Friday, September 30, 2011

Found on the Beach



Look who we found on the beach. Isn't he gorgeous? We sat and watched him for at least a half an hour. Hawaiian Sea Turtles are endangered, so we kept our distance. He opened and closed his eyes a few times, just to see if we were still there.

A few days later, while at another beach, we saw the branch sticking out of the sand. Someone had lost his key and the person who found it in the sand took the time to find a branch and hang the key from it. Fast forward a few days later and the key and branch were still there.

Honest and courteous people on Oahu. If you lost your car key in the sand, it may still be there.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Musical Surprises




Mark had to work today, so I took the car and ran errands all over the island. First stop was Blaisdell Center where I thought I'd buy concert tickets to Earth, Wind and Fire. Turns out the concert is already almost sold out; only a few tickets left and in not so good seats. We decided to put the money into an island hopping trip.

On my way back to the parking lot, I spotted Elvis. Yes, Elvis lives on the Blaisdell Center grounds. I stood in front of his flower-bedecked statue and remembered watching Elvis' Hawaii concert on TV when I was a kid. I was sitting on the floor of our family room in the Bay Area, with the boxy Zenith TV set upon the carpet. Elvis was sparkly and sweaty. I remember my father yelling to my mom who was washing dishes in the kitchen, "Come look how fat Elvis is." With dishtowel in hand, Mom entered the family room. "Must be drugs," was her answer. She shook her head and went back to the dishes.

I left the Elvis statue and continued on to other errands. Office Depot was very uneventful. The bank, however, is a story for another time.

Later that afternoon, while sitting in the car, I listened to KKOL 107.9, which plays mostly rock hits from the 60's,70's and 80's. I was on a two lane road, during a bright gorgeous Hawaii afternoon, the kind where the sky is really blue, the green trees and plants and hills are almost emerald in color and the flowers that grow on the tips of trees pop with orange, yellow and red. The DJ announced he was playing a set of songs from the only musical family to have a grandfather, son and grandson as superstars.

Surprisingly, the next minute I was singing out loud to Hank Williams Jr.'s, "Family Tradition." Country music guided me all through high school and college, especially Hank Williams Jr. I could feel better instantly singing one of his songs while driving to the then unspoiled ranch lands in Orange County. There was also a night in college spent at my sorority sister's cattle ranch, listening and dancing to country music under the oak trees and stars. Although it seemed weird to drive through a tropical landscape and hear a song from days I spent in California grasslands with farms and ranches nearby, I felt happy belting out the lyrics today. Thanks KKOL.

Music of all kinds can be found here. Earth, Wind and Fire, Elvis and Hank Jr. all in one day. Nice.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Where's Minnie Mouse in a Grass Skirt?




I love Disneyland, but the thought of Disney opening a resort in Hawaii left me cringing. I thought it would be cheesy and a tacky rendition of the Tiki Room. (Yes, the Tiki Room is tacky, but it's make-believe and I thoroughly enjoy it.)

Disney Aulani Resort's Grand Opening is this week. We didn't know that as we drove up to their entrance in Ko'Olina. Apparently, media is already on site and the hotel is prepping in a big way. Colored search lights lit up the sky once it was dark. The beach has a stage set up with big lights; the type found on a film set. We stood above on the hotel grounds as hula dancers rehearsed under the watch of Disney choreographers. We were told Good Morning America is showcasing the grand opening later this week.

The property is nice, not cheesy at all. Disney really did their research. We ate dinner at Ama Ama restaurant, where Liane, our waitress, told us how Disney had a difficult time creating Aulani. This wasn't a made up Disney, Cinderella-type story. Disney had to exemplify a real story, the Hawaiian story. Other than Chip and Dale playing games with the kids and the rock formation around the pool, not much that looks like Disney is visible. Hawaiian images of kapa cloth patterns, Pele on a building, torches designed to look like kukui nuts were visible. I missed the small details at first and I wondered who would drive all the way out here for a Disney escape. Halfway through dinner, I told Mark, "I feel like we're on vacation." Disney had done it. They had transported me to vacation mode while only a few miles from home.

A side note, our dinner at Ama Ama was excellent. Great flavors blended together in everything we tried. I had a delicious Burrata and tomato salad with sweet white corn dressing and tender smooth beef filet.

Okay, enough from me. I'll be quiet now and let you enjoy the photos.






Saturday, September 17, 2011

Aloha Festival


After watching the USC football game at Jimmy Buffett's in Waikiki, we wandered onto Kalakaua Avenue for the start of Hoolaulea, part of Aloha Festival. Tented booths lined the mauka (mountain) side of Kalakaua Ave. Cars were blocked from the street and only walkers and strollers wandered down the avenue. It was so quiet without the cars, we could hear birds in the banyan tree near the Duke Kahanamoku statue. The first stand I saw was selling poi mochi. I swear, there's a way to put poi in everything.

The man at the lei stand started talking to me about the dancer with a sign asking for money for "Chronics of Narnia". (Whatever that is.) The lei man and I laughed about his drug induced dancing ability.

We watched tourists line Waikiki beach waiting for sunset.

Our return walk held the interesting discovery. Just before the Honolulu Police Department's Waikiki sub-station is a fenced off area with four large rocks. These rocks were placed in honor of four Tahitian healers who wandered the island with miraculous healing abilities during the 1500's. When it was time to return to their island of Raiatea, they asked that four large stones be placed near their residence. They gave their spirit power to the stones before their departure.

I've walked Waikiki along the beach many times and this is the first time I've seen this healing space. It's also the first time I've walked Kalakaua Ave without cars. The tradewinds were blowing slightly, just enough to keep the festival goers cool. Bandstand areas were preparing for tonight's music. The Brothers Cazimero were playing at a later time. It looked to be a perfect evening to enjoy a concert, good food and artist wares.


Thursday, September 15, 2011

There's Silver in Them Thar Hills



It was a dark and stormy….okay, I’m not Snoopy sitting on my doghouse with a typewriter trying to write the great American novel, but it was gloomy and gray today.

Low clouds hung over town as I watched the fuzzy bands of rain move across the windows of our apartment. I moped about the weather at first, thinking of the San Francisco days of fog for weeks on end and how the gloom could bring me down. Then I thought about the past few days and how great the weather has been, after all, we went to the beach late afternoon yesterday and watched the dogs sprint across the waves, happy to be on their evening walks. A couple, visiting from somewhere, took photos of themselves on the beach with the sea-blue ocean behind them. Then they kissed and hugged, obviously happy and in love.

Every time Mark and I go to the beach, I’m instantly in a better mood, and yesterday was no exception. The water temperature was 82 degrees. It was like stepping into a saltwater bathtub, but with kids, surfers and dogs sharing the big tub with me.

So this morning, I realized it can’t be perfect weather all the time and I resigned myself to today being a gloomy day, which will remind me to appreciate the nice days.
But I forgot, I’m in Hawaii.....(nature always has a surprise)

I had to drive around the island for a few meetings today. With windshield wipers on, I first gazed out at the cloudy grayness in front of my car. Then I looked up the mountains. The rain had created ribbons of silver, rustling streams of water, falling between the lush greenness of the mountain peaks. Waterfalls were everywhere!

(Sorry, no photo, since I was driving.)


After appreciating the scenic drive, I had to stop at Queen’s Hospital for a test. It’s like driving up to a hotel. Queen’s is the main hospital in Honolulu, yet it doesn’t seem very big. I guess I’m comparing it to San Francisco Hospitals and Stanford Hospital. The landscaping is kept up with native Hawaiian plants. The parking lot was full, so I had to go to valet parking at the entrance. People were crowded around the drop-off area and not one person honked or yelled. Everyone quietly sat and waited and appreciated the moment, even in a stressful place like a hospital.

I asked for directions and only one person knew where I needed to go. I asked for a certain wing, but apparently no one uses its name. There’s very little signage in Hawaii. Street signs are tough to find and addresses are almost non-existent. Once I told them what department I needed, everyone told me, "Go down the hall to the elevators and get off on the third floor."

As I wandered the hospital hallways, I was struck by how clean it was. There was no run down furniture, no gum on the floor or cigarette butt smashed into the pavement outside, maybe that’s because outside is not pavement. Nope, it’s stone.

A beautiful hospital, surrounded by tropical vegetation, with clean surroundings and calm, smiling people; is this why people live so long in Hawaii?


Even in Hawaii, We Won't Forget




Sunday morning I opened the blinds to find a nice Hawaiian day greeting me. Then I saw the American flag flying off my neighbor’s lanai across the street and I remembered. 9/11. Ten years later.

I was asleep in my San Francisco apartment that day, when my sister called me at 6AM. “A plane flew into the World Trade Center.” In my sleepy head, I pictured a small plane with a student pilot who made a horrible error.

When I turned on the TV and saw the images, I couldn’t imagine it was really American soil where this was happening. But it was. Being on the West Coast, I felt so very far away from the people of New York and Washington.

Here, in Hawaii, ten years later, I feel even more removed from the East Coast. I watched the TV coverage sporadically throughout the day. At 2:00 I saw the two shining beams coming from Ground Zero and for a moment I thought they were showing coverage from last year. Why? Because it was dark in the images the TV was broadcasting and it was the middle of the day here. I never really comprehended how far away Hawaii is from the whole Mainland.

When Mark and I watch the end of the 11:00 news, we see CNN starting their morning shows. The anchors have their morning cup of coffee, and Ali Velshi talks about the stock market for the day. The upcoming day. The one they are just starting while we head off to sleep.

At least the woman across the street reminds me first thing in the morning that I am an American. And in case anyone on Oahu missed her flag, the Fire Stations won’t let Hawaiians forget. The sign is still hanging in front of the Fire Station, complete with dried lei from last Sunday.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Football, Five-0, and a North Shore Sunset



Last Saturday Mark and I watched the USC game with the USC Alumni Club of Hawaii at Jimmy Buffett’s in Waikiki. I thought the plates were fun. Look at the shaker of salt! It was a crazy ending for a football game, with the NCAA, two hours after the game ended, granting USC a touchdown the refs had said didn't count. Oh, and I won the halftime raffle! I never won before because I was always the one hosting the raffle in the Bay Area Alumni group. I'll be writing soon with my new USC pen.

After the game, we had a few errands to do so we didn’t try to view the Hawaii Five-0 premiere on the beach. We'll wait until September 19th for the season opener on CBS. Last year we had a party and invited everyone over for dinner and viewings of the original show, before watching the series opening. This year, it will be just us. Our friends are back in the Bay Area.

Remember that friend of mine who grew up here? Well, her sister is an extra in this year's season. She's in the opening scene for the Governor's funeral held at Punchbowl. I guess it was a long day for the extras on that shoot.

We also visited the North Shore last week. Mark had asked a few people where to go and we found ourselves on a beautiful, open beach with only two people on it for miles and miles. We left the locals on their beach area and headed to Waialua and the old sugar mill to check out the local artisans and see their wares. It wasn’t much to see. Unless you are a surfer and want a specialty surfboard, most items can be found on other parts of the island. Don’t let the video on Hawaiian Airlines fool you. It looks larger in the video than in reality.

After Waialua, we headed to Haleiwa for dinner. Check out the sunset that night! We hoped to find Hawaiian turtles (honu) on our day trip. We didn’t see any. But standing on the beach, we saw the sunset in front of us, a rainbow behind us, and a group of little girls to grown women practicing the hula to a drum to our right.

We walked to our car saying, “We get to live here.”



Monday, September 5, 2011

USC Football Amnesia

Football season started without me. I’m a USC alumna and for the past few years, I planned game watching parties for the USC Alumni Club in the North Bay Area. Each season, Mark and I would fly down to a game or two at the Coliseum in Los Angeles and, of course, attend the game when USC played Cal or Stanford. But this year, football season snuck up on me. The weather is in the high 80’s, there’s very little tradewind breeze blowing, there are no changing of the leaves to autumn colors….how am I supposed to know it’s football season?

Last Saturday, I had plans to meet a friend at 10:00. At 8:55 AM I was reading the morning news and drinking coffee. Mark turned on the TV to find the USC-Minnesota game. I had completely forgotten about the game. I checked in on Facebook and found post after post from USC friends. Many friends attached photos from the Coliseum, the tailgates, a photo of Traveler (the horse).

There was no planning for a game watching party here in our apartment. No wearing USC shirts and hats. No cardinal and gold pom-poms to be seen.

I watched the opening drive of the game, then left to meet my friend. When I reached home and checked my cell phone, there was a text from the gang at our North Bay game watching party, saying they missed us.

With tropical weather and geography outside our door, I forget about Mainland rituals and traditions. But USC is important to me. It’s a great school that does great things and I want to be with my Trojan Family during football season. It’s what binds us together. So, this Saturday I will be with the USC Alumni Club of Hawaii, watching the game at Jimmy Buffet’s in Waikiki. Join us. I’ll be the one in the USC shirt.

Fight On!

Update: Hawaii Five-0 has their Season 2 premiere on the beach in Waikiki this Saturday. I don't know the time yet. What do I do if they schedule it during the USC game? Such are the awesome choices when living on Oahu.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

The Garden Isle







It's a swampy day on Oahu. I raised the shades on our living room windows around 7:30 this morning and found water (or extreme condensation) on the inside of our window sills. Eighty-four percent humidity creates water puddles on the INSIDE of our apartment.

After turning on the air-conditioning, I sat down to a smooth, rich cup of Kauai coffee, purchased at the Kauai Coffee Company last weekend. Mark and I journeyed to the Garden Isle, where one of his friends, born and raised on Kauai, gave us a "local boy" tour.

Kauai lives up to its name. It's green, lush, open and relaxed. I'm not one to sleep easily unless I'm in a dark, quiet room with a comfortable bed. I fell asleep on a lounge chair at the Marriott pool late Saturday afternoon. But let me back up to the beginning.

Mark and I flew from HNL to Lihue on Friday, a 20 minute flight. We stayed at the Marriott. I highly recommend it. It's an easy shuttle ride down a back road through the Marriott golf course to the hotel.

Twenty minutes later we were having drinks and appetizers at Duke's, watching the NCL cruise ship leave the harbor, bound for Honolulu. We waved goodbye and made dinner reservations for the following night.

Saturday morning, Mark's friend picked us up and took us to breakfast at Kalaheo Cafe & Coffee Company in Kalaheo, his hometown. The Paniolo (cowboy) breakfast of eggs and bacon and hash browns filled me up for our sightseeing.

We drove to Poipu to see the Spouting Horn. Most tourists know the Spouting Horn is a blowhole where waves come through an opening in the lava and "spout" water high into the sky. But they don't know that the blowhole used to be much larger. Back in the days of sugar cane fields that reached from mountain to sea, the owner of the Poipu sugar plantation was upset that the blowhole spouted sea water 1/2 mile inland and covered his sugar crops. "So my uncle and the plantation foreman came here and cut the blowhole in half," said our "local boy".

Hanapepe is a small town where Lappert's ice cream started. No ice cream for us, we went straight to the swinging bridge over the Hanapepe River. Yes, river. Kauai is the only island in the state to have rivers.

The swinging bridge was used by sugar plantation children to cross the river and climb a trail up the adjacent hill to reach the schoolhouse. The bridge is still used although I'm sure there's another school somewhere. Near the bridge we saw two gravestones, one etched in Hawaiian from the year 1910.

Others might recognize Hanapepe as the setting for the mini-series, The Thorn Birds, although we didn't.

Much of Kauai is homesteaded; lands were passed down through families over generations. We saw areas which I won't write about because I want to preserve the old way of almost communal-style living. Families have goods from their lands that they won't sell, they will only give away to friends or trade for other goods.

I came away with a new appreciation of giving to the land and each other, in order for the land to give to us and as a way of helping our own communities. I wish we had more of that kind of living all over.


The weather was spectacular both Friday and Saturday, with noticeably less humidity than here on Oahu. We took advantage of the weather to attend the Kauai County Fair. We sat under the tent to watch the keiki talent show and eat a plate lunch. The garden section was my favorite. Tropical flowers filled the area with bright colors and fragrant air. It's a small fair, compared to most others I've been to, but with the standard exhibits; two or three rides, high school booster booths, and community and state organizations. We didn't make it to the livestock area.

I don't know if I could live on Kauai, it's a little too small for me, but it sure is a place to visit and relax. Every single person we met was friendly, nice, helpful and easy-going. I can't wait to nap on the pool lounge chair again.



Photos are of: Hanapepe bridge, Menehune Pond, Kauai Marriott, Lihue Sugar factory where sugar cane was loaded onto boats in Lihue harbor, view of valley on the way to Kalaheo.