Entries Tagged as 'north shore'

Sunset Beach at Night

March 10th, 2011 · 6 Comments

While on the North Shore, some of us visited the beach at night time. No big deal, right? Except this visit would plague me for the rest of the trip and beyond. I did not go into the water. I just stayed on the beach and this was my big mistake. Little did I know that the beach was infested with bugs… sand fleas? I didn’t realize until we left the beach and I was in the light that I had been eaten alive on the front of my legs from my knees down… you know.. the part that you don’t cover every day in Hawaii… the part where my wedding dress ends and my legs show?

Awesome. The bites got super-bad. Very inflamed and red. The photo below was taken the morning after the bites occurred. They weren’t even that bad yet as compared to the next few days after that, but you can see how many. There were big clusters around my ankles where my ankles got really puffy from all the bites. Ew!

When we got to Kauai I consulted with a pharmacist and began applying hydrocortizone and calmine lotion. Also, some neosporine, just for good measure. I also did soaks in oatmeal and epsom salt. Most of the treatments the pharmacist recommended to me were to relieve itching. I told her that my legs didn’t itch, they just looked hideous. She said there’s no way it was going to go away in a week and suggested I try makeup!

The treatments did help relieve the swelling and redness, but for sure did not provide an instant cure. In the end my makeup artist, after doing my face, applied coverup to my legs! I don’t think it was too noticeable at the wedding, if you didn’t know what to look for, but certainly something I did not expect having to deal with that week!

Also, I’ve never ever had this happen before. Dallas lived in Hawaii most of his life, I lived on the beach in Cali for a few years, neither of of has seen this before…. figures that it would happen on the wedding trip!

P.S. I’m never going to Sunset Beach at night again!

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Hanging out on the North Shore

March 9th, 2011 · No Comments

On Friday I did my gym/ABC Store/Honolulu routine again. After that Dallas and I went shopping. He was planning on wearing shorts and slippers for the wedding, so at the very least I wanted him to go buy some nice shorts and slippers. At Macy’s they had a bunch of really nice Quiksilver shorts. Dallas ended up getting a few pairs.. and a new pair of Scott Hawaii (his favorite brand) slippers with leather straps. Ohhh la la. Not to be left out of the shopping spree, I got a new pair of Quiksilver/Roxy slippers. And we randomly passed by this cell phone accessory store where we each got a new iPhone case. Mine was all cracked! And Dallas has always hated his big, bulky case.

Jen and Kristin were on a spa retreat so after shopping Dallas and I met up wtih Chad and Cousin and had lunch at the Curry House, another one of our favorite Honolulu restaurants. Check out a couple previous visits to Curry House: 2007, 2009.

After lunch we drove up to Oahu’s north shore to Waimea Valley. Dallas’s friend Hoku works at Waimea Valley. We strolled our way to the back and took a dip in the waterfall like we did last time we visited. So much fun!

Hmm.. let’s see a close up of that one….

Lulz. They look like drowned rats! Doing the Shaka!

On the stroll back out, away from the waterfall, I took all of these beautiful photos of Waimea Valley:

When Hoku was done with work we stopped at Foodland and then went back to his house for a barbecue. Jen and Kristin met us there too. We ate so much! Chicken, steak, sausage, ahi, maui chips, mac nuts and two kinds of poke – limu and shoyu. Yum!

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Hoku’s House

June 24th, 2009 · 1 Comment

After Hoku showed us around Waimea Valley and we took a swim in a waterfall, we headed over to his house. Hoku rode his motorcycle and we followed in our rental car.

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We hung around Hoku’s house all night. There were many friends over. Some of them played beer pong. Dallas played with Hoku’s daughter’s toy and was absurdly happy when he got it working after I failed:
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At sunset we headed to the beach. Hoku lives about a 2 minute walk from Sunset Beach, so you better believe the sunset was spectacular.

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Hoku brought his ukulele and played some songs.

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He also told me an old Hawaiian tale about these flowers that he picked nearby, but I can’t remember it now.

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I threw the ball for this dog a few times. That dog could run. FAST!

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Then I came back and listened to Hoku play the uke a bit more. It was an idyllic setting.. the beach, the sound of the waves, the smell of the ocean and flowers, the sunset, soft music.

It looks like this setting made Dallas want to kill someone, but I think really he was just drunk already.

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Hoku is in a band called Ill Valley. He does not play ukulele in the band, they’re a hip hop band and he sings. Ill Valley released an album in 2007 and in March of 2008 it was honored by being nominated for the 2008 Na Hoku Hanohano Award for “Best Rap or Hip Hop Album Released in 2007.” If you haven’t been following along, the Na Hoku Hanohano awards are like the Grammys for Hawaiian music. As I mentioned earlier, Kekoa, another of Dallas’s classmates, is in a band called Holunape that won a couple of these awards this month.

Anyway, Ill Valley had practice the night we visited so we got to hear them play. Lots of friends were over and everyone was just hanging out playing music, playing beer pong, and drinking beers.

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I didn’t drink, though, because I had to drive from the North Shore back down to Waikiki at some point. Hoku had some business in Waikiki the following day so he came with us back down. That was an interesting drive. It’s about an hour to hour and a half drive. I had no idea where I was going and Dallas and Hoku kept falling asleep. There was a lot of arm punching and yelling “Which way!?!?” and a lot of mumbling, “Take a left by the Foodmart…zzzzzz…” Oh boy!

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Waimea Valley

June 24th, 2009 · 5 Comments

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Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

Remember when I said that the Waimea River empties into Waimea Bay and if you follow the rive up you get to Waimea Valley? Well, there’s a park there called.. ahem.. wait for it…. Waimea Valley. Its mission is to “preserve and perpetuate the human, cultural and natural resources of Waimea for generations through education and stewardship.” In addition to having a beautiful botanical garden, they’re all about Hawaiian culture and resources and sustainability and have many education programs.

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Dallas Pointing to Hibiscus :: Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

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Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

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Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

Dallas’s friend Hoku works at Waimea Valley as a Cultural Specialist and Field Educator. This seems like an awesome job. He’s required to spend 75% of his time outside where he teaches people, anywhere from kindergarten age up through college students, about Hawaiian culture, native plants, folklore, wildlife, sustainability, conservation, and all sorts of things. Hoku and Dallas used to be great friends in school and hadn’t seen each other for 15 years. When Hoku met us at the gate there was a lot of man hugging. We walked through the gardens a bit and then Hoku got us a golf cart and took us straight to what we came for. At the back of the park there’s a small waterfall and swimming hole.

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Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

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Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

Dallas and I didn’t need much encouragement to jump right in and wash off all of the salt water and sand that had accumulated on our skin while hanging out at the beach. So refreshing and crisp. Waimea Valley provides life vests or kickboards, but we both just swam out to the waterfall and swam back.

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Rachelle & Dallas :: Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

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Hoku & Dallas :: Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

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Waimea Bay Beach

June 23rd, 2009 · No Comments

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After lunch Dallas and I headed over to the beach at Waimea Bay. This is a beach we went to last time we visited Hawaii. Like last time, there was no parking in the parking lot. This time we parked at Pupukea Beach and then just walked for about 10 minutes down the road to Waimea Bay. There was a well worn path all the way, I think a ton of people do this.

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Dallas selected a place for us to claim as our own. We hung out at the opposite end of the beach as we did the last time we visited.

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Looks good to me.

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During the winter months there are crazy waves here, up to 30 feet tall. When we visited, the water at Waimea Bay was so aquamarine and still. You could see clear down to your feed no matter how deep you went it. Great for playing around in the waves like Dallas here-

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The Waimea River flows into the ocean at Waimea Bay. Here you can see the cars going over the river. If you follow the river up it goes into Waimea Valley. More on that later.

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After playing around on the beach for a while Dallas and I went back to Haleiwa and got some shave ice at Matsumoto’s. I thought it was just as good as last time. Dallas, a far more seasoned shave ice eater, thought they were packing the ice too tight. One of these days I’ll try the azuki beans in my shave ice.

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