My Hawaii Adventure of 2008: Wheel of Fortune, Hurricanes & Lava Fields
NOTE: Sorry for the double emails two weeks ago, I scheduled two for the same day. So I gave you a break last week. ;)
In September 2008, I flew to Hawaii’s Big Island with one goal: to audition for Wheel of Fortune. As a veteran game show contestant (I lost on Jeopardy! in 1996 but won $64,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2001), I figured why not go for the trifecta? My darling husband was supportive and held down the homefront (i.e., fed our 4 cats and binge watched The Unit on our Tivo) while I headed for paradise with high hopes.
My first glimpse of the Big Island was unforgettable. Flying into Kona, the landscape below looked like the surface of the moon—vast black lava fields stretching as far as I could see. It was stark, otherworldly, and nothing like the lush Hawaii I’d imagined. Taking a shuttle about 30 minutes north, I checked into the sprawling Hilton Waikoloa Village, a resort so massive it has a tram and boats to get around. After settling in, I prepped for my audition, practicing my vowel-buying strategy and trying to channel my best Pat Sajak energy.
The next morning, I joined a room full of hopefuls at the audition. We took written puzzles tests, called out letters in rapid-fire rounds, and even played a mock game. To my surprise, I won my practice round against two other contestants! The producers said I’d hear back in a few weeks if I made the cut. (Spoiler: I didn’t. But hey, at least I got a free Wheel of Fortune baseball cap out of it.)
Originally, I’d planned just two nights on the Big Island before heading home. But then Hurricane Ike decided to wreak havoc on air travel, canceling my flight and gifting me two extra nights in paradise. With bonus time and a free Mustang convertible upgrade on my rental car, I set out to explore.
Heading south on the Mamalahoa Highway, my first stop was at Pu’uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park. A sacred Hawaiian sanctuary protected by the Lono, the Hawaiian god of life, I walked among the reconstructed huts and wooden Ki’i carvings, finding my own sanctuary while watching sea turtles lounging on a black sand beach.
Continuing counterclockwise on the highway around the island, I started to climb in elevation heading towards Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. The weather sadly turned as I transitioned away from lava rocks and black sand beaches into the rainforest, and a heavy fog greeted me at the edge of Kīlauea’s crater. I took a short stroll but couldn’t anything past the misty curtain, so I spent my time in the visitor’s center. My favorite exhibit was a mound of returned lava stones accompanied by letters that read like supernatural Yelp reviews. "One star: took a rock, lost my job, dog left me." According to legend, Pele, Hawaii's volcano goddess, doesn't take kindly to rock collectors, cursing them with bad luck until her stones are returned home. The display was a communal confessional where visitors mail back pilfered pebbles with increasingly creative apologies. Some send their rocks first-class with handwritten pleas; others practically FedEx them overnight after one too many parking tickets and plumbing disasters. Sadly, I’ve heard that display is no longer there, so take this as your warning. When a volcano goddess says "leave only footprints," she really means it.
After a night in a motel outside the National Park, I made my way east to the Kalapana Lava Fields. After parking a safe distance away (remembering a documentary where hapless tourists drove across a newly formed lava field and melted their tires), I hiked up the road to a marked path that signified safe crossing across the stone surface. I made my way across, hoping to see the glow where molten rock met the ocean, but the safety zone ended a mile away and I could only see steam plumes rising from the oceans edge. I was lucky to see even that, the crater that formed these lava flows stopped erupting in 2018. But it’s a volcano, things change. Maybe I’ll head back there someday. I spent that night in Hilo, where the farmer’s market dazzled me with impossibly bright tropical fruit and flowers that looked like alien specimens on display.
The following morning I continued the loop road around the Big Island to head back to Kona. As my final rest stop I drove up to Kēōkea Beach Park for an afternoon picnic under a seaside shelter, the ocean breeze carrying the scent of salt and plumeria. It was a lovely memory to keep with me as I finally boarded the flight for home.
Though Wheel of Fortune didn’t pan out, the trip was a win. Between volcanic landscapes, a surprise trip extension and lazy sea turtles, the Big Island delivered adventure at every turn. And who knows? Now that Ryan Seacrest is hosting, the wheel will keep spinning for a few more years. Perhaps my time will come and I’ll complete the game show holy trinity.