Hawaii Part 3: Manoa Falls

On Saturday August 11th we got some malasadas at Leonard's bakery for breakfast.  They are a Portuguese cinnamon doughnut--hot and delicious. 

We then attempted to hike the famous Diamond Head, but due to crowds, it didn't work out.  Fortunately we found another thwarted tourist to snap this cute photo. Since it was summer the mountain looked all brown and dry anyway, so we happily headed Mona Falls instead.

On the way to Manoa Falls we took a wrong turn and headed up a steep mountain neighborhood, but got a nice shot of downtown Honolulu.

And a shot of the unhiked Diamond Head Crater.

Manoa Falls was a whole different ecosystem. It was crazy to see dry Utah looking mountain and lush rain forest valley like 15-20 minutes away from each other. It was very rainy and muddy on the hike--we had to go back to the hotel and shower afterwards.

This is from the Blue Marble Tree.  Fitting name, I guess. I spent some time chasing a cute bird with a reddish orange head, but only managed to get a blurry picture.  Also, apparently there are wild chickens in Hawaii.  Well, either wild or free roaming at the least.

Bishop's Museum in Hawaii

The next day in Hawaii we ate a quick breakfast at the hotel's breakfast/Chinese buffet.  Yes, breakfast and Chinese food.  It was an interesting cultural experience shall we say.  The main thing that kept us coming back was the aMAzing fresh pineapple.  Clint couldn't get enough.  It was so sweet and light--unlike the often very acidic fresh pineapple you buy on the mainland.

The first order of the day was heading to Bishop's Museum.  We started out with a garden tour, and then looked at various artifacts in the Hawaiian Hall (including a giant whale skeleton).

 

 Next we went to the Science Adventure where we saw a lava demonstration in the base of a big model volcano.  We took this cool black light tunnel to get to the hotspot where the demonstration took place.  Then we played with the wind machine,  looked at some pictures of famous Hawaiian athletes in the Paki Hall, then lastly saw a show in the planetarium about Hawaiian navigation by the stars.

For lunch we went to little Village Noodle House in Chinatown that I read about in my guidebook.  It was ok.  We then cruised around Chinatown and visited the Oahu Marketplace where we saw a whole nasty pig filleted open on a table and some crazy dragon fruits. We stopped by the Hong Kong Supermarket in the Wo Fat Cho Sui building looking for "crack seed" mentioned in the guide book, but the proprietor spoke little English so that didn't work out.  So we walked along the canal to see the Izumo Taisha Shrine, grabbed some boba drinks, and moved on.

We watched fireworks on the beach from the Hilton, then had dinner at Waikiki Cheeseburger where we split the Kahlua pig nachos.  I think this started our love affair with pork nachos.  As a side note, we have since discovered that the BBQ pork nachos at Iggy's are the bomb.

Hawaii and PCC

So, on Wednesday, August 8th we flew to Hawaii!  Huzzah!  The not so huzzah part was that I stayed up ridiculously late packing the night before, and only got two or three hours of sleep since we had to leave really early.  Then we had the layover from the underworld in LA for about nine hours.  (Flight delays etc.)  I was going insane in my sleep deprived delirium.  As a side note, we sat next to this guy:

 

without knowing he was famous (until people started coming up to him asking for pictures--and having us take them.)  Eventually we got to Hawaii--minus Clint's luggage.  So we didn't do anything in our first night in Hawaii--except I washed the clothes Clint was wearing so he could sleep in something clean at least, hah.

 

On Thursday we had planned on going to the temple, but we ended up going to sleep so late the night before that we didn't have time.  If I ever go back to Oahu, this is a priority!  Anyway, we snapped a few pics at least. I love hibiscus flowers!

 

 

After quickly cruising the temple grounds, we went into the Polynesian Cultural Center. I definitely recommend it for first time visitors!  I enjoyed the ancient tribal singing in the Aotearoa (New Zealand) section as well as the demonstration of more tonal singing influenced by foreigners. They also showed us traditional dance (such as hakka), war games, and this interesting hand quiver called woodi woodi that represents the energy of life. The traditional costume includes some serious face tatoos.

 

The Fijian area was fun too--we has a mini anthropology lesson about how all the pacific islands were populated from an Asian area called Astronesia. Then we hit these big bamboo sticks on the ground to accompany singing and music.  Afterwards we snapped a picture of me with this adorable Fijian girl.  Notice that the Fijian traditional costume includes big black circles painted on the face.

 

 

The Samoan area was fun too.  Before the official show started a guy came and showed us his traditonal chest/torso tattoos and told us about the meaning.  Apparently a Samoan young man gets this tatoos as sort of a rite of passage into manhood.  Then once the actual demonstration started a funny guy who cracked all sorts of jokes explained that Samoan men are in charge of cooking.  We had a demonstration of how to climb a coconut tree, how to crack the coconut, drink the water, shave the meat, and squeeze it to make coconut milk. Then we went to this little pavilion and made a craft out of some kind of palm frond.

 

 

After visiting various other "islands" at the center, we had our luau dinner.  I have to admit--I didn't really like a lot of the more traditional foods such as the purple sweet potatoes and the guava cake.  It was fun though--we sat at a table with people from Canada, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.

After the luau we drove around a bit before the show started--we wanted to get a glimpse of the campus of BYU Hawaii.  I found a plumeria tree that had shed some blossoms. And decided to make a little ear piece.

The show "Ha: Breath of Life" was fun, but included a lot of dancing which we had already seen a fair amount of.  Also, we were soooo exhaused by that point.  We drove back to the hotel and fell asleep after a long but fun day.

 

Anniversary Luau

In honor of our upcoming trip to Hawaii, I decided to do our second anniversary as a luau.  As soon as I got home from AZ I scrambled to make plans, and I executed them the next day while Clint was at work.  For my anniversary note I created a message in a bottle (that's the ginger beer on the table).  Apparently the traditional theme for second anniversary gifts is cotton so I got a little monogrammed hand towel to represent a beach towel.

I dressed up in my best island-style outfit (including a hemp anklet from the 90s, of course) and insisted that Clint wear a lei.  

Apparently Clint had the same stroke of genius with the beach towel idea:

For dinner we got take-out at Rumbi Island Grill, and then we watched Salmon Fishing in Yemen at the house.  For dessert we made pina coladas.  You can see the flowers that Clint got on the table behind me.

Our anniversary was a great precursor to a great trip!

The very next day after our anniversary I headed into the mountains to help out with youth conference.  Here's a pic of me at Provo River Falls.

Adventures in Flagstaff

In July I decided to go on a little road trip  to Flagstaff.  Karen and Rupert were passing through on their move to CA, and I hadn't yet met my new niece, Elizabeth.  So I seized the opportunity and drove 9.5 south, by myself.  It's now my longest (by far) solo road trip.  Thank goodness for books on tape: I listened to Odd Thomas.  Saturday night we had a nice dinner at the house, and on Sunday the girls had a jog down memory lane so to speak as we ran a loop around the park next to the house.  Also on Sunday those who went out for lunch (not me) had the first of the elite runner sightings: Abdi at Chipotle. On Monday we went for a walk downtown together to see some classic Flagstaff sights.While stopping at a coffee shop for lemonades we had the next Abdi sighting.  Later that day I went to Barnes and Noble and visited my old friend Laura who I worked with at Cyprus.  Apparently Laura was hosting an elite in her home: Lopez Lamong who was the flag bearer in Beijing.  I had a nice time relaxing on the patio and sipping the ginger beer Laura encouraged me to swipe from Lopez's stash.

On Tuesday Karen, Rupert, and I headed to the Grand Canyon for Karen's first visit!  We had lots of fun posing and taking loads of pictures.  On our way out we stopped at a little Mexican restaurant just outside the park.  They had some Tapatillo hot sauce at the table and I informed Karen of Clint's addiction to the stuff and subsequently, my habit as well.  I splashed some on a chip which I boldly consumed--then proceeded to start hacking like a cat with a hairball.  I rapidly consumed the rest of my horchata, and Rupert, taking pity on me, dumped some of his water into my glass.  When I finally calmed myself, I asked the waiter for a new clean glass of water uncontaminated with cinnamon and residual horchata chunks.  The waiter was fairly puzzled so I ashamedly had to explain my folly.  I'm not quite sure what happened: did I just get too heavy handed?  Did the restaurant sneakily put a more fiery sauce into an innocent Tapatillo bottle?  I don't know, but I sure looked like a fruit cake! At least Karen and I scored a picture in the restaurant face boards.  Hah!

After our grand adventure we came home to babysit the howlers. It was Derek and Mary's anniversary so we thought we'd watch the chillins for a bit.  We had three adults for three children and it still felt like an accomplishment to hold down the fort!  When Derek and Mary returned we spent our last night together chatting and playing with Smokey, the family ball python.

Productivity and Memory Lane

In making a last dash attempt at productivity, I decided to try to organize some of the boxes of crap that I dumped into the basement when I moved into the house from my apartment.  I have now reduced the number of boxes AND I found some real gems. Here are just a few:

1) A little note from Clint from when he snuck into my apt. and left some oreos and milk for me.
2) A thank you card from my sister for my gift for Ben's baby shower. Aw! My first nephew!
3) A sticky note detailing information from the voicemail from Cyprus offering me an interview.
4) A note left for me at the testing center at BYU from the guy who I broke my leg with.  Hah! (Also the guy from the infamous "bad date" story.)
5) A list of what I did on New Years Eve from 2000-2007.  I'm pretty sure I will be doing a blog post this winter with details and additions!
6) My scribbled attempts at writing a running chant for the Cyprus XC team (thanks to Derek's detailing of Marine chants).
7) The running mix tape that Mary made for me in high school.  I have a distant memory of listening to it on my yellow walkman at some indoor track meet.  I think it was in Baltimore at the Armory...
8) A picture of my friend from HS, Puffer, seductively wearing MY unbuttoned pajamas.  Do you remember this, Mary?  I remember you being like, "all right Puff," pulling open the top and ensuring that ample ab muscles were displayed.  What I cannot remember is why in the world he was wearing my pajamas, and why we took this picture.  I wonder if I can get permission to put the pic on the blog....  :)

Now if only I was a scrap-booking guru like Karen.

Pride in Patriotism

For the Fourth of July Clint and I went to Idaho Falls.  (The Fourth is actually Clint's favorite holiday.)  I started out the day by running in the Firekracker 5k. (Yes, they spelled it with a K.)  The race was a bit lonely since I ran it by myself, but I still had fun. I've mostly been running on the treadmill this summer, and I  paid for it--my time wasn't very good. However, next year I will plan to do this race ahead of time (instead of just deciding to do it a few days before) and I will prepare with good speed workouts.  They give the top 100 finishers free running socks, and I intend to get some next year!

Next up on the agenda in Idaho Falls is Breakfast on the Boulevard.  A few families that live along the parade route host a pancake breakfast (with strawberries and cream) before the parade.  Yum!  After eating, we headed out to watch the parade.

Yes, I know I look ridiculous in that hat.  I promise I will never wear it again.  Also notice that I am trying to be patriotic by wearing my APA 5k T-shirt with the picture of the Capitol Building in DC.  However, I had to cover it up with a JACKET because it's actually cool in Idaho on the 4th of July.

After the parade we had a family BBQ, and I played lots of games with my niece Marisol.  And of course, we rounded out the evening with watching the fireworks show sponsored by Melaleuca. I do have to say, it's a pretty impressive show!

The next day we decided we were too tired to go hiking since we did a lot of hiking to and from the fireworks the night before.  We relaxed with the fam, watched Lyrics & Music (love that one!) and played cards with Clint's parents.  We played a fun game that Clint's parents called Mormon Rook.  I've played the game before under a different name, but I can't think of the name....

Anyway, when driving home Clint talked to some friends and we ended up meeting to go to an Ethiopian Restaurant.

The name may sound ridiculous, and the exterior may seem rather unassuming, but this place is a keeper.

It feels exotic to eat delicious curry with your hands (and bread).  We demolished most of this platter before I thought to get picture, but the wreckage shows you we enjoyed it, right? Be warned though: Do not spill turmeric-laced curry on your khaki pants!  I did, and the pants still haven't recovered.

If you're in Salt Lake, give this place a try. After dinner we grabbed some frozen yogurt at TCBY's--a very satisfying conclusion for a holiday weekend.