Hawaii - Hiking Lanipo summit, Waikiki, and Ko' Olina

In an effort to be better about updating the blog, I'm posting some pictures! These are a long time coming, I know, but it takes forever for blogger to upload them. The first group is of the hike that defeated me. The first weekend I was here I tried to hike Lanipo summit and ended up turning back only about half a mile into the trail. I was alone and it was slippery, wet and muddy. And the biggest reason is that Lanipo is a ridge trail that is LITERALLY on the ridge of a mountain with precipitous drop offs on either side!! I was too much of a scaredy cat to continue on alone with no one to call for help if I lost my footing and went sliding into the steep gully. But I got a couple good pics looking back towards Waikiki.



Waikiki and the ocean in the distance.

This is a view of the trail up ahead. You can't see clearly but the trail snakes along the ridge of the mountains.Here's me sunning myself on the beach in Waikiki. My new favorite hobby.

Adam in the sunset at Waikiki.

Me and Adam. We're that couple. You know, the ones who are sohappytogether!

Adam.
Sunset pics. These took for.ev.er. to upload. So I hope you like them. A LOT.












Sooo pretty.
And this, friends, is the parking lot... ahem, I mean GAS STATION at Costco where you can find the cheapest gas on the island at only $3.27 (choke) - 10-20 cents cheaper than anywhere else. And cars line up 6 or 7 deep out into the street for this stuff.


This is Bellows beach on Christmas morning. It was a bit overcast but still nice. We had the beach pretty much to ourselves.


More of Bellows. The sand was like powdered sugar and the water was turquoise.

Here's Adam playing in the surf. We both had a good time jumping waves! You can walk out into the surf up to your head if you want, there's no drop off, just a gradual descent, and the sand is packed hard.

I bring food everywhere. This is a cucumber. I like cucumbers. We were at Ko Olina on Christmas Day after we left Bellows.

Ending the day at Ko Olina in the Marriott bar watching the sunset.

Sunset at Ko Olina.




The resort and condos at Ko Olina made four lagoons along the coast where the water is calm and good for swimming. It's just gorgeous there.


So that's all I have for now. Considering how long it took me to upload all these photos, I might have to find another way of sharing pics. But I got a new digital camera for Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad!) so I will be taking lots of them!!

I am in Hawaii!!

Sooo... it's been so long since I updated that I have actually left the mainland and arrived in Hawaii for my 8 week temporary duty assignment. When I had the opportunity to do this it was like all the stars were aligning because Adam is here and I miss Adam, and also, it is wonderful and beautiful here and I miss wonderful and beautiful (sorry DC, you simply are not wonderful and beautiful, except on rare occasions).

And here I am!! I just got back from foraging at Safeway and spending a frightful amount on groceries for my little room. Thankfully it all fit into my mini fridge, even the large container of organic spinach I bought. Believe it or not they had a LOT of organic foods at Safeway and I was shocked to find that they were virtually the same price as the regular fruits and vegetables. I don't know if that's some skew from prices being inflated here or what? Organic chicken was only a little more expensive than it is on the mainland.

I was up at 2 this morning and managed to stay in bed until 3:30 until I couldn't lay there any longer. I got up and was hungry, so I ate a Greens+ protein bar and surfed on the net looking for grocery stores and directions. I just ate again from my new bounty of yummy foods and I'm going to change and head over to the gym in a moment. Then it will be off to Waikiki for some exploring at the beach!! It's only 9:15 in the morning so I have a whole day to spend.

My room is on Pearl Harbor naval station and I am literally across the street from the harbor where there are currently three mighty and scrappy looking navy battleships docked. There is a big sign that says no pictures otherwise I would post one of my view.

Not to worry - there will be plenty of other lovely things to take pictures of! It is so beautiful here. It is so GREEN. Everywhere, like this bright new emerald color green ... amazing. I've barely even seen the ocean yet!