I wish I were Kamaʻāina

Sometimes you meet people and you know immediately that you will be friends. I am especially that way with animal people. Marian and Paul love their 4-legged family members as much as we love ours. So, when they need to leave the Island, they sometimes ask us to stay with the "kids." It's a hard offer to pass up ... living like a local in Hawaii. I have come to love it there and feel like we've done most of the tourist things, so I like to just "be."

After a whirlwind weekend in Maui, we arrived on Oahu to be greeted by Paul and  Marian. The time there started out with a cookout on the beach.This is living. We got to spend a few days with Marian and Paul before they headed to the mainland. Hiking, Snorkeling, Chasing Rainbows and being shown all their new favorite spots. Paul and Marian are indescribable. Kind, spiritual, smart, generous of spirit. There aren't really enough nice things to say about them. My only question is why they are friends with me? I'm not worthy. Remind me to keep going back to Electric Beach and Table Tops. Some awesome places to eat ... Ed's Bakery has amazing Haupia Pie, Nico's is always a safe bet, Monkeypods at Ko O'lina has great options, Roy's in Waikiki was amazing with the best martinis, and the Poolside Grill at the Marriott Ko O'lina where you can dine with sharks swimming underneath and along-side.

For the next two weeks, we hiked ... snorkeled ... slept late ... ran errands, etc. I wrote reports on hikes, but there were some other amazing highlights.

I became friends with the people because I wanted to pet the dogs while I was missing mine.

Keegan is super cool three-legged dog. She makes up for the missing leg with an extra large heart. She is getting older these days and doesn't have it in her to walk as far as she used to, but she used to be quite the hiker. She loves to plop down in her special spot and loll her tongue while getting belly rubs.

Missy reminds me of Bunny. Goofy and happy. She loves her long hikes and gets so excited in the car that she whines and howls all the way there. She was a Japanese street dog that was lucky to be adopted by a truly amazing couple. Apparently, she was a bit "testy" but not ever with me, not even the first time I ran up to her. I always think dogs are good judges of people. Heck, I married the Musician because my dog picked him. I guess Missy thought I was good people. I love the way she greets you with a smile every time you come home.

Johnnie is a cat who thinks he's  dog, but he likes to wander. He will sneak out and hide and make you worry about where he is. Then he will come in and sit on your lap for a cuddle. He sleeps beside you in bed, and smacks you in the face at 5 in the morning when it's time for breakfast.

Gracie is just as spunky as Johnnie, but not quite (almost, though) as sneaky as her brother. She is more likely to warm your clothes (or prevent you from getting them) and to play with her toy. You may not see her, but the moment she hears the can ...

I just love the Honu. They float in the water and are so graceful. They rest peacefully on the sand. They have such soulful eyes and gentle faces.

 

We spent some time on the beach at Waikiki. An afternoon at the Hale Koa beach just can't be beat. More beautiful sunsets. And we ate at some of our old favorite restaurants. Paina bowls and Acai bowls can't be beat.

  Friday nights are fireworks at the Hilton and it's free from the beach ... so we had to catch them. It only lasted about 5 minutes, but really beautiful.  I bet Fourth of July was absolutely spectacular.

One of our favorite spots is the Byodo-In Temple. It is serene and beautiful and we spend some time there every time we make it to the Island.We didn't ring the bell for good luck this time, there were plenty of other people doing that for us.

This time, the Koi pond was being cleaned, so we fed the birds instead. This may have been one of the coolest experiences of my life. I truly felt like Snow White.

 I have a few other friends who live on Oahu, so I was happy to get to spend a little time with some of them.

I do really love it here. Two weeks is never enough. I am going to find a way to live there one day. Seriously.

As an infertility doc, I thought this boutique on the North Shore had a cool name.

Koko Head

Over 1000 feet elevation gain. 1082 Railroad ties. 0.8 miles. I have promised myself that I would do this trek  ... once. After several trips to the Island, I figured I had to finally bite the bullet. The Musician told me to "have fun" because he wasn't foolish enough to do the climb. The tour guides point out that really only tourists do this. Plan was to start early before the heat of the day, so we did ...headed past Hawaii Kai and to the Koko Head Park around 7 AM. Got there at 8 AM (ish) and the parking lot was full. WHAT!?!?!





There is NO shade. Short trek to the base of the railroad. It goes straight up from there. When you think you are climbing straight up, you aren't, it just gets steeper. Oh, and you ... well at least I ... can't take one step at a time. Just a wee bit too far apart. So I had to be careful to balance legs so that one didn't do more work than the other.

Halfway up, there is a bridge. WHAT!?!?!? I new about this and thought I could do it. But, I got asceered. (Yes, I mean asceered, which is worse than scared.) I wasn't sure of my balance since my legs were shaky (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it) and it is a long way down. I had to bear crawl my way across. I think it took longer and was probably more exhausting than just walking it, but what can I say. Afeer got ahold of me.

You can just make out Hawaii Kai

Reaching the top was totally worth it. The views are, as always on the Island, spectacular. I think I said that word a lot on this trip.

Incredible view of Hanuama Bay

Rermants from World War II

 

The problem with reaching the top, is that there only one way down. By foot. I don't know which was harder... up, or down... So, I headed back. I have to mention here that it's not just tourists. Locals with their dogs use this for exercise. And I came across a few fools who run up and down and up and down several times a day for exercise. They didn't seem nearly as winded as me. Anyway, I had to alternate legs down also. I didn't know which was worse, the shaky leg, or the screaming knee. 

I have to mention that I was asceered when I came across the bridge going downhill also. I think it was worse going down than going up. And I'm blaming my tired legs, not my fear of heights that I don'g think I have. I bear-crawled again. DAMMIT!!! Even worse, half-way across, I looked over my shoulder to see some spry 20-something hopping past along a trail that goes around the bridge. I could have avoided the bridge altogether and not crawled like a baby. 

I was happy to be finished. Proud of myself for doing it, but not convinced that I need to do it again ... until next time. 

Waterfalls and Ruins ... and the beauty of children's voices

I can imagine King Kamehameha looking out his window and enjoying the beauty that surrounds this place.

Our friends told us about this short, but lovely, trek just up the road from the Judd Trail. It would be very reasonable to do this on the same day, but we really wanted to have a low-key, relaxed trip and decided to do some easy hikes on separate days. Gave us time to do other things in between ... or rest.

The main reason for this hike is Kaniakapupu ... King Kamehameha II Summer Home. This is a sacred site to the locals and to be respected. Many people don't want the location advertised to keep it from being trampled by tourists. So, I won't give precise directions. There are plenty of cut-outs in the brush that all lead to the same trail. If you take an off-shoot trail, you'll find yourself back on the road. How do I know this? I explored those off-shoots ... and kept ending up in the same place ... well, different place, same road. You would think I would learn after one or two ... nope three. Anyway, here is the entrance we chose.

The path was narrow and very muddy on the day we visited. Good thing we had shoes we expected to get soggy. We did encounter lots of people on our hike going in and coming out. There were busloads of school children, summer camp, maybe? Anyway, at one point we let them pass us and we took a different route for awhile to go up to the waterfalls. Fun, though, we could hear them sing a song of praise and gratitude when they reached the ruins. On the way back, we heard some express their dismay at the muddy trek.

 Mostly, the fauna was bamboo and green brush. I'm not a botanist, but maybe I will be in one of my next lives. I really love plants.

As we headed up the trail, we came across a few obstacles to climb over, or under.

After, maybe 10 minutes, the water could be heard rushing past. There were several points to see several falls. The trail at this point has lots of water pipes alongside that are all heading down to the water treatment plant. To see the water, you have to head off the trail a bit. It still seems semi-marked, but you will reach points where there is no more place to go. Just hanging over the water. The power of water is just amazing. So strong. Lifesaving and lethal. I can't describe the rush of sound.


















We headed back down and followed the path to the ruins. Such a beautiful and peaceful site. I am so amazed by the architecture and structure. With nothing but rocks that are fit perfectly into place, the walls were probably 3-feet thick. There were obviously surrounding out-buildings and paths to cleared gardens. Large mounds that looked like collapsed buildings or large burial sites.  It truly did feel sacred.

 After our silent thanks, we headed back out to the road and homeward bound.