Hawaii, Oahu

Name that movie set!

Jurassic Park! I loves these mountains.

This summer I concluded my cross-country adventure in the ocean...19 days in Hawaii. The first 8 days were spent with two dear friends who I knew from college, Tali and Caleb. On our second day when Tali arrived, we went surfing at Waikiki and later discovered a statue in front of the Hilton hotel near the beach, which inspired the Luau poses (we weren't the artists- haha).

Our most adventurous hike was up Haiku Stairs (aka Stairway to Heaven). We left the house around 3:30am and started hiking around 4am. With some detouring in the dark, using a single headlamp, we managed to find the trailhead and be the first to head up the mountain that morning. We were in fog most of the way up after, which made "clinging" to the rods on either side of us even more crucial for piece of mind.

After the fog lifted slightly, it was even more apparent that this clinging was necessary, as there were cliffs on both the left and right that one would not want to mess with.

At the summit (after 3 false-summits) we reach the old Satellites (low frequency transmitters) that were build built in 1943 and rebuilt in 1950 for Navel then Coast Guard purposes. The better piece of the summit was the beautiful view down into Kaneohe and more. We were lucky that the clouds did clear more as we made our way down the 3,992 stairs.

The Polynesian Cultural Center is rated the #1 Paid Tourist attraction in Hawaii, and we got to see the new night show, "Ha," meaning "Breath of Life." During the day we also went to the various Polynesian villages within the PCC and enjoyed the mid-day showboat performance.

We didn't get pictures of all of our favorite spots, such as Pupukea Beach (great for snorkeling), but we did take this one after out muddy adventure hiking to Maunawili Falls (in Kaneohe- I highly recommend jumping into these falls!). To help clean off the mud and enjoy swimming and snorkeling, we went to Kailua beach, which was beautiful white sand and not too crouded for summer.

Chinaman's Hat was a great swimming destination as well. Tali and Caleb made it there and hiked to the top, but I watched from the beach b/c my snorkel was malfunctioning and became unsafe. We caught a beautiful moonlit sky there on our way home one night.

While on Oahu, we stayed with my sweet cousin, Auntie Tomato (Winnie), who is a dear cousin of my Grandma Maraea (Nancy). They spent much time together as youth as Auntie's father helped raise her youngest sister, my Grandma. Auntie Tomato and I went and spent and afternoon with Auntie Irene, Uncle Rudy and Auntie Jerry. I love my Aunties and really enjoyed talking with them about their earlier years and memories of childhood. Uncle Rudy was so sweet and treated us all to a yummy dinner.

I felt like I was enjoying a piece of my Grandma who I miss here on earth as I spent time with Auntie Tomato. It was so fun to get to know her husband, Uncle Morris, too. They are so kind and were so hospitable. Their granddaughter, Amanda, and I enjoyed time together as well. She has her grandma Tomato's adventure bones in her. Below: Visiting Uncle Jay in Haleiwa (top left), Uncle Morris (bottom left), with Amanda at Pali Lookout and with a Paddle Board at Waikiki (2 remaining).

Amanda and I had a good time together. After hearing about the fun Tali, Caleb and I had at Maunawili Falls, Amanda and her two best friends had me take them on the adventure. We met a guy with a video camera and he took this shot of Amanda jumping from a wall about 30 feet above the pool. We had jumped the other side the week before, but this was the wall of the day. She is awesome!

Amanda Jumping into Maunawili Falls from jodybrusca on Vimeo.