonham, Mary Jane & I. The deck was protected from the wind, and the air so balmy and the night beautiful that we stayed outside until nearly midnight. Up this morning at seven, & docked in Hilo, Hawaii, right after breakfast & ahead of schedule.
Ruth & I went out on the docks (while waiting for the cars to bring us to camp) & bought a lovely blue pansy lei for Mrs. Bonham because she & the Col. had been so lovely to us at Maui – she was quite thrilled with it! Transportation finally arrived & after
being shifted from two cars we were given a car & driver with two hours to kill before we were to meet Mandy’s plane & come to camp. So with our soldier chauffeur Ruth and I set out to explore Hilo. It’s quite different from Honolulu – much smaller & populated
greatly by Filipinos & Japs. The town itself is lovely – green lawns, fern trees, great flowers, many waterfalls and brooks. Rainbow Falls – one of the most beautiful sights in the islands – is surrounded by mossy shady rock gardens of nature’s hand — & the
water itself is a great stream of fresh clean water coming out of the mountain and bursting into a great spray as it hits the rocks below – and the spray is always a magnificent rainbow as the sun shines through it and into the cave beyond.

One of the greatest lures of these lovely Hawaiian wonders is the constant legends bearing stories of the islands and the influence of their gods and goddesses – Madam Pele – the goddess of
volcano & fire is the greatest.

From there we saw the lovely Japanese garden park, Coconut Isle (a little bit of land which was the only part gotten here by the god who tried to join Hawaii & Maui) –a gigantic rubber tree
(much larger than our giant oaks) which is grown as a house plant on the mainland. By the lovely tourist hotel where a native boy was clearing away the splash made by a breadfruit which dropped from its limb to the entrance drive.

Almost time for the plane, so we stopped for a coke then got to the airport just as the inter-island plane landed. We greeted Mandy & Bunt with violet leis — then headed for the camp. Stopped
enroute at a little gray church with the very confusing sign on its porch “Painted Church.”^[4]
A Catholic church whose inside walls and ceilings were completely covered with rather crude bright paintings of biblical scenes – almost fifty of them enveloped the interior of the small building – most astonishing was the devil with the prominent Jewish nose.

Again in the car we followed a drive lined on each side by ferns and Ohia trees – up and up finally to the 4,000 t. summit of the camp. The camp is on the near edge of the Kilauea crater & great
clouds of sulphuric steam rose constantly from the earth.

                        Figure
67 – Postcard from Maui. Source: Cecilia’s
Scrapbook

         Figure
71 – Hawaii (Postcard from Cecilia’s Scrapbook)

So thrilled to get here – went first into the club – a large, lovely lounge with a great fireplace
& crackling flames –huge windows & the most diverse lounges and chairs of bamboo. Then to our cabin – a large living room with a marvelous fire – and huge bedroom with four beds, dressing tables – then bath. It is absolutely a wonderful place!! And the food
(served in the grand dining room) at the club mess – is simply perfect. It would be excellent anywhere & doubly so with our mountain air appetites.

This afternoon we unpacked, went to investigate the P.X. – took a nap during the daily afternoon shower – then to donner. Tonight went to the movies – in an unheated building & carried Army
blankets to wrap up in. The show was “Green Hell” with the most awful native barbarians in it – you can imagine how we felt when the lights went on & the first thing we sighted were the wild looking Hawaiian soldiers immediately behind us. –

Wednesday –

The afternoon clouds & rain have darkened the day & we’re all sitting around our cabin fireplace watching the flames of crackling logs. Mrs. Bonham just came in to invite us to her table for
dinner tonight. She’s awfully sweet!

This morning – up at six – and after a simply marvelous breakfast we embarked on the morning tour – in new seven passenger Dodges with drivers and a ranger guide we toured about ten of the craters
around – most impressive was the fern forest – a huge crater pit simply filled with giant tree ferns – down a path of wet moss and fern leaves we entered the jungle. The red and green of the fern leaves & curling fronds that looked like monkey tails – at the
lowest part we entered the lava tube where hot lava had once flowed from the pit out to cover the island. It was simply a paradise of screaming tropical birds and strange red plants and moss. After following the “trail of craters” we went to the museum to
see movies of the Mauna Loa crater eruption a few years ago – taken in color – the fiery red of the flames & red hot lava shooting up out of the earth against the white snow caps of the crater sides! Then a heavy flow of molten lava down the hillside.

Most interesting of the lava rocks, etc. in the museum were the “wool” and “silk” which were finely spun thread that the wind had whipped out of the erupting liquid chinks thrown into the air.Many
interesting plants – Sandelwood tree – Hawaiian heather – scared Pele berry – wild Haw. Strawberries which are white when ripe.

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