MOLOKAI!

Taking advantage of some incredibly cheap flights to Oahu, we canceled a planned trip to Louisiana and instead traveled back to Hawaii. We spent the week at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort And Spa in Honolulu and rented a Kia Sorrento.

Most of our trip was spent in and around Waikiki, but we did get out and explore the island as well. In addition, we decided to seek out one of the “holy grail” counties for county collectors. On Friday, we began our journey to Kalawao County, which is located on the island of Molokai. The county is currently off limits to outsiders. It was founded in the 1860s as a leper colony. Hawaii exiled those afflicted with Hansen’s disease (leprosy) to the peninsula, which is isolated from the rest of the island by steep cliffs, from 1866 to 1969. Though Hansen's disease has essentially been cured and restrictions on residents have been lifted since the 1960s, there are still a few who choose to stay and a few more who come and go.

Visiting Kalawao County today requires a permit or an invitation from one of the residents. Until a few years ago, there was a mule trail that led down into the valley where the one small city of Kalaupapa lies. But the trail was partially washed away and has yet to be fixed. So, the only way in or out is by plane or boat. We learned that Mokulele Airlines offers a couple of flights a week from Honolulu to Molokai Airport with a quick stop at Kalaupapa Airport. Having never been to Molokai, we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to not only visit a Hawaiian Island that gets few tourists, but also to pick up one of the most difficult counties. We’d read that some county collectors have tried to do the same trip, only to have the flight canceled. So, we were holding our breath. When we arrived at HNL terminal 3 and saw checked bags labeled with LUP (Kalaupapa Airport), we felt pretty good. Once we were on the plane, I overheard the pilot mention we were dropping off a passenger in Kalaupapa. When I repeated that to my wife, the guy behind me said, "That’s me!" He then chatted with us for the entire trip. He said there are currently seven Hansen’s disease residents left. He arrived in 1947 when he was just five years old. To be sure, this was far and away the highlight of our trip. What a delightful, upbeat man he was. After we landed in Kalaupapa, we said our goodbyes to Uncle and snapped a few pictures from the plane. We weren’t allowed to disembark. We then took off again for the shortest flight we’ve ever had—a quick 7-minute flight to the topside of Molokai. We rented a Chevrolet Equinox to drive around and explore the island, including Kalaupapa Lookout (a view of where we had just been) as well as Phallic Rock. We stopped for lunch at Molokai Burger. Then, a few hours later, we boarded our return flight back to Oahu, which allowed us a nice overhead view of Diamond Head.

The rest of our time on Oahu was spent wandering around the island, checking out local eateries (like Giovanni’s food truck), swimming, and relaxing. At one point, we hiked to Hawaiian Monk Seal Beach and found one of its namesakes snoozing away.

When all was said and done, we had picked up just one new county—but it was a big one! So, what’s next? We have a trip to Georgia planned for December, as well as a trip to Louisiana scheduled for March. So, stay tuned! Our updated county map (with the light blue area showing where we have visited) is below.

 NEW COUNTIES - 1

                    TOTAL COUNTIES FOR 2023 - 98

                    ALL TIME COUNTY TOTAL - 2507

NIAGARA FALLS AND FINISHING OHIO!

On the Saturday morning of Labor Day Weekend, we decided to take a road trip to Niagara Falls. Naturally, we headed to West Virginia to get there. Since we’ve finished the states that surround Wisconsin, we had a long way to drive before we reached our first new county. We stopped in Greenfield, Indiana (just outside of Indianapolis), to have breakfast at Bob Evans. From there, we headed straight for Columbus, Ohio, and then went southeast on HWY 33 out of the city. After driving around Lancaster, we entered Hocking County near the city of Rockbridge – our first new county of the trip. We continued southeast and entered Athens County near Nelsonville. We then headed east, worming our way through some country roads. Near the city of Trimble, we continued east on HWY 329 and entered Morgan County. We then headed south for quite a while. At the city of Hockingport, we followed the Ohio River for several miles. Just south of the city, we crossed into Meigs County.

At this point, we needed to get on the other side of the river to get into West Virginia, but the nearest bridge was 20 miles to the south. Eventually, we crossed and got into West Virginia, entering Jackson County in the process. We then got onto I-77 and headed north into Wood County. A few miles later, we got off the highway at Rockport, headed south on HWY 21 for two miles, and crossed into Wirt County. From there, we turned around, got back on the interstate, and went straight to our hotel, the Hampton Inn Parkersburg-Mineral Wells. For dinner, we had a fabulous Mexican meal at Las Trancas Mexican Cantina. The burritos are huge and tasty. I highly recommend it!

On Sunday, we started the day by doing sort of a triangle to pick up a few more West Virginia counties. The hills and mountains of the state can make it difficult to get from point A to point B, so you often need to travel farther than you would think to get to a nearby county line. We got onto HWY 50 and headed east out of Parkersburg. Staying on HWY 50, we drove through Ritchie, Doddridge, and Harrison Counties. At the border for Harrison County, our GPS diverted us from the original route we’d planned. The new route had a lot fewer windy roads, so we turned around and followed it. Our destination was the city of New Martinsville. We headed northwest and eventually entered Tyler County. Continuing on, we eventually crossed into Wetzel County – our 2,500^th county! From there, we entered New Martinsville, crossed the Ohio River to briefly enter the state of Ohio and Monroe County, and then headed back into West Virginia. We hugged the Ohio River (on the West Virginia side) for about 30 miles, picking up Pleasants County – our last new county in West Virginia for the trip. We stopped in St. Mary’s for a quick bite at Taco Bell before crossing the bridge into Ohio again, picking up Washington County. From here, we hopped onto I-77 again and headed north into Noble County – thus finishing Ohio, our 28^th state completion.

With our county collecting done for the day, we stopped in Canton to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We were quite surprised to discover that not only are the busts on display, but you can actually touch them. I couldn’t resist placing my Packers cap on Reggie White’s head. Once we left, we headed to our hotel, the Hyatt Place Canton. For dinner, we decided on some endless shrimp at Red Lobster – the same Red Lobster we stopped at during an earlier trip to Canton in 2018.

On Monday, we set out for the highlight of our trip – Niagara Falls. But first we drove north into Cuyahoga National Park – an oddly placed national park in the middle of civilization. There are actually homes and people who live there. You’d never realize you were in a national park if you hadn’t seen the signs proving it. After a quick hike to Brandywine Falls, we drove to Cleveland because we wanted to tour the gigantic memorial of President James A. Garfield. The memorial was closed when we attempted to visit in the winter of 2014. Unfortunately, we struck out again – the memorial is currently closed for restoration. Perhaps we’ll try again in 2032.

Leaving Cleveland, we got onto I-90, but we had two new counties to hit along the way. As we neared the Pennsylvania border, we got off the interstate near Kingsville. We wound through some country roads, entering Crawford County on a gravel road. We then got back onto I-90, stopped to pick up some McDonald’s in North East, then entered New York State. We got off the interstate near Silver Creek, headed a few miles east, and entered Cattaraugus County, our last new county of the trip.

With the county collecting aspect of the trip behind us, we headed straight for Niagara Falls. We’d been to the Falls before, but we had never taken the Maid of the Mist boat tour. So, we remedied that. The tour itself is only about 20 minutes long, but it’s a fantastic 20 minutes. In addition to the Falls, it gave us some great views of rainbows – and double rainbows.

Next, we crossed into Canada via the Rainbow Bridge and drove straight to our hotel – the Walper Hotel in Kitchener. Although we didn’t visit Toronto, we could see it in the distance. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, TWH Social.

On Tuesday, we drove back home. We decided to go through Upper Michigan. The route was about two hours longer on paper, but we probably saved more time than that by not fighting the Chicago traffic. Along the way, we stopped for lunch at Dairy Queen in Imlay City, Michigan, and dinner at Hardee’s in Escanaba, Michigan.

When it was all said and done, we had picked up 18 new counties (including the milestone 2500th) and completed our 28th state. So what's next? Well, we had a trip scheduled for Louisiana and Arkansas in November, However, while I was writing this blog entry, Southwest Airlines had a huge sale (50% off) on airfare. So we cancelled Louisiana and instead decided to take a cheap trip to Hawaii, where we plan to enter one of the most elusive counties in the country. We then booked a trip to Georgia for December. As for the cancelled Louisiana trip, we rescheduled it for March. It was a great sale So stay tuned!

       NEW COUNTIES - 18

                        TOTAL COUNTIES FOR 2023 - 97

                        ALL TIME COUNTY TOTAL - 2506