Adventures in Paradise

A Farewell to Bob

2009-07-23T04:42:00.017-10:00

A small glass of Crown Royal sits in front of me, the amber liquid reflecting memories of a friend I lost this week. With him passes a part of myself.

So, here's to 20-year-old Bob. The Bob I met when we were in the Air Force in Hawai`i. An airman of the hard-partying 6002nd. The Bob whose spirit still resides in the Kailua house.
To Bob!

And here's to Surfer Bob. The Bob who was at home in the waves on anything from a boogieboard to a tanker. A true waterman of Hawai`i. The Bob whose spirit still awaits a big outside set at First Break.
To Bob!

Here's to Roommate Bob. The Bob who met me at the door with a bottle of Crown and our surfboards waxed when the Tsunami alert was blaring. One of the three musketeers of Fairway Villas. The Bob whose spirit still sits on the Lanai at the Penthouse.
To Bob!

A toast to Dart-throwing Bob. The Bob who was the ideal partner and the friendliest opponent. Half of a duo that once threw a perfect game of 301 - my 140 to open and his 161 to close. The Bob whose spirit still throws ton-eighties at Brandy's.
To Bob!

Here's to Bar-crawling Bob. The Bob who was once welcomed by name into a Keeaumoku Street bar by the gray-haired Korean proprietress; she made a group of drunk marines leave so that we could have a table. The official guide of the Waikiki Seamy Underbelly Tour. The Bob whose spirit still has a bottle of MGD in one hand and a wad of cash in the other.
To Bob!

Here's to Mainland Bob. The Bob who went off to seek his fortune far from the land of the lotus eaters. A productive member of American society. The Bob whose spirit is sinking birdie putts on the back nine.
To Bob!

And a last toast to you, Bob, my old friend. I cannot picture you without a smile on your face, and that puts one on mine. You helped define my 20s and kept the memories alive into our 50s. I'm glad we got back in touch these last few years and I'm sorry that the Hawai`i reunion will not happen this time around. You were a great friend and a great roommate.

Aloha e Bob!

Thoughts on High School

2009-06-17T15:35:00.002-10:00

This week Liz graduated High School. It was a week of family and friends, of parties and ceremonies, of looking forward and looking back. It was a week of speeches full of youthful earnestness. Of exhortations to do great things, but to always remember how it all started; here at this school, at this time, with these people.

I have to believe that someone once told me similar things in a similar setting; but if they did I've forgotten them. The internet and social networking sites allow us to bridge the years and connect with names from the past. I look down the list of my former classmates, proud graduates of Ocean Township High School '76, and try to remember. I recognize the names, and can see some of their teen-aged faces in my mind's eye; but no memories come to the surface. When I passed them in the hallway, did we say hello? Did we share a table in the cafeteria?

My friends from those days are still fresh in my memory. Those who have been a part of my life since those days, as well as those recently resurfaced, will always be with me. But who are these others? I know we were told to remember how it all started, but I have to wonder if high school was the place and time when it did.

Consider. If, through the steady march of technology, you were granted the ability to go back to any time in your life. A one-time trip, in which you would re-experience everything, unable to change anything. How far back would you go? Would anyone really go back to high school?

A Tribal Gathering

2009-05-20T06:13:00.008-10:00

In fits and starts Spring arrives in the Pacific Northwest. Hours of sunshine, punctuating days of rain, hint at a life to be lived. Seattlites emerge from the gray, blinking like bears awakening from hibernation. Bike rides become longer and more frequent. The Mariners take the field and lure us out into the stands with the promise of a new season and the return of Junior. We know they'll break our hearts again, but the sun is shining and the beer is tasty. And like mushrooms, concerts pop up in open fields across the state.

Sue and I made the trek across the Cascades to George, Washington to see The Doobie Brothers, The Allman Brothers, and The Dead playing The Gorge Amphitheatre. The drive was a pleasant 2 1/2 hour jaunt down I-90, with a stop in Vantage for burgers and beer. As we got closer we started noticing cars with Dancing Bears and Steal Your Face stickers and drivers in Tie-Dye. The tribe was gathering.

We joined the caravan as it wound it's way down the high desert road from the interstate to the pasture / parking lot. Abandoning the cars, the throng moved towards the hillside. Past folks selling beautiful hand-crafted shirts, bottled water ("Sealed! Approved to bring in! $1 out here; $5 inside"), and rather dubious looking plastic containers being hawked as Jello Shots ("Help me out. I need Gas Money to San Francisco"). Passing through a bag-search/security check point that might have been tight enough to catch anyone carrying a pony keg or a 4' hookah we entered the enclave. Music greeted us as we crested the ridge that forms the natural amphitheater; "Take me in your arms and rock me, rock me, a little while longer...". We looked about for our spot, and soon located it about 1/4 of the way downhill, slightly on the Phil side of center stage. We spread our blanket and kicked off our shoes. Settling in, Sue declared "Hey, the band is playing!"

Indeed they were. The Doobies opened it up at 3:30, just about the time we were wandering in. They were the perfect opening band for this show. As we soaked up the sun and ambiance they played a string of their well-known pop songs from the 70s. A little dated; but then, so was much of the audience. And besides, who else would fit into the two-drummer motif that was to come?

Between acts the crowd continued to flow in. A group of twenty-something's wandered by looking for a place to sit. We made room for them in front of us and soon we had some new friends. They were up from Portland for the show and were kind.

The Allman Brothers took the stage around 5:00 and jumped right into a long Mountain Jam. Derek Trucks and Gregg Allman are magical together and their 90 minute set was a thing of beauty which included Statesboro Blues, Ain't Wastin' Time No More, Dreams, and I'm pretty sure that they might have slipped in some Grateful Dead along the way. Simply amazing.

The break gave us an opportunity to stretch and wander off to the porta potties. Long lines, but the crowd was very friendly and when a girl came dashing to the front saying "I really, really, have to go!" no one was upset that I let her in. I stopped by the concession stand on the way back. I had left my wallet with Sue back at the blanket and only had enough for either two hot dogs and a beer or two beers and a hot dog. I was still mulling the decision when I reached the front of the line and was told they were out of hot dogs. Okay, two beers it is. I got stopped by security on the way back who said I needed a red wrist band to have alcohol. I explained that my wallet was down at my blanket and pointed out that the Jerry Garcia Band tee shirt I was wearing was old enough to drink.

The Dead came out around 7:30(?) and lead off with a very appropriate Music Never Stopped. The first set was a little choppy and the changes from The Grateful Dead took a little getting used to, but by the time Phil broke into Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues I was there. When Bobby flubbed the lyrics to Dire Wolf, it was as if Jerry was on stage in spirit. The first set included a sweet cover of Into The Mystic and a rather abbreviated Dark Star.

The break probably seemed longer than it was, but soon the boys were back on stage and the jams really got going. At one point flowing from Eyes of the World into Drumz into Space into the conclusion of that Dark Star from the first set! The set ended with One More Saturday Night. Phil came out and thanked everyone for pulling the family together again and closed the show with a Box of Rain encore.

By the time we got back to the car it was 12:30. Fortunately I-90 isn't too crowded at midnight and we were back home before 3 am. A great start to the Spring and to the concert season to come. Alas no pictures since daughter #2 borrowed mom's camera and returned it with a dead battery.

On edit: Jambase has the set lists as well as some great photos of the event.

Last Full Day

2008-08-02T19:30:00.003-10:00

Our last full day on the island. Packing, while not occurring yet, is at least being considered. Greg and Janice stopped by to pick up the bread machine. We also loaded them down with excess beer and groceries that weren't going to be eaten. A little while after that Hugh and Linda stopped by and picked up Fred's surfboard, so it will be waiting for us next time, and I always like to hope there will be a next time.

Sue spent part of the morning designing a gecko that would fit in the bald spot of my right leg, and then Aaron and I wandered into town to have it permanently attached to me. The tattooing took about a half-hour and we met up with the women folk for lunch at The Shore Bird. We did a little shopping on the way back and sat and watched the waves for a little while, finally arriving back at ka hale in the early evening.

Francine joined us for dinner to celebrate Clay's 60th (in one month). Hao`oli Lä Hänau e bruddah! We convinced her to take Clay's guitar and the smoker for use/storage at her place until we return. We're gradually leaving enough accoutrement of life over here so that eventually we won't have to pack anything.

Into the Other Wild Blue Yonder...

2008-08-01T16:00:00.004-10:00

As promised we returned to Hanauma Bay. We caught the #23 beach bus for an afternoon session. The water was a little cloudy, as usually happens later in the day, but the tide was high allowing us to see more of the reef...

"This is your snorkel, it may save your life someday"

"I wish I had a pencil thin mustache..."

"Humuhumunukunuku yaddah yaddah blah blah whatevah"

Into the Wild Blue Yonder...

2008-07-30T10:21:00.012-10:00

When asked to pick a Waikiki-based activity for the day, the kids decided on Parasailing. They did the research and found an outfit that had a discount coupon, provided transportation to/from the boat launch, and hadn't killed anyone in the current fiscal year. We hoofed it on down to our rendezvous point, the Duke Kahanamoku statue, arriving early enough for a couple of pictures. The shuttle bus whisked us off to Kewalo Basin, and by whisked I mean, of course, crept through Waikiki for 40 minutes with the air conditioning turned off.

Our parasailing boat was waiting for us, engine running, and we were soon motoring out of the boat harbor. Past Kewalo's and Point Panic and heading for deep water. The waves were up and when combined with the hot, winding, bus ride I was feeling a little queasy. I wasn't the only one, as Aaron was starting to look a little green around the gills as well.

The crew began outfitting the pairs of riders and explaining the operation: When called, sit here on the stern, we'll clip you in. Don't unclip yourself. Don't unclip yourself when up in the air. Rides were all tandem, and everyone paired up: The other three couples on the boat with each other, Sue with Rae, and Liz with Aaron. Since we had an odd number of people and I have a bad back I elected to sit out. It had nothing to do with my white-knuckle fear of heights.

As each couple took their turn the boat would race into the wind, raising them up, and making Aaron and I feel much better. Then we'd stop and rock, and we'd feel queasy. Everyone who went up had a great time and eventually it was Sue and Rae's turn followed by Aaron and Liz - the last team. Sue took her camera up and captured a great video. When Aaron and Liz were coming down the crew had great fun dipping them over and over into the water - the price of being a cute teenage girl.

I had been able to make pretty good book on Aaron being the first one to lose his lunch, so as we headed back to shore and the Indian woman began heaving over the side I collected a pretty penny. Aaron and I made it back to shore incident free and we all elected to walk back through Ala Moana Beach Park and Magic Island, rather than take the winding bus back.

Aloha e Fred!

2008-07-29T08:19:00.005-10:00

Fred's time on the island finally has come to an end. He's off to cycle in RAMROD (Ride Around Mt. Rainier Or Die), and then some kind of Tour de Montana. Of the people on this trip who haven't lived here, Fred would probably drop into life here more easily than anyone; with the possible exception of Rae. I know the kids will miss his uncanny ability to appear at any time bearing Napples.

We took him to the airport, pried him out of the car (picture taking a puma to the vet), distracted him long enough for the rest of us to jump into the car and lock the doors, and bid him a very fond aloha. I have no doubt Fred will return to these sunny shores again someday.

Our Family Adventure

2008-07-28T18:00:00.010-10:00

We picked up a car on Sunday afternoon, following our usual routine of riding TheBus down to the airport, grabbing a car from Alamo, and raiding CostCo on the way home. The next morning we packed up the car with snorkels, masks, fins, boogie boards, teenagers, and beach towels. Everything one might want for an island excursion. The weather was poor; windy, cool, and rainy, but we had hopes that we could find better conditions somewhere.

Our first stop was Haunama Bay. We got there early enough that there were plenty of parking spaces available. But then, it might have been the wind and rain, rather than the hour, that kept the crowds down. Standing at the top of the cliff, we took a vote and unanimously decided to keep on driving (with the proviso that we would eventually get back to the bay on this trip).

Continuing along Kalaniana`ole Hwy we stopped at Sandy Beach. Being a Monday morning, with school back in session, the beach was fairly empty and the surf was cranking. There were a handful of people in the lineup, dropping into 6 foot barrels that broke on wet sand. The kids (Aaron) wanted to get out in the water, but I didn't relish anyone (Aaron) breaking their neck, so we piled back into the car and continued on.

Sightseeing didn't seem to be too popular with the backseat crowd so we pressed hard for Waimanalo. The single car in the parking lot gave us the first indication that we weren't going to be battling crowds. We walked out into sunny skies shining on an empty beach. 2'-3' waves were breaking on the shore and Aaron, Rae, and I wasted no time getting into them. Waimanalo is a great beach for body surfing and boogie boarding. The waves break very close to shore on a sandbar, so fins aren't necessary; just walk out and hop on.

After a few hours, our hunger for waves sated, we showered off and continued our trek. We stopped briefly at the Pali Lookout where the winds were blowing hard enough to lift some of the smaller tourists off their feet. Many theorize that it was these same winds that led to the eradication of the Menehune, blowing them off into Waikiki where they were eventually sold as garden gnomes at the International Market Place.

On we continued to the North Shore where we supped at Pizza Bob's. For you old timers out there, Pizza Bob's has moved to the former location of Steamer's. We sat outside and enjoyed sandwiches and pizza, all the while being entertained by a feral chicken who wandered about the tables terrorizing anyone with an irrational fear of poultry.

From Hale`iwa we pointed the car towards Ka`ena Point with the vague notion that the set of Lost was somewhere out there and maybe we could find it. We made it to the end of the road without spotting any of the lostaways, but we did see an abandoned VW van and a YMCA camp that looked vaguely familiar.

Working our way back towards civilization we stopped at the Dole Plantation where everyone enjoyed a refreshing pineapple-based treat. While the kids tried to find their way out of the pineapple maze we had shoved them into, Sue and I wandered through the pineapple hall of fame. Eventually Liz and Aaron solved the maze (Liz winning by 10 seconds) and we waited around for Rae to find her way out. When the plantation closed down and she still hadn't emerged we were faced with the decision of sending the two surviving kids back in to find her or setting the maze on fire to flush her out. We decided to gamble with the two we had left and sent them back in. They returned a short time later with their missing sibling.

We went back to the house as the sun was setting. Tired, but enriched with new vacation memories.

Breakfast at The Hau Tree Lanai

2008-07-27T18:51:00.000-10:00

There are few restaurants on O`ahu that I just have to visit when I come home. Time takes it's toll on businesses and the list of places that used to be becomes longer than the list of those that still are. But the ones that remain become that much more precious.

A bite of a Kua `aina Ortega Burger can transport me back in time and space. I'm sitting at Sunset Beach watching Dane Kealoha in the Duke Kahanamoku surf classic. A bite of fries and Michael Ho is getting spit out of huge barrel with a cast on his arm at the Pipe Masters.

Lunch at Keo's triggers memories of the old restaurant on Kapahulu. Meals spent with Gerry and Lori Ackerman in a time and place long gone. Yet those dinner conversations still reverberate in my head, summoned by an Evil Jungle Prince.

The Hau Tree Lanai still sits on that dwindling list. The prices have crept upward and the linen napkins have been replaced by paper; but the old lady can still conjure the ghosts. Swells long past arise again at Old Man's, waves are reridden, for a brief time I am a twenty-five year-old surfer again.

Na keiki o ke kai

2008-07-26T16:22:00.001-10:00

Sue and the kids took the boogie boards and underwater camera down to San Soucci for some wet playtime...

Liz finally learned to make a 'Shaka' sign instead of some weird heavy metal thing.

"I want all of the boogie boards! All of them!!"

Ladies floating in the sea.

And under the sea.

Gentlemen too.

"Yes! Another board! Soon my plan for ocean domination will be complete! Bwahaha"

"Can I let go now?"

More Surfing

2008-07-24T08:27:00.003-10:00

We've been doing a little wave riding over the past few days. Sue and I finally replaced the broken paddle and took the two-person kayak out for a spin. It was late afternoon heading towards evening. We paddled way outside of the lineup - clearing a five foot wall of water on the way that gave Sue a bit of a scare. It's a great view, way off shore, with the hotels aglow in the beginnings of a sunset. We won't be sharing it with you since we didn't bring the camera out with us. But Chris was waiting for us as we came in and snapped a couple of shots.

On Thursday I took Rae and Aaron out for separate, morning surf lessons. It went pretty well. Rae was able to catch one wave on her own and is starting to get a feel for which waves to paddle into. Aaron did very well - catching the very first wave he paddled for. He paddled back out and proceeded to catch wave after wave, riding the first few on his stomach but then getting to his feet for longer periods of time.

On the wave in he challenged me to a race and actually beat me! Paddling! I retract what I said in one of the posts from our Whistler trip: Aaron doesn't have far to go to catch up to me at surfing.

Boogie Boarding

2008-07-23T12:10:00.003-10:00

A few shots of the kids and me going boogie boarding at graveyards...

"This is a boogie board. It may save your life someday"

"This is the ocean. It may threaten your life someday"

Paddle paddle paddle paddle
And a little video to show what riding a wave looks like from a boogieboarder's perspective...

Hau`oli Lä Hänau e Sue!

2008-07-23T06:41:00.003-10:00

A very Happy Birthday to the absolute love of my life!

Ua Hö`ea Na Keiki!

2008-07-22T17:46:00.002-10:00

The kids have arrived!

We picked them up at the airport, bearing the traditional greetings of leis and napples. At least we tried to pick them up. We received a text message from Liz announcing that they were on the ground just as we were driving in. We told them to proceed to baggage claim and we'd meet them there. I dropped Sue off at the airport and waited until Homeland Security asked to see my papers; at which point I began the curbside pause-and-skedaddle routine that is an integral part of keeping our country safe from another terrorist attack.

On one of my orbits Sue appeared with Rae's checked bag, but no Rae. Unbeknownst to us, the kids had been spirited off to a Hawaiian Airlines safe room which had no cell phone coverage, thus preventing al Qaeda, or their parents, from claiming them. Liz eventually convinced them that, being 17, she was not an unaccompanied minor and slipped out to call her mom, who also had no cell coverage being in the same terrorist-free zone.

Finally we were all re-united. We brought everyone back to the house, unloaded, and hopped back in the car. We had spent so much time at the airport that the car was now due back. We dropped off the girls at Ala Moana Shopping Center and Aaron and I wen holo down to Alamo. We got the car back in time and took a bus back to Kua Aina where we all had well-earned cheeseburgers and fries.

Hau`oli Lä Hänau e Janice!

2008-07-22T17:42:00.001-10:00

Today is Janice's birthday!!

We'll be celebrating hers and Sue's tomorrow with a big dinner.

Sunset at Waimea Bay

2008-07-21T15:24:00.001-10:00

Since the kids will be coming in tomorrow, we rented a car to pick them up. Alamo had a good deal on Sunday pickup / Monday dropoff. I did the on-line check in so all I had to do was proceed to the fullsize cars, pick one I liked, and drive it off the lot. It would have worked great had there been any fullsize cars on the lot. We waited for awhile and then the attendant said "Want a convertible instead?". Well. Okay.

We made a CostCo run and stocked up and then Sue, Clay, Fred, and I dropped the roof and took off for the North Shore. We drove up to Waimea arriving a little too late, but in time for a relaxing sunset. On the way back we had dinner at Hale`iwa Joe's. I had the Ono, which was quite good. Fred had a nice looking salmon salad. Sue and Clay each had the grilled spear fish and neither seemed too thrilled with it.

He`e Nalu

2008-07-21T10:43:00.002-10:00

We've had good surf this trip. Nothing huge, but fun-sized waves almost all the time. Last week started with a surf report that called for "diminishing 2-4' surf" on the South Shore. The next day the report was for "diminishing 2-4, occ 5' surf". That was followed by "diminishing 3-5' surf" and then "diminishing 4-7' surf".

I had a really nice session at the peak of the swell out at Tonggs. The tide was high, the waves were clean, the 5 people in the line-up were very friendly, and the waves were pumping. I caught a couple of really nice set waves - big drops, but not much shoulder.

Sue, Fred, and I paddled out after the swell had dropped off a few days later. I was on the boogie board with the camera, ready to capture their best efforts. You'll notice, however, that there are no pictures on the page. When I turned the camera on, it told me I should charge it soon, and then shut off. A pity since Sue actually paddled into a nice wave and stood up - the first wave she's caught all on her own!

Zippy's!!

2008-07-19T14:34:00.003-10:00

For Dan's last lunch on the island we wen hele up Kapahulu to Zippy's. I think it may be the first plate lunch we've had this trip, a rather amazing statistic given everyone's love of meat, rice, and macaroni salad. But I guess it's a testament to how well we're eating at home, that we haven't been going out that much.

Chris and I each had a Kalua Pig plate, Dan and Sue each had the Mahimahi sandwich, and Fred and Clay each had a Hawaiian Plate. Afterwards, it was napples for everyone! Apparently Napolean's bakery is discontinuing the napples, so we may have picked up some of the last on the island. Good timing I guess.

Aloha e Bruce!

2008-07-18T07:40:00.004-10:00

One of these people is dressed for the airport, can you guess which one?

Yes, here we are putting Bruce on a bus for his trip home. Dan and I rode along to see him off. The group decided to keep Dan until Bruce pays us the $7.00 he owes. ;-)

Mahalo nui loa e ka`u aikäne. E hui hou mai ana.

He`e Nalu

2008-07-16T10:04:00.007-10:00

Surfing. Capitalism has made surfing into big business. Corporations are selling a lifestyle. Part of that is telling you how you should dress, what music you should listen to, and what board you should ride. It's that last that always amazes me; not that some corporation would make a business of it, but that any surfer would fall for it.

'He`e Nalu' translates to 'Wave Sliding'. There's no mention of equipment. It's all about riding the wave. A waterman in Hawai`i is comfortable on a variety of equipment, choosing the board, if any, to fit the prevailing conditions or mood.

Put some surfers together in a house that has various water toys in the backyard and eventually they'll have ridden all of them. We've already been out on the surfboards and the boogie boards. Yesterday Bruce and Dan christened the two-person kayak. We watched them paddle out to Tonggs from the wall. They had a pretty good rhythm and were outside in pretty short order. They caught a couple of nice waves and Sue captured a part of one on video from shore.

This morning they decided to do it again, paddling out into slightly larger conditions on a slightly lower tide. Amazing what a difference those changes can make. They caught one wave and were paddling back out when a large set started to roll through. They cleared the first two, barely, and then, in what can only be described as a re-enactment of the Andrea Gail's final scene in The Perfect Storm, did an amazing back flip in 8 feet of whitewater. We watched from shore as the kayak, upside down and presumably unoccupied, caught three waves in a row. Eventually they managed to swim to their watercraft, right it, and paddle in. There were some cuts and scrapes and a broken paddle (we'll replace it, Amelia), but they were still smiling.

Maybe if we get a high surf advisory we'll finally get to take those inner tubes out. ;-)

Getting caught up

2008-07-16T09:50:00.002-10:00

A number of little things have been going on...

Steve has left for the Big Island.
Fred has arrived on island (and has already been out surfing and attended a spin class)
Sue and I went over to the driving range at Ala Wai golf course - $10 for two large buckets of balls and two club rentals!
I took Sue out for a surf lesson. Unfortunately the conditions weren't great for it - the tide was high and the surf was cranking, so we couldn't go outside and the waves weren't really breaking inside. But still, being out in the surf with Ku`uipo makes for a great day.

Hau`oli Lä Hänau e Bruce!

2008-07-14T15:23:00.006-10:00

Bruce is 49 today!!! Happy Birthday Bruddah!! We're all so glad you're here with us!

Ua pi`i Leahi kakou

2008-07-13T14:40:00.000-10:00

There are only so many times you can look out your back window at Diamond Head before you say "We've got to go climb up that". That desire to climb up things and howl at the universe has been with us since we were climbing trees and howling down at the animals trying to eat us. There are a couple of approaches to the peak. The full frontal assault usually concludes with a helicopter rescue and Joe Moore making fun of you on the evening news.

We decided on the more lengthy, but ultimately helicopter-free, approach of walking to the entrance on the backside of the crater, paying our $1 entrance fee, and joining the stream of ill-prepared tourists heading for the top. Not much has changed since our last trip up here. It's still a desert, still has a lot of stairs, and the view is still wonderful. We made it to the top, howled (inside) at the universe, and began the descent. We had come up via Montsarrat, so naturally we came down Diamond Head Road, making a nice 7 mile loop.

Diamond Head Hike - Widget powered by EveryTrail: GPS Geotagging

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

2008-07-13T06:37:00.000-10:00

Today is my mother's 70th birthday. So, I'd like everyone out there to click the comment button and wish her Hao`oli Lä Hänau!

Da Kine Grindz

2008-07-12T14:23:00.000-10:00

I notice that I haven't been posting about food as often as last time. It doesn't mean we aren't eating or aren't eating well; quite the contrary, the food has been both good and plentiful.

For the most part breakfast is coffee and cereal and fruit. Bruce made waffles (from scratch!) one morning - very tasty. There has also been the occasional spam and eggs and fried rice.

Lunch is usually left overs (no shortage there) or a plate lunch while out and about.

Dinner is where we really shine - we've had smoked salmon, smoked chicken, and a rather huge plate of smoked ribs. We're definitely satisfying the daily allowance of hickory.

Tonight Mark and Judy are coming by to grill some animal or other and Steve has promised us a rack of lamb. Yumm-o!

He`e nalu hou kakou

2008-07-11T16:50:00.000-10:00

As mentioned in an earlier post, Dan has arrived on island. We paddled out this morning to Tonggs to introduce him to Hawaiian reef surf. The waves were chest high and very clean. We each caught a few waves but the crowd picked up pretty rapidly. We paddled in, content if not entirely fulfilled.

Later in the afternoon we decided to launch an attack on Graveyards. Sue, Chris, Bruce, Dan, and I took the bodyboards down to Makalai Park, put on our fins, and puttered on out to the break. There was a decent sized crowd out, but unlike the morning session people kept paddling in, not out. Soon there we were able to abandon the crumbling rights and move into the long screaming lefts.

Sue acted as videographer and was able to catch Dan on a nice little right.

Ki Ho`alu

2008-07-11T09:54:00.000-10:00

The sound of slack key music is the back drop to all of our Hawai`i adventures. Because of the degrading hell that is travel in empire America no one brought guitars on this trip, so we feared that our music would be limited to CDs. A bit of a bummer for the aspiring slack key guitarists among us. But this house always seems to have what you need. Upstairs in the solarium were two guitars sitting behind the piano, keyboard, banjo, and what appears to be either a large ukulele or a small lute.

One guitar was a small travel model, the other a rather sad old classical with a couple of broken strings. We cleaned them up and attempted to tune them (or at least the one that had 6 strings), but the strings were rather old and didn't want to come into tune. A trip to the music store was obviously in order. Off we (Sue, Clay, Bruce,and I) went up Kapahulu to Good Guys music. I looked at strings while Clay was having a conversation with the fellow behind the counter. When I glanced up a little while later, cash was changing hands and suddenly Clay was holding a Martin. It was rather beat up and missing a peg, but we had acquired a beach guitar!

Back at the house Clay strung his new guitar while I put a new set of nylon strings on the classical. Mine still wouldn't hold a tuning, but his did and soon kani ki ho`alu was ringing through the house.

In a fitting end to the day, we all met down at the Rum Fire lounge in the Sheraton to celebrate Dan's arrival on island. Makana was playing. This kid has really come a long way since we saw him as Matt Swalinkavich in a little bar in Manoa. Back then he was already a phenomenal guitarist, but he has since matured his presentation and has a great stage presence. He is the future of Slack Key.

Ua He`e Nalu Kakou

2008-07-09T17:26:00.001-10:00

Chris, Sue, and I paddled out to Tonggs on Monday. This was the first time Chris and I had been out in the water together in 17 years. We shared the first wave and it was like we were in our twenties all over again.

Sue got her first chance to try out her new waterproof camera housing. You can probably expect quite a few more action surf shots this trip than last. The housing worked quite well, although it's very easy to bump buttons when you're bobbing around on a boogie board. We ended up with a couple of movies that were the video equivalent of someone leaving you a 5 minute voice mail when the phone in their pocket accidentally speed-dials you.

A deliberate video, this 360 degree shot that gives you a view that few non-surfers ever get to see.

Pictures of ka hale

2008-07-09T06:50:00.000-10:00

The views from the street.

The view of the street. Many surfers will recognize the gingerbread house that marks the public access way to Tonggs.
Views of the Solarium. (Kinda cool to even have a solarium, yeah?)

Views from one of the lanais.

View of the kitchen - pasta creation occuring in the foreground.
View from the dining room with Fred's surfboard sneaking into the picture.

Settling in

2008-07-08T06:05:00.000-10:00

We've moved into the house, returned the rental car, and started to settle into a more sedate pace. The only tragedy so far has been the saga of Bruce Fitch. I'll leave the full tale for him to tell, but so far he is caught in some Delta-induced Flying Dutchman hell and has still not arrived on island (he was due Sunday evening).

The house is incredible! Large and airy, with plenty of places to sit with friends and talk or to find a little quiet time for yourself. There's a grand piano which Sue and Steve have both been playing and a couple of guitars that will get more attention when they have some new strings. There are boogie boards and swim fins, snorkels and masks, books and paintings, peanut butter and jellies. Everything you might need can probably be found somewhere in this house.

Sue and Chris H. have both been taking pictures and I'll be uploading some soon.

We've arrived!

2008-07-05T13:18:00.001-10:00

A quick post to say that we've arrived. Janice picked Clay, Sue, and I up at the airport and took us back to their place. Greg was working the grill and we all enjoyed a 4th of July Picnic that couldn't be beat.

Clay and I wen hele over to da 7-11 and got da kine bus passes for the three of us and then Janice took us down to our hotel in Waikiki. The view from our lanai at the Prince Kuhio is awesome: a perfectly framed shot of Queens.

Later that night we wandered down to the Kapahulu wall and watched the fireworks displays. The one over Magic Island was most impressive (pictures to follow soon). When that finished the amateur displays began directly overhead and lasted on into the night.

Nice of the people of Hawai`i to welcome us back home with such style.

4th of July in Honolulu

2008-07-04T23:00:00.000-10:00

"Noelani, the fireworks are hailing over little Eden tonight"

GO!

2008-07-04T06:30:00.000-10:00

Assuming that the 'scheduled post' feature works and that Homeland Security has not discovered that I have an account on The Huffington Post, then Sue and I are now winging our way to Hawai`i. (You can check on our status at Flight View, we're on HA21)

We'll be met at the airport by Greg and Janice and whisked off to their 4th of July picnic and eventually to Waikiki.

I've always tried to assume that each trip to O`ahu would be my last. I am thrilled that I was wrong last time. :-)

Get Set

2008-07-03T06:13:00.000-10:00

24 Hours. Today will be spent doing some house cleaning. We'll pack tonight, and get up at the crack of dawn to head to the airport.

This is the worst part of the trip for me. I'm terrible at packing (fortunately Sue seems quite good at it). I hate the hassle of dealing with Homeland Security. And flying scares me. If we were somehow able to instantly teleport ourselves and our belongings to our destination, but the cost was 12 hours of dry heaves, I'd pretty much consider it an even exchange with the current approach.

Oh well, what must be endured can be endured...

for 24 Hours.

On Your Mark

2008-07-02T10:49:00.001-10:00

Two days to go. The suitcase is out and there are stacks of clothes about the bedroom. Lists have been made and updated, checkmarks are appearing. I'm finally leaving the stress caused by "There Are Things To Be Done!" and entering the calm of "Oh Well, That's Not Gonna Get Done."

In two more days I leave the role of trip planner behind and take on the more enjoyable titles of "Chef" and "Surfer".

Two More Days.

Westport Surf Story

2008-06-19T07:56:00.001-10:00

When I first moved to the mainland in 1991 I would occasionally make the trek to Westport on the Washington coast to surf. It's not a great surf spot, a series of beach breaks coming off of an insanely long jetty. There would generally be waves, and there would always be surfers; it was the Canoes of Washington.

Now, surfing in Washington is not like surfing in Hawai`i. For one thing, it's cold. Really Cold. Advances in wetsuit technology have gone a long ways towards improving things, my 5mm titanium-lined body glove generally kept me safely away from hypothermia. But there's still the initial flush of 40 degree water as you duck under the first wave paddling out, usually followed by a sharp intake of breath and a brief black-out. Not quite a near-death experience, more like a near coma.

The biggest difference though, is the distance. Westport was about the closest spot for me and it was a three-hour drive, each way. When I worked at Hickam, Ron and I used to go surf at lunch! Admittedly we only had time to dash into town, paddle out, catch one wave, paddle in, shower, change, and get back to the office; but still. No lunch time sessions in Washington, not even a dawn patrol before work. Surfing means dedicating a day.

One dedicated Saturday many years ago, I packed up the car and made the drive. I pulled into a semi-crowded parking lot at Westport and found very excellent conditions: a light wind, shoulder-high sets, and a dropping tide. I put my wetsuit on (a tedious process involving a combination of yoga and one-legged hopping), waxed my board, and I was ready to lock up the car and go. But... I've got a hangup about having my keys in my hand when I lock the car, at this point they were already in a key-pocket tucked under multiple zipped layers of neoprene. Oh well, lock it up and paddle out.

The conditions were as good as they looked. Clean and fun. The crowd was spread out and there were more waves than surfers. An excellent surf day in the Pacific Northwest. After a couple of hours I was getting pretty beat. I took off late on an outside set wave and had it go completely concave. The board pearled when I tried to make a bottom turn, which did nothing to slow my forward momentum, and I found myself on my back with my head in the trough watching the lip come down on me. Okay, time to head in.

Even with the trip through the washing machine, I was still feeling on top of the world. I made my way up the beach and it was obvious everyone else was feeling that way too. Lots of smiles, "strangers stopping strangers, just to shake their hand". My plan was to nip into the turkey sandwiches I had packed, take a nap, and maybe consider a second session later in the day. I got back to the car, peeled the wetsuit off of my shoulders, reached into the key pocket and... wait for it... no key! Crap! Exactly the thing my hangup tried to prevent. I started going from car to car asking if anyone had a wire coat hanger, wondering if I'd even be able to get the door open with one if they did, which they didn't. The heat of the day was taking a toll and I decided to shed the 20 pounds of neoprene I was still wearing. I did the wetsuit dance, stripping down to my trunks

... and there in my waistband, where it had apparently lodged during my graceless last wave, was my car key.

Hau`oli Lä Hänau e Chris!

2008-06-11T08:11:00.000-10:00

Happy Birthday, Chris!! Fifty trips around the sun can be a bit tiring, yeah? Time to take a break, and get away to the little latitudes.

We'll be hoisting a few to celebrate the occasion very soon.

Induced Sense Memories

2008-06-06T11:29:00.000-10:00

You walk outside on a crisp autumn day. A breeze rustles the leaves and carries with it a faint earthy odor. Suddenly you are ten years old, jumping into piles of raked leaves that have been left along the side of the road for pickup. All from a little whiff of decaying leaves. After moving to the mainland I noticed that when I'd go surfing out at Westport just the smell of Mr. Zog's Sex Wax could transport me back to the lineup at Threes. Amazing what our brains can do when motivated.

About four trips-to-Hawai`i ago I decided to try to induce this in myself. I picked up a different scent of deodorant and I used it for the month that I was there. When I got home I packed it away and didn't use it for about a year. Sure enough, when I happened to use it (because I ran out of my regular scent) I was back in Waikiki. Since then, I've re-enforced this by continuing to use the same scent in Hawai`i on every trip.

Give it a try. Once you've trained your brain, it's like having an instant Hawaiian vacation at your disposal.

He mau haiku

2008-05-29T08:08:00.000-10:00

I'm trying my hand at haiku as a way to practice ka `ölelo. So expect to see a verse now and then over there on the side of the page. Translations will probably be inexact because I'm trying to keep the structure in both languages.

Ua nui ke nalu!

2008-05-27T11:42:00.000-10:00

"What was the largest wave you ever rode?"

When someone finds out that you're a surfer, especially one from Hawai`i, that is a common question. I think that they are usually expecting a very short answer, preferably expressed in feet. But we surfers know that the only true answer to that question is a story, told over a beer, and measurements enter into it only tangentially. So crack open a cold one, pull up a chair, and I'll tell you a story...

In the late 80s, Ron, Tim, and I were surfing the North Shore a fair amount. Hale`iwa and Kammieland occasionally, but more often a break between Chun's and Waimea. We never knew it's name; Ron and Tim called it "Ron and Tims", I preferred the name "Turtles". It was a nice peak with short rights breaking into a paddling channel and long lefts that occasionally closed out.

One bright and clear Saturday morning we arrived for a dawn patrol session. We had been out the day before and the waves had been mediocre, at best, with a side wind and a sizable crowd. On this morning the National Weather Service had issued a high surf advisory and was calling for a growing swell; but the conditions were perfect, and the lineup was empty. It didn't look that big from the shore, but then, it never does.

We paddled out into big, but not huge, surf. We were a little tentative at first, but the waves were very clean and there was no one out. Pretty soon we were having one of those magic sessions that you knew you would be talking about for days. So clean and so empty.

Ron and Tim were both finishing up rides on the inside and were paddling out when I saw the set coming. It was bending the horizon and I knew it was bigger than anything we had seen that day. I started paddling. As we approached each other my heart started pounding, it really was huge. I cleared it and was staring at its big brother. Keep paddling. Clear the second and paddle, the third is coming. As I paddled over the top of the third I spared a glance back towards shore. Ron and Tim had made it past the first wave but the second was about to eat them for lunch.

I approached the fourth wave, and in one of those decisions you can only recognize in hindsight, I spun my board to catch it. I was in a great position and it only took a few strokes before my board started to drop. Up to my feet and turning left, hoping it wouldn't close out. Down to the bottom and racing back up the face of a two-story wall that seemed to stretch all the way to Waimea Bay. Time seemed to slow as I turned at the top and took another roller coaster drop. Two more swooping turns followed before the wave closed out and I bounced my way to shore in front of the whitewater.

So, what was the largest wave I ever rode? If you're a surfer, you know.

I ka wä u`i

2008-05-23T10:42:00.000-10:00

Chris has just posted some pictures on his website from the glory days at Fort Leahi. As Clay pointed out, they seem to be capturing Bob's going away party.

A bottle of Crown Royal on the table, The Beamer Brothers playing Honolulu City Lights in the background, and some Haole wearing his shoes in da house. It's a scene that's been repeated on the islands for as long as people have been stupid enough to leave.

Local Grindz Quiz

2008-05-20T04:40:00.000-10:00

Bruddah Clay sent this very cool quiz on local foods to me a while back and I've been meaning to post it here for everyone. Take the quiz (no cheating) and post your score. High score gets a napple.

BTW - it's in the form of a spreadsheet so you'll need a program that can read that (I recommend Open Office).

Caution: Objects in calendar are closer than they appear.

2008-05-06T10:49:00.000-10:00

Two months to go and I don't know if I'm much closer to being ready than I was at the three month mark. I have been hitting the gym 2-3 times per week which I guess is a good thing, but I don't know if I'm ready to paddle out into anything big. I'll get there.

Today I rode my bike to work as part of a regional Bike-to-Work month promotion. Normally I haul my bike off of the plateau and ride from there, but today I started right from the house. Now, mind you, the trip to Redmond is mostly downhill and steeply downhill at that; I still need to get home. We'll have to see how that goes.
(CODA: Went golfing with Sue after work instead, and she gave me and the bike a ride home)

We've already had a couple of High Surf Advisory days on the south shore. I'm hoping that this augurs well for this summer. I'd love to see a steady background of 4 foot days with weekly spikes to, say, 10 feet. That's not too much to ask for is it?

BTW - Hawai`i Surf Session Report (link at left) has some good footage of the latest swell.

Two months, gang.

Arriving in Style

2008-04-24T09:48:00.000-10:00

Mr. Hailey is the first of us to make his airline reservations. And he'll be traveling first class! Right on brah. Start the party before the plane even leaves the ground!

Whistler Finale

2008-04-21T09:46:00.000-10:00

By the fourth day of our adventure I think we were both feeling pretty satisfied. Sure, we still had some runs left in us, but the skiing itch had been scratched most effectively. We talked it over and decided that rather than ski for a while, have lunch, and ski for a little more, we'd take our lunch break at the beginning of the day and then ski straight through. So, I spent my 'lunch break' reading the paper and drinking coffee while Aaron watched 'Enter the Dragon' (so we got our pop culture exposure as well).

Since today was about quality over quantity, we decided to head back to the Flute Bowl and make some marks on the mountain. We started with a couple of runs down Jimmy's Joker and then hit the Peak Chair. It was another bright and sunny day, so we were not surprised to find clouds and driving snow when we got to the top. We snapped a shot of a family in front of the 2010 Olympic Symbol and they returned the favor by taking a picture of us.

We skied to the entrance to the bowl and herring-boned our way up to the start of the trail. From there it was time to sling our skis over our shoulders and begin the hike. With the blue skies, untracked snow, and the single-file, one-step-at-a-time nature of the climb it definitely felt like we were attempting an assault on some exotic summit. At the top, we plopped down, pulled out the powerbars, and took a breather. The run down the hill was pure sweetness; fresh tracks in knee-deep fluff.

The run-out from our hill led to tracked snow at the bottom of the bowl into a flat icy trail and finally into a glade run. So by the time we reached the lift I had had a complete workout. Our natural impulse was to do it again. So we did. Up the lift, down to the gate, off with the skis, start hiking. People at the bottom of the bowl would occasionally point up at us and wave or take pictures, but no one seemed inclined to make the hike, so it was our hill.

By the time we reached the lift after the second run, it was 2:20. The left closed at 3 and there was no other way out of this area, so we had a decision ahead of us: Try for one more run? Our first two runs had each taken almost an hour round trip, but we had taken leisurely stops after the hike. We decided to go for it.

It took 10 minutes to ride the lift and another 2 for us to fly down to the bowl gateway. We popped the skis and started trudging. I beat Aaron to the top; mostly because it was a single-file track and he couldn't pass me. But at my age I take the victories that are handed to me. We estimated that it would take 10 minutes to get down the hill and back to the lift, so we paused until quarter 'til and then hit it. We made it to the lift with 4 minutes to spare.

On the ride up you could see our hill in the late afternoon sun. Pristine, but for eight sets of tracks. One set had been there when we first arrived, one belonged to Aaron from yesterday, and six were ours from today. We made our mark and now it was time to go.

This was a great vacation for the two of us. I've always known that a day would come when Aaron would be a better skier than me, but I've assumed that we'd be at parity for awhile. Nope. 2008 - Aaron's a better skier than me. Much better. Period. I'm just glad he let me keep up this trip.

But he's got a ways to go to catch me at surfing. Hehe.

Whistler Day Three

2008-04-20T17:35:00.000-10:00

Our third day brought us sunshine and spring skiing conditions. Put away the goggles and get out the dark glasses and sunblock. Although the previous day on Blackcomb was fun, we decided to head back to the Symphony Amphitheatre on Whistler. We warmed up on a couple of runs served by the Big Red Chair. This has become a regular run for us, and not only as a warm-up. Normally if you come down from the backside on either The Saddle, or Glacier Bowl you would then catch the T-bar to get you high enough to ski to the lodge or back down the village side of Whistler. With the T-bars closed this whole week, we'd have to ski all the way down to the bottom of the Big Red Chair and then catch it back up. A minor inconvenience when you're hungry; knowing that the lodge is right there, but you'll have to make a run down a crowded groomed run before you earn your baked potato.

After our warm-ups we went up to the peak. The view up there is absolutely breathtaking, or at least it was 20 years ago. Now? I can't say; every time Aaron and I got to the top, a massive cloud would push in. Every Time. Notice the peak in the picture with bright blue skies? It was gray with about 10 feet of visibility when we got to the top fifteen minutes after this picture was taken.

We skied over to Symphony, with Aaron finding every opportunity to put some distance between his skies and the snow. I was able to get him to stop long enough one time for me to get the camera out.

The Flute Bowl, on the far side of the amphitheatre looked inviting so we made our way over there. If you kept up your speed on the run that led to the bowl, you could make it high enough to get to a gateway where you could take off your skis and start hiking, or you could drop into the good, but tracked-up, snow near the bottom. We did the latter initially, but eventually we had to give the good snow a try. I hiked about a third of the way up a clean white hill and dropped down to the bottom. Aaron went all the way up and had a great run through untracked knee-deep powder.

Around 1:30 we were starting to get pretty hungry, so we made our way up to the top of Symphony, down to Harmony Bowl, up to the Peak, down the Glacier Bowl, down Old Mans, up the Big Red Chair, and finally to the lodge. A mere 1-hour jaunt to food. After lunch we made a couple of runs down Jimmy's Joker and decided to call it a day.

We hit the hot tub, went into the village and got a pizza to take back to the room. There we watched various shows featuring people doing stupid things and hurting themselves. General note: If your buddies are very eager to video tape you leaping off of something, eating something, or blowing something up, maybe you should stop and reconsider. But then, I'm old and have discovered, to my chagrin, that I'm mortal.

Whistler Day Two

2008-04-17T13:52:00.000-10:00

The second day of our vacation dawned with big fluffy snowflakes falling. We had already decided that we would ski Blackcomb Mountain today, so we took the Excalibur Gondola over to the Excelerator Chair. This got us to the bottom of the Jersey Cream area. It looked pretty good, so we did a couple of laps to warm up. Unfortunately, this seemed to be a very popular area for the ski schools as well, and the runs were filled with flocks of skidlets following each other down the hill like so many baby ducks crossing the road and we'd have to slow down as we passed each group. Aaron has been skiing since he was 3 and is an expert skier. But he's also 15, so 'slow' isn't really a part of his vocabulary. Rather than have some overzealous instructor make an example of him we decided to head for higher ground.

Off we went to 7th Heaven. The bottom of the area was a bit icy as you neared the lift, but the snow on the top was excellent. We started on Hugh's Heaven but with each run we worked our way further and further over until we were traversing into Xhiggy's Meadow and The Lakeside Bowl. There was plenty of powder and although it was somewhat tracked up it was still better than anything on the groomed runs. Around one o'clock we decided to stop for lunch at the Horstman Hut at the top of 7th Heaven Express.

Fueled and ready to go, we dropped off the backside of the mountain onto the Horstman Glacier where we found ourselves in fog and flat light. The snow felt good; but since we couldn't see where we were going, it was skiing by braille. It was only a small band of cloud, though, and soon we had dropped below it into better visibility. We found ourselves at the top of Heavenly Basin looking down on deep untracked snow, and a sign that said 'Stay on Road'. We took the sign as 'more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules' and dropped in. It was beautiful, knee-deep powder which eventually emptied into a field of Volkswagen-sized moguls. Ugh. There must always be balance, I guess, and the piper requests his due.

The bumps were a workout, but not enough of one to dissuade us from doing that run again. And again. What almost turned us off was cruising down the little run that lead to Heavenly and getting blindsided by a snowboarder who had ducked some ropes and was out of control. He definitely took the worst of it and while he lay on the ground trying to clear his head, I stood there channeling my inner Red Forman and pondering the merits of euthanasia.

We took a couple more runs down Heavenly Basin and decided to call it a day. Making our way to the Gondola, we rode down into the village. Our valet was waiting at the bottom to take our skis (really) and we tromped off to our room, tired and happy.

We continued our ritual of unwinding in the hot tub and pool before showering and heading out for dinner at Earl's Restaurant. Aaron had a chicken and lime quesadilla, which he described as the best he'd ever had. I had a chicken sandwich on ciabatta with apples, brie, spinach, and a fig-and-garlic aioli. It was delicious and I plan to try to re-create it at home.

Whistler Day One

2008-04-12T11:16:00.000-10:00

Our first day dawned grey and snowy. We took the gondola up Whistler Mountain and warmed up on the runs served by the Big Red Express. The snow was good, but the weather was variable. We'd start under blue skies and pass into completely flat light, then into fog, then into snowfall. A few runs had us ready to find something more interesting, so we hopped on the peak chair and made our way over to the Symphony Amphitheatre.

The last time I was back in this bowl was 1988, on a ski trip with Ron, Joe, and Greg. Back then you could traverse into what was called Burnt Stew Basin, pick a line, and ski to the bottom. From there your only choice was a miserable little cat track to get back to civilization. Now there is a high-speed quad serving the area and the Flute and Piccolo Bowls are no longer out of bounds. In a nod to us old-timers, however, you still have to take a miserable little cat track to get out of there.

We skied around Symphony until early afternoon then made our way back to the Roundhouse for a lunch of baked potatoes covered with chili, cheese, and sour cream. Yum! We made a few more runs off of Big Red Express and then worked our way back to the village. The spring conditions were really setting in, and by the time we got to the bottom the snow was the consistency of a slurpee.

Note to self: Tomorrow we download off the mountain.

After a quick soak in the hot tub and swim in the pool, we wandered through the village in search of dinner, eventually deciding on the Whistler Brewhouse. It's a little on the pricey side, but the food is good and the beer is excellent.

The Whistler Relay

2008-04-12T05:12:00.000-10:00

One of the down-sides to our blended family is that because the kids are not in the same school district, their holidays don't always line up. This year we had all three kids for spring break, but the girls' spring break was the week before Aaron's. Ski trips were certainly called for, the only question was the destination(s). Big Mountain in Montana was considered, but that's a mighty long car trip. Mt. Bachelor is only about 6 hours away and has good snow, but the nearest lodging is a half hour from the mountain (yes, we're spoiled). Finally we decided on Whistler, which, really, had been the first choice the whole time. Sue took the girls up the week of 3/31 - 4/5, we had a single night together when they got back, and then Aaron and I went up 4/6 - 4/11.

The ladies stayed over on Creekside at the new Legends lodge, we've been considering buying a property there so this was also served as a reconnaissance mission. Their room was just above Dusty's with a view looking right up the mountain (see picture at right). They caught the weather just right and had beautiful sunny skies and spring conditions. The trails of the week were deemed to be the new Peak-to-Creek as well as Jeff's Ode to Joy. Wide open and uncrowded, P2C, runs from the Peak Chair all the way to the bottom of the Creekside Gondola. (See the rather large pdf Trailmap to follow along). Ode to Joy starts as a groomed trail off of the Symphony Express and drops into a series of glade runs at the bottom. Another popular spot was The Crystal Hut on Blackcomb where fresh-made Belgian Waffles were being served up hot. The last day of the trip saw snow falling on the mountain, turning to rain near the village.

Aaron and I stayed in the village at the Westin. We had a nice room which was a snowball's throw from the Gondola but without the view that the ladies had. As you might imagine, the guys' trip had a rather different character than the ladies'. They'd go have crepes for breakfast, we'd knock back some oatmeal in the room. We'd ski until about 1, when everyone else was finishing lunch, then break for a quick bite, and hit it again for 2 or 3 runs. Apres ski consisted of a quick dunk in the hot tub, a shower, and then off to find dinner. By 7pm we'd be fed and drowsing in front of the TV.

Coming up next, How We Spent Our Ski Vacation...

Bruuuuuuuuuuuce!!!!

2008-03-30T04:10:00.001-10:00

Sue and I saw The Boss in concert last night at Key Arena. Wow. The man stills rocks like nobody else. Two and a half hours of non-stop, high-energy, rock and roll. He performed about half of the songs from his latest release, Magic, which left plenty of time for old favorites.

It's hard to believe that the last time I saw him was 30 years ago in Austin, Texas on the 'Darkness' tour. And it's been over 15 years since my vinyl copy of that album was packed away; but the lyrics all came flooding back. I found myself standing and singing Badlands at the top of my lungs with 15,000 other people.

Most of the E-Streeters were there. Danny Federici is still ill and we were told that "Patti sends her love. We've got three teenagers now, so she's home guarding the fort. As I was getting ready to leave for the tour there were kegs of beer showing up, pot cookies coming out of the oven. I thought 'I better leave Patti here to take care of this'".

Nils Lofgren and Little Steven are still amazing on guitar and Max is an absolute madman on drums. Clarence was there and played on many songs but his energy level seemed much lower, and he was often off to the side of the stage.

The concert ended with rousing renditions of 10th Avenue Freezeout into Rosalita into Born to Run and by the end I was physically spent. Amazing show.

The drive home was interesting. We had driven into Seattle around five o'clock and walked around the Seattle Center in cold, drizzly, weather. As we approached Redmond on the drive home we started noticing snow on the side of the road. By the time we were driving up onto the Sammamish Plateau the snow was deeper and we were starting to see the all-too-familiar sight of cars abandoned on the side of the road. In the Pacific Northwest snow is expected to stay in the mountains where we can find it when we want to ski. We're built for rain; our roads go straight up the sides of hills and we have no snow plows. Fortunately, my mighty Subaru had no problems getting us home.

101 days

2008-03-25T06:40:00.000-10:00

Our little ticker on the left there says that we now have 101 days to go! Whoo Hoo!!

I've been continuing my training, riding my bike around our neighborhood. Each lap is about 4 miles and it has some decent hills. I try to do it as a sprint, forcing myself to do an extra lap when I'm ready to quit. I imagine myself caught inside on a big day at Tonggs, paddling like mad against wave after wave, wishing I could go back in time to early spring and work out harder. And voila! My wish is granted!

I've also filled out the paperwork, and by the time you read this I'll be a member, once again, of the Redmond Athletic Club. It's just a few blocks from our AT&T office, so I'll be able to pop over there in the afternoon to work out. I used to belong back when I lived in Redmond and it's a great club. No pool, but I was never much of a lap swimmer anyway.

For anyone into the JamBand scene, here's what's in my iPod when I'm working out.

Like a pack of hyenas

2008-03-23T17:54:00.000-10:00

The scene is circa 1989. A large south swell has been pushing into Waikiki over the course of the weekend. By Monday, most of the hardcore wave riders have been hitting it pretty steadily and are starting to feel sated. The vibe in most lineups is mellowing out. The sun is heading towards evening, but there's still time for a late session. The stage is set.

Chris, Bob, Ron, and I decide to take the boogie boards and grab a few waves at Old Man's. It's a nice mellow left breaking near San Soucci beach. My guess is that the name is derived from it's proximity to the Outrigger Canoe Club and the Elks Club and the fact that many of their members surf there.

As we paddle out through the channel we can see the set waves rising up out of deep water like lumbering mountains. A good break for long boards and the occasional outrigger canoe. Shortboarders are at a definite disadvantage, and we boogie boarders even more so. At a break like this we become scavengers, hovering near the shoulder and hoping for a wave that swings wide. Paddling for a wave and pulling out when the surfer further up the line catches it.

But like a pack of scavengers growing hungry we protect our turf. Eventually we catch sight of an intruder. A surfer off to the side, shunned by the herd, has moved into our hunting area. A wave swings wide toward us, we paddle, but the surfer has position and we are forced to back off. But he doesn't catch it! These waves are bigger than he has surfed before and he can't commit. Sensing fear, the pack circles, waiting.

A set comes. Two waves, three, the fourth swings wide toward us. The surfer paddles and the pack makes its move. "Whooooot!" "Yeah brah! Get 'em" "Go bruddah!" "Paddle! Paddle!" He cannot resist the cheers, he paddles hard. The wave lifts his board and he gets to his feet for an oh-so-brief moment of glory. Sadly there can be but one outcome; the wave was already feathering when he started to paddle. The board rushes down the face of the wave and and pearls when the surfer fails to make a bottom turn. The three following waves sweep him away.

The intruder is driven off and the pack is free to hunt.

Feeding the masses

2008-03-15T05:10:00.000-10:00

Listen to a random selection of Hawaiian music and certain themes begin to emerge:

The straight-forward culture of a people who know they live in paradise and celebrate that fact. Life in Hawai`i is good, leaving it is a bummer, pass the rice. When I think about going home I naturally think about surfing but I also think about food.

I think about plate lunch in all its forms; chicken longrice, kalua pig and cabbage, pork adobo, hamburger steak and gravy, tonkatsu. Nestled between two scoops rice, macaroni salad, and maybe a dollop of kim chi.

I also think about how we're going to feed a large house full of people. I'm a damn fine chef when I'm cooking for two but I've discovered that my mad cooking skillz drop off as the number of diners increases. With 6-8 people in the house at any one time, it's going to be like making Thanksgiving dinner every day. So I've started thinking about how to feed the masses without spending too much time at it.

First idea: Smoker! Get da kine pulehu meat smoking on the side. Sue bought me a smoker a few years back and we thought it might get used once or twice in the summertime. Wrong! We use it all the time! Throw on a rack of ribs come back in 6 hours and hoo! Broke da mouth kine grindz. I'm planning to pick one up at Home Depot and give it to one of our local friends when we leave. Our little electric Brinkmann will cook any of these at once:

6 racks of baby back ribs
4 whole chickens
4 lbs of salmon

Now I'm all hungry. More later.

Subscribing

2008-03-12T08:41:00.000-10:00

Just a reminder that you can subscribe to an RSS feed of the blog by clicking on the button down at the bottom of the page.

You may also start receiving email updates if I can determine the proper incantations.

How are you getting ready?

2008-03-10T09:39:00.000-10:00

Are you stoked? Are you ready?

I'm stoked, very stoked. I think about this trip all the time. Probably to the point where Sue and Fred are getting sick of hearing about it. :-)

But am I ready? No, not really. My goal is to be able to paddle out into a monster swell on the first day there. Ambitious, but that's what goals are all about. To get there I need to get the muscles, lungs, and back into shape. The lungs should be doable; I love riding my roadbike and Sue got me some cold-weather gear for Christmas, so it's just a question of getting out there and doing it. We've switched the clocks so there's daylight available.

Getting the arms and lats back into shape, is going to be tougher but still doable. I've got a beat-up old universal gym in the garage that cost me all of $10 on craigslist; I guess I need to dust that thing off and get on it.

My back though, that's going to take some work. Riding my bike usually helps; that repetitive leg motion seems to help straighten things out. But I think I may need to get back to the chiropractor again. It has helped in the past, but I usually quit when things start feeling better. The problem is that it never really 'fixes' my back, just allevaites the pain after a while. Once I quit going, it gradually comes back again.

Would that have me ready? Probably. Modifying the grayish hue that my body takes on during the PNW winter would also be a good idea, but will have to wait for better weather. And even then I'll have to salve myself with SPF 100 to stay out in the surf very long.

So, again I ask... Are you stoked? Are you ready?

Let's get it started

2008-03-07T06:53:00.000-10:00

Hey gang. I'm going to start using my old blog to post information about the trip.

If you go into the archives you can reread the 2006 adventure and start dreaming about what's to come. I know I am.

It's on!

2008-03-06T06:49:00.000-10:00

Aloha kakou,

Start marking your calendars; in 4 months the adventure begins!

For you surfers, if you've not yet started training, now would be a good time to get on it. Lat pull downs and tricep presses. A good cardio workout would not be amiss as well, in preparation of some long hold-downs. Guitarists might want to revisit some taro-patch favorites so we're all ready for da kine kani ka pila.

Key dates coming up:
3/6 - If you haven't sent in your deposit check, please do so.
4/6 - First 1/2 of the rental payment due.
5/6 - Other 1/2 of rental payment due.
7/6 - Adventure begins.

Toys:
Sounds like Dan is planning on bringing a couple of surfboards, I'll be bringing a couple of boogie boards and possibly my guitar, Fred already has a board stashed over there. Anybody else planning on bringing any kine?

Grinds:
Anybody have one place they absolutely *have* to go to eat? I know I've got at least a couple: Breakfast at The Hau Tree Lanai and Lunch at Kua `aina.

Malama pono,
Chris P.

Reservations are made

2008-02-21T16:33:00.000-10:00

Aloha kakou,

Yet another thing I learned from surfing the North Shore, is that I really love surfing. Actually I may have learned that from surfing the South Shore first. :-) Either way - I love surfing so much that I've decided to rent a house with a bunch of my friends and family on O`ahu's Gold Coast this July.

It's happening! I emailed Amelia and officially accepted the house for Sunday July 6th through Sunday Aug 3rd. 29 days in paradise. I'll be sending her a check this week. So, I'll be needing the first of many checks from the rest of you. Here's how I've assembled the first billing:

Security Deposit: $1000 for the house, prorated by your room nights. If you cancel, you'll receive this back *if* we can find someone to take your place. If you go on the trip, you'll receive a prorated amount of whatever we get back, presumably all of it.

Earnest Money: $130 per room (roughly the cost of 1 room night). If you go on the trip this is credited to your account; if you cancel you forfeit it. The reason is that as we get underway with this, any cancellation is going to hit everyone pretty hard.

I've already put the values in the spreadsheet, but it comes out as follows:

Chris H. and Clay: $347.05 each
Bruce and Fred: $230.78 each

Get stoked everybody!

Malama pono,
Chris P.

February 11th Email

2008-02-11T10:56:00.000-10:00

Aloha kakou,

One of the other things I learned from surfing the North Shore, is that occasionally it is better to have stayed on the shore than to have paddled out at all. Not because it's too big, but because it's too weird. You can't seem to line up in the right spot, or the swell is out of a strange direction, or maybe you've just got some huge kharmic debt that turns the whole session into something that Hunter Thompson might have concocted.

Amelia, the DHDH owner, just informed me that she has a returning renter who she completely forgot about, who will be in the unit through the 5th of July. We can still have the house from Sun July 6th through Sun Aug 3rd, a total of 29 days. Frankly, my psyche has become too brittle to actually analyze this information so I'm just going to pass it along and mull it over when I'm able.

Malama pono,
Chris P.

February 9th Email

2008-02-09T10:05:00.000-10:00

Aloha kakou,

One of the things I learned from surfing the North Shore is that sometimes the question as to whether or not you should have even started paddling for that wave is rhetorical. You did. If you stop paddling now the one behind it is going to mow your ass down. All you can really do is paddle hard, stand up, and deal with it.

Wonderful parable Chrispy, so what?

I've heard back from Amelia and, contrary to what her website says, her house is 5 BR, not 6. This puts us in a bit of a bind for the last two weeks, in that we've got 6 BRs accounted for, not 5. At this point my plan is to put Aaron either in with the girls or on a couch. I've considered other options, but realistically we're down to these two choices: Take the big house and cope with the potential crowding and expense, or just say "Party in Hawai`i this summer, find a place to stay and we'll all hook up". My inclination is to paddle hard, take the big house, and deal with it. Who's in?

New spreadsheet attached showing the consequences of pulling Aaron out of one of the BRs. Also note that I've added in a spot for a rental car, but not put in a value. A small car for a month will run about $750. Compare that with $20-$30 per person shuttle fees to and from the airport. Also note that the spreadsheet includes the $1000 security deposit, one could reasonably assume that we'll get it all back and it could be $0 for costing purposes.

That's all for now. I'm off to caucus for one local boy.

Malama pono,
Chris P.

February 7th Email

2008-02-07T11:37:00.000-10:00

Aloha kakou,

As promised, here's the latest edition of the spreadsheet. It is pretty altered from the earlier version, as this is what we'll be using to track expenses. Some things to note:

The sheet that listed all of the potential properties has been deleted. If this thing falls apart I'm really going to regret deleting it, but that didn't occur to me until I started typing this.
The calendar is becoming more important. Start considering your dates. As I mentioned earlier things are getting really crowded at the end of the month. As it is, Aaron may be sleeping on a couch.
I'm tracking two different types of expenses on the Expenses sheet. Room and Board. The room based expenses are those associated with with putting your butt in a bed and are per room per night. Board is the all of the groceries and such and are per person per day. So, whenever you purchase groceries for the house, give me the receipt and I'll put it on the groceries sheet. The expense gets spread across the board and you get credit.

Other items:

Dan Fitch will be joining us and staying with his dad. He's a surfer so he should fit right in with this crowd.
We need to consider whether we want a car. It would add considerable expense to the Room rate but with this many people we will definitely need to be making frequent CostCo/grocery runs. Thoughts?

Malama pono,
Chris P.

January 30th Email

2008-01-30T04:05:00.000-10:00

Aloha kakou,

Okay, things are in a bit of flux now. I just received email from Amelia saying that she doesn't have any reservations yet for the DHDH in June or July. I've told her to pencil us in for July but I wanted to ping everybody about that first. I'll probably have some major issues with it because of Aaron that I'll have to work through, but that's my problem.

How does everyone else feel about it? We're reaching a point where we need a slightly firmer commitment than before. If possible, I'd like an email from everyone saying something to the effect of "I'm xx% certain I'll be there for nn days". (Where xx is greater than 80). If you've got certain dates you can/can't be there, let me know. "I wouldn't miss 4th of July in (Hawai`i|California|Florida) for the world."

I really feel that the DHDH offers the best combination of size, location, and price.

"Think this through with me, let me know your mind"

Malama pono,
Chris P.

January 28th Email

2008-01-28T14:30:00.000-10:00

Aloha kakou,

Well, as they say, "He who hesitates is screwed". I held off on reserving the DH Dream home pending my employment situation (all is well there - we start work soon) and now the house has been taken. This really throws things for a loop.

If we fall back to the Ocean Estate, we've not only got rental car issues, but we're also starting to pop over the cap I mentally placed on my outlay. The reason being that I can rent a condo for Sue and I and the kids for about 6k/month. I'd rather be in a house with all of you, but I'm a cheapskate. ;-)

One possibility is getting a couple of 2 BR condos at the DH Beach Hotel. They'd run about 6k each and possibly they'd cut us a deal for renting two. Then we'd have Chris and Clay in one condo and Bruce and the Makay/Payne clan in the other. This leaves Fred and Steve to fend for themselves and would make large group meals a hassle. But the location is primo.

Another option is going with the Gold Coast Jewel and a 1 BR Condo to handle the overflow. It would be weird having one person staying over there. But we could get a place for about 3k. It's walking distance to the house. If we combined the costs together, so that whoever is in there is not getting stuck, then we have a virtual 5Br on the gold coast for 15K.

Let me know your thoughts. I'm in a bit of a panic and calm soothing words from my friends would be a good thing. :-)

Malama pono,
Chris P.

January 22nd Email

2008-01-22T06:35:00.000-10:00

Aloha kakou,

Not much new to report. I've been on hold while I wait to see what's happening with my job. Fred and I are supposed to be working on a contract at AT&T Wireless. At the last minute there was some hangup on some of the legalese in the SOW and now we're in some weird limbotic state.

I did trade emails with the owner of the DH Dream House. She said that we would not have to be there on a calendar month. Given that, I'm inclined to move us up a little bit to maybe the 3rd week in July for 4-5 weeks. This makes things a little easier for us (Sue and I) vis-a-vis getting the kids back to school in Sept. Chris mentioned he'd like to be there earlier. Fred has some cycling events in the summer (RAMROD and Tour de Montana) and I don't know if this would help or hurt for him. Anyone else have thoughts on it?

Malama pono,
Chris P.

January 6th Email

2008-01-06T09:00:00.000-10:00

Aloha kakou,

I've been doing some more searching, but not coming up with much. I've added a 'scenarios' tab to the spreadsheet so that we can compare different possibilities:

Scenario 1:

We stay at the 4 BR Gold Coast Jewel. If Clay, Sue, and I are there for a month and Chris is there for 4 weeks, then Liz and Rae get a bedroom and Aaron sleeps on the couch. We'd have to coordinate the kids leaving before Bruce arrives, so that he'd have a room. And Fred and/or Steve don't even get an invite. This would be a bit crowded.

*Scenario 2:

The 6 BR Diamond Head Dream house. Same assumptions on Chris, Clay, Sue, and I. We'd probably bring the kids for 2 weeks. If Bruce comes for 2 weeks and Fred/Steve come for 3 then we have a rather attractive price point in a large, gold coast location. This place is starting to book out for 2008, so we might have to make a decision sooner than we want. All in all, this is probably looking best so far.

Scenario 3:

The 5 BR Ocean Estate at Black Point. This is kind of a fall-back of scenario 2. We're paying $1,000 more for a smaller house in a nicer, but less convenient location. Surfing Black point might be interesting, but I've never been out there. Walking into town would not be an option. A car would be required.

Scenario 4:

The over-the-top 5BR Shangri-La. Even if every BR was occupied for the whole month, we'd still be looking at $130/night. If we get to this point, I'd suggest we either get condos or consider staying up on the North Shore, or out in Hawai`i Kai.

As you might have noticed, we're considering bringing the kids for 2 weeks vs 1. Hopefully this isn't an issue for anyone. If so, let me know.

Bruce, I've still got you penciled in for 10 days because that was the last I heard from you. You are obviously welcome there for as long as you want!

Steve and Fred have been tentatively mentioned and contacted, but I haven't included them on the list. As we start to gel this a little more, we'll want to pull them in to the planning process.

As I've said before, I'm leaning towards an August trip. It works best for us with the kids being out of school. It gives Chris, Bruce, and I the best chance of catching some South Swell action! And the Slack Key festival is happening then. Let me know your thoughts on the dates (Clay has already).

I've attached the latest version of the spreadsheet. Just ignore the calendar tab; that will probably come into play later when we're trying to arrange bedrooms.

Malama pono,
Chris P.

Januray 2nd Email

2008-01-02T14:00:00.000-10:00

Ha`oli Makahiki Hou,

Pehea kakou? Maika`i paha!

Hope everyone is well. I've kicked off the new year by doing a little web-surfing, in preparation for a lot of real surfing. I've attached the spreadsheet that I'm using for tracking all this stuff. Take a look at it and check out some of the properties, see what you think.

Random thoughts:

I really love doing this. :-)
If 4 bedrooms is big enough then the Gold Coast Jewel may be our best bet. I've traded some emails with the owner who seems like a nice guy. It's located right between Tonggs and Graveyards, so the surfing should be sweet. Note that the price on it is the only one that has the taxes included.
If we have to go larger then the DH Dream House looks the way to go. I'm guessing that it's within a couple of blocks of where Kalakaua meets DH Road.
The Kahala properties look very sweet. And surfing off of Black Point would be pretty nice. They don't have the easy access of the Gold Coast, though, and would necessitate a rental car or cars, and much travel coordination. Personally, I was hoping to rely on a bus pass.
Chris - I don't know whether you're considering a week, a month, a day. :-) More is mo bettah, brah.
I didn't put in time in the calculator for anyone except me and Clay. As you start getting an idea of how long you'll be there, let everyone know and the numbers will get much better. :-)

More to come.

Malama pono,
Chris P.

A brief recap

2006-11-19T15:21:00.000-10:00

I had every intention of continuing this blog after the vacation. I had visions of gradually moving it from being ego-centric to discussions of topical issues. Well, that didn't happen. Odd how changing jobs can throw your whole rhythmn off.

Yes, I've changed jobs. Again. I actually got the job offer and accepted it while we were in Hawai`i. I'm a consultant now. My current assignment is with a large, pink, cellular provider.

In other news:

Sue's parents came out from Pennsylvania for a too brief visit.
The aquarium was not happy about being left alone for 5 weeks. We lost some corals and two fish (Skooter and Henry)

More soon.

Ku`u home `o Sammamish

2006-09-05T09:19:00.000-10:00

Aloha kakou,

We made it home on Friday evening. By Saturday I had the flu. I'll be posting more pictures and musings when I'm feeling a little better. Thanks for reading along all this time!

Malama pono,
Chris

Ua he`e nalu hou `o Sue

2006-08-28T08:19:00.000-10:00

I know most of you aren't interested in the surf stories, so this is for Chris, and Bruce, and Terri. And, in a way, for myself - telling them allows me to relive the waves. And isn't that why we tell surf stories?

As predicted, the swell picked up on Thursday. The outer reef at Tonggs started breaking regularly enough that folks were tempted to sit outside and try to catch a few out there; but they weren't quite big enough to ride them into the second reef. Rice Bowls, a right-handed wave just Ewa of Tonggs also started to break and that pulled quite a few surfers over to there that might otherwise have been surfing Tonggs.

I have been thinking since I've been here that I should take the board into town and surf Pops or Threes sometime. But Tonggs is right there. I can watch it from the condo and head out when it's at its best. I've surfed it enough that I know exactly where to line up to get the best waves that come through. It's not a great wave, but it's been really good to me this trip.

Thursday I paddled out just as the tide was starting to come in. The winds had died down, so the conditions were very clean. The first wave I caught was a right that swung wide into the channel. I was only partway out to the lineup and this wave was head-high, so I knew there were some decent sets rolling in.

When I had been out on the previous day, there was quite a crowd. Mostly sitting on the inside; when the sets came through the three or four of us taking off outside had to dodge boards and bodies floating in the whitewater. Today the sets were bigger, and the same group was sitting outside, but there was no one on the inside. It made for a very nice session since there were more waves than surfers.

Later in the day, Sue and I went out for another surf lesson. The tide had come way up and the waves were battering the seawall and rushing back out to sea. This made just getting down the ladder into the ocean a bit of a challenge. Sue got onto the board just as a wave was coming in, and managed to ride the backwash a good ways out. We didn't need to go too far out to find an area where we could practice. She caught a couple of nice ones and got to her feet briefly.

Even this far on the inside the waves were chest-high and the backwash from the wall would occasionally jack them straight up just as they were about to break. Sue took off on one of those and had a spectacular wipe out with the board sailing six feet up in the air. She came paddling back out, though, and was ready for more.

On Friday I went out and the same folks were out again. But the swell was definitely dropping.

A Day in Pictures

2006-08-27T09:25:00.000-10:00

For Jamie on her Birthday.

We rode TheBus to Makapu`u Beach Park.

We were making our way to Makapu`u Point to find the lighthouse.

We walked up the road to the lookout and trailhead.

The trail wrapped around the point on its climb.

It was very hot...

...and a long way down.

I searched for the Lighthouse...

...but didn't see it on Moloka`i.

Sue suggested looking a little closer to shore, where Lighthouses are wont to sit.

And there it was!

As we hiked down to the shoreline the lighthouse followed us a little ways; but we sent it back.

The shoreline was a cliff face in front of a series of tidepools...

...fed by the surging waves.

Hiking was mostly a matter of walking across the tidepools.

While avoiding the surging waves.

Which occasionally hid behind a rock.

The only other people out here were some fishermen.

Ua he`e nalu `o Sue

2006-08-23T09:07:00.000-10:00

No new pictures to post, so I'll consolidate all the boring surf stuff into one article.

Monday

Monday morning I was scheduled to meet Ken and Greg for dawn patrol down at Canoes. For the first time in my life I missed a scheduled DP session. I woke up around 7:30 or so, way past time.

I still wanted to get out in the water, so after Sue was done working we put her on the surfboard and I took my boogie board and we paddled out to Inside Tonggs. We found a fairly secluded area and Sue caught the very first wave that came along! Okay, I gave her a little push, but I think she would have caught it anyway. It was a nice little left and she rode it a good ways. Hootah. We gradually worked our way out to the outside. Sue didn't catch anymore waves like the first one, but she paddled into a couple that were a bit bigger. It was a great morning to just be out in the surf and splashing around.

After our session we wandered into town, found some platelunch, and then made our way back along the beach. Sue collected some shells and bits of seaglass. By the evening we were both tired and sun-burnt, so we cooked up some marlin and had a quiet night at home.

Tuesday
Tuesday morning I was scheduled to meet Bruce and Greg for dawn patrol. I didn't oversleep this time. I got up and waxed the board while watching the grey outline of surf roll into Publics. I knew a swell was due today, but it obviously hadn't arrived. I climbed back into bed thinking I'd rather paddle out when the waves come up.

And come up they did. I watched Tonggs most of the day. Around 1:00 the first sets started arriving. They became more consistent as the afternoon wore on, but they were competing with a rising tide which worked against them. By 2:30 I decided it would be better to cope with the high tide and a lineup full of tourists, than to wait for better conditions and the pau hana crowd. It was a pretty good session. I was able to find a decent lineup marker and keep from drifting in between sets. I pooched one takeoff, but caught my fair share of waves. A good session, and a long one; I was out for about two hours.

Clay picked us up in the evening and we went downtown to Greg and Janice's condo for dinner and lots of geek conversation.

Wednesday
The swell is still holding, and is supposed to get bigger tomorrow. I'll probably paddle out in the next hour or so. And maybe we'll get Sue out for another surf lesson later on.
On edit: I paddled out for a two-hour session. The sets were nice, but inconsistent. I don't think Tonggs is catching the swell as well as some other breaks.

On Surf Heights
In one of the first posts I mentioned that wave heights here in Hawai`i now use 'Mainland' measurements. I've always thought that while having some standard measurement size is probably good for surf-forecasts, it would be better to have a different nomenclature for surf stories. If I say to someone that it was 6' that doesn't capture my mindset while I was out there. For some people 6' would be terrifying, for others not worth paddling out. I suggest we should use...

Chrispy's Subjective Wave Heights

Flat - Not worth paddling out
Small - Flat but I paddled out anyway
Fun - Just below my comfort zone
Perfect - Exactly the right size
Big - Above my comfort zone.
Huge - I really shouldn't have paddled out.
Out of Control - I didn't paddle out.

These heights translate easily from surfer to surfer, since we've all experienced them. If you tell a fellow surfer it was huge, they conjure a picture of huge in their heads which brings with it the context of the rest of the session.

Kani Ki Ho`alu

2006-08-22T08:31:00.000-10:00

As mentioned in an earlier post, August is a month of various festivals around the island. This past Sunday they held the Ki Ho`alu (Slack Key) Festival. Although the festival was not a reason for coming here in August, it was certainly an added bonus once we selected that month for travel. This is the fourth slack key fest I've attended, at various locations, over the past couple of decades. This year it was held at the Bandstand at Kapiolani Park.

The performers were up in the shade of the bandstand, surrounded by bright sunlight, so the only way to get a good picture was to practically climb into their lap and use a flash. I decided against that. Instead I'm offering a couple of pictures to show the setting.

And even a picture to show the company. From left to right is Sue, Janice, Greg, Bruce, Irene, and Clay. Not pictured is all of the ono food everyone brought, including Sue's cream puffs.

For the first time, the show was carried live on a webcast at Lava.net. It's worth listening to Taimane Gardner, a 17 year-old ukulele player who was just amazing. Actually the whole show is worth a listen. At one point Led Ka`apana brought out all of the students from a slack key workshop which was held last week. I had considered signing up for it,and if I had I would have been up on stage with Led, playing Slack Key Lullabye. Oh well.

Made in Hawai`i

2006-08-20T09:51:00.000-10:00

The threat of the jellyfish still hung heavy over the small surf of the south shore yesterday. It seemed as though we could feel their hatred seething up from the ocean below the condo (They hate our freedoms!). When we could take it no longer we fled inland via TheBus (jellyfish are notorious in their aversion to public-funded mass transit systems). We felt safe enough by the time we reached Ward Avenue to venture out on foot. Knowing there would be safety in numbers, we made our way to the Neal Blaisdell Center where there was an exhibition entitled "Made in Hawai`i". Inside we found rows of booths displaying local food and crafts, a stage with local performers (Sean Na`auao, followed by Frank Delima), and more food and crafts. Sue found a pair of earrings to wear to tomorrow's Slack Key Festival and I found lots of food samples.

While at the show I got a call from Clay, who had finally arrived on island. He was going to make his way to Waikiki and we agreed to meet for dinner later that afternoon. After he hung up I realized I had forgotten to tell him of the Jellyfish. The poor fool would have to learn for himself.

We made our way home, stopping for groceries and beer. The sun was setting when we got home and the offshore menace seemed to be quiescent for the time being.

While walking the streets near the exhibition Sue found an interesting looking thing and brought it home. We don't know what it is, and yet we can't bring ourselves to throw it out. I fear we have allowed a new horror into the condo...

Link of the Day

2006-08-18T11:03:00.000-10:00

Okay, this has nothing to do with Hawai`i, but while reading James Wolcott's Blog (which is also quite good) he mentioned The Comics Curmudgeon. It's a pretty good read, if you still find yourself reading the Comics pages in the paper or online, even though you don't know why you do it.

Aloha Friday

2006-08-18T09:56:00.000-10:00

We met Bruce and Irene, Greg and Janice, and Ken (a visitor staying with Bruce) down at Tiki's Grill yesterday evening to hear Sean Na`auao and Robi Kahakalau. The music was good but over far too soon; the time just went by very quickly sharing food and drinks with friends.

The small swell we had this week is pau, my tide calendar is warning about box jellyfish, and there were 15 people out at Tonggs this morning. So, although I considered paddling out into flat, crowded, jellyfish-infested conditions, I ultimately decided to go for a run. Around the park, past the zoo, down the Ala Wai, up to the beach, and back to the aquarium. It felt good, but I'm pretty tired now.

Sue's working at the moment (and a big shoutout to all the folks at RadioFrame Networks, enjoying their company picnic today!). In a little while we're going to hop the bus into town. I have to run an errand down in Honolulu and then we'll do a little shopping.

Bruddah Clay arrives in town tomorrow! Hey brah, the number here at the condo is 924-5413, call us when you get in. Bruce was talking about dragging you down to the Hilton to hear Olomana.

Hmm, no new pictures. Here's one from last Sunday. We went down to Hawai`i Kai with the whole gang and watched The Surfaris play in the park.

Assault on Mt. Leahi

2006-08-17T10:38:00.000-10:00

Hiking is one of the many pasttimes that Sue and I enjoy doing together and climbing Diamond Head is something we had been planning since the very inception of this trip. It's a fairly reasonable hike, almost a mile in length and about 750 feet of elevation.

Every guide book suggests getting an early start to avoid the heat of day, since the inside of the crater, where the trail is, is a desert environment. There's a little bit of wind at various points, but mostly it's an arid climb. Our path would be a little longer than most, since we don't have a car and the entrance to the trailhead is on the back side of the crater.

We prepared ahead of time by freezing some bottles of water and making a couple of turkey sandwiches. So when the day of the hike came, we were off at the crack of noon heading up Diamond Head Road (we've definitely adapted to local time). The walk to the entrance was fine; a cool wind in our faces and a moderate climb. We'd pause at each bus stop to see if the #14 was coming. It past us as we crested the top of the hill. We marched around to the back side, paid our $1 entrance fee, and stopped for lunch before beginning the trek.

The actual hike is hot, but not difficult. There were people running up to the top, a woman in hiking gear with a small child in her backpack, and the requisite Japanese tourists in flipflops smoking cigarettes. The view is the whole point of the trip and it really is nice. All of Waikiki and Honolulu on one side, and Kahala and Kokohead stretching out in the other.

Roll Call

2006-08-15T14:52:00.000-10:00

Today is kind of a quiet day. I got up really early and walked to Waikiki to meet Bruce and Linda for dawn patrol at Canoes (their boards are at the racks, so that's pretty much where they surf). It was good, the swell is still holding, but the surf would have been better down at our neck of the woods.

I also did some laundry and hopped a number of busses in order to do a little grocery shopping.

And since today is a quiet day, instead of our usual fun-filled blog we're going to do something a little different. I want each of you to go down below this post, where it says "Posted by Chrispy | time | comments" and click on the comments link. There you will have the opportunity to leave a message. It doesn't have to be fancy, just say "Hi" if you want. Then click on "other" and type in a name. Your name would be good, but any name is okay.

Go ahead.

Don't be shy.

New swell in town

2006-08-14T12:21:00.000-10:00

The National Weather Service said that there was a low probability of a SSW swell arriving last night. It didn't. It arrived this morning.

I awoke early this morning, as I do most mornings, to back pain. Nothing much I can do about it except get up, take some ibuprophen, start the coffee brewing, and check the surf. The surf looked okay, but there was a pretty good-sized crowd out for 6am. I had my coffee and read the news, but I kept coming back to the window to stare. That's usually I sign that I should paddle out.

Finally around 8am I could no longer resist the salmon urge. I waxed the board, kissed Sue goodbye, and went on out. My subconcious must be pretty good at reading these things, because when I got out to the break there were only two other people out. The dawn patrol had paddled in to get ready for work, and it was time for what Carpenter Rick refered to as "The Gentleman's Hour".

I caught a few nice waves and then there was a lull. The two other fellows paddled in and were replaced by a young couple. Back in the day, when I surfed here more regularly, Tongs had a definite local-vibe. People knew each other and outsiders, while not explicitly shunned, were not given the best waves. That seems to have changed quite a bit. Every time I've paddled out here this trip, there have been a number of tourists, usually couples, as well as quite a few women surfers. In fact, this morning was the first time I had been out when there were more men than women. It's a nice change.

The young couple arrived mere moments too late for the set that wandered in. It was aiming for the outer reef and I was paddling for the horizon as I heard behind me "Paddle, honey. Paddle! PADDLE HARD!!!" I didn't see them again for a half hour.

The set was 4' and punchy. The waves would ledge up such that the take-offs were an easy glide into the top of the wave, followed by an elevator drop as it turned concave. I caught as many waves as I could until my arms began to protest. My final wave took me far inside, where I passed the earlier-mentioned couple. They had found a location that was right for them.

Sunday mele

2006-08-14T10:57:00.000-10:00

One of the really special things about the Hawaiian arts and music scene is its accessibility. On any given day you can catch the likes of Led Ka`apana, Dennis Kamakahi, or Martin Pahinui in an intimate setting. To most of the tourists sitting around, it's just another part of the scenery that has undoubtedly been constructed for their trip. But it's as if you wandered into a pub in Ireland and Van Morrison was singing.

In the summertime this accessibilty is amplified by countless city, county, and state sponsored events. One such event, taking place yesterday at the Kapiolani Park Bandstand, was the annual Na Hula Festival. Being a dancer, Sue had wanted to see some Hula so we made a point of being there. The festivities opened with Mayor Mufi Hanneman presenting a citation to two sisters, both Kumu Hulas, who have brought their respective halaus to the festival in each of the past 66 years. Both aunties were still spry and still played and sang as their halaus danced.
One of the coolest parts of the show were na keiki. The youngest girl in this group was 3, and she looked like she was having the time of her life. She also was better than some of the girls who were easily twice her age.

Pearl Harbour

2006-08-13T07:05:00.000-10:00

Since we arrived here there has been a great deal of digging and construction going on in front of the condo. A couple of days ago they finally finished it up, filled in the holes, and poured fresh concrete over everything (shh, don't tell - we put our initials in the concrete). The result? The fountain is working again!

Yesterday we had planned to take a hike up to the top of Diamond Head. Well, maybe planned is too strong a word; we thought we might like to take a hike up there. In the morning we realized that we hadn't really planned it and had no food or liquids. Instead we decided to hele on over to the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbour.

We knew the bus we needed to catch, and the time it was scheduled to depart, so we got to the stop about 5 minutes early and waited. And waited. A half hour later, the next scheduled bus rolled up, right on time. So, either our time is way off from TheBus time, or the previous bus was waylaid, or something. The ride itself took a little over an hour. At least we had seats, an obvious benefit of boarding the bus at the first stop. Before we even got to the other side of Waikiki the bus was full and was no longer stopping for folks on the street.

It's been 27 years since my last trip out to the memorial and they've really built up quite a display. When I was in the Air Force at Hickam I came over to Pearl Harbour, stood in a short queue, and took a Navy skiff out to the Memorial. This time we went through a line to check Sue's backpack (you can bring a small camera and whatever fits in your pocket; no bags of any sort), then got our tickets (still free) for the introductory movie. We arrived around 11:30 and our movie time was 1:30. We wandered over to a public mess tent and got a reasonably-priced sandwich, fries, and drink. Then we killed some time wandering through the museum and the book store.

Finally our number came up and we were herded into the movie theatre (Moo!). The movie was well done, explaining the events that lead up to the attack, the Japanese reasons for it, the attack itself, and the aftermath. Does it really take 60 years before we're willing to discuss the reasons for being attacked? Will Aaron be an old man before anyone delves any deeper into 9/11 than "They hate our freedoms?" Well, better to not get political here, but it's very hard not to draw comparisons between the two attacks when standing at the memorial of one of them.

Following the movie we were ushered onto a Navy Skiff (larger than in my previous trip) and brought to the memorial. The memorial obviously hasn't changed. It really is well done, allowing each visitor their own interpretation rather than forcing the architect's viewpoint.

We endured a somewhat nicer bus ride back into town and stopped at the Royal Hawaiian's Mai Tai bar, where Led Ka`apana was playing. We had a beer and listened to the music for a while. Eventually Led had to take a break because a wedding was about to take place on the lawn a few feet away. If it had been my wedding, I would have asked him to point the speakers our way and play "Slack Key Lullabye". But that's just me.

Dinner? Ulua sauted in onion and ginger, with a coconut-lime syrup. Hey, we had to improvise but it came out pretty good. :-)

Surf, Sea, and Sam's

2006-08-12T06:38:00.002-10:00

After a couple of cups of coffee spent watching small clean waves go unridden, I paddled out to Tongs. (I'm the small yellow speck over Sue's right shoulder). As the tide continued to drop the waves eventually found a water depth they liked and I got quite a few nice little rights - even though Tongs is generally a left-hand wave.

The one problem with delaying so long before paddling out was that it completely threw off our meal schedule. Sue generally doesn't eat breakfast and is ready for lunch around noon or one o'clock. It was now 10:30 and I was starving. I wolfed down some pineapple from the fridge, which held me off until we could have an early lunch. Sue had a little bite of pineapple which eventually made her quite sick. No more pineapple for Sue!!

This probably won't mean anything to anyone but Chris and Clay, but the old Diamond Head Market has reopened at the corner of Montsarrat and Campbell, they've now got a small, upscale, market with an espresso bar as well as a plate lunch stand. I had a mixed plate. Also of little interest to anyone: the Bueno Nalo that had opened on Montsarrat is gone, I don't know if the original in Waimanalo is still going or not.

We got home, and as mentioned Sue was feeling the effects of the pineapple. She took a nap and I read the newspaper. When she awoke she was feeling better and we took the boogie boards out to Tongs. The tide was very high and the waves were just kind of crumbling. This was Sue's first time outside on the boogie board and she did really well, catching 4-5 waves. She needs to learn to open her eyes while she's riding though; she's missing a great view!

Since it was a Friday night, and we haven't been out to a really fancy restaurant in a very long time (although we cook our share of fancy meals), we went over to Sam Choy's Diamond Head Restaurant.

We started with the Gnocchi Trio as an appetizer, it was part of their Garlic Festival celebration. Then, to our surprise, came a baked potato soup followed by an Island Geen salad with a creamy soy/sesame dressing. By this time Sue was already getting full. Finally the entree arrived, Garlic Encrusted Porcini Mahimahi (Sue had hers without the mushrooms) with Kapakahi Mashed Potatoes and a vegetable medly of squash, yams, and red peppers. Ono!

This, to me, is the perfect blend of gourmet food and local sensibilities. No manini portions. No extra charges for soup or salad. We were completely stuffed at the end of the meal and were forced to skip dessert; although the menu had a few things that looked quite tempting. We also elected to skip the bus ride home and walked/waddled back down Kapahulu to the beach and then down to the condo, under star-filled skies.

Morning

2006-08-11T06:59:00.000-10:00

It's a bright and shiny morning. Sue is already up and working. I'm considering paddling out into flat but clean conditions. Just another day in paradise.

Yesterday the waves were pretty choppy and my arms were still tired from surfing the day before (it's going to take a little while before I can surf every day), so I opted for a run.

Digression: I think one of the reasons I manage to stay in better shape here, is the convenience of it all. Want to go surf? Walk over to the ocean and surf. Swim? Same location; but leave the board behind. Run? Head out your front door, turn left (or right), and start running. A surf trip in Seattle is a full day adventure.

Anyway, off I went down Kalakaua. I was feeling a bit more sure of myself, and when I got to Diamond Head road, instead of turning left and circling the park, I went right and began the more scenic run to the lookout. I considered continuing on around, doing the full loop, but Montsarrat Ave is under construction and I didn't want to run through that on the way down. So today was an out and back. Not very far, but a nice workout.

Sue and I walked into town (I'm beginning to think I need a macro for that phrase) for lunch. We split a Korean BBQ plate lunch (Mmmm... chicken katsu) at a little shop off of Kuhio, and then continued on to the only Lappert's Ice Cream shoppe left on O`ahu. We did a little shopping and then hopped a bus back home.

Our bus passes are really paying off, we can walk until we're tired and then just wander over to a bus stop. O`ahu's mass transit system, TheBus, has always been good, and they've continued to maintain it. There's a recording that announces the upcoming stop and the attractions around there. The busses are clean and air-conditioned, and you can get pretty much anywhere on the island very easily. Maybe it's the number of tourists using it, or maybe the island isn't as caught up in the cult of the SUV. Either way, it's a much nicer way to get around.

Evening

2006-08-09T20:40:00.001-10:00

I paddled out to Tongs on Fred's board for dawn patrol this morning. It was small - flat with occasional 2' sets - but it felt nice. Only a couple of people out, and the wind had calmed down. I caught 4 or 5 waves, on the last one I noticed about 5 people paddling out and decided to head in. There's just something about a day that starts with a little surfing.

Sue and I walked into Waikiki for lunch. We made it to Keo's on time today and were rewarded with a Roast Duck Salad and Evil Jungle Prince (a curry dish common over here but not seen too much in Seattle's Thai restaurants). Both were spectacular and we left feeling quite full. A walk down to the post office, by way of the ocean, helped a bit.

Our calendar of events for this week said that Herb Ohta Jr and David Kamakahi were playing at the Tropics Bar in the Hilton, so in the afternoon we hopped the bus down that-a-way to hear them play. They are both still young and really just getting going as far as stage presence; but they are both excellent ukulele players who obviously play together often. It shows in the easy way they pass the melody back and forth, as well as their ability to pick up on where the other person is going and jump right in.

TheBus got us back to the condo in time to make a dinner of Marlin Ginger Coconut Soup. Yum. Now we're sitting back, watching an episode of Deadwood.

There's just something about a day that starts with a little surfing.

Tuesday night

2006-08-08T21:22:00.000-10:00

A quiet day. Sue and I each worked in the morning. Around mid-day I logged off and got a little laundry done. We had a lunch of left-overs and went off for a walk up Diamond Head road. It was one of the moments on this trip when I felt most at home. Not off surfing, or traipsing through Waikiki, but just taking a walk down an old familiar street with the girl of my dreams. We can spend so much of this life trying to find out who we are, where we belong, and who our other half is; I've answered all of those questions and now I just want to spend my time living that life.

We walked down to the aquarium for a concert this evening. The final in their Ke Kani O Ke Kai series. Similar to the Zoo Tunes concerts at Woodlawn Park Zoo in Washington. The band was Na Palapalai, a falsetto trio, accompanied by a Hula Halau from the Big Island. The concert was catered by Sam Choy's Diamond Head Restaurant and was very ono.

We walked home as the full moon rose over Diamond Head.

What's this?

2006-08-08T13:58:00.000-10:00

Time to tap the collective imagination of everyone out there. What is this thing? Paul Bunyan's Tee Shot? Pele's Crystal Ball? It was last seen heading around Diamond Head, towards Moloka`i. Apparently being pursued by a tug boat (not shown).

An apple napple for the most creative answer.

On Edit: Sue points out that the photo doesn't really capture the scale of this thing. It's taller than a cruise ship!

Monday (early evening)

2006-08-07T17:55:00.000-10:00

This morning started with Macadamia Nut pancakes, topped with coconut syrup. It probably should have started with a session out at Tongs, now that I've got Fred's board, but it was windy and small.

Sue logged in and worked remotely for the better part of the morning. I went out for a run around Kapiolani Park and the Zoo. It feels good to be running again. It always does when I come back home and start up again. I can never seem to sustain it back on the mainland though. It's just one of my Hawai`i things, I guess.

I got the guitar out for the first time on the trip. It's going to take a while for me to regain my calluses. But it's nice to be playing again.

After Sue got caught up with her work stuff we decided to take a leisurely stroll down to Keo's for a Thai lunch. Unfortunately, the stroll was a little too leisurely and we arrived just as they were putting the closed sign on the door. :-( So we continued strolling. Saigon Thai doesn't even serve lunch. Pho just didn't seem to fit the bill. The Brew Moon doesn't have a kitchen in their Waikiki location (but the beer is just $3 all summer long). Finally we found ourselves at a Korean BBQ spot in the International Market Place.

We finally strolled back into the condo around 5 or so, ready for a beer. Not sure what we'll be doing for dinner, my feet are tired and I don't feel like walking back to town. We'll probably find something in the fridge, good thing we stocked up the larder before we turned in the car.

Life is settling into a slower pace. I hope it doesn't become too boring for you reading along at home.

Sunday evening

2006-08-06T18:19:00.000-10:00

I've stopped tracking what day of our vacation this is. I expect a time will come when I won't even know what day of the week it is. That's a good thing.

Today started with an upscale breakfast at the Hau Tree Lanai. They've done away with the linen table cloths and napkins, our society's inevitable march into entropy I guess. But the food is still wonderful, and the view can make you feel that you've slipped back in time to the era of Jack London and slow luxury liners.

The reason for the special breakfast, aside from the fact that it was a beautiful Sunday morning in Hawai`i, was to bid "aloha a hui hou" to Liz and Rae. The remainder of their summer vacation will take them down a different path, as Aaron's already has. We drove them to the airport, endured the slings and arrows of Homeland Security, and packed them off on Hawaiian Airlines with the traditional gifts of orchid leis and apple napples.

Although I'm glossing over it, please reread my earlier post of the misery of American air travel. It applies even if you are just attempting to get two teenage girls onto an airplane. Mooo!

At this point we also bid aloha (without the breakfast, leis, or pastries) to PBJ, our faithful Alamo rental car. Sue and I will rely on our month-long BusPasses to get us about. We took our community chariot to Ward Centre for a micro-brew, a Kua `aina sandwich, and a little shopping. I picked up a couple of CDs - The Barefoot Natives' self-titled disc (which is playing at the moment) and Hapa's Maui CD. Now we're back at an unusually quiet condo, reading the Sunday paper and watching the beginnings of a sunset.

A new phase of our adventure has begun.

Day 6 (Evening)

2006-08-05T20:40:00.000-10:00

A shot of Sandy Beach from the Blow Hole.

Hanauma Bay at low tide can be a daunting experience. Having passed through the orientation video (yes, I'm now checked out on the use of the bay), we were quite sensitive to putting out hands, feet, or okoles on the reef. But when you're floating with your face 9 inches above a sea urchin and a sudden surge from the ocean offers to let you get better acquainted, it's hard to just keep swimming.

After snorkelling for a bit we were planning on hiking out to the toilet bowl. But there was a large fence blocking access to the trail (the trail out to the witches brew was similarly closed). I seem to recall a time here in Hawai`i when people realized that the ocean was actually dangerous and took what precautions they thought best for themselves and their loved ones. We've reached a point where the most interesting parts of this country are roped off and inaccessible for fear that some yahoo will stub their toe and sue the government. I feel as though my generation owes a serious apology to those that follow for this state of affairs. In fact, feel free to club any lawyer who is approximately my age as my way of saying sorry.

But meanwhile, back in paradise...

After snorkelling we had lunch at Zippys, so the girls can feed the Napple monkey that has taken up residence on their back. We stopped by Bruce's and made arrangements to get Fred's board from Hugh's house (Hugh is out of town BTW). We thought this was going to turn into quite the caper, with Bruce and I breaking into the house, but instead Bruce had the board waiting for us when we got to Hugh's house at the rendevous time.

Now it's getting late, and we've just finished a yummy dinner. Blackened Shark (just to assert our dominance in the food chain), Opah sauted in a macadamia nut and garlic batter, rice and salad. Sue and I shared a Bordeaux while the sounds of a concert drifted in from the Waikiki Shell across the street. Lizzie was very excited about the bands that were playing - The Fray, and Uber Skank(?). Beats me, I'm old and waiting for the slack key guitar festival in a couple of weeks.

On edit: I've been informed that the band is Hoobastank and they suck. Frankly I like my name better, and if there are any German, all-girl, punk bands out there, they are free to use it. Provided they club a lawyer first.

Day 5 (Evening)

2006-08-04T19:31:00.000-10:00

The sun has set under cloudy skies. The die-hards at Publics are finally coming to the realization that they need to catch something and head in, or face the reef in the dark. Back at ka hale water is boiling for a dinner of ravioli and veggies in a garlic cheese sauce; not too fancy but nobody wants to get up, get dressed, and hele into town.

This afternoon the girls and I surfed Canoes. Sue had been feeling poorly since last night and stayed on the beach. The waves were nice, 3' and pretty consistent. I was able to get a few waves in between lessons.

We came in after an hour or so, tired and hungry. And no place calls to a tired hungry surfer like Kua `aina. Fortunately they now have a town location, so we didn't need to drive to Hale`iwa; merely fight the traffic into Ward Centre and back. Soon we were back at the condo, nipping into our respective burgers (mahi for Rae). Once they were fortified, the girls took the boogie boards and paddled out in front of the condo. They seem to be turning into true surfer grrls.

Tomorrow we'll be up at the crack of dawn and heading off to snorkel Hanauma Bay.

Day 5 (Early morning)

2006-08-04T07:26:00.000-10:00

The latest predicted swell has not quite arrived, but there seem to be hints. The trades are back with a vengeance, making the prospect of paddling out to one of the Diamond Head breaks a chilly affair. Still, I may take the boogie board out to Tongs in a little bit. The waves appear rather disorganized, as does the small crowd of surfers out there. Boogie boarders are the hyenas of the surf world, scavenging the waves that the surfers miss and giggling like, well, you get the picture.

For those of you following our menu. Last night's dinner was fresh Au, sauted in garlic and ginger, with rice and a bed of romaine lettuce. We also had a very ono plate lunch at Ala Moana food court - I had the Kalua Pig with Cabbage, while Sue had the Chicken Long Rice. The girls had spaghetti (what can ya do?).

Update

I paddled on out to Tongs. The sets were infrequent but about 4' and sweeping wide. The surfers, while decent wave riders, didn't seem to know the break very well and would lose the lineup between sets. I remembered some of my old lineup markers and eventually I was sitting on the peak by myself. Caught a few nice drops and skimmed along the faces. My attempts at spinners were mostly 180s, giving me a nice view of the wave before it ran me over.

Came in and made a breakfast of fresh pineapple and papaya, pancakes with coconut syrup, toast, and Lion's Kona Coffee.

Day 4 (Late morning)

2006-08-03T10:24:00.000-10:00

The swell seems to be pau, and the trades are back. Tongs had some very windy peaks, so I opted to go running. I did a lap around Kapiolani Park and finished up at San Soucci beach. I was not too tired at the end - all of the cycling I've been doing seems to be paying off.

Sue's been working all morning. I dialed in to the office for an hour or so.

Since everyone got a lot of sun yesterday our plan is to do mostly indoor stuff today. Our first stop will be Ala Moana shopping center. Then maybe a trip up to the North Shore to introduce everyone to the original Kua Aina sandwich shoppe.

A new swell is supposed to hit this evening (3 in a row!), if the conditions look good I'll probably do a litle dusk boogie boarding.

Day 3 (Afternoon)

2006-08-02T15:21:00.002-10:00

3 days in, and I finally put feet on fiberglass. We went into town this morning and rented a board from the concession where the girls got their lesson. I took Greg's board out of the racks and Sue and I paddled out to Baby Canoes. Since outside Canoes was pulsing at 4' Hawaiian, the inside was a respectable 2'+, so maybe more of a teen Canoes than a baby, yeah? We managed to get Sue up on a couple of waves and then we paddled in to let the girls have a shot.

Rae caught the attention of one of da guys giving lessons and he said "Mind if I give her a hand?" You mean I don't have to push her into a wave? "Sure brah!" He did and she was up and riding.

Liz and I paddled way over to the Ewa side of Canoes, pretty far out. This gave me my first opportunity to catch a couple of real waves. Greg's board handles like a coffee table; but hoo it was sweet to be surfing again. Liz managed to paddle into a couple waves on her own, which is pretty impressive for her second time out. She did a little pearl diving, but still.

By this time I had been paddling around for over two hours, on my first time out in 5 years, and I was (am) pretty thrashed. But still, being able to drop into a couple of fun waves after all this time was good for my mental health. I can still surf!

Lunch was a disappointment. Since we were in town, starving, and in need of beer (some of us), we opted for Cheeseburger in Paradise. The service was abysmal; and not in a "Hey, we're running on island time" kine way more of a "Hey, we don't know what we're doing" kinda way. Avoid at all costs!

A quick trip to Zippy's on the way to the condo landed us some Napples, and we were home. Now we're all laying about in a state of happy exhaustion. I'm sippin' on a cold Kirin and all is right with the world.

Day 2 (Late evening)

2006-08-01T21:54:00.000-10:00

The day began with rain. We'd had a few scattered showers the previous evening and they moved in with more zeal overnight. I logged in to the office for a few hours until we lost the internet and then we went into Waikiki for the girls' surf lessons with Kevin. It went really well and both girls were up and riding in no time...

Liz catches a wave at Baby Queens.

Rae catches a wave as Liz paddles back out.

We are very inefficient with our trips to town. We walked in for the surf lesson, then walked back to the condo, then walked back to Waikiki a few hours later to have lunch at Duke's. By the middle of the afternoon we had probably logged about 5 miles or so in flip-flops so everyone was a bit tired and sore. We seem to still be very much in the run-around-and-do-stuff mindset of a vacation. Part of that is undoubtedly the girls' influence since they will only be here a week and want to run around and do stuff. I'm hoping to get Sue and I into a more relaxed frame of mind.

Later in the afternoon we went over to Bruce's house in Hawai`i Kai and did a little kayaking. That was nice. It had a calming effect on everyone. On our way home we swung through CostCo to pick up a few essentials. Then we were back to the condo for a dinner of seared Ahi and Caesar salad.

Day 1 (mid-day)

2006-07-31T12:17:00.000-10:00

A shot of Publics from the Condo.

As mentioned, I got a little boogie boarding in this morning. We then took a walk into Waikiki. Well, a partial walk - the car was parked across the street at Kapiolani Park and the meters were going to kick in at 10, so we drove down to the Shell, parked there, and meandered into towne in search of food.

The old Denny's at the corner of Kapiolani and Kalakaua always had a great view, but the food was, well, Denny's. The place has been sold (and for all I know it was sold a decade ago) and is now Lulu's Surf Bar. The view is still great (especially with a pumping south swell), and the food is now standard Hawaiian tourist fare. Pricey but tasty, with good size servings.

We continued down through town and made contact with one of the beach boys. He was pau hana but gave us his card and said to call later to set up an appointment for the girls for tomorrow. They really liked him and this will free me up to give Sue a surf lesson at the same time. I contacted Bruce C. and he let me know that Greg's board down at the racks is available.

We came back to the condo, grabbed the boogie boards, and the girls went out to catch a few waves at The Wall.

BTW - although we have three digital cameras with us, no one knows where any of the requisite cables are to upload the pictures. We're hoping to pick up a media converter and will post some shots soon.

Travel...

2006-07-31T07:51:00.000-10:00

... has really gotten to be a miserable experience in this country. Being treated like terrorist cattle, not being able to get seats together for Sue and I, waiting in line for an hour and a half to pick up the car I reserved, really sucked. But now, less than a day later, it all fades; because I am home.

The swell I mentioned is here, and very nice. I went out on the boogie board at dawn this morning. Tongs was a clean 4' with only a handful of people out. Very nice. It did highlight, however, how out of shape I am. The bouncy drops down the face of the waves will either straighten out my back or destroy it. Only time will tell.

Getting ready

2006-07-29T11:22:00.000-10:00

Our flight is tomorrow morning. I guess I should be running around getting ready; but most stuff is good to go. I've got the laptop, the guitar, and the boogie boards (Bruce C. is arranging for a surfboard). But mostly, I've got ku`u ipo, so I'm ready to go.

Speaking of the surf, I've been monitoring the newly arriving south swell via these webcams. The Sheraton Surfcam has presets for various surf breaks - including Pops and Tongs! The skycam allows you to pan and zoom the camera yourself, which is kinda nice. The NWS is calling for a high surf advisory until Wednesday. What a great way to be welcomed home! Although, I have to say the new surf measurements are going to take a little getting used to. When I heard the forecast for 8-10 foot surf, my first thought was waves breaking over the channel bouys at Bowls! But apparently 8-10 is what we used to call 4-6. Whew - it's been 5 years since I've been on a board and I'd like to ease in to the death-or-glory drops, if you don't mind.