Tuesday - Jan 28
Woke up this morning to gray skies but by 10:30 they had turned to blue and the ocean once again turquoise with white caps and beautiful.
After breakfast, we decided to drive to see Doris Duke's Shangri-La. On the way, we noticed a uke shop and turned around to take a closer look. Turns out its closed...whaaaaa
However there was this statute next door - pretty interesting....think he needs a diet!
We continued on to the Makapuu Point - it was soooo windy.
Looking for the humpback whales that are supposed to hang out here:
There were two bus loads of japanese tourists overlooking the sight with us - when they left, we stopped to take one last photo of the Manana (rabbit) Island.
We saw quite a few truck vendors (including this one at our tourist stop) with ice cold coconuts. In this wind, I wanted a hot chocolate.
They are serious about break-ins:
We continued on and found a Starbucks. Next door was a surf/bathing suit store with this Eddie Aikau poster in the window.
I love this poster in the shop next door along with the oars on the wall:
We did make it to Doris Duke's house but the gate was closed. We then remembered reading that they have 3 tours a day and they are booked up 1-2 weeks in advance. We can't say much about what the estate looked like because of the gated drive but the area isn't much to speak of. I'd never have thought there was a famous estate in that neighborhhood. We're going to check into tickets to see her estate but at $25 each....it better be something!
We were close by the Costco that we first went to on Saturday...so we went back for a few more supplies - a hot dog for lunch - and a pizza for dinner tonight. I also bought a new swim suit - really cute and only $39 so I don't feel bad if the chlorine from the condo or cruise ship spas gives it a beating. I've had a few recently that have turned almost invisible from the chlorine - pretty embarrasing.
We saw this storefront in the Costco parking lot so went to check it out. We opened the door and the inside was empty. Wierd - such a nice sign outside.
We got back to the condo and realized that our front right tire is low so we looked in the GPS and a Chevron station is close by. Turns out that it isn't there anymore so we continued north and found another station. I've seen this park in the past couple of days and had to stop today and take a photo of the sign.
THE HUKILAU SONG - written in 1948 by Jack Owens (had to include this in the blog):
Oh we're going, to the hukilau
Huki huki, huki huki, huki hukilau
Everybody loves the hukilau
Where the laulau is the kaukau at the hukilau
Oh we throw our nets out into the sea
And all the ama-ama come a-swimmin' to me
Oh we're going to the hukilau,
huki huki huki, hukilau
What a beautiful day for fishin',
The old Hawaiian way,
And the hukilau net we're swishin',
Down at old Laie bay.
Oh we're going, to the hukilau
Huki huki, huki huki, huki hukilau
Everybody loves the hukilau
Where the lovely hula hula maidens roll their eyes
We returned back to the condo and settled in for the night with margaritas, pizza and HGTV.
Driving through the traffic today in Honolulu is not for us...we're going to stay on the north shore tomorrow - hopefully we'll have good weather because we want to take a dip in the ocean. We still have a lot of exploring to do on Oahu but I'd go back to Kauai in a heartbeat!
Wednesday - Jan 29
Woke up to an overcast day with intermittent showers. Blue sky keeps trying to peek out but next thing we know, heavy showers start up again.
We took a walk on the beach and walked in the waves. The water doesn't seem as cold as it looks. We walked as far to the right as we could then headed back to the apartment when the rain started up again. By the time we returned back, we were getting quit wet....Luckily its still fairly balmy out - low 70's.
Heading off to the right from our apartment building.
We can't tell if its droplets from the wind off the ocean or the rain has started again....turned out to be rain!
The sky looks more friendly as we walked back this direction - but the rain followed us!
We sat on a bench under this tree thinking it would let us but it actually got worse so back we hurried...
Once back in the apartment, it was pouring outside so we decided to address our internet connectivity (or lack of it). Our internet connectivity kept dropping us off last night and today it couldn't find the network. We notified Heidi, our landlord, who told us to call the carrier, Oceanic. Norm unplugged the modem and wireless cable and in his ignorance to find a solution, he pressed the reset button on the wireless modem. According to the Oceanic tecnician, that button has now reset the wireless modem back to its original setting and now requires no password - and we have 65mps. We wondered why we were seeing the name of the wireless unit showing up as our option and now we know why. No need to worry Heidi anymore - we have better reception now than we did before - ignorance is bliss. :)
As a treat for Norm, we went to Taco Bell a few miles up north then decided to look at the La'ie Temple (LDS). It has such a long manicured drive up to the temple that it called out for a few photos. We haven't bothered to look at the much-ballyooed temple in Folsom but decided that this one was worth a look.
Then we chose to take a look inside the Polynesian Cultural Center (next door). After reading the tourist info, we found out that the LDS church built and runs this Center. Quite an operation and money-maker! We took some photos, went inside the shops - found a display of Kala ukuleles - aand hurried back to the car before our free 30 minute parking expired. (Another money-maker on the order of Cal Expo). We agree with some of the Trip Advisor comments - it was like Epcot but without the beer and wine. The people working there reminded us of when we visited the Salt Lake City Temple (another tourist attraction). They walked up to us, asked where we're from, asked Norm if he could read everything ok....Just gave us a wierd vibe like they are out of Stepford Village.
We got back to the apartment, had a glass of wine and saluted those that escaped before us.
