Wanderlust

Ahh Hawaii – four years later… this time we stayed on Oahu and saw more of it rather than bouncing to another island. Although touristy of course, it can easily provide tons of nature experiences in addition to shopping for floral print everything and canned luaus.

Since the trip *was* due to work, I have to have a little tribute to job stuff here… The job site from a distance, although it may be more east of this, it’s either the place Cujo worked or the neighboring plant of the place Cujo worked. The hall is right downtown near Chinatown, Cujo, Jack and Charlie after our little barbeque, and some of the guys on the same job.

Shark’s Cove (despite the name) is where we did the majority of our snorkeling – it was fantastic after the really rough rocky entry. It’s not so easy to get in with your fins and the waves bashing you backwards against the rocks. There were tons of fish of all different colors and sizes and some folks there said they had followed around a turtle for a half hour.

Chinatown was a little different from others I’ve been to, in that is was mostly food – like produce and meat – raw meat, most like a grocery. Less trinkets and cheap souvenirs, although they did have quite a few which was enough. The smell was not great. Go figure, we find a CJ in Chinatown for our own CJ!

Turtle beach – this place delivered, that’s for sure. Apparently almost like clockwork, sea turtles come here daily and sunbathe. This guy swam right in like he belonged and trudged up the beach in a few minutes to nap. They had some sort of protection for them – not sure what agency, but when this one landed, a girl roped off an area around the turtle so people were aware of safe distance.

We snorkeled and boogie boarded a little at Sandy Beach but didn’t see much, so we flew a kite. Great wind for it, in fact, the kite tried to fly away and ended up broken! They celebrate Boy’s Day pretty widely in Hawaii – in fact on the news they said both ‘Happy Cinco de Mayo’ and ‘Happy Boy’s Day’, wonderful mesh of cultures. However, some Hawaiians would just as soon protect theirs – this sign was seen more than once.

Some various sights around Waikiki and the condo we stayed in – in between the canal and the ocean, couple minutes walk from the International Market.
Cujo got us some beautiful leis for our arrival which smelled fantastic, at the end of our trip we did the traditional throw onto a local statue.

They had Spam Jam in Waikiki while we were there, and got to see Kawao play live, and eat some awesome Kailua pork. Weird, maybe, but I think it definitely warranted a photograph.

They have a pretty big swap meet three days a week at the Aloha Stadium, where the NFL Pro Bowl game is played. The vendors setup all around the outside of the stadium in a huge circle and they sell trinkets, clothes, flowers, food and stuff – for cheaper than in town, and it costs $1 to get in. I swear this little banana from there looks like a thumb, no?

There is a temple that is a replica of a temple in Uji, Japan that is so beautiful – you drive through the Valley of Temples to the entrance, which is basically a big pretty cemetery. There is a huge eighteen foot Buddha with an incense offering, and a three ton bell cast in Japan. Amazing – so peaceful and serene and picturesque.

Manoa Falls hike – this is said the be the second most popular hike on Oahu (to Diamond Head) and we can totally understand why. The colors here just don’t transcend – brilliant greens of twenty different shades. The hike was still rugged and jaded along the footpath so you really felt in it, with big steps up and down in mud puddles. The 160 foot waterfall itself is at the end of maybe 20 or 30 minutes and worth it entirely.

Driving back through Manoa, we ran into another picturesque cemetery with an amazing view.

This is the poor sad result of crab and wine allergies – RED!

Diamond Head hike – well, it’s what everyone says – it’s a pretty view. The entire hike took only about 1 ½ hours and the top is windy as hell. You walk up a mostly paved walkway to a couple sets of stairs (one has 99 steps) and duck under a low hanging rock formation to reach the top. You can see old bunkers, gun emplacements and lots of cactus. There were all sorts of people doing Diamond Head - some crazy folks were running up and down, and one guy was stopped on a landing with workout gear like those stretchy bands wrapped around a stair pole doing arm reps, others were women with little babies in arms.

We had dinner at Dukes with cousin Barry and got to catch up with him, after unknowingly driving right by his house two hours earlier. Kona beer reminder – seasonal Wailua Wheat – it has a hint of papaya in it – yum yum!

The scenery driving around the island is just simply breathtaking, from driving south through the mountain, so the areas where they film the tv show Lost.

Makao beach

La’ie Point – Mother Nature did this

Pu’u o Mahuka Heiau – in order to get here, you drive up a windy road and over ten speedbumps and it’s a little creepy when you get there. This place used to be a sacrificial site back in the day and now it has a couple trails and an offering altar. Very red dirt here, which actually came home with me via my sneakers.

Dragon’s Nostril hike – this is over by Koko Crater and Koko Head and the 500 foot elevation gives you a great view of them. The area is named after some blowholes that you see from the trail. There is also a great lighthouse over here but you can’t get to it directly.

Hanauma Bay is a popular place to go snorkel, sunbathe and play in the water – but it’s one of the beaches that is a state park that costs to enter. And, upon entry, you are required to watch a video about what not to do or touch when you get down there. We didn’t see many fish there, but we did see a few.

Kahana Bay

Along the western side, there are lots of people that live along the beach in tents. Tents might be a stretch – they were more like tarps – some were nicer than others. We were the sad witnesses of one going up in flames – black, quick flames from the plastic chemicals – and a dog running away from it to safety.

Tantalus is a 10 mile stretch of road high atop (1610 feet) and winding thru the mountains that provide a 25 miles view all the way from Diamond Head to Kahala with amazing winding scenery, enviable homes, and the Pu’u Ualaka’a State Park – a great way to end our trip.

The Community Environmental Fair is an annual event, and it was actually wonderful weather, despite the weatherman's threats. Mom figures that she gave out 200+ kites over the period of five hours, which is one hour over the event. By the time we lifted our heads, all the other vendors were gone - who knows who they were - we never had the time to wander around. But we did have a great after-lunch with Joan and Duane.

While I painted, I learned just how disappointing radio has gotten - no wonder why people are paying monthly subscriptions for music! What used to be a local station was now canned and broadcast from a very ambiguous place that had the same tagline as hundreds others out there in this country, along with the same contests and call in questions - what a joke. Just for curiosity's sake, I left it on for a couple days - and yes, the same songs were played about every three hours like clockwork. Tom Petty was right. Oh - and even more sad - since when did songs from my high school days become RETRO HOUR??? Radio BITES.

Now I just have the floor to do - and it's really not as bright as the picture, promise. And I don't think I will paint again for as long as my memory can remind me how tedious it is.

For the squeamish or weak of stomach, or those who think that I am just disgusting or mean - don't look at the picture below of Charlie. Poor thing, on our *super quick* trip home (read 2200 in 2 days) she was a sick puppy. Literally. Not sure what she got into - cat food perhaps (which is ironic, because I truly believe she is part cat) that upset her digestion - and she had to pull over almost every hour. Thankfully, she was humble enough to request the pullover, and we always pulled over just in time. No cleanups involved. Okay, enough gross talk. And no more gross pictures that only I think are funny.

We were welcomed graciously home - by mom first which was all good, but then the RV water heater which was not good. In fact, it split in half and had to be welded back together by the industrious man I call Cujo. The only trick was "How did these wires go again?" because the foresight-thinking pictures of exactly how those wires go weren't quite distinguishable suddenly.

While we were home, Charlie discovered mountain biking - she doesn't seem to wear out - but this one came real close to doing the trick.

On our way to Spokane, we drove through Boise to drop Cujo off, and finally met Cody! He was even cuter in person than in his lovely pictures. Poor little guy was tired and had been up waiting for us all morning, but was still quite the hospitable host. Can't wait to spend more time together. And next time see Jamie, too!

Year TWO of our trip to Spokane, Washington Race for the Cure - Uncle Mart started it, and we are trying to continue the tradition. Crossing our fingers, we made it there. This year was a little different from last - it SNOWED! Funny thing is it actually waited until we crossed the finish line, by mere minutes. This year they also have the group survivor pictures up free from Moxie Images, which is very nice. While we were looking through this year's program, we spotted Mom, who is also on the front page of their website, and also on the business cards!

We luckily got in on celebrating Aunt Naomi's birthday which was the week before.
And of course, keeping with tradition, there was kite making!
Some of the Hughes pets:

Food highlights - I (actually) made a great bowl of Mongolian noodles thanks to Steph, had wonderful sushi and gyoza at Sushi.com, and a great fresh brewed (the blonde) beer from Shenanigans.

Coming home through Montana was a bit hairy, but we made it without issues and with a belly full of a mediocre meal at a cafe in Superior. As Mom puts it "That fake Swiss they call Swiss but it's just American that's white!" hehe
And we made it home in time for the *early* morning promo piece for the Pocatello Environmental Fair this weekend on our local NBC affiliate!

It's been a while since I've been to a ball game - years, perhaps? Sheesh. Seems more recent - sitting in Safeco Field with most admitted priority to the garlic fries, then secondly Ichiro. Anyway, back to the Yankees... well, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, that is. Even with the opening pitch thrown by George Steinbrenner's daughter.

It was the opening (little cold for outside stadium seating still) game, which they celebrated with fireworks and a fly-by. However, the fireworks were pre-game - so even though you could barely see the sparks - you *could* hear the bang, so the effect was (mostly) there. The fly-by was timed perfectly, right on the heels of the groovy brass version of the Star Spangled Banner. They were fairly quiet too, which was the absolute opposite of my second most horrific fly-by down Main Street in Sturgis last year. Just for kicks, my most horrific fly-by ever was in George, Washington at the Gorge where Karen I swore a passenger plane was hijacked and going to crash into the music crowd. Seriously - we were shaking and sweating for an hour - very very freaky. Words just can't transcend here, sorry.

I digress, back to the game... we thought we'd see a no-hitter, which would be super cool - alas, twasn't meant to be. They took out the pitcher in the 6th. Apparently this is normal, but I would think a possibility of a no-hitter would be worth it? Nope. Not that night. There was a guy sitting near us in an Idaho State sweatshirt - I ran over to him and hurriedly asked "Are you from Pocatello?!" to which he looked at me confused and said "Wha...?" like I was speaking a different language. I said again, with a point to his shirt "Are you from Po-ca-tello?" and he said "Oh, no - sorry" and turned around. That's it - no explanation, no story of how he'd gotten the shirt, no questioning me on why I knew it. Quite anticlimactic, no? Tell me about it.

Back to the event at hand, they won! And I don't know if it's the minors or if it's the location, but they are great hecklers here! Some of the crowd was relentlessly yelling, and the rest of the crowd was laughing - even the left fielder had to wave and haphazardly smile at one point. On the other team. The field is great - nestled in some rocky cliffs, close to the interstate, smack in between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.

Just a sidenote, example of some great building structures here in the area - this one is a brewery. Tried one of their Stegmaiers but I prefer the Lionshead.

The best restaurant so far here in the NEPA area is (according to me) Mirakuya - it's a Japanese restaurant with teppanyaki or table seating that serves sushi and Sapporo. We had a grill to ourselves one day and it was the best meal. Teppanyaki places are usually pretty similar in the jokes and knife skill display - this is no different, and that's why I dig 'em so much. The veggies and rice and meat are so good and this place had some of the best fried rice ever. Mmmmm.

Pocono Downs opened their live racing season April 1st. So now, four times a week they have live harness racing along with simulcast and traditional casino gambling. There is a restaurant to watch from within glass windows with individual tvs for simulcast views, or you can brave the elements and watch outside. I thought I was just making some incredible bets and winning big, but I would claim my $0.50 win sheepishly each time. I guess it's true, you have to bet big to win big.

Staying in a hotel for a day or two, even a week is a fun vacation, and you tend to only notice that you are in a new place that seems clean and functioning. Staying in a hotel for longer than a month is still great, but different. Things you wouldn't have noticed in a day's time, you now notice. We've had some crazy experiences with fire alarms, alarm clocks, ambulances, and vacuums. The hotel is like a little interworking society within society (of the country or city). There are similarities between life and hotels.

-> We are all here for a reason and don't necessarily care about the other guests; however for the most part we are polite or friendly to others.
-> We find things to occupy our time here onsite - like movie rentals and a gym.
-> There is a caste system in the staff as well as the guests - some people staying there are used to better, some are used to worse.
-> We each have our own little private area among a bigger block but we meet in the same hallways and paths.
-> We ask for things we think we deserve and complain freely when we don't get want we want for a multitude of reasons such as...we paid for it, it's owed to us, we deserve it, it's fair...
-> There are outside influences which we cannot control (such as an alarm clock next door when there are no occupants)
-> We are all trying to get our bearings, and we are all just here temporarily.
-> Everyone is dependent upon everyone here (staff and guests), but we are also independent and private of each other.

The good part about hotel living is that you are never alone and the lights are never off. The bad part about hotel living is that you are never alone and the lights are never off.

Great news - we have a new addition to the family - welcome to the world Hailey Adrienne! Can't wait to meet you this summer.

Spring is finally starting to come into fruition, I think - at least on some days. It's beautiful.

Charlie has taken on a new hobby - licking feet - if you let her, she'll go on forever. She's indiscriminate but prefers fresh outta the shower toes. Also started giving massages. Or rather, nail digging into skin. Is this a sign of dominance or love? hehe.

We surely didn't have a traditional big Easter supper, but we celebrated Easter by eating peanut butter chocolate eggs for the last two weeks and coloring eggs.

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are doing really well - they've won both games we've attended. It's great that they are on a home game kick while we're here and we've been able to go. Get this - at the merchandise store they were selling Omaha Knights pucks - what are the odds?! These games remind me of when we'd go to Phoenix every year so Cujo could play tournament hockey with the Pink Piranhas. Well, not the crazy debauchery pre and post games, but the all around theme was hockey.

Oh, and a side note - I'm not a rodeo person but the DNCFR is held in Pocatello each year, and this year Matt won! Very cool - video and finals standings.