North Shore Drive

We had planned to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center today, but Jake really didn't feel up to it. Instead, we decided just to take a windshield tour of the windward side of the island. We had to do something to get out of the room.

First, we took H3 straight out to the Marine base at Kaneohe Bay to look around at the BX, quarters, etc. You know, the important stuff. It is a very nice base with lots of new and improved housing. We ate lunch at the food court. {Only the best for Jake.} Then we did a little shopping. Not too much, though...not a lot of room left in the suitcases. Just important things...like chocolate chip macadamia nut shortbread cookies.



This is just the way I remember it from 20 years ago. I think it's wild how the road runs right along the ocean. See how wet it is? That is from the waves crashing onto the road. It was fun to watch.



I wonder how many people have driven straight into the ocean?



We followed the signs to the LDS temple in Laie. Beautiful! It had just opened back up after two years of renovations.



Then we backtracked a little to check out the BYU Hawaii campus.



What a gorgeous campus. We're hoping one/some of our kids have the opportunity to go here.



Jake still didn't feel like stopping at the Cultural Center next door, so we just kept driving...up to the North Shore. We found parking right off the road and stopped to take in the sights for awhile. {With Hawaiian radio 105.1, KINE, playing in the background, of course. It's been our constant soundtrack for our adventure here. Hawaiian music is probably going to give me traumatic flashbacks of this experience now.}



The waves were awesome. I could have sat here all afternoon and watched.



Then, to add to the local flavor, a machete-wielding stranger walked up to our car with a green coconut...



And made us an offer we couldn't refuse. {Seriously, we were afraid of what he might do with that machete if we turned him down.}



Jake loves coconut and was super excited to be drinking from one. The straw looked suspiciously like those McDonald's carries...and with no wrapper in sight, I had my worries about its origin. {Here's hoping Jake's "local" experience doesn't have him "going coconuts" all night.}

Frustrating Day...and a Lovely Evening

Jake's first pre-op appointment was scheduled for this morning. After waiting over an hour past our appointment time, someone (a nurse, I think) came out to tell us we weren't going to be seen today. This was extremely frustrating. I understand stuff happens and emergencies come up...but making us wait over an HOUR? It wasn't like our appt. was at 0700...they had plenty of time to figure out that the Dr. was going to be in surgery to tell us when we checked in that our appointment was being rescheduled. The frustration was amplified by:

(1) My being a control freak
(2) The fact that we have been sitting around for an extra week, waiting to ask the questions we've had for four months.
(3) Surgery being only two days away and I feel like I'm being cheated out of time I need to prepare. See number one.

So, they rescheduled the appt. for 0700 tomorrow, to fit it in before he goes into surgery for the day...and before the 2 hour pre-op/anesthesia appt. we have at 11:30. I asked (snidely...I'll admit), "Sooo...no chance we'll show up at 0700 tomorrow, to wait for an hour to be told we've been bumped again?" She flatly said, "No."

We headed back to the room. I fumed. And watched several episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress" and "Police Women of Maricopa County." {Jake is so happy to have his own TV, I'm sure.}

On the bright side, we had reservations for the Hale Koa Luau tonight. We left a little early to hopefully have some time to go to the Army museum beforehand, but that didn't work out because of accident traffic.



This is the picture they took as we entered the garden. Since I don't have a scanner here, I took a picture of the picture.



There were all kinds of crafts and displays as we walked in...and there was a "before show," with, Hawaiian guitar players, a tree climbing demonstration...



Yummy, fruity drinks...



And hula lessons! Like father, like son. {Ask Cliff about our honeymoon when they pulled him up on stage and made him put his hands on his hips, just like this.}



After the cocktail hour was over, we were funneled into the main stage area to find our assigned tables. The entertainment started right away.


And entertaining, it was. Not just heavy on the grass-skirts and coconuts...



Lots of muscles, too. {Hi, Cutie. Sorry...I'm already married.}



The food was all very interesting...most of it in a good way. Tried the poi, again...just in case my tastes had changed. Nope. It's still nasty.



We were each served a huge plate. Four kinds of meat. {What? No macaroni salad?} Almost all of it was fantastic.



This was dessert. I'm sorry to be a dessert snob...but this did not do it for me. Dessert either needs to involve chocolate...or crumb-top apple pie. Most every plate still had the flavorless pink jiggler on it when the server collected them.



The host was delightful. He's actually sort of famous. He had a couple of hit songs, one was a #1 hit in the 80s. I can't remember the name of it now, though. He sang it for us and I recognized it right away and it brought me back to the day.

Anyway, he went through a process to pick the couple who've been married the longest. This couple has been married 63 years! They were so cute together. They came up and danced while the host serenaded them. I was watching them, imagining being up there with Cliff, 43 years from now. As lovely as this show was, it felt so incomplete to be there without him..



I took many pictures and video clips, but won't include them all here. Just trust me, it was a great show. We had lovely table-mates from Indiana. The mom was a veteran, and she now works for the govt and was here on business. Her grown son and his girlfriend tagged along. He's thinking about leaving college and joining the Air Force. It was great to have the opportunity to tell him about my experience, how it was one of the best decisions I've made...and also go over the pros and cons of enlisting vs. finishing college and getting a commission. I hope he decides the take the plunge, either way...he seems great.



The show's finale was a very touching tribute to our military, past and present. In addition to the typical playing of service songs while people stood for their branch, for the last song, he called for anyone who had lost a close friend or family member in the military, to raise up a candle from their tables while he sang "Proud to Be an American." It was a very special experience.


Oh...and when we got back to the room? There was a message from orthopedics. They needed to reschedule that "sure thing" appt. from 0700...to two in the afternoon. *Counts to ten.*

The Aerovac Adventure Begins

Things started off way too smoothly. No last minute rush for passport stamps, no vanishing e-tickets. We left the house with enough time to hit Subway for lunch on our way down to the airport. Cliff dropped us off, we checked our luggage and got our boarding passes while Cliff waited out front for our call to give him the green light, just in case.



Our flight left on time, it was a beautiful day, Jake got a window seat...everything was great.



About half way through the flight, we decided to bust into the snacks we brought. Altitude turns bags of umeboshi chips into Mylar balloons. We debated, but ultimately decided to be mature and not pop them for our own entertainment.



This was a ¥100 Store find. Had no idea what it was, but it had potential.



It's like a Cheeto cheeseball, only dipped in chocolate instead of covered in cheese powder. Yum.



We arrived at Tokyo Narita with a pretty decent sized layover. Five hours. So, we checked in for our flight and just walked around to see what we could see. The airport seemed more crowded than usual.
(Love this..."Sorry to make you so amazed." Hehe.)



We debated...oxygen bar? Reflexology?



Or Curry? Yeah...that's what I'M talkin' about.



We found a drug store where we could purchase a neck pillow for Jake for the long flight. Again, we boarded without a hitch...and the flight was only about half full (most likely due to the disasters in Japan putting a damper on vacation travel to Hawaii), which meant we each had a row to ourselves. I actually got some sleep, which was a very good thing, because we arrived in Honolulu at 7 AM local time.

Suddenly, I realized I forgot to print off the reservation confirmation for our rental car. I couldn't even remember what company I had booked it through. I looked at the directory for a business center or something like it, and saw the USO. I had forgotten about the USO. They'd be able to help me. I walked in and sure enough, they had some computers we could use and only charged $0.10 per page to print.

I have to say, the man at the counter was the absolute rudest, most crotchety, miserable human being I have encountered in my memory. I have no idea why he is working there. Community service as part of his parole? I can't understand why you would continue to work/volunteer some place that makes you so miserable unless you were being forced to. As I was looking up my reservation to print, I could hear someone else in the back office (manager?) on the phone just griping and complaining about some incident she'd had with a supervisor or co-worker or something. She just went on and on and sounded petty and ridiculous. Both of these situations were so contrary to what I would typically associate with the USO. Isn't it supposed to be a "feel good" kind of organization, all about serving the troops? I couldn't get out of there fast enough (but thanks for the ten cent copy)!



We were able to board the right rental car shuttle, which took us to the Advantage lot, where we were given a free upgrade to a Nissan Altima...a double bonus considering the awesome Priceline rate we got.



Our first coconut palm sighting.



By this time, it was just after 8 AM. Hotel check in time was 3 PM. Perfect opportunity to take in some sights. Since we had no idea how long we'll have here, we thought we'd better hit Jake's number one priority...Pearl Harbor. Stay tuned.

Anatomy of Valentines Day

It starts with chocolate chip scones...



Followed by the traditional Godiva truffle exchange. (Not actually planned...but do we know each other or what?)



Then Cliff broke the "don't spend too much money on flowers which are going to die" rule. But I still love him. {They are beautiful.}



I'd much rather spend a fraction of the money on beautiful shrimp, which will also just end up disappearing...because it's a much more delicious experience. {He is beautiful.}



That's what I'M talkin' about!

Sunday Driving and Island Hopping

First of all, let me apologize for the length of this post, but I enjoyed our Sunday drive SO much, I wanted to take you along for the ride. Cliff was itching for a road trip. Those are kind of hard to come by on an island, so he got out a map and looked for the closest, easiest option for driving to a neighboring island. Then he charted a course, and we piled into Apollo. We headed up the 330 to the 75 to the 10...



Then took this beautiful bridge...



Out to Miyagi island...then over to Ikei island.




I have to admit, it was a great idea.



The weather had been pretty bad (it's still pretty gray in these pictures) and it felt great to get out on the road.



Too bad we missed these windsurfers doing their thing. They were already putting their boards away.



Interesting looking building here. But we were burning daylight, so we didn't stop to see what it was...



We got back out on the road.



I guess these are to keep us from driving into the water on the sharp turns?











We saw that red bridge ahead and knew we needed to stop.



Even in bad weather, the water is so beautiful here.



Patrick (of course) has to stand on the "plummet to your death" side of the bridge for the picture.



Just gorgeous.







Troy was standing way to close to the edge for my comfort.



Now do you see what I mean?







Speaking of Patrick and plummeting to his death...like a moth to a flame. He saw this rope and couldn't resist. I wasn't actually going to let him demonstrate his ROTC repelling skills, this was all just for the camera.



Then I heard this tractor rumbling down the road behind us. The driver was adorable...she was all smiles for us.



Then we got back on the road to see what else we could see...



Big Time Resort. Love it!



I loved this painted resort map staked into the ground.



And this awesome tree. I want one of these in my yard. Simply Seussical.



We decided to drive around this rural village near the resort and found another lovely old lady pushing a cart...



And another on a bike.



And lots of other snapshots of rural life...



The roads were a little tight for Apollo. There was not a lot of auto traffic here.



But of course, there were vending machines.



We turned down this road to see how close we could get to the water...



We ended up at a dead end just past a private home, so we turned around and went back to a cement dock where several men had parked to fish. We got out and were greeted by quite the welcoming party. This little guy...



Followed by this one. They both had shoelaces wrapped around their necks.



They were SO cute. They loved the Fritos, too.



I don't know if this guy was jealous of the attention the other two were getting, or if he smelled the Fritos, but he crossed the road (hehe) to join the party...



And we were just one donkey short of heading to Bremen Town.



It was a challenge to get Fritos to the rooster without the dog intercepting.



We managed to get him a few, though.



The kids got a kick out of telling him to "sit" in Japanese. He was very well trained.


Chances are, you don't really want to watch four videos-worth of us playing with these animals. But I couldn't decide which videos to include here. They were just so dang cute, and the fact that we were standing by the ocean and were descended upon by a dog, a cat and a rooster was pretty novel. But you might have had to have been there. Patrick said, "Any minute now Momotaro is going to show up and offer us a bowl of noodles." The dynamic between the three was really weird. The rooster picked on the kitten (I just missed filming the rooster on top of the kitten, kicking the life out of it) but the dog terrorized the rooster...so it all seemed to balance out, and they seemed to be happy together.



















We had to leave our new friends and make our way back to our home island. It was getting dark and starting to rain.



And luckily, just when we were feeling parched, there were random, side-of-the-road, vending machines to quench our thirst...



With both hot and cold selections.



Half of us got cans of hot cocoa, and the rest of us got soft drinks. I chose a soda made with the local Okinawan lime-ish fruit that I'm too lazy to look up the spelling of right now.



Crazy, crazy kids. Yes, the boys are spelling "blood."







I must have driven by this weird store a dozen times, but was never a passenger, stopped at this light.



I'm thinking we need to leave here with one of these.



Or maybe this Habu skin? It'd make a great table runner, don't you think?



I'm actually seriously thinking of drum end tables. I'm going to have to come back here and get a better look in the daylight.



In case you didn't guess, these two were "hanging around" outside a pizza place on our ride home. Get it...pizza? gorillas? Yeah...me either.

Thanks for driving with us! It's hard to believe we've been here for two years and STILL haven't seen it all.