Ballistic Missile Threat Inbound

Because multiple people have asked about my experience of living in Hawaii when this message arrived on cell phones at approximately 8:10 on Saturday morning…

In the aisle marked Asian Foods at the Hilo Walmart, I had just selected a bottle of soy sauce when the alarm alert sounded on cell phones, not quite in unison, but in a cacophonous momentary juncture nevertheless. Someone in the same aisle as me said, “Probably another flash flood warning.” After placing the soy sauce in the cart, I pulled out my cell phone for a quick look. The words “missile” and “this is not a drill” definitely caught my notice. It was a weird moment.

Then Walmart floor personnel began to clump, discussing in hushed but still strident tones what protocols existed. Apparently, if they did exist, no one knew what they were. No sirens sounded out in town; it was just that phone notification. No one announced anything over the Walmart speaker system, and I began thinking that maybe the alert was a mistake.

I headed to check-out where a cashier--ready and willing, even smiley and chipper--ushered me into her lane, and I paid for my items. Just as I exited Walmart, I heard a lady finishing a phone conversation. She announced to the three or four of us nearby that her husband had told her that the military said the alert was a mistake. I checked Facebook for any info, and there was already a feed there stating the alert was an error. In my car--and I certainly wasn’t a lone driver on the streets--I headed to the mall situated on the next block to use their bathrooms (better than Walmart’s!) because I planned to go to the Hilo Farmers Market next.

Stores had not opened at the mall yet since it was like maybe 8:30 at this point, but I knew the mall itself would be open for mall walkers and food vendors. Some tourists had hunkered down in the corridors near the restrooms, and I noticed a few mall workers hanging about. After using the bathroom, though, I left for the farmers market.

About forty minutes after the original alert, notification of a false alarm was finally sent over cell phones. At church on Sunday, I realized that a lot of people had a much more emotional response to the experience than I did. Except for the first couple of minutes after the original alert, it didn’t feel real or logical to me anymore. I don’t have children or others that I’m responsible for either, so that probably made a difference also.

Still, it was a crazy start to a Saturday!

Mauna Kea in the Morning

Like many of Hawaii's higher altitude spaces, Mauna Kea maintains a seriously close relationship with cloud cover. I visited the Big Island of Hawaii four times and never saw the top of Mauna Kea, except for the evening I actually traveled to the top on a tour specifically for that purpose. Residents would always say, Mauna Kea visits in the morning...but not every morning, and they are right. Although I never saw her on any morning of any of my visits, now that I reside on the island, I see her quite regularly on yoga mornings, Hilo Farmers Market mornings, or road-trip-to-Kona-side mornings (translation: beach and Costco) because she tends to be an early riser.

This morning I left my house just after seven to travel in the Hilo direction: It could be a sausage-egg-McMuffin morning because I had finished my stash of prepared steel-cut oatmeal the day before, the small reserve of milk still in the fridge had outlasted its expiration date, and I had no inclination to attempt food preparation. The Hilo Farmers Market presents itself best on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and today was Wednesday. And I really should buy milk to forestall a decline toward a stint of nutritionally trashy future breakfasts.

Now, please spare me any audible judging for this next paragraph of information: There are four McDonalds in my immediate area--three within the Hilo city limits and one in Kea'au, a smaller town between my home and Hilo. For fountain soda, McDonalds more routinely provides a superior product than just about anywhere else, to include many restaurants. Indeed, it is my preferred vendor of fountain Diet Coke, and I do frequent McDonalds for an easy and satisfying Diet Coke fix. Added bonus--all sizes are $1 plus tax (four cents in Hawaii). Every two weeks or so, I may also have that sausage-egg-McMuffin with that Diet Coke. Every nine months or so I may have a fudge sundae or small fries with that Diet Coke. But I have also discovered that all McDonalds Diet Cokes are not produced equally well, and alas, (remember that part about judging!) I know which McDonalds has the best Diet Coke in my area; in fact, I can rank my preferred vendors of fountain Diet Coke.* The McDonalds in Hilo's Walmart is number one for Diet Coke, so that is where I breakfasted this fine morning.

Once out in the parking lot after my breakfast purchase, I noticed three different people--probably tourists--taking photos of Mauna Kea. The Walmart parking lot does offer a grand view of Mauna Kea should she decide to put in an appearance, and I had to agree that this morning she looked particularly fetching; she was arrayed with "shimmer." I pulled out my phone and took photos, too.

With the Hilo Farmers Market next on the agenda, my route sidled Hilo Bay and awarded me another view of Mauna Kea, one for which I pulled over and parked in order to participate in another spontaneous photo op.

After purchasing broccoli and green onions at the farmers market and then milk at Target, I headed home. Although just shy of ten in the morning, Mauna Kea had secluded herself inside a cloak of clouds.


*Fountain Diet Coke Rankings for Hilo and Environs
1. McDonalds in Walmart
2. (tie) McDonalds in Kea'au and the fountain Diet Coke in Safeway (costs twice as much)
3. McDonalds in downtown Hilo
4. McDonalds in Puainako Plaza