Lu'au + Wailiea

Yesterday I had a real vacation day. I didn't check email and I didn't write a blog. It was wonderful. It rained in the morning where we are staying in Honokowai, so we drove Loribeth to work, and then decided to drive down to South Maui, to Wailea Beach. Praise God, we had the one spot of sun on the island and were able to have some fun and go swimming. Evan got over his fear of the sand today while we were at the beach. We had a great time, with the exception of a hungry Jon discovering there's no such thing as "fast food" here. Both drive thrus we tried to go through were a pain and we ultimately didn't end up getting food for lunch and coming home for leftovers before leaving for the lu'au.

Loribeth met us at the lu'au. We chose the Old Lahaina Lu'au, since Loribeth said it was the best. It was amazing. It may have been my favorite activity on our vacation. Evan went with us. I had made reservations for the traditional seating, which involves sitting on pillows on the ground with a low table to eat from. It turns out these tables are front row for the lu'au, so we had an amazing view, plus it was the perfect height for Evan and he didn't have to sit on our laps. Since it had been rainy earlier on, the sunset with the clouds was beautiful on the shore in the background. The food was amazing, it was so good. Evan sat still and paid attention to the hula dancing. It was probably the most peaceful moment I've had in a long time, I actually started to cry a little bit, because it was so nice to just be able to all sit together and enjoy something together, without having to be running around, or Jon being frustrated, or Evan running around crazy or squirming or screaming. All of us actually enjoyed it, it was wonderful. It began to rain a bit in the middle of the performance, so they cut it early by about half an hour, which is too bad, because it did stop raining, and I didn't mind the rain at all I was having such a great time.

We came back afterwards and hung out at Loribeth's and Amanda's condo doing some laundry and then went to bed.

This was one of my favorite days in Hawaii.

Best Banana Bread on the Planet

Today Jon and I learned that the "best banana bread on the planet" can be found by driving a one-lane, two-direction road for five miles, up and down mountainsides and cliffs along the ocean at a place called Julia's in Kalakuloa. It isn't actually a place so much as a little green stand at the side of the road.

To begin our drive, we actually drove north to Kahana and dropped Loribeth off at work. Then, we continued down to Slaughterhouse Beach. Apparently this is a good spot to see spinner dolphins, however this morning was very windy in that area and the waves were rough there, so no dolphins. We continued on to Nakalele Blowhole and hiked part of the way down to see it. The surf was just right that this was more impressive than the Halona Blowhole on Oahu, but it was way too windy and rocky to walk Evan all the way down to the blowhole.

Evan feel asleep when we got back into the car, so we decided to drive the long way around the north section of the island. It was a beautiful, and somewhat nervewracking drive, but Jon seemed to enjoy it. Once we got into Wailuku and went to the Iao Valley State Park and walked around, looking at the Iao Needle.

We came back and spent some time hanging out at the condo, walked along Ka'anipali Beach, and then Loribeth and Amanda came over and cooked dinner for us. We've had a lot of fun hanging out with them, it's been so nice having people here who know their way around, and it's been great spending time with Loribeth! Now we are watching The Pink Panther, and soon it will be time for bed.

Tomorrow's the luau!!!

Ka'anapli Beach

Sunset from our lanai

Pole Dancing

Ironically, as I write the title of this day's blog, I realize Pole Dancing can have two meanings that both apply to me today (the graceful Polish part of me that is).

We arrived in Maui yesterday afternoon, got our rental car, etc, found our condo, ate dinner, hung out with Loribeth and her roommate Amanda, took Evan and his new friend little Scottish Ian to the playground. Ian is a trip, they had so much fun together! It's amazing how two kids the same age can be somewhat easier than one. The two played so well together!

Anyhow, onto today, and pole dancing. Loribeth's roommate is a pole dancing instruction. She's not a stripper, just a pole dancing instructor, as in those people you hear about on cable tv who do pole dancing for exercise. She's apparently the only one in West Maui. This evening's dinner conversation was interesting. Amanda is purchasing a video of the "Pole-a-palooza", a pole dancing competition, that is tax deductible as a business expense. Just found that an interesting and amusing fact.

Amanda allowed me to come check out her class today and give it a try. Loribeth took Evan to Barnes and Noble next to the class and entertained him with trains and books. The classroom/studio is a room with two ten foot tall poles, and some yoga mats. The first 40 or so minutes of the class is Pilates, which I was a little concerned about after having an overly chalenging experience with a Pilates class once. This one was actually a lot of fun, and just the right amount of challenge. I'm sure I won't be able to move tomorrow. The second half of the class was the pole dancing lesson. I think the name of the move we learned was called the fireman spin. Anyhow, I have a lovely bruise on my right shin as a result, but after several tries, I was able to accomplish the move, sort of. I can't imagine anything I executed was nearly graceful enough to be considered anything beyond exercise, and the entire experience certainly makes for an interesting story. I did have a lot of fun though, and the other 7 women in the class were great. I think we all had a lot of fun.

We grabbed some pasta for lunch and ate on our lanai, then all went out to "Airport Beach", which is basically the part of Kaanipali Beach that is north of Black Rock. The waves weren't too high there, but there was definitely an undertow, and the shore drops off pretty quickly once you manage to get in. We played with Evan for awhile, then all took turns getting in the water. Evan was very upset when Jon was swimming and almost started to cry. When I tried to go in with Loribeth, I made it in far enough that I was treading water, which was still pretty close to shore. Evan started to cry, despite my treading water and trying to wave to him. I happen to pride myself on being a much much better swimmer than I am a pole dancer. Much better. Anyhow, seeing Evan crying, I decided to try to get out of the water to get to him. Unfortunately, this is the point I put my back to the ocean, something you are never supposed to do, and was temporarily overtook by a wave. Once I resurfaced, Amanda, Loribeth and Jon all found it very amusing. Particularly when the next wave dragged my onto the shore and deposited me in the sand, thanks to the quick shorebreak. So, to go along with my bruise on my right shin, I now have the sand equivalent of rug burn on my left knee.

After that, we sat an the beach and could see humpback whales breaching and playing on the horizon. It appeared that the two whales were in competition with each other, so there was lots of fin slapping, tail slapping, breaching, etc. We probably watched that for about half an hour, then came back to the condo, where we saw a sea turtle from our lanai (patio/yard), ate dinner, hung out, and now I'm ready for bed!

All in all, lots of adventures and fun though. But, I'm going to regret it all tomorrow when I can't move!

Good night!

Notes on Oahu

So, we are now on Maui and have been here for an entire day, but I wanted to wrap up our trip to Oahu. Most of this info is best for the ARI group, for anyone who will be staying in the condo.

The condo was fantastic. It was huge, larger than the first two bedroom apartment that Jon and I lived in, but with a much better view. We each brought our laptops, however, ARI also provides a laptop in the condo, so even if we hadn't brought our laptops, we'd have had a computer. The location couldn't have been better. We were a block away from the widest and least crowded stretch of Waikiki Beach, across the street from the Hilton which has a bunch of shops/fish pond/birds/flamingos/penguin exhibit (which is really it's own complex with several towers of hotels), a ten minute walk to Ala Moana Center (the mall), and a block away from Kalakaua, the main street of shopping where there's a Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Tiffany, Armani Exchange, Hermes, etc. There were also two Starbucks within two blocks, and lots of restaurants.

Other notes. We rented from Alamo. When we arrived in Oahu, they did not have a clean convertible Sebring available for us, nor did they have one available at the Maui Alamo, even though we'd reserved one in advance online. Also, in Oahu, Alamo is not located near the other rental car returns, so we spent some time all yelling at each other (including Evan) in the car, trying to find the place. The good part however, was that actually returning the car was fairly simple and painless.

Other than that, I highly recommend purchasing Oahu Revealed if you travel to Oahu. This book was invaluable. We left our copy in the condo for future visitors. It's like reading a Frommers written by locals. We (finally) learned the best ways to get to the H1 to get into and out of Oahu, which is slightly different than what the book recommends based on the location of the condo. Basically, from the condo, taking a right onto Ena out of the parking garage:

To get to the H1 West, towards the airport, turn left onto Kalakaua. Turn right onto King St. into the far left lane. Turn left onto Punahou. Turn right onto Dole. Follow the signs to H1.

To get to the H1, towards Diamond Head, turn right onto Kalakaua, left on Pua, right on McCully, right on Kapiolani, and follow the signs to the H1 East.

Coming from the H1 to the condo, take the H1 towards Waikiki. Get off at the University exit. Drive towards the ocean. Turn right on Kapiolani, left onto McCully, left onto Kalakaua, right onto Ala Moana and right onto Ena.

One last thing. For groceries, try Walmart first, then check out Foodland. Walmart is behind Ala Moana Center, the Foodland is in Ala Moana Center, but you may want to look at a directory of where exactly it's located in the center, since Jon spent some time driving around trying to find the place. Also, they apparently don't have shopping carts, so you can only buy as much as you can carry. Walmart, on the other hand, does have shopping carts, and Jon felt that the food that they did have at Walmart, which was pretty much staples for the fridge and cupboards, was cheaper there. We also spent a lot of time going to the ABC Store across the street from the condo, or the ABC Superette on Hobron an Ala Moana for quick stuff like milk for Evan or limes for Coronas.

Ok, dinner has arrived, so I'm off. I'll write more about Maui, whale watching, and "sand-burn" on my knee, later.

Friday Night

This morning, Evan, Jon and I went hiking at Makapu'u Point Trail/Lighthouse Road. It was a very neat hike, and great because it is on an old abandoned road, so the entire hike is paved. It's about a 1 1/4 mile hike each way, the views are of the mountains and the ocean. And of course, it's another Lost filming site, as it seems anywhere that's worthwhile to hike on the island has been at one point or another. It was very funny, because Evan wanted to "hike" part of the way. He did a great job trying to walk up some of the hills, and for some reason, does this funny thing when he walks where he swings only his left arm, which you can see in the picture.

We grabbed lunch on the way back from a Mexican restaurant called Azteca. The food was pretty good, but what we've learned is besides various asian and seafood restaurants, ethnic cuisine can be limited in Hawaii. It's difficult when you come from a city like Cleveland that publishes an entire book on Ethnic Eats and compare. I will say that the guacamole was really tasty though, and for Mexican food in Hawaii, this place was great!

We took Evan for a swim in the afternoon, and then he took a brief nap. Jon didn't have to work again this evening, the computer issue remained, so we decided to take Evan over to the Hilton Hawaiian Village to see fireworks. On our walk over, we stopped at the Hilton at one of the shops, The Pearl Factory that lets you pick an oyster with a pearl in it, so Evan picked one out fo rme, and I had a beautiful ring made.

This was Evan's first time ever seeing fireworks. We had a blast. It turns out the best place to watch the fireworks, which we hadn't anticipated, was nearby the lagoon on the Hilton's property. We had actually walked around this back way to try to get to the beach to watch the fireworks, and were stopped by security, because that's near where they launch the fireworks. So, we grabbed a patch of grass and sat down, and were among a group of about ten people to sit and watch the fireworks right near where they were shot off.

We ordered sandwiches from Giovanni Pastrami again, walked over there to grab them and bring them back to the condo and ate, and now the boys are in bed and that's where I'm headed. We leave for Maui tomorrow afternoon.

Good night.

What day is it?

So, yesterday, Thursday, we didn't do a whole lot. I took Evan to the park in the morning, where he met two little girls. One was a cute little half-Japanese girl, who was about 20 months old and for some reason reminded me of Evan's friend Gracie.

After the park, we went back to the condo, and Evan, Jon and I went swimming at the pool. the boys took a nap, and I went on the Atlantis Submarine ride at Waikiki Beach. I had to take a boat ride out to the site where you get onto the submarine. I tend to get seasick when doing things like snorkeling, so I took some Bonine (similar to Dramamine) before going. Once out on the boat, we had to walk across a ramp over to the sub. The sub took us down to about 120 feet below. It was very cool. I was able to see some things I didn't see snorkeling, like two sea turtles, two reef sharks, and quite a few blowfish. Unlike snorkeling however, the colors aren't as vibrant, because at a certain depth the colors begin to look different as natural sunlight is filtered through the water. At the deepest part, the red buttons on my camera looked completely black. Also, I enjoyed snorkeling because I was able to take pictures that I hope will turn out better than the ones on the submarine. But, it was far less work than snorkeling, and there are things I wouldn't have seen snorkeling, so both have their benefits.

I came back and Jon got a phone call from the IT department telling him that there are technical issues that prevented him from working that night. So, Jon, Evan and I went to dinner at Duke's Canoe Club. Jon isn't such a big fan of taking Evan anywhere out to eat, not that I am either, but he actually hates doing so. We spent the majority of our dinner trying to get Evan not to break anything or run off, or we were taking turns eating alone while the other walked him out to the beach. Anyhow, the food was great regardless, and at least there was the beach to walk him out to! I got to take him out to the beach and watch the sunset, so I'm not complaining too much!

I'll write more about today itself later. We're going to try to catch the Polynesian show and fireworks across the street at the Hilton now that Evan's up from his very late nap. The technical issues haven't yet been corrected, so Jon gets another night off to spend with us.

Later.

Pearl Harbor + Halona Blowhole

This morning Evan and I had our daily trip to Starbucks, the playground and Eggs N Things to pick up breakfast. Then we came back to the condo to get Jon, and we all drove out to Pearl Harbor.

Unfortunately, the wait for the presentation and ferry ride over to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor was almost 3 hours, so we just walked around the harbor taking pictures and looking at some of the other displays of guns, the USS Bowfin Submarine, torpedoes, etc. and skipped the ferry ride over to the USS Arizona Memorial.

Evan enjoyed the guns and the old submarine tower, which he was convinced was a "tunnel".

Lana'i Lookout:

On the drive back to the condo on the H1, Evan fell asleep, so we decided to keep driving east past the condo and find something interesting. We stopped at the Lana'i Lookout (another Lost filming location, and very beautiful), and the Halona Blowhole. From the lookout for the Halona Blowhole, you can look down and see Halona Beach, the location of the famous roll-in-the-beach scene from the movie "From Here to Eternity". You can actually hike down some rocks quite easily and get to this secluded cove, but Evan was sleeping in the car, so Jon and I had to take turns getting out to check out the scenery.

We're going to look for some more hiking locations for tomorrow. It looks like there's an abandoned road you can hike a few miles further down 72 East (the H1 turns into 72 East) called Makapuu Lighthouse Road.

Lunch was from Cheeseburger Waikiki today, just around the corner from the condo. The cheeseburgers were quite tasty.

Halona Blowhole Photos:

Swimming

Today was pretty low-key. Evan and I walked over to the playground at the Hale Koa, Evan followed around the gardener who had a leaf blower while I talked to Sam, my friend from work, on the phone. After I called Eggs N Things and once again after getting tired of being put on hold for five minutes and hanging up, Evan and I went back to the condo.

Jon, Evan and I decided to all go hang out at Waikiki Beach, so we wouldn't have to drive anywhere today. Evan is still scared of walking on the sand, however he will sit directly in the sand and dig in it with his sand shovel. So strange. Once we got tired of playing in the sand, we came back to the condo and went swimming in the pool here. Evan loves swimming in the pool. He gets very excited. He loves going underwater with us, and loves being tossed into the air and caught in the water. We had a great time. Unfortunately, the deck where the pool is located is in the shade, so Evan gets cold after swimming for about 15 minutes, however you can tell he wants to stay in and play longer. He'd probably play in there all day if he could!

I sat out on the Lanai for a bit and worked on my tan while reading a book called Hawaii Travelers Tales. It's a really neat book, today I read about someone who hiked through the 8 mile wide crater at Haleakala in Maui. After our nap, we all walked along the beachwalk at Waikiki Beach, picked up dinner at the Aloha Broiler in the International Marketplace food court, and now Evan and I are in the condo and Jon is at work.

I'm realizing that it's such a good thing we don't have cable at home in Cleveland. In the past week I've watched too much Bravo and E! channel, including Snoop Dogg's Father Hood, Girls Next Door (about Hugh Hefner and the Playboy bunnies) and the same episode of Project Runway about 3 different times. I can't believe how much addictive garbage is on cable tv. Unfortunately, I haven't found the Food Network yet, so I can watch Michael Symon on Iron Chef.

Enjoy the photos, including Evan helping Jon out at work!

MLK Day

I've added a couple more photos to the blog from Saturday and our hike through Manoa Falls.

This morning we woke up to the sound of a marching band, as there was the MLK parade going down the street in front of our condo. We spent some time watching the parade, Evan really enjoyed the drums. Once it was over, we went to the Honolulu Zoo. I think it is smaller than the zoo in Cleveland, though we didn't stay long enough to walk around the entire zoo, however, it did have some very neat animals that I've never seen in other zoos, and lots of them. They had several different types of turtles, crocodiles, reptiles and monkeys, all in exhibits where you could see them very well. Their Keiki Zoo (children's zoo) was nice as well. Evan also spent some time at the playground at the zoo, watching the kids and hanging out in the "tunnel". He is currently obsessed with tunnels.

After the zoo, we all napped at the condo, then walked along Waikiki Beach, watched the sunset, and picked up dinner at Giovanni Pastrami on Lewer's Street. They have some great sandwiches.

Evan and I came home, hung out, and now Evan's in bed.

This past weekend...

We were so busy and tired this weekend, that I didn't get to write more about Saturday. Jon and I had a wonderful time at dinner. It was the 8 year anniversary of when Jon proposed to me. There was a woman (the Honolulu Flower Lady) walking around the restaurant selling flowers, and she had a small bouquet of Hawaiian lavender colored roses that Jon bought for me. They are known for their unique lavender color and their beautiful scent. They are similar to the color of roses we had for our wedding.

After dinner, we walked next door to the Ocean House restaurant, to an art gallery called Kuloko Arts of Hawaii. I really enjoyed the artwork there, and bought a print of a mermaid painting by an artist named Holly Kitaura (see below). As the woman working there was talking to us, she noticed the lavender roses and we were talking about them. She then told us a beautiful story of how her husband used to buy her a live flower lei every Friday, and that now she is a widow. But that some people would ask her why he would bother buying her a live lei every Friday, since they typically die after a day or two. She said they missed the point, that it was to enjoy the beauty of the moment. After having heard she was a widow, it made her saying this even more poignant, as it seemed she meant it both in reference to the lei's as well as the time spent with her husband. Or at least that's how I interpreted it. She had a look about her that the pain I'm sure she felt over losing her husband had been worth it for the memories she has of him, she looked so happy telling the story. Anyhow, my eyes started to well-up with tears, and Jon told her I was about to cry. After she finished packing the print for us, she came around the counter and told me I have a sweet spirit and that she wanted to get some of that to rub off on her, and gave me a big hug. It was all just very sweet.