Entries Tagged as 'oahu'

Kohala Coast, Hawaii

March 22nd, 2011 · 2 Comments

After lunch we stopped a few more places in Lihue and then headed for the airport. While there we saw Loden, Trent, Shannan, Todd, Kelly, Brian, Sara, Adam and Christine – all flying back to the mainland, while we stay in Hawaii for 5 more days. HA! We flew from Lihue to Honolulu and then Honolulu to Kona. I wish you could just fly from Lihue to Kona, but you cannot.

When we landed in Kona we got our rental car, a red Sebring and then got on the road. We were staying at the Hapuna Beach Prince about an hour north, up the coast, from the airport. The drive was easy enough, the only confusing part was that you enter the resort on the eastern side of the roade when the beach is to the west and the resort is on the beach. Ends up the road loops under the main road.

My first impressions of the Kona coast of the Hawaii (the Big Island): Very black from the lava rock and bleak. I mean, it looked like even weeds were having a hard time growing on all of the black rock. I did find this “local-style graffiti” to be pretty interesting. People would spell things out with white rocks, which really stood out from the black lava rock.

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Family Dinner in Alewa Heights

March 11th, 2011 · 1 Comment


Never can resist taking a photo of the view of Honolulu from up in the mountains.

Sunday nights are family dinner so we stopped at Safeway for some poke and beer and headed up to Uncle Bob and Aunty Helen’s house in Alewa Heights.

Dallas’s Aunty Wendie is half Chinese and surprised us with a whole Chinese spread of food and things that are symbolic of longevity and good luck, like mochi, good luck money in red envelopes, a pyramid of red bean bao, evergreen and pomelo, which is like a giant grapefruit. Along with an array of Chinese take-out favorites, Aunty Wendie also made beef stew with vegetables. So delicious.


Aunty Wendie, Rachelle


Dallas, Rachelle


Dried fruit, pomelo, lucky money, mochi

Dallas’s Uncle Bob and Aunty Helen finished up their round of golf and came home, so we got to visit with them. Cousin Kala is in her first year of college now. Hard to believe! Cousin Quincy doesn’t live at home any more but came over later. And we got to visit with grandma a bit, although she is getting pretty old and isn’t always “there.” Hopefully she still knows we came for a visit. In any case, it was nice to see everyone.


Quincy, Grandma (Photo by Aunty Wendie)


Kala, Dallas (Photo by Aunty Wendie)


Quincy, Uncle Mel (Photo by Aunty Wendie)


Kala, Dallas, Uncle Bob (Photo by Aunty Wendie)


Rachelle, Dallas, Grandma, Kala, Quincy

That night we had to pack everything up in our hotel room because we had an early flight to Kauai in the morning!

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Hanging out at the Sheraton Waikiki

March 11th, 2011 · 1 Comment


My view from under the umbrella.


Cousin trying to catch some rays! (Photo by Kristin)

One day we decided to shake things up and hang out at the Sheraton Waikiki, where Jen, Chad, Cousin and Kristin were staying, instead of the Moana Surfrider, where Dallas and I were. Actually, Dallas was golfing with BJ that day, so it was really just me walking down to the Sheraton.


View of the infinity pool from Jen’s room. (Photo by Jen)


View out to the ocean from the pool. (Photo by Jen)


Sheraton Waikiki Infinity Pool

The Royal Hawaiian is right next to the Sheraton and last time we stayed there one of the Sheraton pools was under construction. Well, the construction is done, and what has been revealed is a big, beautiful, adults-only infinity pool connected to the Edge of Waikiki pool bar.


Limey in the pool.


Limey in the pool.

Another highlight of the day was that Limey arrived. In true Limey fashion, he immediately made a bunch of friends… a married local couple enjoying a “staycation” at the Sheraton and another, a waitress at the Edge, used to live in Chicago just a few blocks from Limey. Once Limey got into the infinity pool, he never left. Why would he? You can float right up to the counter and get beer and food service!


Shrimp cobb salad.

I had a pretty delicious shrimp cobb salad at the counter by the pool while I chatted with Limey and his new friends. And then Tien and Shannan arrived! They had been in Hawaii longer than us but were island hopping around Maui and the Big Island. So we caught up, did a little swimming. Fun!


Sheraton Waikiki Beach View (Photo by Jen)

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Kamehameha vs. ‘Iolani for the State Basketball Championship

March 10th, 2011 · No Comments


Kamehameha vs. ‘Iolani

That night our friend, Dallas’s fellow Kamehameha Schools classmate, Monte came to pick us up at our hotel. The Kamehameha boys basketball team was playing ‘Iolani for the state championship at the Stan Sheriff Center on the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus. Last year Kamehameha lost the final game to ‘Iolani, so a lot was on the line.


Kamehameha Cheerleaders

We met up with a bunch of Dallas’s old classmates and some of their kids. Everyone was super excited. This was a big game.

Throughout the game the score was pretty close, within a few points. But then in the 3rd quarter Kamehameha went up and ‘Iolani could not get with it. Kamehameha ended up winning 64-53.

Monte took this horrible photo of us after the game (my camera’s fault, not Monte’s!):


Front: Healoha, Donovan, Dallas, Rachelle, Shannon, Keone. Back: BJ & Pam

After the game we went out to celebrate. Monte took us to a nearby sports bar called Rock Bottom (not the chain). Dallas’s classmate Alika was there and it was nice to see him again. At some point we were ushered into a seperate space and karoke began.


Nakanishi Twins on the left, wearing leis

That’s when I noticed we were partying with VIPs. Jessie Nakanishi, the Kamehameha Schools head coach, his twin brother and assitant coach Julian, and a few of the other Kamehameha Schools coaches were all there with us celebrating. Pretty crazy. The Nakanishis were one year behind Dallas’s class at Kamehameha schools. I was just watching this interview with Jesse. He looks so young!


Likelike Drive Inn

Later on that night, early in the morning, Monte took us to Likelike Drive Inn for breakfast. This place reminded me a lot of the Wailana Coffee House, a late-night spot we went to last time we were in town.


Monte, Rachelle


Loco Moco

I don’t know what Dallas and Monte got, but I dove into my loco moco with record speed! It was so delicious. Especially at 2:30 a.m.!

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Relaxing Beach Day at the Moana Surfrider

March 10th, 2011 · No Comments


Dallas, Kristin, Chad. Me and Cousin on the end. (Photo by Jen)


Chad, me, Cousin. (Photo by Kristin)

On Friday, Dallas got up early to reserve two beach spots with 6 chairs at our beach. These things go fast! I think we reserved at about 8 a.m. and within an hour or two there were no beach or pool chairs left for the entire day. Oh, Waikiki! So, basically this whole day Jen, Dallas, Kristin, Chad, Cousin and I were major beach bums.


Moana Surfrider Beach. (Photo by Jen)


We were cracking up at this old snorkeler. He reminded us of that old guy from the Six Flags commercials.


Cousin was on high alert for a wardrobe malfunction.


The birds at the beach are insane.


Kristin. (Photo by Jen)

Aside from a trip to ABC Store to get the floats, I don’t think we left the beach all day. .. which would explain the 100 lava flows that were charged to our room!

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