Oahu Recap

Given the amount of photos I took in Hawaii I am breaking this up into a couple posts.  Ten days in Hawaii was relaxing and ample time to balance tours and relaxation.  After a very long travel day we arrived in Oahu and I registered for the CLU conference.  The swag bag was sweet!  I was super excited to get a luggage scale (no more weighing myself then pick up large suitcase and try to peer over to see the new reading on the scale), some face and lip sunscreen, a Hawaiian State Farm lanyard, and a nice notebook.  Our hotel was awesome.  We had shops and restaurants right on the property and free dvd rentals for the room.  We watched Spy and San Andreas while we were there.  Cheesy movies? Yes. Free movies? Yes.

Every morning after breakfast we began our day here. This is the pool located on the fourth floor of one of the towers.  Well, technically we spent the first hour in the hot tub here then moved to the pool.  This pool seemed to be a well kept secret.  There were never more than five people here.

The beach at our resort was lovely but we didn't spend a ton of time there.  Chair rentals were stupid expensive. 

While strolling along the resort property one afternoon we came across a mama duck, baby ducks, and a turtle.  Just hanging out. 

Our first Oahu tour was fantastic.  The tour guide's name was Greg and he was funny and knowledgeable. He also had no problem asking the very talkative, e-cigarette puffing lady sitting behind me to shut it.  

Greg told us many legends of the island.  Our first stop was this temple where he said we would need to ring the bell prior to entering.  I read the sign while waiting to ring the bell and loved what it stood for.   It is believed to clear the mind of negativity, impart peace and bring deep happiness, blessings, and a long life. The resonating sound reminds us that everything is transitory.  

After having rang the bell, explored the temple, and observed black swans...we walked around the grounds and did a double take when we spotted this guy. Funniest looking chicken I have ever seen.  Like he is sporting some long surfer chicken hair or something. Cracked me up! 

Our tour continued on to Sunset Beach on the North Shore which is famous for huge waves and surfing competitions.  I thought the waves were big that day.  Later on I would see much bigger ones.  The Hawaiian waters were powerful. 

A beautiful bay known for some of the best snorkeling.

This is the beach from the movie From Here to Eternity.  You can see several people down there.  I have no idea how they got down there or planned to get back up as the only way in or out are those rocky cliffs. I was perfectly content admiring from above. 

This is just slightly out from the beach above.  Notice the whirlpool near the jutting rocks.  I watched it a good ten minutes and was in awe that a guy from the beach was venturing so close in the water to this area.  That whirlpool was no joke scary.  It started twisting and would easily suck a person down in it if given the chance.  My brain went into mom mode thinking "does your mother know where you are?!"  I have mentioned to several people that the ocean here straight up scared me.  It was intense.  More on intense warnings in Maui later...

A scenic view of Oahu

Birds are everywhere and were obviously used to people.  This little guy took a rest under our pool chair.  The Maui birds at our resort were so funny and came right up to you so later we ended up naming them.  Ok I ended up naming them.  Again more on them in the Maui post.

Possibly the best pancakes I have ever consumed...macadamia nut coconut pancakes.  Amazing.  

Our resort had a lagoon area which I preferred over the ocean.  No chance of getting swept off to sea in the lagoon.  

Our second tour guide in Oahu was Eugene and..well...he had a lot to live up to after Greg.  He did not do so great.  He was convinced the air conditioning was going to go out at any time on our van and, therefore, called in another van to switch out with us. After a good 45 minutes of killing time and waiting for van number two to come rescue us from our fully functioning air conditioned van, the new van finally arrived.  We all piled into van number two.  Only to be told thirty seconds later van number two has a flat tire. (By the way one of the people on the tour noticed the flat tire...thank goodness!)  So we pile back on to the fully functioning original van and continue on.  After several more stops we come to our final destination of Pali lookout.  It is the site of a very bloody battle.  Even in the daytime the place was a bit intense feeling.  No way you'd get me there at night.  So we get ready to leave and as Eugene starts the van up it starts beeping.  He puts his seat belt on thinking that is the cause.  Beeping continues.  We drive down and out of the lookout point and the van stalls. I may have said "you have got to be kidding me" out loud at this point because we needed to be back for the company dinner and had already wasted time. (Did I also mention that Eugene can't talk and drive over 15 miles an hour at the same time? Bless his heart.) It is then Eugene tells us the legend of bringing pork products to the lookout and if you do so then it will break a dispute between the pig God and volcano goddess and your car will stall.  "Gee Eugene maybe you should've mentioned earlier to everyone to toss their spam out the window."  Nobody fessed up to having pork in their purse but I googled the legend and it is sure enough a thing.  Creepy.  Maybe someone tossed the pork jerky out the window or something then because the van started back up a few minutes later.  (Despite all the tour craziness Eugene was super nice and I still tipped him well) 

Greg had already told us that people had been known to take things such as lava rock or seashells as souvenirs and they experience such bad luck that the Hawaiian Post Office gets thousands of lava rocks and shells mailed back each year.  The Hawaiians believe the life spirit lives in everything and as such everything should remain as is.  Another theory is park rangers were tired of tourists taking the lava rock and made up this bad luck curse.  Either way when I saw the kids on the beach talking about the souvenirs they were finding I thought "you better put it back or buy a stamp."  All the legends I heard were enough for me to realize Hawaiian culture runs deep.  

Next up...information on Maui which we arrived on via this itty bitty plane.  On our way to the airport to head to Maui the taxi driver taught us how to speak Hawaiian.  Well, he taught us there are only twelve letters in the Hawaiian alphabet and there are no silent vowels.  Every letter is pronounced.  While I may not have known what the words meant, for the rest of the trip I made it my goal to practice pronouncing every Hawaiian word I came across.  Mostly street signs.  A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, U, W and there is the akina which is the symbol that looks like an apostrophe and indicates a break in sound.  I found this all very fascinating.  

For those of you who miss my "moments" (Lisa) I was grateful that I talk pretty softly when we first arrived at our hotel and the hotel check in lady greeted me with "Aloha" to which I responded with "Hola."  Then immediately realized we are not in another country.  The kid is not letting me live that one down.  Then there was when I went to the outdoor shower to rinse sand off my feet and chose the wrong spray handle and instead of the lower fountain turning on I sent a shot of water straight into my own face.  Again the kid was highly entertained.  Still graceful as ever! 

I am happy to be home and trying to get back to a routine.  I was pleasantly surprised at how great I felt going for a three mile run last night after ten days off.  I am also feeling refreshed and ready to tackle some exciting things I want to accomplish by the end of the year!  I am not sure if it's the time change between home and Hawaii or excitement on things I am working on but I haven't been able to sleep before 2am.  Hopefully my sleep gets back to normal soon. 

Coming up next...Maui recap and monthly favorites