Our Last Day on Oahu

Sad but true, all good things must come to an end. We wrapped up our Hawaiian vacation with one more day on Oahu. Autumn really wanted to go to Pearl Harbor. I agreed that it was very important & even though I had already been there, that was where we started our day. Pearl Harbor is a very hard place to visit. It is so historically important but it is an incredibly sobering experience. We threw a little levity into the mix by getting our pic taken with some sailors (totally Autumn's idea!).
From Pearl Harbor we head to the Pali Outlook. It's the top of a cliff where a huge battle took place a long time ago (I'm saying it all so vaguely so that I don't have to try to spell any more Hawaiian names...they're hard!). Anyway, the view is spectacular.
Then we went to Kailua. Autumn managed to really provoke a little Asian woman with her driving. There were lots of hand gestures & meanie looks thrown our way. Quite scary. Anyway, we made it to Kailua on the windward side of the island & as you can tell from the pics, this side is much more lush than Waianae. The water is an incredible teal color. We had lunch at a very nice restaurant (I ordered some kind of Asian salad & I have no idea what I really ate, but it was very good & let me tell you, I'm getting skills with the old chop sticks!). Then we went to the beach for a quick swim. I love the water so much...we wrapped our day up with a little more shopping & then it was back to Cody's to pack up. We flew out that night & I've been dreaming about going back ever since!
Mahalo to Justin & Cody for showing us such a great time! Until the next time...aloha!

Maui

Right now Maui is my favorite island. Maybe it's b/c I've been to Oahu 3 times; maybe it's b/c I only got to spend one day there; maybe it b/c it's the only island with a Krispy Kreme. I'm not sure, but I do know that I really want to go back.
Since we only had one day to experience Maui we tried to be really smart about what activity we chose. Lindsay, one of Cody's roommates, decided to come with us (& we're so glad she did!). We flew in, picked up our rental car, & headed to K-Mart for some munchies.
We stopped in Paia for a little window shopping. We found a shop with a Santa Claus outside it's front door & stopped for a photo op. A kind, golden Australian surfer boy stopped to take the pic for us. Such nice people in Hawaii! :-)
We had decided that we would drive the Road to Hana with the help of Cody's tour book, "Maui Revealed". This is an excellent book that I would wholeheartedly recommend. Armed with granola bars, raisins, water, & m&m's, we hit the road (this food came in so handy later!).
The Road to Hana is about 40 miles of road cut into the mountainside along the coast. It is very windy & has more one lane bridges than I could count. Thankfully I was the only one in our group who has any tendency towards motion sickness so I could drive the whole way & we all were able to ride in comfort. Autumn kept tabs on the book & told me where to pull over. We saw Rainbow Eucalyptus trees (they only grow on Maui - nowhere else on earth) & we saw waterfalls. The first falls was a quick 3 minute hike down a little path. We were higher than the falls & looked over a valley to see it on the other side. So beautiful & it was really cool because we could hear it before we could see it. We hopped back in the car & headed out to find another falls that promised to be private & lacey - definitely worth the hike. We found the spot, locked up the car (toting our purses with us b/c of the theft problems) & ran into some people just coming back from the falls. They promised us that it was worth the hike. We discovered minutes later that we would be hopping boulders the whole way. After about 30 minutes of rock hopping in flip flops we reached the falls. So beautiful & lacy. Water trickling down so far to land in a deep almost completely still pool. The falls was so high that I couldn't really take a picture of the whole thing. We managed to make it all the way in & out without any real mishaps. I thought we were going to have to piggy-back Autumn out more than once b/c her flip flops kept having blow-outs!
We then headed to Hana & the black sand beach. The contrast between the almost navy blue water & the black sand was remarkable. To say it was beautiful just doesn't even begin to describe it.
We wandered into Hana hoping to grab some dinner before turning around & heading for the airport. I was starting to feel a bit of time crunch b/c it would have been BAD if we had missed our flight. So we ended up at a mom & pop kind of restaurant w/ a walk-up order window & outside eating area. Lindsay ordered a sandwich (which she got right away) while Autumn & I ordered the dinner special. We waited for something like 20 minutes & still no food. Long story short, Hawaiian people are sometimes too laid back. They had put our order together & just not bothered to give it to us. I got a refund (no way could I eat it & drive). We loaded into the car & headed back to the airport while I munched on a granola bar :-) But we didn't miss our flight!

The Island of Kauai

Also known as Justin's Island. Or so he thinks just because he's working for the District Attorney's Office there. Anyway, we caught a morning flight to Kauai on Tuesday. We landed & picked up our rental jeep - a hard top model that we put together & took apart more times than I care to mention, but it was so fun to drive. I wanted to come home & sell my Corolla immediately & get a Jeep. Then the reality of gas prices being $3.49/gallon set in. Moving on...
We drove across the street from the airport & saw the new court house where Justin will have an office. Then we crossed the street again to see where he would be living. The dude doesn't even need a car - he can bike everywhere!
We commenced to take a whirlwind driving tour of the island. I can't even tell you where all we went, but it was great. Kauai is very rural; the total population is somewhere around 60,000 people & 74,000 chickens & roosters. They are seriously everywhere.
We hiked back to a waterfall on a river. It was very pretty & very much reminded me some places here in Indiana. It's funny how I traveled half way around the world to see something different & I was elated to find a place that looked like home.
We hit the town of Hanalei (made famous by the song "Puff the Magic Dragon"). That was where I made my total impulse purchase of a Sunrise Shell necklace. It's absolutely beautiful. The strand of the necklace is made of Niihau shells & the pendant is one full half of a sunrise shell. These shells are only found on Kauai so they are very rare & valuable - at least to me :-)
We also went to the Pali Coast. We had to 4 wheel it for about 35 minutes to reach this beach. Once we got there we decided it was totally worth it. Note - Justin wanted to camp out on this beach that night. Autumn & I decided a hotel was worth the $35 or so each. Anyway, we walked for ever just enjoying the surf & good conversation among friends. I found one stack of rocks. The Hawaiians believe that there are evil little people (Menehune) who stack up the stones. If you knock them over you will be cursed. Kind of like their version of leprechauns & pots of gold. While we were walking on this beach we ran into a group of nekkies. The first time I've ever seen nude people at the beach. Yikes!
We also stopped by a resort to check out prices for one night. $540! And it was off season. We decided not to stay there (big surprise!). But we did hang out for a while & checked out their beach front, pools, etc. Are you familiar with the movie, "Six Days, Seven Nights" with Harrison Ford & Anne Heche? In that movie they are marooned on a deserted island & have to jump off of a cliff into the ocean to escape some drug smugglers. We saw that cliff. Justin has actually jumped off of it. I sat on the edge. I'm just not too nervy sometimes :-)
Justin warned us that all of Kauai rolls up at 9 o'clock. I wasn't sure I believed him until I realized that literally the only thing to do that evening was languish in our hotel room or go see "Blades of Glory". We elected to go for the movie. Although funny, I wouldn't truly recommend it; something about Will Ferrell gives me the shivers.
Kauai definitely has a pristine, unsettled beauty that Oahu seems to have lost. I loved it b/c it was kind of hickish & hippy-ish. I'm glad I have connections on this island now, too!

Aloha Days Part II

Finally getting back to blogging & my smurfy vacation. Let's see...we're up to Monday on Oahu. Autumn & I rented a car & headed into Waikiki on our own. We didn't have any issues figuring out where to go - we were headed for some shopping! The plan for the day was to see the waterfront, shop, & hike Diamond Head. We stocked up on souvenirs & we were ambushed by a Maui Divers Jewelry salesman at the International Market. I got suckered into picking an oyster to open for a pearl. I ended up finding twins in my oyster. Then Autumn got going. I think in all she got about 6 pearls. I got 4 (2 sets of twins). Then we had to decide how to set them. I didn't have too much trouble deciding how to set them (I'm kind of opinionated since I worked in jewelry sales for 5 years); I just had trouble deciding if I wanted to spend the money. Autumn had trouble making decisions of all kinds. So we were there for quite a while. In the midst of all this I turned around to look for an ABC Store (I seriously need a Diet Coke) & you will never guess who walked by - Ed from the plane! He was headed back to his hotel after surfing. He stopped & helped Autumn make her decisions & then he hung out with us for the rest of the afternoon. Then we left Waikiki to hike Diamond Head. Ed wanted us to come back & have dinner with him & his buddies before heading to the airport for home. We agreed on the condition that the guys didn't show their appall at our post-hike state :-)
As the pics show, the view from Diamond Head was fabulous. I love going to place like that at the close of day. The light is so golden. The hike was fabulous - not too challenging at all. I would like to go back & trail run it. The worst part was the stairs. They were steep & scary. It was very windy at the top & even though I look all relaxed in the pics, I was so ready to get down. I felt like I was going to get blown off!
We drove back down to Waikiki & met up with the guys. We met Ken & Joe. I asked Ken where we were going to eat & he told me we were going to go to a place called Ryan's in Ala Moana. He explained that it was a chain kind of place & we would probably just order a bunch of pupu & share. Hmmm...I was thinking, I do not like Ryan's Steak & Buffet (something about all you can eat is just gross) & I was totally sure I didn't want any pupu! Actually, it was a very nice restaurant & pupu means 'appetizers'. We had a very nice dinner & then dropped Ed & Lee off at the airport.
Back to Waianae to get some rest for the flight to Kauai on Tuesday!

Aloha Days on Oahu Part I

Yay! I successfully put together my first slide show! All in all I took 187 pictures over the course of my trip to Hawaii. I won't bore you with them all, but I will highlight the major things we did.

We left the Indy airport on Friday morning and arrived in Honolulu at about 5:30 that evening. I had a voicemail from Cody when we landed to let me know that they were all tied up in a soccer game so I could just rent a car and drive on out to Waianae. Well, that thought had crossed my mind but I knew we wouldn't really need a car until Monday so I wasn't too excited about the idea. Never fear, Autumn's outgoing personality had made friends with a guy who sat by us on the plane and the buddy that came to pick him and his friend up was more than happy to give us a lift. Getting in cars with total strangers (three men at that!) is not my normal behavior but we took a chance and arrived safely. They even fed us once we got there. It was sushi and mostly inedible to me but Autumn liked it.

Saturday morning Autumn and I walked down to the beach and took some pictures and let the sun soak in. It was so nice. That night was the Kokua Festival. It's basically a big outdoor concert to promote environmental protection for the islands. I just wanted to see Jack Johnson. If you're not familiar with his music I would describe him to you as mostly acoustic, kind of a laid back Hawaiian sounding James Taylor. You should check him out; he's one of my faves.

So, great concert & then off to church the next morning. Then we hit the Aloha Swap Meet (kind of like a Hawaiian Covered Bridge Festival) followed by a fast tour of the North Shore. I included a picture of Pipeline Beach. That's where they hold the big annual surf competitions. The water was so rough that day that the lifeguards wouldn't let you in the water unless you looked local (i.e. you couldn't be a white dude!). We hit Matsumoto's Shave Ice in Haliewa on the way back. It's a must for any visit to the North Shore. Always get ice cream with it and someday I'm going to have to go back and try it with beans, too.

That pretty much covers Friday through Sunday. I'll get back with you bit by bit and post the rest of the trip. I promise, it gets better & better!

The Indianapolis Mini Marathon

I know everyone wants stories and pictures of Hawaii, but I only have a couple of minutes so I'll fill you in on the race. This past Saturday we lined up for a 13.1 run. Crazy as it may seem, I had so much fun! Autumn & I cruised together running and walking for the first ten miles. That got us past innumerable garage bands, a couple groups of bag pipers and cheerleaders, and around the world famous Indianapolis 500 Race Track. That part is always my favorite. At the 10 mile mark we split up and I fairly sprinted the last 3 miles. I felt really good and my foot wasn't bothering me at all (praise the Lord!). We wrapped up the day with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, I wasn't sore at all the next day (although very tired), & I'm all pumped for next year! Anybody want to do it with me???
Here are my stats:

Overall Place: 18967 out of 29213
Division Place: 1817 out of 2831 (Ages 25-29)
Gender Place: 8073 out of 15245
Time: 2:39:41 (you can subtract about 8 minutes for bathroom breaks, believe it or not!)
Pace: 12:12
5 Mile Split: 1:00:48
10 Mile Split: 2:08:07
Last 5k: 31:34