Dove update 2

The dove is still there, happier and healthier than the sad tomato plant it has called its home. I don't think the tomato plant gets enough sun where it is. It only gets a few hours of direct sunlight a day, when the sun is sinking in the western sky.

I put out some birdseed last weekend, but it does not appear to have been touched.

Dove update

Doves live in my tomato plant

Found this last night:

Saw this this morning:

Hawaii part 6: Aloha means goodbye, too

It was time for me to return to the mainland, and for Alice to get back to work at Oahu. We spent our last morning on Kaua'i at our hotel pool (and hot tub). I'm not generally one impressed by pools, but this was the view of the pool from our lanai:

and the beach, also from our lanai:

To make up for missing the falls yesterday, we stopped at one on the way to the airport:



And then my Hawaiian trip was over. I left my camera with Alice, and she managed to take a few more pics of Oahu before going back to work:



Aloha! Mahalo for reading!

Hawaii part 5: more Kaua'i

We headed up the road to the North Shore for a beach and snorkel day. Stopped at the Wake Up Cafe for breakfast on the way; here's Alice before coffee:

and here she is after coffee:

We ended up at Haena Beach park, which was supposed to have a great snorkeling site called The Tunnels. We did plenty of snorkeling, and it was ok, but nothing spectacular. Some people said they saw a sea turtle, but I didn't (though since I swam with about six of them last year on the Big Island, I didn't feel too left out!) The reef terrain was pretty cool, with very large coral structures with deep crevasses to explore. Sorry, no underwater pics yet.

After getting lunch in Hanalei, we decided to drive down to the very end of the road and hike the Kalaulau trail along the Na Pali Coast. Ok, well, we weren't going all the way to the end of the trail; it's eleven miles and is supposed to take two days round trip. But there were two interim destinations along the way: the Hanakapi'ai beach and the Hanakapi'ai Valley falls. It was a fairly strenuous hike (especially in Tevas), very rocky with lots of elevation changes. Here are some of the views en route to the beach:





Almost there!

And the beach itself:


We continued the hike through the mango forest to the falls, but about a mile in we decided that we were at risk of running out of daylight if we kept going. So we grudgingly turned around for the three mile hike back to the car.

About an hour before sunset, we saw some kids hiking the rocky hills in bare feet, toting surfboards, presumably on their way to Hanakapi'ai beach. That's HARD CORE.

Here's a pre-sunset pic I took that I thought came out pretty well:

When we got back to the car, we decided to use the remaining daylight on one last snorkel trip. Our expectations were blown away snorkeling at Ke'e beach! Despite the twilight conditions, the water was much clearer, and there were more fish and other interesting reef life than we saw earlier, including spaghetti worms (which I had never seen or heard of prior to my aquarium visit on day 1) and more sea cucumbers than I ever wanted to see.

Had a pretty non-memorable dinner at Duke's at the hotel. Then I was mildly disappointed that we didn't have more champagne and strawberries when we returned to our hotel, but it was a good day nonetheless!

Hawaii part 4: Kaua'i

We flew into Kaua'i around noon. It was too early to check in to our hotel, so we headed out for lunch. One of our travel books recommended a place called Fish Express, but we were unable to find it, even with Alice's GPS (which kept saying "Fish Expressway" for some reason.) We did, however, find the wonderfully named Oki Diner, where we ate traditional Hawaiian lunches while local birds begged and sucked syrup from jars at unoccupied tables.


It was still to early to check in when we went back to the hotel, so we went to the hotel beach for a while. Alice walked around and took some pics, while I checked out the local beach volleyball crowd. Would have been nice to play...


After finally checking in to the hotel, we decided to drive to Waimea Canyon, also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. Sadly, we ran into a lot of fog, but we still saw some pretty awe inspiring colors and scenery before it got too dark:




On the way back, we found a Japanese restaurant right before they closed (things shut down early in Kaua'i, it seems) and had some sushi and noodles before heading back to the hotel. And at our hotel room, we were greeted with a pleasant surprise: a bottle of Champagne on ice and a box of chocolate-covered strawberries, accompanied by a card saying "Congratulations Derek and Jenna on your special day!" We enjoyed our unexpected treat on our lanai overlooking the pool (after Alice called the front desk to tell them they screwed up, of course :)

Hawaii part 3: Honolulu

Alice had to work again, so I was on my own for one more day. Started the morning off at McDonald's again-- sure, my last-minute flight ticket cost an obscene amount, but I had a coupon for a free chicken biscuit that I wasn't about to let expire!!!

Hopped on the bus for Bishop Museum. I guess I'll leave out the part of the story where I get lost and get rained on and skip ahead to the museum. There was plenty to see (they claim to have millions of artifacts, relics, and documents from Hawaii and other Pacific Islands, and I believe it.) Among other things, I learned that natives of the Santa Cruz Islands still use woven feather rings as currency, and in fact is their primary method of purchasing brides. There was also a lava show (mostly for kids) and some full-size whale sculptures at the science center.

Hopped back on the bus to downtown Honolulu. Ended up on Fort St, around the campus of Hawaii Pacific University. I was looking for a ramen shop, but settled for awesome garlic chicken pad thai from a Thai place. After eating, I saw 'Iolani Palace, which is the only official state residence of royalty in the US:

And the gilded statue of King Kamehameha:

Then went up the Aloha Tower for some views of the city and beyond:



Hopped back on the bus for Waikiki and spent the remaining few hours hanging out on the beach. Dinner was at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Next stop: Kaua'i.

Hawaii part 2: more Waikiki

Started the next day off with the McDonald's Deluxe breakfast-- SPAM, eggs, and rice plus Portugese Sausage. The sausage wasn't that great... would have preferred more SPAM instead!

Since Alice was still working, I had another day to explore Waikiki by myself. Went to the Honolulu Zoo, which was ok, but pretty much your typical zoo. There were a few things I had never seen before, like a Komodo Dragon:

and the endangered Hawaiian Nene, which may or may not be related to the SuperDuck:

After the zoo it was the beach, then some shopping, then some soba noodles from an ABC Store, then more beach. Overall, plenty of relaxing time on the beach, but not a very exciting day, so here's a pic of a nautilus I took at the aquarium the previous day:


We met up with Alice's coworker Jen for dinner at Roy's. Now that's what Hawaiian seafood is all about... I ordered the Roy's Classic Trio of blackened ahi with spicy soy mustard butter sauce, hibachi grilled salmon with Japanese citrus ponzu sauce, and Hawaiian style misoyaki butterfish with a sizzling soy vinaigrette. Amazing. I expected to be the least impressed by the ahi, I mean, come on, it's blackened tuna, right? But it was cooked perfectly (i.e., almost not at all) and the sauce was unlike anything I had ever tasted. A chocolate souffle and a glass of wine later, and I was ready to turn in.

Hawaii part 1: Aloha!

Actual IM conversation, June 23, around 9:30 AM:

Brian: so Alice is in hawaii for work, and I didn't go.
Tom: bonehead.

So it took me about a day to realize I was an idiot, but with some help from friends like Tom, the realization finally occurred and I bought a ticket to Honolulu.

Here was the view from our hotel on Waikiki beach:
And here's me with my smuggest "I'm in Hawaii and you're not" pose:

Alice was working, so I began the first day by myself. What better way to start the day than with the traditional Hawaiian breakfast from McDonald's:

That's right, SPAM, eggs, and rice! Hawaiians love their SPAM for some reason.

Fully nourished, I hiked to and then up Diamond Head, an extinct volcano on Oahu. It's not a long hike, but it's steep, and I kept up a pace that left me pretty exhausted at the summit. Here are some views from the top:



Went to the Waikiki Aquarium after the hike. Got to see some endangered monk seals and learn about several reef critters whose identification would surely come in handy later on in the trip. Had a sushi lunch after the aquarium and then just chilled out on the beach for the rest of the day. When Alice came home from work, we had fish tacos, tropical drinks, and ice cream pie at Duke's Canoe Club before going back to the hotel and passing out.