ALOHA AND MAHALO - KEN

I suppose that I should do some kind of a synopsis of our trip to Paradise. My impressions if you will. All in all it was a very enjoyable time.

Now, as you may imagine there is a but. Lots of butts, but far too many to mention, except for that one on Waikiki Beach on April the 8^th at about 1:41 PM. You know who you are, I mentioned that I thought that you had your bikini bottom on backwards. Talk about a fashion faux pas!

We spent the first three days in Honolulu, about four blocks from Waikiki Beach. Our room was tiny and we were right beside the elevator so we could keep track of all the comings and goings throughout the night. We climbed Diamondhead which is a must and had the first of many shaved ice’s. The main drag kind of reminded me of the Vegas strip without casinos and clothing. Fair trade off I would say. Lots of tourist shopping and dining. Three days was plenty for us. We met a couple that own a hotel room (they do that there) and if you need a reasonable place to stay in Honolulu here is their website. http://www.waikikitropics.com/ .It was fun waving to the people in Canada from in front of Duke Kahanamoku’s statue http://www1.honolulu.gov/multimed/waikiki.asp . We looked pretty odd, but it was cool. I also walked down to another web cam at The Moana Surfrider Hotel which I had been visiting for years after spending very cold days delivering mail. Pretty neat!

The next week we stayed at a million dollar home in Kailua with five other people. We were walking distance to the beach in one direction and a nice sized town with all of the amenities in the opposite direction. We made use of the pool and the back yard. Oh to be one of the idle rich instead of just being idle. Louise took her paddling course and although a little nervous at first she enjoyed herself immensely and hit a few milestones in her paddling career. Paddling a single and double outrigger in the ocean and paddling from Waikiki to Diamondhead in a six man outrigger and surfing the waves. Pretty cool! She learned a lot about technique and gained confidence in her ability.

I spent my time soaking up the rays, beach walking and gawking as well as talking to any who would listen to me. I learned a lot about Hawaiian people and the melting pot that is Hawaii.

For our final week we moved on to the North shore which is where they have those huge waves that Oahu is famous for. Yeah, not this week! Our  apartment was somewhat less than the million dollar home of last week, but after the initial shock it was quite nice. Oh well. We went to the Dole Plantation http://www.dole-plantation.com/ , the Macadamian Nut Farm http://www.macnutfarm.com/ , Turtle Beach (which is awesome by the way), Waimea Valley http://www.waimeavalley.net/ , Shark Cove, a huge swap meet, The Hukilau Café http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnV6__JKSvI (which is a dump, but has great food). We actually drove back to Kailua twice to enjoy the beach there as it was more to our liking. The North Shore is more of a surfer paradise and attracts a younger more hippie type crowd.

Would I go again? You bet! I would take a lot less clothing and wouldn’t let Louise have any money or charge cards. I would plan the trip to stay in Kailua and do day trips from there as it is a small island and nowhere is more than an hour away. If anyone is going and wants a sulky, grumpy somewhat boring tour guide, just let me know.

 Aloha and Mahalo