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Rooftop View
our view of the Waikiki skyline from the roof topBill found me updating my blog early Tuesday morning and we decided to go on a run together. Everyone is faster than me, it sucks. We ran a 5.5 mile loop around Diamond Head which has some huge hills; not to mention that it was incredibly hot. But the ice cream we ate afterwards made keeping up with his faster stride worthwhile.
Still sweating from the run, we decided to grab some beer and head to the beach. What a life! See how much fun not working can be? We walked down to San Souci Beach at the far east end of Waikiki; it’s small and popular with the locals, and we spent the next 3 hours or so laying out. Talk, talk, talk…all day long. This is what happens when you’re deprived of human conversation for long periods of time. I couldn’t get enough, and lucky for me he must’ve not minded it so much either since the day kept going on and on.
On the way back home, we stopped at 7-11 to buy July bus passes, which just jumped $10 in cost this month. I even took a picture with my 1st bus
My first bus pass
and my coffee which is the real reason for the big smile pass. To be honest, I’m a little worried that having the pass will make me lazy, but oh well…it will allow me more freedom to visit the other side of the island now.
We found Tiffany outside as we were walking up to the house and she showed us how to get on the rooftop. Neither Bill nor I had even known about this, so imagine our surprise to see the most incredible city view from our very own rooftop! I’m going to sleep out here at least once before I leave. We hung out on the rooftop as the sun went down, then went inside to make dinner: turkey burgers and corn on the cob…delicious. We took our dinner up to the rooftop to eat and lie under the stars, then watched a movie before heading to bed. Another great day.
Wednesday morning I decided to finally take my first trip to the north shore and the town Haleiwa. (the w is pronounced like a “v”). Unfortunately, the bus trip takes 2 hours, so I didn’t have much time to spend there knowing I wanted to get back to town in time to do the Niketown run.
My 1st shave ice
Aoki's Shave Ice in the town of Haleiwa I walked the short town street of surf shops and restaurants; it is a really cute town packed with tourists. And on my way towards the beach, I finally had my first shave ice. I had been told “ah…it’s just a sno cone” but no way, it is not; it’s amazing! I got a small shave ice with vanilla ice cream on the bottom, then the cone was piled high with soft, melt in your mouth ice, flavored with banana, pineapple, and…I can’t remember the last flavor. Whatever it was, the thing was gigantic, and colored like a rainbow. I was so impressed that I asked a man standing outside to take a picture, thinking that he would actually take a close up picture of me and my pretty shave ice. But no, not really a close up at all…I suppose that’s what I get for asking a man to take the pic. Just kidding. No really, I usually only ask women to do this job.
My walk led me to the end of the town where it meets the beach and I settled down in an isolated spot in Haleiwa Beach Park. It wasn’t a swimming beach, more
of a snorkeling beach that was majority reef. Feeling peaceful and happy on the beach by myself I put on my snorkel gear and waded out to the water. I don’t know what it is about snorkeling, but something about seeing what’s underwater really unnerves me. I snorkeled around the shoreline, fearful of going too far, but even right there I was shocked to see fish bigger than my head! Tons of fish, colorful fish, striped yellow and black ones, small ones, big ones…it was pretty cool. But sure enough, I would soon panic a little bit and have to run back to the shore to lie down and calm my speeding heart rate. Certainly, if someone were to be watching me it would have been a humorous sight to see me panic in the water then run back to the safety of my towel to lie down.
Just then I noticed turtles in the water. There were three of them at least in my general vicinity. Something about the sight of these creatures is so moving; I love seeing them! I was pulled back to the shoreline by the thought of getting back into the water to snorkel
up closer to them, but paralyzed with fear when I tried, which made me laugh considering the title of my last blog “she swims with turtles”. More like “she’s scared to swim with turtles” lol. Oh well…I watched them excitedly from the safety of the sand.
By 3pm I needed to catch the 2 hour bus ride back to Waikiki. As bad as that ride is, I was able to get about a third of the way into my book “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (another one I’ve never read).
I arrived at Niketown in time to join in to the group run, which by now is becoming one of my favorite weekly activities. I’m beginning to know people and often have someone to run with as well. I ran a four and a half miler and decided to enjoy the night and walk home. I took a detour at my official favorite hotel in Waikiki: The Moana Surfrider. Seriously mom…please come to visit me and stay at this hotel! It’s the most beautiful hotel in town. My friend Jen, who’s been my Hawaiian information consultant, confidant, and loyal blog reader, stayed here on her last
The Heavenly Bed
on display in the lobby of the Moana Surfrider. Jen...you're so lucky to have one!!! trip and even owns the Heavenly bed featured in all of the rooms. I had to take a picture of the bed on display in the lobby to include in this post. Ah…what I would give to spend one night in that bed right now!
The rest of the night was uneventful. I walked to Safeway to pick up something to eat, grabbed a movie, got caught up on phone calls, then went to bed.
Thursday morning I woke up feeling a lack of motivation. I watched “Bride Wars” (nothing special), had a brief conversation with my roommate Mike, and learned that I needed to pay rent for July. Shoot! I had hoped that my full month’s security deposit would cover this months rent, but unfortunately, I need to pay rent now, then I’ll get the deposit back when I leave. This presented a problem; I didn’t bring cash with me, and I didn’t find out till I got here that there are no BofA’s on island, and I don’t have any checks. Luckily, AZFCU is connected to many Hawaiian credit union branches, so I found one down the road that let me take out money.
I
Rooftop View
watching the sunset while lying on the roof spent the majority of the day at home and out walking around our little downtown neighborhood called Kaimuki with Bill. We found a cute little coffee shop called Coffee Talk where we stopped for tea and a scone, then the liquor store where we picked up a great selection of wine and beer. I call it rooftop beer; perfect for a night hanging out on the roof. During the course of the day I offered to cook dinner for Bill ( yes funny for those of you who know I don’t really know how to cook) and have it ready when he got back from his ultimate Frisbee practice. Let’s just say that I gave myself 2 hours in the kitchen to make spaghetti, sauce, and chicken. I do hope one day I’ll be able to cook with less stress and in less time, but it did come out pretty good. I set up a comfy rooftop dinner with music too…and we had a fun time, finished a bottle of wine as well as a bottle of chocolate stout, and enjoyed the night under the stars. Perfect!
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Jen B.
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From Your Cruise Director!
Hi, it Julie..I mean Jen, your cruise director. Welcome to the Island of Love, the gathering place, where life moves at a slower place than the rest of the world and you are blessed with miles and miles of beaches and will not ever want to return to the mainland. LOL. I think you probably know so much more about the island than I do now, so I think you are the consutlant! Love the pictures from the rooftop. So cool! Even better, I love your pictures from Haleiwa as they remind me of mine. We ate at the Haleiwa Joe's last time - they also have one in Palm Springs if I am not mistaken. I love how you mentioned going to the other side of the island - just like a line from LOST. I am sure your dinner was great. How fun is it to cook with or for people??? Eventually you might find cooking theraputic. I used to not be able to cook anyting, but now can manage my way aroudn the kitchen and can sometimes cook without a recipe. It is a a little hobby - trying to find healthy, delicious meals. When they are not so healthy, I tell myself they are much healthier than if we would have gone out. Anytime you want a cooking buddy here, I will cook with you! Thanks for posting a picture of my bed. That bed is almost better than sex. (I hope no one will take offense to that, but it is close.) They are taking orders at Nordstroms now for thir yearly sale. The are very reasonable in price. Maybe I should market for Nordstoms or the Heavenly Bed line. And speaking of, I am going to go jump into my bed. Your pictures will cause me to dream of my next Oahu vacation!