Aaaand DONE with summer travels. I've only been home a few days, but I am really enjoying relaxing and working on my to do list. There are lots of things that are difficult for me to get done during the school year that I finally have time to do for these next two weeks before doing back to work! Such as: paint the garage door, the landscaper (super Nathan Vernon) is here today, putting together care packages and mailing them, going to the dentist, working out, and being OUTSIDE! I don't care that it's sweaty hot, I just love the sunshine.
This time last year, I had 5 places on my list to consider moving to. Nashville, Denver, Hawaii, L.A., and Austin. I went to Nashville in November, and though I loved it, it just didn't feel right. When we had a full week of snow days in Texas this year, I realized I would probably only love Denver in the summer. So, this summer, while going to Hawaii was a fantastic vacation, I was also kind of scoping it out. I've read a lot about the challenging drop out rates of kids there and how they need good teachers, so I was considering it. And though Hawaii had PERFECT temperatures...I think I might actually miss weather change. More importantly though, even being there only 12 days, I felt a little bit of island entrapment. Just the idea that the fastest I could get to my family or friends would be an expensive 8hr flight, that I didn't even have the OPTION of road trips outside of the island....well I guess it just wasn't for me past visiting.
I sure did love Hawaii though. Talk about gorgeous beaches, perfect temps, fantastic hiking, and yummy food! I was really fortunate to have my friend Randy for a travel buddy. In the case of most of my friends, they either have the time off, but not the money for a big trip, or they have the money and not the time off...and a lot of them have neither the money nor the time off. As I get older and I'm surrounded by friends married with babies, my adventure partner pool is dwindling...so I was really thankful for Randy.
I saw "Soul Surfer" with my roomie Ginny, in my pajamas in Corinth, at like 10pm the night it came out a few months ago. Some may call this film "Cheesy"...but I love the story. A girl who's faith gets her back on her surf board and competing after a shark attack. Impressive. You can imagine my excitement our first night in Waikiki when just a few blocks from our hostel, not only were they showing "Soul Surfer" at night on the beach...but they actually had Bethany Hamilton and the actress that played her, AnnaSophia Robb, introduce the movie! Right there in front of me! It was awesome.
The next day we took a bus to do the Lighthouse hike. It was so pretty. I'll run out of adjectives for the views I experienced by the end of this blog. I guess there are a lot of old bunkers from all of the Military on Oahu. After we got to the Lighthouse, we just kept climbing to a nearby bunker, and this is the view from there.
This is me and Randy on our sunset booze cruise. Happy 4th of July!!! The awesome part about this was the fireworks. This was probably the coolest way I have ever watched fireworks. Because we were out on the water, we could see the fireworks reflect off the metallic buildings on the beach, so it was extra sparkly. Another thing we didn't realize, is that we would be able to see the flashes from everyones cameras on the beach, in their condos and hotels. It was SO pretty and Jack Johnson playing on the boat with fried chicken and fruity drinks. Happy 4th of July to me!
Kaillua was my favorite place to visit. We got to Kayak and the water was perfect. I regret not getting to try paddle boarding...but that just means I'll have to find another opportunity to try!! I had my first Hawaiian "Shave Ice" after this. I don't know why they take the "d" off Shaved Ice, but they do. I think what makes a Hawaiian snow cone different than a Texas one, is that they put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the bottom. Genius. I liked it way better!
If there is one place I can recommend eating on Oahu. It is definitely the "Grass Skirt Grill" in Haleiwa. I had pulled pork, brown rice, fresh salad with papaya seed dressing, and a sweet piece of pineapple for dessert. YUM. So good. I think I found a recipe on line so I can try to replicate this!
There are 3 peaks on the Olomana Hiking Trail. This picture is about 15ft. below the top of the first peak, and I regret not making it past this. But I am ever so slowly enhancing my tolerance for heights. They just scare me. I'm not sure of my feet and I feel like if I fall it's completely my fault. If I'm in the water and attacked by a shark...that's out of my control kinda. But if I fall off a cliff its because I was not strong enough or held enough balance to complete my mission. This rope was the only way up, and you had to kind of go over this ledge to get there. It completely dropped down on the other side and I was scared. I told randy to go on to the other 2 peaks since they weren't that far. I had my book and snacks so I was fine to enjoy the rest. I actually attempted the rope 3 times thinking I might at least get to the top of the first peak, but in the end, I chickened out.
After 4 nights in Oahu we went to the Big Island, Hawaii. Our two major reasons for going to the big island were seeing flowing lava from the volcano, and Mauna Kea is supposed to be some of the the most magnificent star gazing in the world. Turns out the lava stopped flowing 4 months ago and it was cloudy the night of star gazing...so as it stands, the best stars I've seen were from Kansas. Mauna Kea was really pretty though. We were high enough to be above at least SOME clouds at sunset so that was cool. A little tip if anyone reading this ever goes though...they will make you PARANOID about Saddleback road, like its so torn up that only one rental car company in the whole town will allow you to rent a 4 wheel drive that takes you there. NOT TRUE. Maybe if you're going all the way to the top you want a 4 wheel drive...but if you just want to stargaze at the visitors center...you could easily take your chevy cobalt at $30/day there. We were fooled.
Hilo was a really cool little laid back town. We rented a car and decided to spend a day driving to Kona. So we went to the Volcano National Park and saw dried lava, then up through the north, then east to Kona, stopping wherever we wanted and listening to Sarah Silverman along the way. I liked Hilo way better than Kona. We spent one night in Kona and then drove along the southern coast back to Hilo. We stopped at a few black sandy beaches, and this one in particular had turtles!
We were spent four nights on Oahu, 4 nights on the Big Island and then we were supposed to spend the last 4 nights in Kauai. However, we had spent SO much time the first 8 nights researching where to go, what to do, how to get there, where to stay, where to eat etc...that we decided to just go back to Oahu where there was some familiarity we could enjoy. This also probably saved us a few hundred dollars on plane tickets and more car rentals. So, if I ever get to go to Hawaii again...THEN I'll hope to see Kauai and Maui.
When we got back, we found the Lanikai Bunker hike! This was my favorite of ALL the hikes we did. It was only an hour from start to finish, beautiful views, high but not too scary. Favorite. Here's a picture of me going back to the first bunker.
This is the Byodo temple. It's Buddhist, and was built in the 1960's to celebrate Japanese immigrants being in Hawaii for 100 years. It was a pretty building and location. But kind of overrated. It's just a building in a cemetery with a lot of mosquitoes.
My roommate Ginny, got me hooked on a show called "Deadliest Catch". I can't really explain why I love it so much. Probably because it's manly men and reality tv combined with adventure? I don't know but I'm obsessed with it. The show also has a sister show called, "After the Catch" that they film in Hawaii when the season is over and they sit down with all the captains and characters. They film this show at a restaurant called, "The Shack" and guess who went? This girl! That's the picture of the late Captain Phil they have hanging in the restaurant.
