Day Four - May 30, 2011

Today was a True Tourist day.  We got up early and headed out to Waikiki and Honolulu.  We had an appointment to hear a pitch for some kind of travel service – kinda like a time share pitch – I hate those things and usually avoid them at all costs – but my frugal husband saw it as an opportunity because we were promised tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center at 80% off if we listened to their 1 hour pitch.  We got there and filled out the paperwork and waited our turn.  Long story short we didn’t qualify because we didn’t make enough money for their tastes!  PHEW – I was relieved didn’t want to sit through a high pressure meeting anyway.  They did give us deeply discounted tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center anyway.  Which by the way – if you ever come to Oahu the Polynesian Cultural Center is a MUST SEE!  It is an all day adventure of exploring the Polynesian culture and practices as well as the fauna and wildlife.  The day is capped off by an amazing show of Polynesian dance and a luau to top it all off.  Worth EVERY PENNY!  We are going to do that on our anniversary next Monday.  Can’t wait!   So after the “meeting”  we walked around Waikiki just taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of Hawaii. We walked around the grounds of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel which were beautiful but I left really glad that we were staying where we were in a nice quiet rustic little beach cottage with a private beach!  I am not one for the hustle and bustle of a big city!  We left Waikiki and headed over to the Dole Cannery plaza where we got some lunch and then went across the street to a Regal Cinema to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in IMAX 3D!!  Next to the Star Wars series, Pirates is my all time favorite – so we were planning on watching it when we got here – but the fact that we got to see it in IMAX 3D was icing on the cake.  Can’t do that in Binghamton!  After the movie we headed back into Waikiki to get dinner.  Greg had used Groupon to get a $60 coupon for Chuck’s Steakhouse for $30 so we had a pleasant dinner on the outdoor balcony on the edge of the ocean with Diamond Head in the background.  I had lobster tail and Greg had steak and king crab leg and of course pina colada’s!  mmm mmm mmm  Afterwards we stopped and did some shopping for gifts to take back home.  We then headed home and once again enjoyed a beautiful drive back up to the cottage watching the sunset as we drove.  Ahhh Paradise!

Day Three - May 29, 2011

The cottage has a guest book that people can sign and leave advice for future guests and one thing that kept coming up in all the comments was Ted’s Bakery. It can be found just down the road and has a reputation as being a great place for breakfast. So Greg decided to take a quick ride down while I was making my smoothie (I think the idea of a yummy bakery item appealed to him more than a green smoothie!) He came back with the most decadent looking bakery items! Oh man did they look good – fresh doughnuts, chocolate haupia cream pie, and pineapple macadamia cheesecake! Ok I thought. . .so I had a green smoothie I could have a little piece of something not so good for me – ¼ of the doughnut turned into a taste of the chocolate pie and the cheesecake. YUMMO! After breakfast we got dressed and headed out to church at Lanakila Baptist Church in Waipahu. This is the church we attended when we lived here 30 years ago. It was a pleasant 30 minute drive and we turned in the parking lot to find that outwardly not much had changed. We walked into the sanctuary to see that much had changed! It now had air conditioning! They were finishing up their adult SS class so we slipped into the back pew. When SS was over we were immediately approached by a small Hawaiian woman who introduced herself and as we began talking found out that she had been there over 30 years and she remembered Greg. They spent time reminiscing about the group of young people that were there as teachers in their Christian school and the Marines that came over to the church from Kaneohe every Sunday when Greg was stationed there. She was so excited about Greg being there – she had her husband take our picture with her and got one of us in front of the church. The other thing that has changed is that the church no longer has the numbers attending – I didn’t see any military families or many young adults. There were only about 50-60 people there. I imagine that a lot more churches have started since we were here and that is why the lower attendance. But when we lived here that WAS the church to attend. After church we decided to head into Waikiki and Honolulu. We had a gift certificate for a Steak dinner at Chucks Steakhouse in Honolulu. We found it but it didn’t open until 4:30 so we decided to eat at an outdoor, beachside restaurant called Dukes. We had a beautiful, breezy view of the ocean and great food. Next we decided to take a walk across the street to the International Market Place. They have vendors that sell all kind of things from jewelry, to aloha wear, to T-shirts and souvenirs – we were just going to walk through for the exercise. Well, that changed – Many years ago I lost my wedding band when we were moving and I had always wished I could get another one, but never said anything to Greg – it was just a want and not a need. One day before we left Greg informed me that he had set aside money to buy me a new wedding ring when we were in Hawaii!! I had been looking online at what was available and found a beautiful gold ring with the word “kuuipo” on it and plumeria blossoms engraved around it. I fell in love with it and wanted to find something like it here. Kuuipo is Hawaiian for “Sweetheart” and the plumeria blossoms are significant because the first house we had here in Hawaii had a plumeria tree growing in our yard and I made many lei’s out of the flowers when family came to visit us in Hawaii. There was a jewelry vendor in the market and we stopped to look and sure enough found the ring I had pictured. Greg haggled nicely and got it for a great price! I now have the ring of my dreams! We continued walking through the market as Greg was looking for an aloha shirt to wear. I looked with him at muumuus but didn’t think it would be a practical purchase so guess what I bought – yep – hoodies!! I go to Hawaii and buy hoodies!!! But they say “Hawaii” on them so that counts as a touristy purchase right?! We left the market place and wandered around beautiful Honolulu and took some floral pictures and then decided to head out and drive up the eastern side of the Island. Once again a breath taking view! We stopped at several locations to take pictures. In Kaneohe we stopped to pick up some groceries and meat to grill then continued on our way back to the cottage. We put the groceries away, sat down to watch some TV and the next thing I remember is Greg waking me up to go to bed! I am still struggling with the jet lag and fall asleep pretty early and wake WAY too early! But it is getting better. I lasted a little longer last night and slept a little later this morning. Well it is time to get this next wonderful day started so I am going to make my smoothie and hop in the shower – more tomorrow.

Day Two - May 28, 2011

 

I have learned some interesting things so far in Hawaii – Billboards are illegal in Hawaii, geckos chirp very loud at night, and Hawaiian cardinals have bright red heads with gray bodies AND jet lag is an odd thing - I am wide awake at 3-4 a.m. but by 3 p.m. tired and drained. But we are making the best of it and working around the tiredness until we adapt. I had a wonderful breakfast around 6 a.m. of a green smoothie made with pineapple and coconut – YUMMO! I also devoured ½ of a fresh pineapple. Greg had a smoothie with me but also added a bowl of cereal to his menu. We showered and dressed for the day and went through the walkway at the back of the cottage to the beach around 7:30 a.m. to see what it was like. The view is amazing! It is a private beach so it was very quiet as far as people go – there were only about 4-5 people and they were all sunbathing. We took some pictures and video of the surf and surrounding scenery – it was breathtaking! I also was able to find some very pretty small shells – I think because it is a private beach the shells are not picked up as frequently leaving a nice variety. We walked back to the cottage and decided to head out on a drive around the perimeter of the Island to reacquaint ourselves with Oahu. We put on our sunscreen, grabbed our water bottles, put the top down on the Mustang and headed out and were just awed by the beauty! Oddly enough our first stop was at a huge garage sale to benefit a local school. (My Dad will be proud of me for that!) We didn’t get anything but it was fun to chat with the locals and we were impressed with how friendly they are! Several other stops were made along the drive to get pictures. It is Memorial Day weekend here in Hawaii too and we were interested to see that they like to camp too! All along the drive around the Island most of the beach parks were packed with tents set up and pavilions packed with people enjoying their cookouts, and volleyball games. The drive brought us through the Pali tunnel – a long tunnel through the mountain to the leeward side of the Island. The mountains have always fascinated me because to me it looks like when God formed them He decided to run his fingers down the side and create deep ridges. (Pics to come). We decided even though it was a little late in the day that we would check out the swap meet that is held at Aloha Stadium every Saturday. We used to do that a lot when we lived here. It was a great place for poor newlyweds to get great bargains on household things. It had changed a lot. It was no longer a garage sale style swap meet but has now become more of a touristy trinket kind of sale. We did enjoy the walk and stopped to have lunch at one of the booths. Greg had kalua pork, and I had freshly grilled garlic butter shrimp over rice that was delicious! We left the Swap meet around 3 p.m. and drove back to the cottage as we were both beginning to feel the effects of the jet lag. We also learned that the best time to avoid the North shore drive is late afternoon! The traffic is pretty much at a standstill as surfers and beach goers pack the road. I imagine because it is a beautiful place to watch the sunset has something to do with the crowds as well. We stopped at the Food Lion down the street and picked up a case of water and a Red Box movie – Narnia, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and headed back to the cottage for the evening. That jet lag caught up with me almost as soon as I sat down! I was out and slept until 8 p.m.! Greg fought the sleep and spent time on the computer planning out some of the things we are going to do while we are here. We then decided to watch the movie, but Greg succumbed to jet lag and was out about 5 minutes into the movie – I finished watching it and then went to bed. Sleep came quickly – but we were woken up at 3:30 a.m. by a phone call from someone who I think forgot about the time difference (thanks Nicole! :) ) As I am finishing this it is now 6:30 a.m. – guess I will head down to the beach before I get ready for church. We are planning on going to the church we attended when we lived here – Lanakila Baptist Church in Waipahu. Then we are thinking about a steak dinner in Waikiki! More tomorrow.

Day One of our Trip to Hawaii

DAY 1 – May 27, 2011

2:00 A.M.— the alarm was set but I was wide awake! So excited to be taking the trip of a lifetime back to where everything started for Greg and me 30 years ago. Got up and got showered and ready to go. We left the house right on time at 4:00 A.M. and got to the airport and checked in with time to spare. We boarded the flight out of Binghamton and were in the air headed to Washington Dulles Airport. Now it finally felt real! The flight was short compared to the fights we were facing the rest of the day. A little over an hour and we landed in DC. We had just enough time to find our next gate and charge our phones at one of the charging stations and our next flight to LA took off. We were on a very full 767 airliner. Lots of people headed out for a Holiday weekend! We had a very nice lunch—turkey sandwiches with provolone cheese on a pretzel roll, and a small box with fancy crackers, cheese and hummus. The flight was about 5 hours long, but we actually landed 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. Got off and found the Red Carpet lounge and got some snacks and drinks and relaxed for about 2 hours until the flight to Honolulu. We headed down to our gate about 45 minutes before the flight but we couldn’t find a place to sit so we headed across the way to find seating at a different gate. The flight was supposed to take off at 12:55 LA time and at 12:30 I said to Greg I was surprised we hadn’t heard an announcement about our flight boarding. We decided to check it out and found out that we had missed the announcement somehow and they were making a final boarding call just as we got to the counter! It was a very full flight so they were still people in line waiting to board—but that felt a little too close for comfort! The flight took off on time and once again we were treated to a nice dinner. I had an Asian noodle salad that was yummy and Greg decided on the turkey sandwich again. It was a long flight again! 5 hours! As the plane began to approach the airport I could look out and see the Hawaiian beauty and suddenly I found myself with tears in my eyes and memories FLOODING back from 30 years ago when this shy, 20 year old newlywed landed in Hawaii with her new husband who was stationed in Hawaii with the Marine Corps. What an emotional experience! We got off the plane and followed the crowd to the baggage claim area. We had to go outside of the airport to get to the baggage claim area and as soon as we walked through the doors the scent of Hawaii that I remembered hit my senses! The smell is un-describable! Flowers, flowers, and more flowers everywhere! There was a stiff breeze that just enhanced the experience. We got to the baggage claim area and ALL our luggage made it through. We were a little concerned about ou carry-on laptop/camera bag. They made us gate check it all the way through to Hawaii in DC because the flight was so full and there was no more room for carry-on luggage. We loaded up the baggage cart – 4 large suitcases, 1 rolling laptop case and two check on bags! Whew! Next we headed out of the airport to find a shuttle to take us to Enterprise to pick up our rental car. As we were headed out there was a kiosk where a Hawaiian woman was selling handmade fresh Plumeria leis – I stopped just to take in the scent of them and the next thing I knew I had one put around my neck – and Greg did too – of course the cash had to come out to pay for them but very worth it – just to smell the heavenly aroma that comes from Plumeria blossoms! We were picked up shortly thereafter by an Enterprise rental shuttle and taken to pick up our car. The service was impressive to say the least. We were greeted by a very pleasant driver and when we arrived greeted again outside by a customer service rep who gave us each a bottle of water and greeted us warmly. Greg went inside to complete the paperwork and I stayed with our mountain of luggage. Very shortly a beautiful young Hawaiian girl came out with keys in hand and asked if we wanted a silver or white Mustang convertible! We chose the white one and after loading all the luggage inside, putting the top down and having our picture taken with the car we were on our way up to the North Shore to find our cottage. It was rush hour in Hawaii so the traffic was heavy, but it was okay – we were in HAWAII!!! I looked in the rear-view mirror at one point and saw a beautiful rainbow stretched across the sky behind us and the tears came again for me! I love rainbows because they always are like a reminder from God that He is there and watching over me! The drive was a beautiful one full of lush green vegetation and bright colored flowers and the ocean to our left most of the way. At one point we had to pull over and put the convertible top up because of the “liquid sunshine” that was pouring in! That is one thing I had forgotten about Hawaii – those little showers can pop up suddenly and it is still sunny and beautiful while it is raining. Hence, the abundance of rainbows in Hawaii. We finally found our cottage and were very impressed! A cute little get-a-way just steps from the beach. It is nicely decorated and has everything we could need. After we unloaded the car and got settled in we decided to go to the Foodlion grocery store just down the street and pick up something to eat and get some things for me to make smoothies for breakfast. WOW talk about sticker shock – I couldn’t believe the prices for groceries!!! But the pineapples were only .99 cents and the watermelons were .29 cents a pound so I think we will be eating a lot of the locally grown things! Came back to the cottage and unloaded the groceries. Greg made a flatbread sandwich in the microwave – I wasn’t really too hungry so I just had a piece of watermelon. We sat down to finally unwind and I realized it was now almost 8:00 p.m. Hawaiian time – I had been up for over 24 hours!! We went to bed and it didn’t take long for us to fall asleep! But it also didn’t take long for us to both be wide awake! Our bodies were still on NY time. Greg was awake at 2:00 a.m. and I woke up at 4. I decided to checked in with Facebook and spent time acknowledging all the wonderful birthday wishes people had left for me. Greg was dozing on the couch and I tried to go back to bed and get some more sleep but a bird with a beautiful voice right outside my window felt it was his duty to welcome me to Hawaii! So I got up and started my journal.