Hawaii is Great in 2008

ZIPLINING---still Fun!


Praise be to God for another beautiful sunny day here on Kauai. This is the day we've been waiting for, when we do our zipline excursion. We returned to the Kauai Back Country Adventure camp near Kapaa and signed our life away by filling out all their waiver forms. We weighed in and then were given our equipment. After a 15-20 minute ride in a German made military vehicle up to the start of the Zipline course we got our first look at what was in store. 7 different zips that would gradually take us down to a lower elevation from whence we started. At first, we were comparing the equipment and the procedures to our adventures in Barbados back in January of 2008. After leaping off the first platform and arriving safely at the next, we realized that even with differences in procedure, this was still a blast. I found out at the end of the day that Gary's semi-fear of heights was kind of an impediment to his total enjoyment of the course. During the zips, he was breaking out in a cold sweat, which he later said was because of that GIANT leap of faith he had to take to get off each platform. Overall though, we did both have a great time. I've included some pictures for you to laugh at.


This afternoon we head back to Honolulu to catch our mainland flight back to the continental US. Hopefully, our return flights will be less adventurous than our flight over, and Lord willing, we should be back in Michigan by early afternoon. Everybody should make it a priority to visit our 50th state and all her beauty. Hawaii truly is Paradise.
Till our next trip...ALOHA!!

Coffee, Chocolate & Sugar Cane

Well since I last made an entry, we have covered half the island of Kauai seeing many new and interesting places. Monday was pretty much a wash-out, there was so much rain it caused flash flooding in many places. We used that time to look at hotels, souvenir shop and eat in local eateries. We also prayed for SUNSHINE! Tuesday burst forth with blue skies, tradewind breezes and sunshine. This was cause for seeking out the surf and sand in front of our hotel and soaking it up for a few hours. After eating lunch at a local diner we paid a visit to the historic town of Hanapepe. The one street thru town looks like time stood still here, which has played to its benefit in that it is often used in movies. We took a walk over the famous Hanapepe Swinging bridge. I love doing these suspended bridges, be it on a playscape with my granddaughter or over the Hanapepe River with my honey, Gary. On our way back to Poipu we stopped at a new visitor attraction, from which the Coffee part of my title comes from. The Kauai Coffee Plantation is new within the past 10 years, since we were last here. With a small museum, a coffee sampling showroom, a gift shop and a self-guided walking tour explaining the coffee growing process, it was an interesting, free way to spend the dwindling hours of sunshine on Tuesday.

Wednesday morning was warm and sunny as we headed out early for a 9AM tour at the Steelgrass Chocolate Farm. While Gary drove thru "rush hour" traffic for all of 10 minutes, I watched and listened to a webinar on my laptop in the car. YEAH! for modern technology that enables one to travel and learn at the same time. We arrived at Steelgrass with time to spare. This is a family owned and operated business and they wear their hearts on their sleeves when it comes to sharing their passion for organic fruit, spice and chocolate farming. Throughout the walking tour we learned about and tasted some unusual fruits, ie: "lon-gone", "hairy eye-ball" and Tahitian lime, along with sugar cane, bananas and star fruit. Everybody was VERY anxious to get to the chocolate part of the tour. Did you know that the theobromines in dark chocolate caused chocolate to be called the elixir of the Gods? Cacao has one of the highest concentrations of antioxidants of ANY food and so with that in mind, the tour ended with a taste sampling of 10 different types of dark chocolate. Hey, somebody has to do this for you, so I hope you appreciate the sacrifice we made in tasting all these samples. The picture is of Cacao pods as they grow on trees. These are almost ready to pick. Immediately following our Chocolate tour we headed off to the Sugar Cane fields. This is where we "flumed the ditches", otherwise known as floating down the irrigation ditches that were built approximately 150 years ago to facilitate the watering of the sugar cane fields. This activity is not for the faint of heart as you ride in a large, sturdy inner tube, in 69 degree water that flows swiftly down hill, thru 5 different tunnels and two gurgling waterfalls as you try to not bump into the rock-walls and outgrowths of greenery. The tour ends with a nice picnic lunch at the Backcountry Adventures Camp. The picture shows a participant entering one of the tunnels. Tomorrow we take our rescheduled Zip-line excursion.

Parades, Planes & Poses

Today, Sunday, there is going to be a parade celebrating King Kalakaua. The route goes right past our hotel so we should have a good view from our balcony. On Saturday, we completed our trolley tour of the city by taking the red line trolley throught Historic Honolulu. This included drive-byes of the State Capitol, Iolani Palace, the Cathedral Art Gallery, Foster Gardens, the historic Aloha Tower, a drive thru China Town. We did get to stop at the famous Hilo Hatties mega-store. Hilo Hattie started her business in 1970 with one little store and it has grown across all the islands with the mega-store located here in Honolulu. They carry all sorts of great Hawaiian stuff...clothes, home decor, macadamia nuts, chocolates, jewelry, you name it they have it. The picture below is of Gary next to the World's Largest Aloha Shirt, a size 400XL, available only at Hilo Hatties. We have been fortunate that while we have been here, there were a number of local festivals and special events taking place. We were able to go to a local craft/holiday outdoor market in Queen Kapiolani Park after our trolley tour. Some wonderful vendors with handmade Hawaiian jewelry, clothes, wood products were on display. A great place to start my Christmas shopping. We saw a beautiful sunset the other evening with sailboats silhouetted against the sky.


We caught the tail end of the parade, so we decided to do one last stroll along Waikiki Beach. Beautiful sunny morning for people watching and picture taking. Sandy is pictured with Duke, the famous surfer of years gone bye.


This afternoon, we catch our flight over to Kauai.

Sites and Sights

We met the sales rep at the Outrigger Reef and proceeded to see this beautiful rebuilt property. If you've ever stayed here in the past prior to the rebuild, you definitely need to come and see it again. It is absolutely gorgeous. The Pacific Tower is complete, with the Ocean Tower scheduled for Spring of 2009. The guestrooms are sooo much bigger now than they used to be. In the Ocean Tower they have suites ranging from 1 to 4 bedrooms...great for family reunions. The guestrooms in the completed Pacific Tower were outstanding, a good percentage of them are oceanview. The decor is tastefully done with the theme of Hawaiiana carried very nicely throughout. From bedspreads to carpets and wall hangings, everything reflects the heritage of the islands of Hawaii. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Shorebird Restaurant while a quick blast of wind and rain showered down outside, soon to be over with, leaving a beautiful rainbow in its wake.



The rest of the day we pursued leisure activities. A great way to see Waikiki as well as Historic Honolulu or the scenic Windward side of the island is via the Waikiki Trolley. We took the pink line over to the Ala Moana Center and saw the sights along the way, and then decided to do the 3 hour blue line trolley tour which provides a nice, slow ride up the eastern coast and back. Our guide was excellent as she pointed out Jackie Chan's mountain top mansion, Jack Lord's burial sight, the location of many famous movie shoots, and the beautiful Hanauma Bay, famous for its fantastic snorkeling. A stop at Diamond Head as well as Sandy Beach Park to see the giant turtles and the blow hole. All in all a fun, windy, sunny way to spend the afternoon.


Till next time... Sandy

Aloooha!
Well, after a 3 hour delay at DFW, we finally departed at 4PM and prepared to settle in for our 8 hour flight. We were blessed that at the beginning of the day in Detroit, we had been able to secure exit row seats for our entire trip. What a treat, to have that extra leg room. Now for some humor, I want you to picture this...2 tiny airline pillows, one flimsy airline blanket, my lumbar back support pillow, an inflatable neck wrap, an eye mask and an exit row window seat. Got that picture of me trying to get comfortable and sleep? NOT PRETTY huh? Sleep was very elusive even with all those "amenities". All I craved at the end of our flight was CHOCOLATE!

We arrived safely into Honolulu at 8PM local time/1AM Michigan time, claimed our luggage and proceeded to secure shuttle service to the Waikiki Parc Hotel. After waiting for about 20 minutes with a long line of people ahead of us, I convinced another older couple to share a taxi with us as we headed to our respective hotels. They were very eager to join us as they had flown in from PA. and were equally tired and ready to get to their hotel. The taxi provided us with non-stop service to our hotel for which we were grateful.

The Waikiki Parc is located just across the street from the Halekalani Hotel and a short walk to the Outrigger Reef. It is an ultra modern hotel geared towards DINK's and the well heeled Generation Y population. At the entryway to the Parc there is a Lotus automobile just to give you an idea. Our room is on the top floor-19th and we have a deluxe ocean view. Thankfully, my desire for chocolate was fulfilled because when we got to our room the sales manager had left us a box of chocolate covered Macadamia nuts. Yum yum. We hit the sack shortly after arrival and put in a good nights sleep.

We are scheduled for a 9AM site inspection of the renovated Outrigger Reef which will include breakfast. More later.

Hawaii is Great 2008

Thursday, Nov. 13th...a very long travel day!

The day has finally arrived for us to depart on our 9 day vacation to the beautiful state of Hawaii. We will be visiting Waikiki, Oahu for 3 nights and then off to the Garden Isle of Kauai for 5 nights. Suitcases packed, computer and all electonic gadgets are on board, now we await our Checker Sedan transportation to the airport. They arrive at 4:45AM and we are just about ready. Little did we know what was in store for us today as we got into the Town Car that took us to the airport. It really is funny looking back at it now.

The driver said he had no problem finding our house, but then when he turns out onto the main street to go to the airport, he is totally turned around and almost makes two turns in the wrong direction. Good thing we knew where we had to go. Our check-in at Metro went smoothly as did our departure. However, about an hour into the flight the captain comes on the speaker and tells us there is a slow oxygen tank leak in the cockpit, so we will be setting down in St. Louis to make repairs. Fortunately, it took less than an hour for repairs and we were on our way to DFW airport.

Now the real ADVENTURE begins. When we deplane, and head to the restroom we hear rumblings about a security breach. Turns out to be a full Terminal D evacuation. Evidently somebody had opened a secured fire escape door and after a lock-down of Terminal D, where nobody owned up to it, they proceeded with a total evacuation. That was a first for us. Mass confusion once out in the terminal, with everybody trying to get into a security line for when they reopened. We ended up taking a shuttle to a different terminal, clearing security there and then taking the skylink monorail back to terminal D, only to find that now our 12:50 PM departure was delayed until 3:30PM due to equipment problems. Keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well for an on time departure. I will update tomorrow.