This trip had a special significance for me: visiting the National Park of American Samoa would complete my goal of visiting all 63 U.S. national parks. That milestone was the underlying reason for the journey and reaching this final park would not simply add another destination to the list. It would complete a long running quest that has taken me across the country and into so many truly remarkable places.
Our adventure began in Portland where we spent the night at the Radisson near the airport rather than risk an early morning drive to the airport from Salem ( where we would be picking up my youngest daughter Bernadette) for our 10:00 a.m. flight to American Samoa, with a plane change in Hawaii. Before we could even leave Portland, a before photo was clearly necessary. True to form my oldest daughter Tasia was already full of adventure and had no intention of waiting until we reached an actual beach to get in character. So for the photo, she donned her snorkel and mask. So , with Tasia ready for the South Pacific before we even left Oregon, our trip officially began.
The flights to American Samoa were surprisingly uneventful. We whiled away the nearly 12 hours of flight time with movies, reading, and eating very poor quality airplane food. One of the biggest challenges in this tech savvy family was keeping all of our watches, iPads, and iPhones charged. The three hour layover in Honolulu went quickly and soon we were on the final leg of the trip to American Samoa.
We arrived in American Samoa around 9:00PM. and that is when the real adventure began. Retrieving our luggage turned out to be a chaotic and surprisingly challenging affair. It was a madhouse. Many of the passengers arriving from Honolulu were native Samoans, and it appeared that a trip to Honolulu involved stocking up on products either for their own use or to sell back home. Everyone seemed to be waiting for multiple items such as enormous tubs (the favorite was a black tub with a yellow lid) , assorted packages and boxes. The luggage carts multiplied, the waiting area became completely jam-packed, and the bags emerged from the conveyor at what seemed to be a snails pace. We stood in the rear watching the mountain of luggage slowly make its way into the terminal wondering when our bags would finally appear. At last our meager little duffles emerged from the chaos. Compared with some of the enormous tubs and multiple suitcases, our luggage looked almost embarrassingly modest.
Of course, before we headed off to our hotels we still had to make it through immigration. Since unlike most of the others at the conveyor belt we were only waiting for one item each and managed to be amongst the first to go through the entry process, which went quickly and smoothly. Once on the other side we were met by the driver from Sadie’s by the Sea Hotel who loaded us into the hotel’s transportation van. We settled ourselves in and waited…and waited…and waited for the other passengers to arrive.
The drive from the airport didn’t initially give me much of an impression of what this tropical island would be like. The first part felt surprisingly industrial and somewhat run down , not at all like the lush pacific setting I had been expecting! Eventually however we reached the bay, and the scenery began to change. I was particularly puzzled by a row of dead tree trunks painted white stretching along the bay, each bearing a tattered small American flag. I have not been able to discern what that was about and have filed it away as one of the mysteries of American Samoa.
By the time we pulled into Sadie’s it was 11:30 PM. In searching for lodgings I found few lodging options as tourism is a very small part of the economy because of federal cabotage laws and the strong emphasis on Samoan cultures and the preference for slow, community centered development over resort style growth. This was a big part of the appeal for us and if we wanted to be located on the water there were scant options.
Our best choice for lodging was Sadie’s by the Sea. I knew Sadie’s was a quaint old motel from the online photos but it appeared to have been given a make over. The decor reminded me of the mid-century tropical motels on US 41 in Florida, with retro touches, sage green accents, creamy walls, wood-fluted panels and well worn carpet. It was surprisingly cozy. However no amount of decorating could completely disguise the fact that Sadie’s had been around for a while. It was definitely lived-in and well worn but somehow that became part of its charm. If I had to describe it, I’d use word like quirky, comfortable, tropical, and full of character and personality though it certainly wasn’t luxury and pretentious was definitely not going to be one of its problems. By the time I crawled into bed and turned out the light it was 2:00am.
I woke up about 6:00am the following morning — our first on Tutuila and stepped out onto the balcony. From the balcony, I experienced the soft early light of morning. Above the harbor clouds in shades of blue, gray and gold drifted across the sky. Beyond was a row of rugged peaks which appeared to be rising dramatically from the water. Palm trees were swaying around the pool. The bay shimmered with the first hint of sunrise. This was a pretty spectacular welcome.
After all the planning, packing and long journey from Medford OR I was feeling wonderfully happy. We actually had finally made it. Though still travel weary I stood there knowing that many adventures of hiking and snorkeling awaited and the trip was finally beginning
